Sunday, August 5, 2007

Aug 1 visit from Matt and Robert



We'd been looking forward to a visit from Matt and Robert for a number of weeks, and the day finally came. Matt (Mathieu) was our foreign exchange student 20 years ago, and he became part of our family. As a result, we've visited him and his family in the Netherlands a number of times since then, and Matt and his family have also visited us in the states. It's been about 8 years since we saw him (we were in Europe in 1999), and my first reaction to him, voiced with glee, was, "You've grown old, Matt!" We had a great chuckle from that. At 38, Matt qualifies to wear the title "prematurely gray."

As full of life as always, Matt has achieved a wonderful career. After his year here in the states, where he graduated from Poway High (graduation isn't required for foreign exchange students), Matt went to college in the Netherlands and became a teacher. He taught near his home for a while, and then he accepted an assignment to teach in Oman where he lived until last year. Robert was also in Oman. During their stay in Oman, Matt was part of a group who worked on a new curriculum for foreign students and became part of the team of trainers who travel to various parts of the world to train other teachers to use the curriculum. He travels about 30% of the year. When he and Robert return home from this trip to the U.S., Matt will travel to Malaysia to do some training.

What a treat it was to see Matt and to meet Robert. Such young men, with such dedication and energy, make this modern world seem so exciting!

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