[Graeme S]

Originally Posted by CRS

Sounds like story time to me.

Let's get settled in neighbours, Mr. Rog... I mean Graeme is going to tell us such wonderful stories.

There's a fuckton, but basically it boils down to people who are greedy and look to homestays as a way of making money.

One family owns two houses next to each other, both with 5-7 students at a time, all paying $750. The family had holes cut outside the bathroom to turn off the hot water after 5 minutes of the beginning of the water running for a shower. Laundry could be done once and only once per week (one load only), only with cold water, and students had to provide their own laundry detergent. Food depended on which house you were in, and the homestay family ate totally different food from the students.

Another time, a student was living at a place, decided to skip on the food and just rent out the place; was paying $700, rent dropped to $450 w/o food (nanaimo station, I think). Student was living in the larger of two bedrooms (not large by any means), and was told after 5 months of living there that if she wanted to stay in the room, she'd have to pay $550, or she could move to the smaller one. I informed her of her rights under the RTA, showed her where she could get more info, and told her that she should talk with the host. Fast forward to the next day, where I find out that my student got screamed at, and massively shat on, that the host didn't believe a teacher told her these things and that my student was trying to "screw her", and that if she wanted to do things like that, then she would have to charge my student retroactively for all the common property my student used: toilet paper, paper towels, dish soap, hydro, etc etc.

One homestay I'm familiar with did not give their homestay students keys, but set a curfew of either 10:30 or 11. If the students weren't home by then, the doors would be locked and the students would not be allowed home until the host family was awake in the morning.

As I mentioned before, several students have had issues with the food: cereal and milk for breakfast (no biggie), two pieces of bread with a single slice of sandwich meat and an apple for lunch, and extremely subpar food for dinner. Many of my students also report that students are variously:
-Not allowed in the kitchen (at all, or after a certain time)
-Not allowed to cook
-Not allowed to bring their own food into the house
-Not allowed to have the same food as the host family

and so on and so forth.


I'm not at all saying that all host families are like this. I've also had some wonderful stories, too. One of my students' families has a cabin just off Galiano, which he can use anytime it's not being used by the family or rented out. Another almost became part of her host family, as they helped her to get oriented and find jobs and volunteer opportunities here. Still more have taken their students on trips, kept in touch with former students, and given them uniquely Canadian experiences.

The largest difference between the two categories it seems, is those who turn to homestaying as a revenue generator, rather than as a cultural exchange mechanism. A friend of mine who stayed in Finland with a homestay managed to integrate amazingly well, despite the complexity of the Finnish culture and Language. It turns out there's a certain placement of the fork and knife when dining at home which says "I don't want any more food". If you don't orient them properly, your family will continue piling the food on regardless of how stuffed you claim to be. It's these kinds of things that you can't learn from books or classes or any way other than integration--which in my mind is the purpose of being a homestay host.

Originally Posted by melloman

You guys really seem against all of this..

I wouldn't say I'm against it, exactly, but my issue is with the people who think it's just like doing your own thing and making extra money for it.

But overall it's not a bad way to get some extra cash.

Can't say that's untrue, as long as you're ready for the work.