An Exchange Student for School Year 2008-2009.

After talking about it for several years, we decided that we are going to participate in the exchange student program. We are going to have an 18-year-old Swedish girl come stay with us for the up-coming school year. We are very, very excited and look forward to a very, very fun year. We are trying to arrange for her to arrive here before July 25th so she can travel with us for a week when she first gets here. We'll leave that night to travel to Oregon. Spend the weekend and Monday in the Willamette Valley and the Oregon Coast. On Tuesday we're going to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and see Thornton Wilder's Our Town that night. Then on Wednesday, we'll sight-see around Ashland and then attend A Comedy of Errors that night. Both plays will be outside in the Elizabethan Theatre. I am esspecially excited to see Our Town. I saw it on film my first year at The University of Portland. I can't wait to see it in person.

We will then travel back and spend more time with family and friends. On Saturday, we are rafting down the White Salmon, one more time. I have honestly lost count how many times we have been on the river, but we love it. (Everyone that is planning to raft with us, let me know right away so we can reserve the proper number of rafts.)

Back to our exchange student. Her name is Mette Ericsson. Her emails to us have demonstrated excelent English. She wants to participate in as many sports as she possibly can (only three here in our little 1A school,) and she sounds very excited to come. We want to make her as happy and have as much fun in the coming year as we can. The picture to the right is her older sister Nelly (on the left) and Mette (on the right.)