Erika and I tried to guess which parents would be ours. There were two black people, one woman who laughed a lot, another who looked very strict, two very old women and so on. We wished to stay with one of the black ladies. But when Jeff mentioned Erikas and mine, the woman with the strict face came up to us; We smiled.
We introduced ourselves and the old woman told us her name: Mrs Ramm. Then we walked to her car and tried to put our suitcases into the boot but it didnt work, they were too heavy. But together we managed and the spirit was eased.
During our homeward journey by car we talked a lot. First Erika was a little shy, so I had to do all the talking. I told Mrs Ramm about my first travel to Brighton last summer. Mrs Ramm informed us about life and living conditions in Welling..
Our new home was a nice old house surrounded by lots of plants. Everything in the house was old but it looked very comfortable and I immediately felt homey. Something was really strange: in the kitchen there was a washing machine. Over our dining table socks, underwear and T-shirts had been hung up to dry.
Our room was quite big and wonderful. We had a tester bed, lots of Chinese accessories and three cupboards.
"Girls, dinner is ready! our new mother shouted. It smelled delicious - the old woman was getting nicer from minute to minute.
On our first evening dinner was tortellini with cheese and tomato sauce- very tasteful! In the course of the week we got beef with potatoes and vegetables, chicken with chips and vegetable and once we enjoyed an omelette with chips.
Everything tasted quite good and Erika and I always cleared our plates, so that Mrs Ramm was satisfied.
Just one thing we did not like: the salad. On it there were mustard and other strange dips.
The best was that after dinner we always got a dessert, often an ice cream- yummy!
Breakfast also was very tasteful, however, we regretted getting such a small portion, we could have eaten more. During the whole week we were only at home for breakfast, dinner and sleeping.
Of course, we talked with her, and after one day Erika and I found out that Mrs Ramm also had a husband living in that house with us. But unfortunately we got to meet him not until the third day: he was a musician, quite airy and very nice. Erika and I saw him and liked him from the first minute on. He talked a lot, once he even played cards with us!! We had a lot of fun with Dave, but he wasnt at home very often because he had a lot of gigs.
They also had grown-up children but they lived far away with their families.
Mrs Ramm explained everything to us: how we get to Welling station, where we should go shopping, what the weather is like the weather in England etc. She was nice but also very uptight and firm, she came across like a very strict teacher.
On Saturday evening we stayed out until 9 p.m. because my friends and I had so much fun. When Erika and I returned home, Mrs Ramm opened the door and was very angry. She had worried and did not want us to return home so late! She also had phoned Jeff, who had had phoned our teachers. I got really angry and told her that we were allowed to stay out until half past ten. She had to accept that, anyway it was a strange atmosphere.
Altogether I really liked staying with a guest family and the whole journey to London was quite a success. I was sad that we did not stay longer.