I have an Italian Son

My 10-year-old twins were named Michel and Angelo after my favorite Italian artist Michelangelo. Hearing about AFS through a colleague in the Putonghua course, I became interested in sending my kids on a year exchange program. However, they needed to wait for six more years before they are old enough to join the program. I was asked if I wanted to be a host family instead. For worry of heavy commitment, our family decided to try it for two weeks. Giacomo, an Italian teenager, joined our family in November 2005. After four months he is still part of the family and has shared with us interesting experience as follows:

a) Giacomo claims that the Hong Kong fashion is twenty years behind that of Italy. He insisted not to compromise his style for wearing a heavy jacket, only to have caught a nasty cold during winter. After the lesson he has learned to take good care of his health.
b) Even the English teacher of another class has heard of Giacomo’s picky habit. He seldom drinks water and eats no vegetables, and he prefers coffee and chocolate instead. As he received two big boxes of chocolates every month from Italy, we were surprised that he did not have any bad tooth. We were instead more worried for our kids who share his treat.
c) Michel and Angelo originally had their own rooms. After Giacomo moved in, the twins shared a room and needed to make an extra bed every night. I believe it is a good training for them to learn to sacrifice some personal freedom and live harmoniously with each other.
d) Giacomo took an active part in our family activities, including excursions, church services, fellowship, visit to Ocean Park and AFS Christmas party. As I was not as fit to do too much this year, Giacomo now hangs out more with his AFS friends during weekends. He even went to Beijing with other AFS students and volunteers during Easter.
e) Apart from two meals and a bed, there was not much else to provide to be a host family. Giacomo is in fact very candid, responsible and polite. He possesses three things envied by his twin brothers, which are namely a personal laptop, unlimited access to internet and Italian chocolates. I tease his Cantonese as he still cannot speak it much, but he is learning English and Putongua well.

Our hosting experience, much lengthened from two weeks, has allowed us to have some insights into the Italian culture. We hope we will one day visit Giacomo and his family in his country.