We had the privilege of hosting Pascal for one semester and we can assure you, we loved having him live with us! Even though it was only one semester, he will always be a part of our family now. We had hoped Pascal would feel welcomed and have a great experience with us in Holly Springs and from his reactions, he sure loved us, the school and our small town. Pascal brought so much joy and excitement to our home and we miss him terribly.
We also had the pleasure of taking Pascal to Disney World over the Christmas Holidays and we all had the time of our lives watching the Fireworks for New Year’s Eve at Magic Kingdom! Pascal was also able to attend the Homecoming Dance at school and thoroughly enjoyed himself. He went on the Washington DC exchange student trip with his friends and he saw all the historical monuments and museums DC could offer.
We would like to share a funny story of just one of his experiences he had while living with us. Pascal had to ride the school bus a few times in the mornings since Mark was out of town on business and I was already at work. We have a glass screen door on our front door with the hydraulic cylinder that makes the hissing sound while it closes. Well, our previous exchange student the year prior to Pascal’s arrival, came up on our porch and was about the open the door when we noticed a black snake as I opened the door. The snake darted in the house and I had to catch it to place back outside.
We told Pascal this story the second day he lived with us and he was aware of a snake on the front porch. So, as Pascal left the house one early dark morning to go catch the bus, he closed the glass door, and the hydraulic cylinder made the hissing sound while the door was closing. Pascal heard that sound and immediately thought it was a snake. Pascal took off running off the porch and up the driveway. Thennext morning, he had to ride the bus again, and the door did the same thing, so he took off running again, but then he thought for a second, it couldn’t be a snake two mornings in a row and so he figured out it was the door. Many stories like that happened and it was such a pleasure being host dads to
Pascal and we’ll always love him like our son. We will not have to wait too long to see Pascal again and this time he will be with his family because they’re coming to NYC in July; we will fly up to NYC to see him and meet his family! So, just because Pascal has completed his semester and is back in his home country, does not mean it’s the last goodbye for all of us. I cannot ever imagine Pascal not in our lives…we love him and he is part of our family!
John and Mark ~ Holly Springs, NC