My Host Family And My City!!!!!!!!

I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING!!!!! Ich werde nach Berlin gehen!! I am going to Berlin. Actually, it is a suburb that is a 15 minute bike ride to inner-city Berlin. It is called Kleinmachnow, Germany. My hosts are Terry, Bettina, Anton, and Ben Martin. They are so great! I love everything about them, we were perfectly matched and I wish to thank Rotary Youth Exchange for that!! Below is the letter they sent me and the family picture:

Dear Austin,

with delight we have heard from our Rotary Youth Exchance Officer, Herrn Buchheim, that we will be your first host parents in Germany. Thank you for your long letter in which we could already get to know you a little.  We are really looking forward to having you in our family! We – that is me, Bettina, and my husband Terry and Ben, our 13-year-old son. We also have another son called Anton. He is almost 16 years old and going to Taiwan with the Rotary Exchange Program in August.

We live in a beautiful green suburb in the South of Berlin called Kleinmachnow. We have a nice house with a garden, a chocolate lab called Fido and a black cat called Woody. The neighborhood here is very friendly and quiet, but at the same time it is very close to the wonderful and big city of Berlin. You will be going to the John-F.-Kennedy-School in Berlin-Zehlendorf.  It is a German-American bilingual and bicultural School, where both languages are spoken – German as well as English. The school is about 15 minutes away by bike (there is also a bus). Our two boys have been going to this school all their lives and really love it. They normally take the bike as many of their class mates. The school offers a lot of opportunities – sports, music, cultural experience. There are about 2.000 students from kindergarden up to Abitur (12^th grade). You have written that you love to play your saxophone. If you want you can probably  join the brass orchestra at school. I am sure, they will be happy to have a new member.  

You might now wonder, why our children go to an American-German school. It is because I am German and Terry American. He spent his first five years in Canada and then moved to North Carolina, before he came to Germany in 1990. Terry is a journalist and works for Deutsche Welle TV as well as for the European Union as a consultant.

I was born in Berlin and have lived here all my life. Except for 1 year, when I went to University at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. That´s where Terry and I met. I work in politics. When not working, we enjoy spending our time in nature – we have a canoo and like touring the Berlin waters with it. Ben and I love to play tennis. Terry regularly goes swimming. We  enjoy nice weather outside, go hiking  or biking with our dog. But we also tremendously enjoy to go to the theatre, museums or just spend time with friends.

Ben is already looking forward to having you as a “substitute brother”. He is a very friendly and sporty guy. He enjoys playing the violine and plays it in the school orchestra. He plays tennis and in the summer he plays on a baseball team. He loves that!

I am attaching a picture of us.

We are looking forward to hearing from you. If you have any questions and if we can help you with any information for getting ready for the big trip, let us know.

Herr Buchheim told us that the Rotary Club “Spree” will help you with German lessons at the beginning. Ben, Anton and I always speak German at home. So, you will have plenty of opportunity to dive into our language… ;-)

Please give your mom our best regards.

Yours,

Bettina, Terry, Ben and Anton



Happy to finally have a home and family! I cannot wait to meet them in person!