Day 1 of welcoming in the Hong Kong students went terribly wrong.

For starters, my family is in Oklahoma due to the sudden loss of my grandfather which means that cleaning the house and odds-and-in jobs like getting groceries was up to me and my little 16-year-old brother. And lets get real, has anyone ever succeeded in motivating a teenager to clean the house for someone elses guests??? Heck no.

Then we get to throw into the mix that the house, for the first time since we moved in 15+ year ago, is getting the walls painted and our carpet taken out. Perfect timing, eh?! So if you were to walk into my home now, you'd see the no carpet, just stained green foam and some nails sticking up from the edges of the room. YUCK! If you didn't faint from that aweful sight you'd surly pass out from the fumes caused by the newly coated walls. Not to mention our furniture is moved to the center of the room and covered in clear plastic sheet protectors.
You won't here me say these phrases:
"Welcome, please make yourself feel right at home and take a seat on our furniture."
WAIT- we don't have furniture in our living room for them to sit on!

"Can I fix you something to eat?"
WAIT- we don't have an oven because the wall behind it is being painted and the kitchen table is covered in boxes!

Someone call the whaa bulance right?!
No help or a presentable house were things I couldn't control. I can accept that. But what I can't accept is my poor decision making. For example, my decision to print out directions to the airport at the last minute which caused me to be late for the grand arrival. Or my decision to not ask for help to pick up the students from the airport(Have you tried fitting 4 study abroad students luggage into one trunk???)
Really, what was I thinking???

If riding in a car for 2 hours with your luggage on your lap wasn't a 'Welcome to America' culture shock for the students then I defenitely won them over with they saw a cocroach run across the bathroom floor.

Wow. I tried...I mean I really tried to do a good job. My best does not even come close to doing the job.