Arrival of a stranger
It was the last day of the school year; Mr Phillips was directing everybody into the school hall, the front row was full of giddy first years delaying the start,
“every body please be quiet, john Roberts see me after assembly”
“ok as you all should know already, Tomorrow, the year elevens will each be assigned a foreign exchange student who will be staying with them for the next 6 weeks, the list of names and information is in the cross corridor and as from Tomorrow the students will arrive for the summer.”
I was nervous, I had never before met a foreign person, and I had no clue as to what he/she might be like. I approached the list of names anxiously as a crowd of people covered my view, all with the same intentions as mine, everybody was pushing and shoving, trying to see the name of there assigned student. And as I finally struggled through, I saw it…
Student - Chris Parker - Assigned student - Emanuel Sanchez - Spain.
Emanuel Sanchez, the person who was soon to be spending summer living with me I kept thinking of what this boy would look like, what would he wear? How would he speak? Will he be friendly?
Then came the end of the day, no more school, we were walking home for the last time
“where’s yours from Chris?”
Said Ricky sanders, obviously referring to my assigned foreign student.
“Hes from Spain, and hes called Emanuel Sanchez”
“mines from Belgium, I bet they can’t even speak English!”
Ricky was about average height for his age, and always made a joke out of things, he was a popular boy and everyone knew his name, whereas I liked to have just a small group of friends. So I said goodbye to Ricky and went into my house, there was a suitcase it the hallway,
“Mum what’s this suitca -… oh”
as I walked into the living room there he was, a tall half caste boy, he looked much older than 15 more like 17 or 18, he came across very nervous and out of place, sat in my living room with a women he had never met before, I couldn’t imagine how he must have felt, and I knew it was him. Emanuel Sanchez.
“Hi Chris this is Emanuel, he arrived early and got here about an hour ago”
“Hi”
I said in a rather surprised tone, I was just as nervous as him I didn’t know how to react, it was very awkward to meet someone all of a sudden, especially someone foreign!
“Well don’t just stand there, are you going to show Emanuel where he will be staying for the next 5 weeks?”
“Oh yeah sorry, just follow me”
I guided him upstairs towards my bedroom, to help him unpack, I tried my hardest to make him feel welcome but there was an uncomfortable feeling between us.
“You can have the sofa bed, if you want, or would you like me to have it?”
This was the first time I had addressed Emanuel and I didn’t know how he would reply,
“its ok I will stay on the sofa bed”
his voice had a distinct tone, with an accent that I had never heared before. He began unpacking his suitcase, as I was setting up his bed, there was a silence, I didn’t know what to say to him
“So do you like Italy then?”
