All in the family

My current host parents have two children: a son (32) in Moscow, and a daughter (35-ish) in Cambodia. I have connected with their daughter on Facebook and the Russian facebook, but I actually didn't know we were friends on there until Luminita (my partner teacher) told me about it (they were in the same class in school). I'd written her a message through my host dad's email when I first moved here, and she wrote back once, and then that was it. My host dad communicates with her through email once every couple of weeks but no more. Once I found out we were in fact in contact I wrote her a message to see if we could set up a time so she (and her children and husband) could skype with her parents. We have a 5 hour time difference which actually makes it more difficult to set a time to talk than it does with our 8 and 9 hour difference in America because she is an English teacher, too, so our schedules just collide. We are trying to make a skype date on a weekend, but that's still in the making...

anyways...

She sent me this message today:

dear Cate, i took the freedom to look through your blog, hope that's ok with you. i want to thank you for writing all that and putting so many pictures there, you may not realize how close to home they bring me! i know it's not paradise( the place and the house, etc,) but i grew up there, that's where the people i love are, and your posts and pictures really give me a warm feeling. i understand life there can sometimes be hard, and you're very brave to have gone there. But remember, there's always going to be something nice and up-building in every experience, i've been through similar times myself. Thank you and keep it up.

It's quite encouraging for me to receive this from her because, while I don't think I say anything bad about my host parents (aka her parents), I know it's not always positive and encouraging. It's good to know that someone from the family is able to completely understand my thoughts and feelings while here. By her reading my blog, I'm able to share stories about my experience here which brings back memories for her (therefore promoting Peace and Friendship- Goal III with the Peace Corps?!) lol. Regardless, I'm glad she's reading this, and this is exactly one of the reasons for which I'm here. (Thank you, Elena!!!)