We had the privilege this weekend of hosting 2 special Olympic athletes and a coach from Italy for the Host Town program. Idaho, specifically Boise, Sun Valley, and McCall are hosting the Special Olympics World Winter games this week. Tom picked up Michael, Emiliano, and Herbert (the alpine skiing coach) late on Thursday night. Not speaking Italian, we wondered how we would communicate with our guests, but we had faith that everything would work out. After meeting our guests, Tom happily discovered that we had been assigned the only two German speaking athletes. Emiliano could not speak any English, Michael could speak German and Italian and one English phrase ("Hello, my name is Michael") and Herbert could speak a little English but German was his native language. Tom was able to brush up on his very rusty German and communicated so well with our guests. We spent the day Friday with them. I fixed them a continental breakfast of bagels, croissants, bran muffins, scrambled eggs and fresh fruit. I worried about not being able to serve them coffee, but they didn't complain. We spent the morning at the Boise Towne Square mall where lots of other Special Olympics Athletes were hanging out. It was fun walking through the mall and being greeted and welcomed by all sorts of people. We came home for lunch and I made them "Panini's"(I tried to think of sort of Italian food?), chips, fruit salad and valentine cookies and then we went downtown where we met at Bronco stadium for a tour of the blue turf and the new Sky box that had a great view of Boise. I'm not sure how impressed the Italians were with our "football" stadium. We then went to the Idaho Historical museum where they saw displays and demonstrations on calf roping, butter making, and hula hooping as well as our "world famous" two headed cow. I'm sure the Italians were impressed by that ;) They were tired at this point in the day so we came home and they napped. That evening, we dropped them off at our church for a "pot luck" dinner with the other Italian delegates. Tom and I had to miss the dinner so we could go to Centennial High School for Taylor's basketball game (which, Capital won!). The potluck dinner was a great success with lots of good American food and a blue grass type band and dance. The Seibels in our ward have a little band complete with banjo, auto harp and mandolin and they entertained the Italians. We got home from the dinner and they were exhausted, so they went to bed early. Saturday morning we fed them a pancake breakfast, then dropped them off at the Welcome Center out at the Factory Outlet mall. It was the Opening Ceremony later that afternoon. We were so sad to say goodbye to them. They were the sweetest, nicest people and it was so fun sharing cultures. Herbert is a physical therapist/osteopath in Italy and voluntarily coaches Special Olympics and the ParaOlympics. He was so kind working with Emiliano and Michael.
Taylor, Tom and I were able to get tickets to the Opening Ceremony out at the Idaho Center and it was a fantastic show. We cheered very loudly for our Italian friends as they marched in! The theme for the Special Olympics is "Be a Fan" and we are now definitely fans! We plan to go up to Bogus Basin this week to watch our new friends compete in the giant slalom, Super G and the Downhill. What a wonderful program the Special Olympics is and what a great opportunity Idaho has to host these people from all over the world! It is so fun being a part of the celebration!
5 comments:
So fun!! I'm glad you were brave enought to sign up to do that-- I'm sure they had just as wonderful an experience, and will be talking about it to their friends for years to come. I LOVED being able to see Frauke's house and way of life, and then my Haus Frau in Vienna too. Take pictures at the events!!
What a wonderful, sweet experience! I agree with Sara- that took courage to sign up and be part of that, but what a great blessing on both sides that you did! I didn't know Idaho had a two-headed cow. I'm from Idaho, too. I've been looking for a claim to fame!
Well, my heart's been melted a little more this week. We have had such a sweet experience these last few days. Emiliano Tinti, the little guy in the pictures (he is 33) with Down Syndrome, liked to hold your hand or your arm when ever you walked somewhere. What do you say when Emiliano sits at your table Saturday morning and asks the coach why he can't just stay with you? He kept telling his coach, "I want to stay here in this house with them." (They are staying in a hotel for the remainder of their stay here.) We aren't the brave ones. They are. I love the Special Olympics motto: LET ME WIN. BUT IF I CANNOT WIN, LET ME BE BRAVE IN THE ATTEMPT. I just love their very special bravery and was thrilled to be a part of it.
That is so neat that you guys and John and Cindy were able to participate in such a neat experience!
Wow! That is so great. What a blessing that they actually spoke German and Uncle Tom could communicate with them. Sounds like the chance of a lifetime to get to have them and to see the show. How cool.
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