Homestay 是国际圣诞之家（ Christmas International House）安排的一些文化交流项目，也就是圣诞假期，你可以选择一些地方，住在当地人家里和地道的美国人共度圣诞，以便充分了解当地文化。我们可以从这些项目中选择三个地方，我和俊英，Lake报了同一个地方，分别是福罗里达州，宾夕法尼亚州，和一个什么州（忘记了，呵呵！！），最后我们同时被宾夕法尼亚州的哈里斯堡（Harrisburg）录取。我和Lake总共是125的报名费，俊英是100美金,来回机票每人420美元。时间是12月18日到1月2日。

Lake12月15日放假，我们就开始收拾行李，准备宾州之行。机票早已订好，从哥伦布出发，亚特兰大转机，再飞往宾州的哈斯堡。12月18号，早上8点钟，早早地，Maribel 开车接上我们，每人10美元的车费，同去的有家燕和崔瑞等留学生，她们home stay 的地方是亚特兰大。

我们到达哥伦布机场10点钟左右，哥伦布是一个很有军事味道的城市，内战时期曾一度是战场，就是现在，穿着迷彩服几乎光头的士兵也是处处可见的。哥伦布机场很小，我们一走进大门，就感觉萧条气逼人，除了我们三个乘客，再也找不到其他乘客的踪影。所以，我们三个人在机场的亮相，吸引了几乎所有工作人员的目光，有几个工作人员迎了上来，问我们去哪，几点的飞机，很是热情。然后告诉我们，我们需要等很长时间才能check in, 我们乘坐的Delta飞机办理处，空无一人，得等到下午3点。反正我们的飞机是下午5:30， 那就等呗。

哥伦布机场里，唯一的饭店，也是空无一人，冷冷清清，有时候连服务人员都找不到一个。在服务人员出现的时候，我们抓紧时机，点了我们的午餐，坐在餐厅里，一边聊天，一边等待下午3点钟的到来。等着急了，就到外边的太阳底下散散步，绕着停车场一圈一圈地转着，大脑里什么也不想，蓝蓝的天，如雪的芦苇花静静地在微风中摇摆着，心里静得，一切一切都浮在了白云之外。

下午三点，我们排队check in, 这一次不太运气，碰上了一个糊涂蛋，一个黑人女子，可能刚上班不久，业务不太熟练，我告诉她我们的名字，让她出票，她却告诉我们，我们回程的时间必须改，因为有些航班已经取消了，并给了我们两个时间让我们选择，我选择了一个时间，结果她忙碌了一个小时，这个问题都没有搞定，又是打电话，又是找人帮忙，三个人的飞机票出了一个半小时，出的机票有的给了我，有的又要回去，撕了，重新再出，真不知她搞什么鬼，这要在中国早给她开了，业务素质太差。最后，她给我的机票，航班时间都对不上号，我都看晕了，一张上写的是从哥伦布到亚特兰大是5：30出发，另外一张是7:10，到底哪个时间是对的呀，她告诉我航班晚点了，My God，这就是美国，有没有人道呀，我们要赶飞往哈斯堡8:40的飞机，8:07分才能到亚特兰大，我问她，我们该怎么办？她说跑呗，让后给我写出了登机口，说是从C46跑到C37来得及，鬼知道，来得及来不及，给她理论不清楚，作罢！

结果，事实并非如此，航班6点钟不到就起飞了，45分钟的航程，不到7点我们就到了亚特兰大，她事先给我们说的登机口也不对，我晕！原先计划的短跑也取消了，虚惊一场！！！

我们乘坐的飞机，非常小，只有48个乘客位。随身携带的箱子（carry-on bags），不允许带入机舱，早早地有人发个牌，给你拿去，装入了飞机的行李舱里。下飞机的时候记住取箱子就可以啦！

10:30分飞机准时到达哈里斯堡，我们的Host mother Wanda Heise 和他的爱人Glen Heise早早地等在出站口，两个看起来都在60岁左右，非常地和善可亲，在此之前，我已经多次和Wanda邮件交流，彼此之间多少有点默契。

Hello friends,

We are looking forward to getting to know the two of you when you arrive in Harrisburg on Dec. 18th.  Glen and I are the parents of two married daughters, both of whom are married and live internationally.  So, we won't get to see them this Christmas.  It also means that we will have room in our house for guests. Our daughters also each have two children, so we are grandparents.  We like to talk to our grandchildren through Skype and FaceTime, so you might get to meet them that way! :)

We will be in Florida the week before you arrive, so we will all need to adjust back to the cold weather of Pennsylvania.  If it snows, we hope that we can do some outdoor activities.  If you have warm coats, please bring them.  If you don't, we will find something to borrow around here.  Don't bother buying anything new.  It might not even snow, but it will be cold.We enjoy reading, traveling and visiting with friends, attending movies, eating out, and lots of other things.

Since we have grandchildren, we have a few toys that might interest a boy, but we also have a few friends with sons who know that you are coming to visit.  We will try to find time to introduce you.Will you be traveling on the trips that are planned for the group?  We would like to consider also going, if it suits us when you go.  However, on Saturday, December 29th, my husband, Glen's family will be here for a Christmas celebration.  It will be at our house during the day.  You would be welcome to be here with us for that, but if you prefer to go on the bus trip to New York City, we certainly understand that.  You probably don't have many opportunities to get to New York and it is worth seeing.

We will also appreciate knowing when you will arrive on Tuesday, December 18th.  We want to include you in as many activities as we can.  At least we would like to invite you to join us, if at all possible.  We are looking forward to sharing our Christmas time with you.  There will be community activities as well as church related and family events.  It will be a busy but fun time, I hope.

See you soon,

Wanda Heise

Dear Heise,

I am very glad to receive your email.You are so nice and considerate. I am looking forward to spending  christmas holiday with Glen and you. I am sure we will have an enjoyable time together.

My son Lake and me will arrive at the Harrisburg airport at around 10:30pm on December 18th, and I don't know whether the time of our arrival is ok or not. I hope we won't take any inconvenience to you.

We plan to take part in all the group trips( including the trip to New York on Saturday, December 29th), and had enrolled our name for the three trips. Yes, as you say, we probably don't have many opportunities to visit New York. So even if we would like to enjoy the christmas celebration with Glen's family and you together, we will make a trip to visit the biggest city of the USA.

As to the cold weather, we have warm clothes to deal with it. So we can play outdoors happily.

From the words of your email, I feel that Glen and you have a happy family. I am sure that you are the best grandparents in the world.

We cannot wait to enjoy the holidays with Glen and you.

Thank you!

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Yours,

Hongying

Dear Hongying,

Thanks so much for your e-mail. I am glad to know of your plans. For Thanksgiving we are leaving on Thursday for Mexico where my daughter and her family live. I hope that you have a chance to experience some of the Thanksgiving traditions here in the U.S. Because it is an American holiday, my daughter is planning to have the traditional meal on Saturday instead of Thursday. She is planning to invite some neighbors to join us there. It will seem strange to have the holiday when others are not off work or doing the same thing. I guess you have experienced that many times here with your holidays.

If you can send us your flight numbers and airline information before you come, we can check in case of delays, etc. You can just e-mail the itinerary, if you wish. We only live about 15 minutes from the Harrisburg airport. That will not be a problem to meet you both at the airport. We will be very excited to meet you.

Again, thanks so much for all of the information. I will see what trips, if any, that I can do with the group. But I am glad that you can do all of them. They are all great places to visit.

If you have other questions before you arrive that would help you to feel more comfortable, feel free to ask me. Have a great month.

Always,

Wanda

Dear Heise Wanda,

This is the information of my flight(see attachment).

Thank you so much for your consideration. Thanksgiving day and Christmas are different festivals from Chinese ones. I am very happy to experience the different culture here. And I am appreciated that I can have a good opportunity to experience Christmas with you.

I am glad to know of your travel to Mexico with your daughter and your grandsons. Best regards to your daughter and your grandsons. I wish you have a good time in Mexico.

Best!

Yours,

Hongying

Dear Hongying,

We are finally home from our travels and getting ready to meet you tomorrow evening. I hope that it is okay that we invited your friend to stay here with you as well. Her host mother became ill. I am looking forward to meeting you tomorrow evening. I have your flight schedule that you sent earlier. If anything changes, feel free to let me know. My cell phone number is 717-379-7060. But I will follow the flights on-line, if possible.

We will enjoy decorating our house while you are here. We have plans for my family (my two sisters and their families) to join us for Christmas day here at the house. Unfortunately, Glen's family will be here on the Saturday after Christmas while you are away on a trip. But we will try to take pictures of them to show you.

If you like to bake, we can also try to make some cookies together. Since our girls don't live close by, I miss having them here to bake together before Christmas. Then we will get to eat them, too, of course!!!

See you and your son very soon.

Have a good trip!

Wanda

Dear Heise,

I am glad to receive your email again, and very happy to know that you have an enjoyable trip.

Our flight schedule won't change, and we will arrive at Harrisburg of PA tomorrow evening. I am very expecting to meet you there. I know your telephone number, so I will call you if I can't find you.

I am very excited to know that we can decorate the house for christmas with you and your families. It should be fun to stay with your families, and we are expecting. And I am very happy that we can bake together, and I am expecting to learn how to bake cookies from you.

I am looking forward to seeing you soon!!!

Yours,

Hongying Wang

           Home Stay第一天晚上

Wanda和Glen以为我们有很多的行李， 特意开了两辆车过来，他俩的车内饰很干净，是我在美国见过的为数不多的，可见他们生活还是比较考究的。我和俊英坐上Wanda的车，Lake坐上了Glen的车，Wanda 开车如同开飞机，飞快飞快的，15分钟的路程，我们很快就到了他们的家，一个别墅，三层，最上面那一层，Wanda租给了一个年轻人，他的父亲来自香港，印度尼西亚人，因为中风，刚刚去世，周四就是他的葬礼，Wanda 邀请我们参加，我们由于同一天国际之家有一个哈里斯堡城镇游的活动，时间有冲突，故拒绝了。

Wanda的家很大。一进门，就感觉非常温馨可人，当时很迷糊，以为第一个房间是客厅，第二天才知道那是厨房，很整洁，厨房旁边有一个小区域，用来喝咖啡聊天用，几把藤椅，上面铺着软软的垫子，有一只老猫Didi总是占着一席之位，她已经14岁了，是Wanda的最爱。

再往里走，就是客厅和餐厅，客厅里有沙发，有摇椅，摆放很随意，都不大，坐着很舒服，看着很凌乱，但处处透着家的感觉。客厅里我最喜欢的，是Wanda在壁炉上摆放的各种各样的猫，形态各异，我最爱不释手的是，一块石头手绘猫，Wanda说这是她在一次Craft Show上得到，也是她的最爱，还有一只猫，也非常精彩，有着我着迷的色彩配搭。闲暇之时我总是趴在壁炉上反复地玩味着，欣赏着，直看到心里去。

我们被安排到了一楼，实际上是地下室，很大很大，房间多得如同迷宫，有着厚厚的地毯，几个书架上满满地堆满了书，还有电视，有沙发，舒服如同自己的家。Lake看到国际象棋，什么Queen，什么King，什么Knight，我是搞不清楚，Lake也不知道什么时候认识的，他和Glen马上摆上象棋，不顾夜已深，对战起来。

我和Lake睡了一张大床，床很舒服，不同于我在阿梅里克斯小镇的床，软得我天天晚上翻烧饼，睡不成觉。

一切一切我都很喜欢，非常感谢能够有一次这样的机会，能够深入美国当地家庭，深入了解他们的文化。