It seemed like it was only a few days ago that we agreed to host an exchange student and now the time was upon us to meet her at the airport. We spent the last week or so repainting our deck and getting other chores done around the house, which I suppose is what made the time fly by so quickly. You always think you’re prepared until the last minute worries kick in. Hopefully we haven’t forgotten something.

We arrived at the airport in Sacramento about an hour before Linh’s flight was to arrive. We knew on the way that her flight from LA was going to be late, but that just gave us some extra time to park and make our way into the terminal. We brought a sign to hold up for her so she’d know it was us. Little did I know that her plane would only have about 30 people on it and we’d be the only ones greeting their arrival. Once the passengers started making their way down the escalator the anticipation kicked in. As it turned out she was the last one off the plane. Once she saw our sign a big smile broke out on her tired face. She’d been on a plane or in an airport for the past 20 hours.

We took a quick photo together and then grabbed her bags off the luggage carousel. I think her bags weighed more than she does. She’s tiny! I think she’s barely 5 feet tall and is not even close to breaking triple digits on the scale. I probably could have put her in my pocket and saved her the long walk to the car.

We stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe on the way home for a quick bite to eat. She’d already eaten, but we were starved after not having eaten all day. She enjoyed the music, but admitted she’d only heard of Michael Jackson and Britney Spears. Hopefully that means we won’t be listening to the Jonas Brothers this year. Ack!

It’s about 9:00am and Linh’s still asleep. I imagine she won’t be getting out of bed for a while. Between the jet lag and the long day she’s exhausted. Hopefully the next several months will be a fun adventure for her.