30 Days Of Thanks:Marie (Foreign Exchange Student)

Dear Marie,

            It has been more than ten years since we imported you. I would love to know what was going through your mind as you got your typical tour of Des Moines on the way to our house. Here is some corn. This is the state capital building. This is where people would live if Des Moines was a bigger city. You were either too polite or not strong enough with your English yet to say anything disparaging. Thanks for that.

            It wasn’t until half way through the school year that you showed me a picture of your house. Or chateau, or whatever you want to call it. You told me that you didn’t have a room, but a floor. At the time, my room was a converted hallway with a clothes bureau blocking an open doorway. If you ever complained about being placed in a household that had eight people living in a house that was really a two bedroom house, I never heard it. It seems as if you approached it as an adventure.

            I remember you introducing me to role-playing video games. I would spend hours on end playing final fantasy. We would sit around and watch terrible cult movies like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and eat junk food. It was like you were the perfect older sister.

            I remember you being hot-tempered and quick to get a reaction from. I don’t know if it was your age, or if it is a French thing. I remember embezzling money out of you for doing menial tasks. Sure, I’ll walk these things over to your boyfriend’s house. For $5. Sorry about that. I didn’t realize at the time that it takes a lot less energy to work for money, not to work to GET money.

            I don’t know why, but I’ve always assumed that you’ve gotten a job as a high-ranking political official using your bilingual abilities to the utmost. Thanks for helping me keep France as the second-most visited country to my blog. I hope that you are still watching the bad movies because I’ve grown to love them.

Love,

Adam