First day with my unchosen family😊

As it is said… “Friends are your chosen family and family is a blessing”, I was lucky to get this type of blessing twice already at the age of 16!

Finally I was sitting in the car with one of my host fathers, two host mothers and a small, talkative host sister🥰. Now, all my fears and scary imaginations had slept out of my mind… I felt much more protected and better. My sister, Luiza, was a continuous radio…

She kept on talking, she was very curios to know about me… Finally we had one thing in common… “Bumbum tumtum”.. Songs!!!! Yeah music… The universal language of mankind helped us connect with eachother… We then enjoyed the long drive😅😅. My host mothers, as typical mothers are, asked me did I eat?, was my trip tiring?, did I enjoy my flight?… And…yes I did have an answer… “I do not understand anything!” My host father and Google were of great help!!

They supposed that I was very tired of the long journey and the 1 hour long wait… But that wasn’t the case I was full of energy entering into a different country which was like a totally new world for me… I wanted to talk and ask a lot of questions… But from where to start .. “Google!?”… Yeah that was the only word I asked first so that we could have another conversations!

My mothers wanted me to sleep, take some rest so she told Luiza to keep quiet and let me be more comfortable. But here I was in full excitement waiting for the Google translator to translate my questions… I told my sister to keep on talking, it was comfortable in fact because of that it wasn’t awkward at any moment😅😅. As we reached my first home… I was hungry… and my mothers were already offering me vegetable pies, specially made for me😅, it was different! I took out some Indian food with a lot of confidence that they would love it… The first bite of the homemade “thepla” burnt their tongues… They couldn’t imagine how indians ate so spicy… The first cultural shock they had received 😅😅. After dinner we had conversations with my rotary district counselor and my 3rd host families… Google was an important part, who understood all our chats🙈🙈.

As soon as everyone left… I rushed to see my room opened the curtains and there was a beautiful scenic view out😍. It was at that moment when it struck to me… This is the view I would see everyday from now on! I was then eager about how my new bed, new pillow were… I was about to go and thank my parents for that successful day… I found under my pillow, a letter , written in English,by me host parents!! I still do have it with me…

It said…

“Hi Anisha,

It’s good to have you here.
I hope your days here are very happy. We will be here to introduce you to our country, our customs and everything you want. In these 11 motnhs we will do our best to take good care of you, so count on us always. I am sure that our family relationship will not only be for 11 months, but for lifetime. Welcome to our lives and to our hearts.”
Mom, Dad, and Luiza
July 27, 2018

The letter had touched my heart, it had made my day come to a sweet ending! I didn’t understand how they knew I loved getting such small memorable gifts then let it be a handwritten letter or a tight hug😅😅
They did not make me feel like a stranger, it felt as if they had known me since years.
The beginning was beautiful… And I knew there was a lot more to come… For me and for them…

Even though I had expressed how amazing I had felt reading the letter, I still wanted someone to hear me out! To know how happy I was being there… “My biological parents”,( remember I mentioned about them in my third blog) I say this because now I do have parents from heart, in Brasil… Biological parents were the original India ones😅😅😅…
My host parents had already done a video calling with them, that I had reached safely and was at my new home… Now best friends were the only ones who would listen to me… Even if they didn’t want, they would not have a choice but listen😋😋. I video called one of my best friends, Divyesh… And this time I was the radio… Continuosly speaking… Not about missing India and the indians… But how lovely my first night was… How the letter had touched my heart… How sweet and caring my parents were… How my new room was… Infact everything but India 🙈.. At one point I stopped to just see if he was listening to me… He asked if I missed anyone in India…. And again my radio had begun… About how I still didn’t miss India! I didn’t expect missing India on the very first day itself…

Then after the long video chat, I realised I needed much more energy for the next day… Not even thinking whether I would be comfortable on the bed, if my pillow was fluffy or not, I got onto the bed… And was asleep in seconds😴

The first day of my new journey had begun. All my dreams had began to start coming true. I was now going to live an life I wanted with all my principles and rules set in my mind!
…….

This was how the great and exciting journey had begun!!!!