Well each of us will make one post each about our stay with our host families, but I know I speak for the group when I say that it was the best part of our trip thus far. I stayed with the Bosseler family in Wiltz, Luxembourg, which is a small village on this huge hill. My "dad", Arnaud, was a veterinarian for large and small animals, and he stayed involved in his work, constantly being on call in case of problems on local farms. He even told us that he would much rather perform c-sections all day then be out living and partying in the city. My mother, Marion was a sweet and talented women in cuisine, orchestra, sewing, and teaching. Needless to say I never went hungry during my time, always partaking in 4 course meals. She plays in the local orchestra and likes to sew magnificent costumes for all the children in the small plays. While she is not a teacher right now, she is very good at teaching languages and knows 5 (that I know of). My sister Aline was 18, and a wonderful dancer. It was very nice to have someone my age to hang out with and talk to. My brother Julian was 14 and he really liked animals, having rabbits, scorpions, insects, fish, a rat, lizards, and "the one thousand feet" insect (<--i think this was the name for a centipede lost in translation...but this thing wrapped around his hand and was about a foot long). The family had a beautiful estate with two dogs and some chickens.
Our first night we went to eat dinner at the Putz's, a family I became very close with as well. They had a daughter Natacha who was 20 and a son who was 17. They were very kind and made us a HUGE dinner full of fresh food. The next morning Natacha took us kids to the show in Ettelbruck, where we had to judge and help out before the sale. We walked around with her and got to know her really well. The class we had to judge was Holstein cows, and there were 8. I thought I did alright, up until our German judge put my last placed cow in 5th; that threw things off a bit. After helping out in the sale tent with the animals all afternoon, we got ready for the sale which started after 8. I was able to lead 2 small calves, one of which was the first of the sale going for 5,000 euros, while my second calf was 3200 euros. I really enjoyed helping out and talking with the fitters and herdsman of the cattle. The experience was truly rewarding.
The next day we woke up and the Putz's came again with our family to visit some local farms. We crossed the field in our back yard to go up to a dairy goat operation, which had over 600 goats. The farm milked 550 goats with a carousel milker that was able to milk 300 in one hour. He then showed us his greatest producing milker, who milks 16 liters! The next farm was a dairy farm, where the farmer was truly passionate about his cows. He had a dedication to them like one I haven't quite yet seen, and his milkhouse was beyond clean and organized. It was most likely cleaner than the bathroom in my house at home! Then we went to another dairy farm, which was smaller and had Belgian Blues on it. My dad Arnaud and Raol Putz do not like Belgian Blues, because of the risk and complications that occur with such high volume muscle. I'm no beef expert, but what they said made sense.
After another grand lunch we decided to go to the lake for a swim. Only Natacha, her brother and I went swimming, but the water felt great after such hot days in the sun! Apparently the lake is about 50meters deep, which is a longgg way down in american measurement. After that we went to the BBQ at the fairgrounds, where we saw all of the dairy kids with their host families. Natacha told me to try the keiswurscht, which is sausage with cheese inside...lets just say I'm glad I took her advice! After staying for a little while and conversing, the Putz's and my family headed to Luxembourg City. We met up with Arnaud's sister who lovesss to party. In the city was beautiful architecture and old buildings, whose history moved me. We went to this large concert by this spiritual rock band Kneudler in the open courtyard. Then we went to see the fort of Luxembourg, which Raol avidly described its background from the longg ago all the way to around WWI and WWII. (leave it to me, the history buff). Then we decided to go to the "disco" which is a club. I had lots of fun dancing with Aline and everyone for long hours of the night. We got home at 430am and went to bed at 5. (Some Luxembourg people will do this every weekend)!
After lunch the next morning (it was too late to eat breakfast) we packed up our things and went home, but not without seeing our dad's awesome vet office that existed inside his house! It was unbelievable with a waiting room, a surgery/examining room, and then a large medicine closet room. When they dropped us off there were teary goodbyes and as the bus pulled away I made the realization that no matter what location or what language is spoken,the people are the same. They had a natural goodness that made me feel at home, while away from home and I will never forget my stay with them.
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