A Visit from Ben

I realized the other day when I was looking back over my blog that I didn't really blog about when Ben came to America. Here is the short version. When I started teaching in Turkey, I became especially close to the 9th grade class, the same class that graduated last year. Ben was in that class. Over the years, I developed a close relationship with Ben. Sometimes this is hard to explain to people here because teachers and students don't have the same relationships in America that we did in Turkey. I think the best analogy is that the teachers really become aunts and sometimes big sisters to their students.

Okay, back to the short version, Ben wanted to come to America for his senior year of high school. After talking with my parents, he came to live with my family in July 2008. I introduced him to the South and the small town of Bedford. After graduation in 2009, he moved to Florida where he is currently enrolled in community college. I got to visit him in Florida this past summer. I'm hoping to make it down there one more time before I leave.

Ben really has become another member of our family. It was great to have him here in VA last week. We met up with one of our other friends from Turkey and had a blast. I made sure he got some good country food and of course we went to Macadoo's, one of mine & Ben's favorite restaurants.