Foreign Families
Anya
Anya Kirianova (on the left) was my family's first contact with other countries and cultures. She's from Stavropol/Navopavlovsk, Russia and she and a few other students from Russia came to Grinnell on a Peace Institute exchange in 1993, and one of the girls from the group, Natasha, was being hosted by our best friends, the Rose family. We met Anya through Natasha and learned that she was having difficulties with her host family. She only had a week and a half left in America before she would return home, so we felt we should do something for her to help her enjoy the rest of her time. We invited her to live with our family during her remaining days and it was one of the smartest things we've ever done. We had so much fun with her and all of us fell in love with her. She taught us many things about Russia, clearing up many false stereotypes and misunderstandings, and my sister and I thought it was cool because we learned naughty words in Russian! We were so sad to see her leave, but so happy that we added her to part of our family. And now, Anya has her own daughter, Nastya.
Polina
Polina Kirianova is our second foreign "family" member. She is Anya's sister, and is my age. We started out as pen pals after Anya left America, and then we decided we wanted to see them all again. So my family and the Roses made arrangements for Anya, Natasha, and now Polina to return to America for the summer. It was another fun time... all summer we went on trips around Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, and surrounding areas. We took so many pictures and we added Polina to the family!
Lena
During the summer that Anya and Polina lived in our home, our family made another decision to get a little more involved in the Russian people. We decided we would host an AFS exchange student from Moscow, named Lena Agheeva. Lena arrived shortly before Anya and Polina went back home, and at first, she was a little reserved and uncomfortable. But as time passed, we all learned more about each other and got used to our differences and learned to deal with them. Our original plan was to only host her for a semester, then decide if we wanted to commit the second semester too, which is exactly what we ended up doing. We had a fun year, and we got a wonderful opportunity to meet the other exchange students through Lena that year.
Nana
Nana Shulaia came during my sophomore year of high school. We decided to host her because my dad had passed away the year before, when Lena was with us, and my sister went to college my sophomore year, so the house was very lonely with just my mom and me. Nana proved to be an excellent addition to our family, although at first, it was... excuse the language... hell. We had a lot of problems, but eventually I gave up on being jealous and stupid and decided to get along and that was really smart because we were like best friends after that. She's my age, too, so we had a lot in common. She's also from Moscow, but also from Krasnodar, where she is now studying in a university to become a dentist.
The Kolkers
When I was a junior in high school, in October of 1996, I got the opportunity to travel to Russia with Grinnell's Sister City exchange program, along with 2 classmates and a chaperone. We got the chance to live with host families when we traveled to southern Russia, to Zheleznovodsk, Grinnell's Sister City. This was the most awesome experience I've ever had! My mother's name is Natalya (Natasha) Ivanova and she is a biology teacher in their local high school. My father's name is Arkadee and he is a surgeon. I also had a grandmother, named Lida, who was a retired teacher, and stayed at home to prepare meals and take care of their apartment. My sister's name is Lena and she is slightly younger than I, and now attends a university in Stavropol. The other part of the family, was the family dog, Rey. He's a black poodle and a real cutie! I always make sure to add his name to my letters when I write them. I lived with their family for 10 days and grew very attached to them. They treated me so well, and I am so thankful for them.
The Romeros
Eloy, Maria, and Irene Romero were my host family when I traveled with my Spanish class to Spain in 1997, the spring of my junior year. They are from Huelva, which is in southeastern Spain, and I also stayed with them for about 10 days. The situation was a little difficult, because my Spanish was not the best, and they didn't speak English, but I feel so lucky to have had the experience with them. They are some of the nicest people I've ever met and they took very good care of me! My host sister, Irene, was slightly younger than me, too, but barely at all, and she introduced me to a lot of her friends. Almost every night, we went a few blocks away and met with groups of kids and talked for several hours. My family took me on a lot of sightseeing trips, and we even went to the beach in Portugal! It was so much fun and I'm really hoping someday they'll get to come to America and visit me.
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