Two of these things are not like the other . . .

Got a little quiz for you.

I'm going to show you a picture of five children. Three of them are mine and two have been visiting for the last week. Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to pick the two that don't belong to me.

Ready? Here's the picture -

I know it's tough but think hard. Which two do not share my gene pool?

If you guessed the two boys with flags on their shirts you'd be RIGHT. Let me introduce you to a couple of sweeties - Hao Jun Ye and Pei Yu Chen! They're part of a short-term exchange group and have been with us since last Saturday.

These two sweet boys chose American names for themselves - Charlie and Jack - which completely saved my life because they've been with us for 7 days and I still can't pronounce their Chinese names.

I asked them to give me a Chinese name and they began whispering and laughing with each other. I suggested a Chinese word that meant "Goddess of everything good and beautiful" but they didn't take the hint. They're still trying to figure it out. I'll probably end up with a name that means "bonehead" in Chinese and I'll be the only one who doesn't know it. I will very confidently approach Asian people and tell them:

嗨！我的名字是笨蛋！这是非常高兴见到你。
(Hi! My name is Bonehead! It's very nice to meet you."
We've had an interesting time trying to communicate. Their English is very poor and my Chinese is nonexistent. It's been especially hard at mealtimes. They aren't very impressed with American food.
I tried to impress upon them that I'm a very influential, famous food blogger and they were doing serious damage to my self-confidence with their refusal to eat the food I cooked.
I take that back. Charlie, the taller of the two boys, eats the food - actually cleans his plate! - while I look on approvingly. When I smile and ask, "You like it?", expecting him to ask for seconds, he shakes his head "no".
Jack, the little one, picks at the food and pushes it around his plate. About the only thing he likes are chocolate chip Eggos.It's a real blow to my ego, I tell you.
However, there is something they understand very well . .




. . . they speak the universal language of Nerf,




and Slip 'N Slides,




and fireworks!

We examined the possibility that we'd be sitting around staring at each other in silence for 10 days.

Fortunately for all of us, the language barrier came down quickly.

Nerf and Slip 'N Slides - the new ambassadors for America.

They leave on Monday and we'll be sad to see them go.

What a couple of sweeties.