This is Vilina Vidat! She is our exchange student from Beijing. It all happened really fast. Our high school friend Andy Hogan speaks Chinese and has a lot of Chinese friends. He has a friend who is a guitarist from Mainland, who also happens to be Uigher, one of China’s ethnic minorities. This is a tight knit community, so Andy knows a lot of Uighers through Kerman, the guitarist. Andy messaged me to ask if we knew a family interested in hosting an 11yo girl from Beijing. Her parents wanted a family who is into music and ballet. Scott and I talked about it and it seemed like to would be easy, compared to Frank, a 17yo boy. We loved Frank, but it was nice to have that space open again when he left. So we didn’t think we’d do another exchange student, but Vilina seemed like a good fit. Xanthe was immediately onboard, so we said yes. She was born in Boston, so she has dual citizenship. Because of that, enrolling her in school was fairly easy.

We thought Vilina would be in 6th grade, but it turned out when she arrived, she was only 10. So she’s in 5th grade. She is a remarkable person, to travel here all alone at such a tender age. Her English is nascent, but she learns quickly. She is happy, always singing and dancing and teasing Ptolemy. She isn’t shy, but she’s quiet. She gets along great with Xanthe, and everyone is happy.

I am looking forward to her meeting Golda and Ruby when they get back. I wish she and Golda spoke the same dialect, but oh well.  Vilina is a fun girl, and we are happy to have her in the family!