Football and the Johnson Squad
"Now, it’s the football season. That means that on Thursday (jr. high), Friday (sr. high), and Saturday (elementary) my family and I are going to the games!"

Settling on in, in Arkansas

First I want to introduce myself. My name is Andreea and I am an exchange student from Moldova. My journey began on August 8, 2019. After four long and tiring flights, I arrived in Hope, Arkansas. One interesting fact about this place is that there are a lot of wild animals: foxes, deer, coyotes, snakes, and spiders. But today I want to tell you about my host family—THE JOHNSON SQUAD. There are 12 people in our house including my mom, who is a math teacher at my school, my dad, who is a pastor, and my host sisters and their children.

I love everything about this family. We spend a lot of time together. On Wednesday and Sunday, we go together to church, on Saturday we have movie night (we prepare popcorn and watch cartoons usually). My favorite part of the day is the evening, because after dinner, we have conversations that can last for hours. I love to exchange ideas and experiences.

I prepared our traditional pancakes called clatite for my family. Everyone liked them, especially my host brother Jace who asks me every day when I am going to make them again. I told him that next time he can help me make them. He was so happy and excited!

I would like to thank PAX and FLEX for giving me the opportunity to challenge myself and to become someone who will make a big change in the future.

—Andreea (FLEX, Moldova), hosted by the Johnson family (AR)