Oops I did it again.

Well, I know I said I wasn't going to have an exchange student this year, but here I am with one. The battle was lost by increments. It started by Betsy asking if we could house a student from China for a couple weeks until she could place her. I said sure, we could do that. That might be fun for a couple of weeks. When Betsy asked if I thought the school would take her this late in the school year, my ears pricked up a bit. "Why", I asked by way of email, "would she need to enroll in school here if she's going to be placed elsewhere?"

Radio Silence.

Then, a couple of days later. "Could she stay until January? I think I can place her in Silver Spring after January." Hmm...I thought. She'd love it in Silver Spring. "She was placed in a school in St. Mary's County that I had not used before. It has on on-site nursery for all the pregnant teen moms so they can still go to school when they have their babies. She's a little scared there, and she's not going to school at all this week."

Mom Silence.

"Um....yes. She can stay here until January." How could I leave her there? Any longer, and she'd not be able to transfer to another school, and she'd be stuck there. I could not let her think that all of America was like that. Of course, I knew at that moment that she'd really be here all year. How could I kick the girl out?

There was a need for an on-site nursery at a high school? I am still not wrapping my head around that one.

So, here we are, with Xiaoxiao Wang, a.k.a Veronica, a.k.a Sissi. We call her Xiaoxiao. I saw no reason to take a fake name for such an easy-to-pronounce real name. Then I heard the woman in the guidance office try to say it. I had no idea it would be so hard. Had these people never heard of Xuxa, the Brazilian Playboy Centerfold and children's TV host? I know a co-worker that was mad over her (never mind he thought she was Swedish. Apparently, if you are blonde, wear tin soldier costumes and have an accent, you MUST be Swedish.). Anyway, my point is that XuXa is much harder to parse than Xiaoxiao and SHE never changed HER name for the American audience. But then again, I overestimate the worldliness of Americans. Heck, If I hear WAAAng one more time I'M gonna scream. Jerry, wherever you are, I know it's always said WOng. You taught me well. There is no long "a" in Mandarin. I think Xiaoxiao has dropped the "Veronica" she arrived with, and goes by Sissi now. Sissy the Austrian Princess. It's a famous Austrian movie that is Germany's beloved movie, like "Wizard of Oz"is ours (Thank you Verena!). It seems it was also a big thing in China. Weird Synchronicity, eh?

Xiaoxiao is from Beijing. She is very invested in going to college in the U.S. She spends most of her time in her room studying. Good thing I spent that last week before she came, ripping down the rest of the awful 1970's wallpaper and ramming up the new paint. I just put a built-in small desk in the niche in her room this week. We see her for meals, and that's about it. At least she comes out now. Last week she was in tears, trying to study U.S. History. Oh my god, like she could EVER find a translation for "Grange" in her little translator doohickie!

Now she will allow us to help her, and I see some of the stress lifting from her. I hope she will not spend all of her time studying. She will miss so much here if she does. We can't possibly show here the U.S like we did Verena. We simply can't afford it. She does, however, seem to be very eager to take the bull by the horns (that's a joke for those of you in the know) and plunge into events without any prompting forom us--like the Homecoming Dance. Heck, she's already got her dress!