Week 2 Summer Hosting

Week 2 :
After Tina's recovery from motion sickness, she warmed up to us more and more each day. Slowly but surely. Our Russian friends O. and V. delivered a few traditional Russian dishes for Tina and Alexander. Russian crepes were on the menu, as well as meat dumplings, real borsht,....  Each day T&A joined our children for their Taekwondo practices in town. During these times, especially Tina enjoyed many conversations in Russian with O. and V.   Consequently, the transition to US became more graceful for them. Gradually they began to remove their walls  and relax. The teenagers need more time to adjust than younger hosting kids, understandably.
Immersion in English was complemented by Pimsleur English for Russian speakers. Thrilled and excited, Alexander joined in on fishing day and caught a few trout at the local fish hatchery. However, Tina was appalled by the fishhooks attached to the trout mouths of caught fish , she decided to assist our kids with the concession stand. Despite her Eastern European background, Tina dislikes meat. Occasionally she will consume a small morsel of chicken or so. She commented the fish (trout) in America is "No good" , " In my country : Good".
During one afternoon early in the week, Tina discovered a bicycle in the garage : "Whose bike is this?", she asked. "Yours", I  answered. "Mine?" Tina looked at me in disbelief. Moments later she was trying out her bike and loved it. Evidently she had never owned a bike and her biking skills proved to be those of a beginner. She was delighted with her own bike! On their second weekend here,the majority of our family toured around our lake, a 7-mile loop. Although Tina's biking abilities were basic, she absolutely loved it and only took a few minor falls. On the other hand, Alexander is a "professional" biker, no hands, tatataaa, you get the picture. Thrilled about their biking tour around the lake, they shared their experience with O. and V.
Finally, Tina was also settling in. Alexander was on California time schedule from day one, he settled in immediately and enjoyed himself every day.