Weddingbee boards

Ah, the ongoing saga of my exchange student issues!  I have a "what would you do" sort of dilemma - and I'd love some opinions.  Many of you read my two previous posts about our issues with our current foreign exchange student (you can read more here and here).  As of this weekend, we have additional information and also a new option.

On Saturday, our student was home for the first time for an entire day in over a month.  I worked with him to have his room cleaned up, his bathroom cleaned and his sheets washed (FINALLY).  At the end of our chat, he told us that at the end of June, he is going back to his home country for the summer.  

Then this morning, Homestay contacted us and left a voicemail stating that new students are in fact coming in March to begin Spring semester at the local college. The new students are the same nationality and gender as our current student.  In the message, we were told we could in fact get a new student next month - either in addition to the current one or in replacement of.

If we had BOTH students, this would be HUGE financially.  The increase in income would be $1250 a month above what we make on my unemployment and my husband's salary.  This actually puts us back to pre-layoff net income levels.  It would allow us to make some serious progress on our debt over the course of four months.  

So our options are listed above.  What would you do and why?

@Krises: We do have the space.  The students would each have a furnished bedroom and share a single bathroom between them.

@crh1729:  Basically the same. Refuses to actually talk with us about anything - key example, the drain in his bathtub was plugging up and he didn't say anything. When I stood in the bathroom explaining again how to clean it (third time he was shown) he goes "OH!" and shows me the tub full of dirt, hair and residual gunk from having a slow drain.  When I asked him how long it had been going on - two weeks.  AGAIN I say you have GOT to tell us whenever there is an issue! When we talked two weeks ago, I specifically said to him "you need to tell us if you need something, such as being out of toilet paper" because we at that point knew for a fact that he was out. He said nothing, so I waited.  So while we were cleaning, I said "are you out of this?" and he lied to me and said he ran out the day before.  I have NO IDEA why this kid refuses to bring up issues or talk to us about things.  I'm kind to him and so is my husband.

@Mrs.KMM: Boy do I feel silly.  I honestly didn't even consider this.  I may very well ask if this is an option for us.  

@daydreamwanderer: As for the TTC part, I think I did a poor job of explaining where we are with that.  In my other post, what I was trying to say is that the earliest we would get a new student would most likely be in the fall - and if we began TTC in the fall (which we have been discussing) and I got pregnant immediately, we would be asking that student to leave before June 2012 (i.e. about the point where I would be 6-8 months pregnant.)  I didn't feel right about taking a new student under that possibility.

That being said, my husband and I are working through some personal issues at the moment.  I've talked before about his depression (a totally new issue post-wedding, one I had no idea we would be dealing with) and he is in treatment for that.  We are also seeing a counselor together to work on things.  I'm 100% supportive of him getting to a healthy and happy place before we TTC.  So until we are ready, we will be holding off.

Update Ladies!

So that was fast!  Homestay has another student arriving March 18th and will place him with us as a second student.  We will be keeping our current student and adding the second, knowing our current student is leaving in June.  

They don't currently have two students to place at the same time.  We have one issue against us (our dog) so it's hard to find students that are A-OK with a big pooch.  Also, many don't want to live with another student of the same nationality.  This one is cool with both!

Hello $1250.  Let just hope that doesn't also mean 'hello, drama!'

Best of luck with the new arrangement!

@bakerella:  I have this concern too.  However, I've really grown to believe that this is a personal issue with the student, not a culture issue.  The new student will also be considerably younger - he expressed the desire in his application to live with a family who wants to include him in their lives.  If all else fails, we have the option now of having our current student leave at any time.  The homestay company knows I'm not pleased with how things have gone and she offered to move him for me before June.

@daydreamwanderer:  I'm actually writing house rules this afternoon, knowing this is something we really should have been more clear about with our current student.  I really feel like in the beginning, I was a little bit desperate for acceptance and income - this time around, I don't need to be walked on and won't let myself be.

I didnt read your other posts.. but if this student your currently have is a problem.

I'm worried he will make the new student a problem for you too.. I agree with the others maybe get two new ones.

UPDATE!

Our second student will be arriving on the 18th - and when he gets here, our current student will be away for spring break.  I'm looking forward to having a few days with our new student to get to know him a bit and lay down some serious ground rules.  I also hope this will mean they don't get too close and new student doesn't pick up current student's habits.  

Current student is only here through the end of June and isn't moving back to the Seattle area in fall, so I plan to encourage new stuent to make his own friends and do his own thing, since any friendship with our current student will end in a few months.

I do feel like I'm counting down the days until then however!  So tired of running Hotel Christa!

@bakerella: Thank you!

I've been working and re-working rules for the house for a week now.  The biggest two is that our current student is an 'adult' and stays out unitl whatever time in his car - the new student will not have a car.  Current student is now to be home no later than 11 pm on school nights and midnight on weekends - or he is to not come home at all. He will literally roll in at three or four am on weekends - and I can't continue to have that now that this student will need to follow the same rules.

The other rule is that they are supposed to be here to learn English and get an education - so in order to practice English, they are not to be speaking to each other in the house using their native language.  It's one thing to translate for each other, it's another to be sitting at my dinner table having an A + B conversation while C - my husband and I - are right there with them.  Nothing would upset me more than to constantly feel left out of a conversation in my own home.