today i met someone who i last saw when she was 7 or 8 years old (so 14 or 15 years ago). back then i was 16 or so years old on a short term high school exchange (2 or 3 weeks) to a french family. at that point in time i had only had 2 months of french in school so obviously my vocabulary was very limited. it was very difficult to me to live in a french family and to be immersed in the language while being able to say so little myself. i was frustrated very often and on top of that i had gotten a serious sunburn on my knees and legs. i was in pain, i was homesick, i was frustrated…yet that family never seized to accomodate me, make me feel comfortable, include me in everything. they were so very patient with me.

they had 6 or 7 kids total (so another one did not matter, lol) and the smallest girl wanted me to speak french really bad. so every day when she got home from school she got her story books and made me read to her. whenever i did not understand she tried to explain to me what i had been reading. she was just very sweet and lovable – like the whole family really. my family and that family kept in touch over the years and basically, we called each other up for christmas and just updated each other on what’s going on.

yesterday i got an email from her saying she will be in town, for only a day, asking if i would like to meet up. of course i agreed. so she and 3 friends (all russians) met up with me today and i showed them around town and we just talked. the russians did not speak english too well but one spoke german so basically it was just a big mix of languages and questions and explanations.

she’s in her early twenties now studying in germany on an erasmus exchange. she’s still the cutie she was back then and we got along very well. maybe she will have time to visit me and my family before i move, that would be wonderful!

her email was a surprise but even more so i was surprised by how well we actually got along. we had 3 weeks together many many moons ago and seeing her today was like my little sister or cousin came to visit. it was wonderful and it is great to see that the world is such a small and beautiful place after all.

franzi