Well this past week, the second of three, has been sort of different with our two DOTCOM participants, Tessa and Gunel (Gunka.) As they became more familiar with their surroundings, they wanted to spend less time with us and more with their friends in the program. It is understandable, really. They are teenagers, right? The distance between the various home families (Montpelier–Waitsfield–Burlington), the cliques and new friendships that have formed during their time here have made them want to be with each other more. The bus that makes the rounds between all three areas twice each day makes it possible for students to stay in different homes, and return the following evening to their primary home.
This weekend provided Colleen and me with a sneak preview of ‘life after DOTCOM’ when both of our teens had opportunity to spend the nights away. Tessa and some of the Americans went to Boston for the weekend. Gunel had her friend Madina stay with us Friday night, but then Saturday after yet another exhausting day of Colleen and I driving them shopping (more later) the two went to stay with Madina’s host mom. It actually worked out nicely, as it was the first evening in two weeks that we have had our computers and our home to ourselves, providing a brief respite from having to well…provide.
I don’t begrudge having the two of them here, but frankly it was not quite the peaches and cream we expected. They have very different personalities and interests. Tessa wanted to go out and have a good time and be a real tourist and Gunel wanted to go to “exotic” places (Boston, Plattsburgh, yes that’s right, Plattsburgh because it’s in ‘New York’) to shop for clothes. Tessa is not interested in shopping of that ilk, so we were effectively not able to plan weekend activities they both would enjoy.
We have had some interesting conversations around the dinner table, however. We have thoroughly enjoyed the similarities we share with Tessa and her family, and hope to meet her folks someday. L.A. isn’t that far, right? Her dad is proud of his compost pile, and as mine is just started, it has yet to become a thing of beauty. With her savvy video activism, Tessa and I are more or less on the same wavelength professionally and it excites me to see such professional attitude in a person of 17. She and Colleen have a lot to talk about in the world of herbal remedies. The list goes on.
Gunel, from Azerbaijan, was pretty shy at first, and although according to her group leader, she is the best English-speaker of the whole Azari group, she had some trouble expressing herself the first few days. Homesick, she called home a couple times a day. Now the calls are slightly less frequent and she doesn’t want to leave. We share a love of Turkish coffee, and when I first made it for her in the traditional Bosnian lonac she told her parents about it. I don’t think she expected that. Like most of her fellow students, Gunel feels hemmed-in in her city of Baku and wants to go to university in Europe. She hopes that during her time there she will be able to visit USA on vacations. I hope she’ll include us in her plans.
So we are now heading into the last week of the program. The bus will pick them up at an ungodly hour this coming Saturday morning. I have very mixed feelings. You can’t have such terrific young people sharing your lives for such a time and not feel that on some level they are part of the family. The parting will be bittersweet and all too swift. Perhaps even final. Hugs, kisses, tears. Then Colleen and I will go home to our empty house and take a deep breath. A really deep breath.
