German Cooking School

Hanna is showing me how to make spatzle, a staple they eat often at home in Germany.    We were going to a post-arrival orientation for the students who came to this area in the exchange program, and each student was to bring something typical of their food back home.    We had a good time and I got to use the spatzle making tool Hanna brought me as a gift.     Hanna mixed the dough, as she said it needs to feel just right.     She said that next time I will mix the dough and she will watch and check so I will know when it is "just right".

New Dance Moves

Amber loved this so much, that it just "had to" be posted. This is Isaac's happy dance.

Trip to the Falls

On Labor Day, we drove out to Multhomah Falls, which is about 40 miles east of Portland on the Columbia River, to show Hanna some of the beautiful Columbia River Gorge scenery. Hanna and I did the one-mile hike to the top of the falls while DeeDee took her hike around the aisles of the gift shop.

We have a new teenager in the house

Dee and I decided to be a host family for a foreign exchange student named Hanna Reisch from a small town near Stuttgart, Germany.  Hanna is 17 and will be 18 on October 9th.

Hanna arrived at the Portland Airport Friday at 5 PM, after a 1 hour flight from Stuttgart to Munich, 2-hour layover in Munich, then 9 hour, 40 min flight from Munich to Chicago O'Hare where she cleared customs and had a 3 hour layover until her 4 1/2 hour flight to Portland.

We were "mom and dad taking our little girl to school this morning" on Tuesday Sept 2nd to get Hanna registered and set up for classes for the first day of school. We met teachers and saw teachers in the hallways who looked like they could be students.

They are either awfully young...or we are terribly old. It was almost like walking into Hart High (Amber's high school), with the orange and black colors and the Indians as their mascot.  SHS has a history of producing quarterbacks, the most recent being Derek Anderson who QB's the Cleveland Browns--another similarity to Hart with their history.

I was really impressed with all the faculty we met. The counselor, Nicki Pierce, took Hanna to the math department so the head of the department could talk with her about her level of math. He had her work through some algebra and calculus problems to see what she can do and it turns out she can do it all. He suggested placing her right into calculus, which is the highest level of math they have here. Then she was taken to the athletic office where she met the AD and cross country coach, since she loves cross country. They felt she would do fine and Hanna will be joining the cross country team.

Hanna also wants to take Spanish, since she finished her first year of Spanish in June. We happened to be talking to a teacher in the hallway who also just happens to be one of the two Spanish teachers in the school. As we were talking, he stopped another teacher, Carol, who was walking by and introduced Hanna to her.  Carol is the other Spanish teacher and also speaks fluent German. Carol and Hanna jabbered away in German together. What impressed me most was that Carol told Hanna to please come and see her any time she needs to talk to someone. I think Hanna's school experience here will be a great one. Being on the cross country team, she will go to track meets all around parts of Oregon with the team on the bus and see areas we would not know about. Then, if she wants to go back to see more, we can do a day trip on the weekend.