Things to consider​

PERSONAL NARRATIVE OUTLINE:

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Izabela Zbyrowska

 

The place is my host parents’ house in Indianapolis, Indiana. This place means a lot to me because first of all this is is the very first place I came to when I first came to the United States of America. Secondly this place is where I grown up so much as an individual because of my host parents. We have a very interesting relationship. I was their 12th exchange student that they decided to host. Even though they have hosted 11 other exchange students before me and are also hosting one right now, I was the only one to come back and actually continue my education here in the states. A lot of things happened in their house. Many stories both funny and exciting, as well as some sad and frustrating.

 

Their house is located in a really nice and safe neighborhood in Indianapolis. The kind of neighborhood you see in the movies, where everyone knows each other. You would see people jogging in the mornings and everyone knows their neighbors name. Their house is located in one of the courts there, so there are not many cars that drive by. The house has a basement, two floors, and a garage that fits two cars. When you walk in from the front door right in front of you are the stairs that will take you the second floor. If you go to the right first you would see a small restroom to your right if you keep walking you will end up in the kitchen. Here they have a big dining table that easily fits six people. To the right there is a kitchen island, which is where they would prepare their meals. Behind the island is the oven, the fridge, and all the other things one needs to have in their kitchen. If you continue walking that direction you would end up seeing a door. This door is to a really tiny room where they keep their laundry machine, dryer, and all other cleaning materials. In this room there is also another door, which leads to the garage. Next to the fridge there is another room, where they have a bed and a computer. Here they would occasionally put guests in, if all the other bedrooms are taken. From the kitchen if you turn around and walk back to the dining table, you would find another door which would lead to the basement. They have the basement divided in two. When you get downstairs you can either turn right, or turn left. If you turn right you would see a big tennis table, a coach, and many sowing materials. If you turn left you would see an old treadmill, an electric guitar, an electric piano, and big drums. If we walk back upstairs to the first floor, and turn to the left of the dining table this time, we would end up in the living room. Here they have a vertical piano, a few nightstands with a lot of pictures, a very nice chandelier, two big couches, two big lazy boys, a coffee table, and a big TV. If we take the stairs to the second floor, you would see five doors. The first two would lead to the bedrooms their kids grew up in. Both of the rooms have a TVs,  desks, beds, and closets in them. The third door is where they keep all of towels they have, which is probably about a hundred. The door next is the bathroom. The last door leads to the master bedroom. It is a big room with a lot of open space. Here they have a big bed, a big mirror, a small coach, a huge window, two closets, and many other small things not worth mentioning like bunch of dog toys. In the master bedroom they also have their own bathroom. In the bathroom they have a shower, toilet, two sinks, and a pink bathtub.

I remember the very first time I got inside this house. It was the year 2013 and I was 17 years old. It was my very first time flying to America. After a few very long flights, Linda and Steve Koerner (my host parents), picked me up from the airport. We went straight to their house. It was in the late afternoon, a warm day in July. When we got there, we first sat on the table and we had some home made food. While eating we had conversations about me. They were trying to get to know me better. They would ask me questions like: what is my favourite dish? What are my hobbies? Do I like watching TV?, etc. I remember how nervous, and shy I was because I wanted to make a good first impression. After we ate we went to the living room to watch a movie. I didn’t last the whole movie. They saw me falling asleep on the couch so they took me to the room I was going to stay at. Little did they know that I would be using this room for not just one year, but five years as of now and counting.

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Many of the nice memories I would have from this house were made in the master bedroom. Here I would come for both serious conversations and to also just joke around. I remember the first time from many that I walked in this room and my host father was reading his BIble. He would always do his readings there on a specific chair. That was the first year I was there. It is worth mentioning that when I first came to the U.S. I was not a Christian or any other type of believer. Now that has changed. The reason that has changed is because of my host parents, and specifically because of my host father Steve. He saw me after I have walked in the bedroom. He was very excited and wanted to read a little bit of the Bible to me. I agreed mostly because I wanted to be polite. He read. We talked. I had questions. And we also might have had a few arguments and disagreements about it. Over all, the first time he read the Bible to me I was not the most happiest, but that has definitely changed over the years.

 

One other memory I have in this house happened in the dining table. This was more recent, about two years ago. It was me and my host mother Linda. I have asked her to help me with a problem I was having about a company that I was buying hair products from. I bought a few hair products from them but what happened was that somehow I signed up for getting their products every month. Let me say that their products were very expensive. So I ended up calling them on the phone with my host mother being next to me. The phone call was on speaker. She ended up taking over the phone call and she was the one talking to the other person. It was a very heated, long conversation. It was very frustrating because they wanted me to continue paying for a few more months because that is what their contract said. My host mother ended up being able to break the contract but I still had to pay some amount to them for the products they have already sent me.