Welcome to America!

We brought all the kids to the Denver International Airport with home made signs and some American flags to welcome our new foreign exchange student, Polly. We even practiced saying "annyeonghaseyo", which means "hello" in Korean.  (It sounds like "on YONG zay oh" when you say it fast.

Getting to know Polly and learning more about her culture is going to be fun and educational for all of us. The kids and I already looked up where South Korea is on a map and read a little about it's history and people. Polly is teaching us how to pronounce Korean words correctly. In Korean, the word for mom is "Oma"! I get to be Polly's American "oma" for the next 10 months. And she gets to suddenly become a big sister to nine kids!

Polly (nickname, not her real name) arrived tired and a bit overwhelmed. We warned the kids ahead of time not to batter her with questions right away. The next day she mostly slept, although she did take time to give us presents from South Korea. I had asked her dad if he could find some playing cards with a picture of South Korea on the front for our card collection, but he thought I meant some red cards that they use to play a game called "Go Stop", which is a popular gambling game. The cards are really pretty, but I have no idea how to play.