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To explain how the process works, she likened it to wearing colored glasses. In their home countries, their culture and life style come through glasses tinted yellow, while in the U.S., everyone wears blue glasses. If the international students put on the new blue glasses over their yellow glasses, life here is green, different from home, but different too from what American teenagers experience. “So they have to take off the yellow glasses and put on the blue glasses,” Mrs. Fisher said.
With guidance from the volunteers in their home countries and support from their host families, most of the youngsters make the transition smoothly and easily. “When Kirsten stepped off the airplane, she announced, T’m an American now!’ From her first moment here, she wouldn’t speak German or think German,” Mrs. Fisher recalled.
The adjustment is so complete that by the end of the year, “most of the kids find it very hard to take off their blue sunglasses and put on their yellow glasses again,” she added.
There are few bouts of homesickness. “They maintain their ties to their natural parents, but while they’re here, we’re mom and dad,” she said.
The dynamics of the household are the same as in any big family. “They’e all brothers and sisters,” Mrs. Fisher said, describing Tara’s and David’s relationship with Rodrigo, Kirsten, Josephine and Thomas. “No one’s allowed to be a guest in our house. This is an equal opportunity household. Everybody does his or her share.”
“It’s pretty normal actually,” Brad Fisher observed. “It’s amazing how normal it is, considering the difference in cultures and background.”
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