Happy Thanksgiving! Whether this is your first Thanksgiving in America, or your second or third, we at AHLI are happy to have you as part of our homestay program. We hope by now that you are beginning to settle into your new school year. Fall is always a time of new transitions, but it also reminds us to have an attitude of gratitude for the year that is almost over.
As the new Executive Director of American Home Life International, I want you to know that we value you and care about you. Your Director, Coordinator, and School staff want you to have a very successful school year. We want you to have a positive homestay experience as well.
With the Thanksgiving holiday upon us, we hope you are excited to try new American traditions and food! While families across America may celebrate differently, the fourth Thursday of November each year is when we traditionally reflect on the first feast of ‘giving thanks’ in 1621 between the Pilgrims (newcomers to America) and the Wampanoag Indians for a successful harvest. Almost 400 years later, you may find your host family enjoying roasted Turkey, pumpkin pie, visiting family, and watching American football. Of course having no school for a few days, is a nice bonus of Thanksgiving too!
From our family at American Home Life International, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! We invite you to think of what you can be thankful for this year in 2019! If this is a challenging or difficult time for you, we encourage you to talk with your Coordinator or host parent. They are there to support you and pray with you. If you are in a really happy place this season, then we rejoice with you. But in everything, we give thanks to have you here in the US with us.
Tiffanee
AHLI Executive Director
P.S. My Thanksgiving plans include travelling to Atlanta, Georgia with my family to visit my husband’s family where we will not eat American food, but Liberian food, the traditional food of my husband’s country!
