Two steps forward...

One of our issues around the house has been friction between Nasreen and Oksana.  Nothing really blatant, but subtle refusal to ask each other for help, just not saying anything to each other, orchestrating seating at the dinner table so they don't sit next to each other.  There really hasn't been enough to correct, but we've been aware of the tension. 

It's hard to know whether to put more of the blame on one girl or the other.  Sometimes I just feel the cultural differences are so great that I'm misinterpreting their coldness toward each other.

Recently, however, they both attended homecoming.  Without going into too much detail, one of the girls had another exchange student attend with her, and I felt they were rude to our other student.  And, finally some complaints started to come out. 

It was good to hear the girls actually start to share their feelings about the tension rather than just keep it inside, because it made a place to begin talking about what has been happening. 

The other afternoon, Dad sat down with the girls and pointed out to them that they need to learn to get along.  He told them that if they have a bad year here, it won't be because our family has failed to provide the right atmosphere, but because they have not tried to get along with each other.  And, honestly, I think it's such a great opportunity for them to learn about another culture besides the US during their exchange year, if they will only open themselves up to each other.

For a day or two, nothing changed. Then suddenly on Friday, Audrey commented that they were walking down the road to the bus stop next to each other, talking in the morning.  And when they came home from school they were laughing and talking about fashion and how they were learning phrases in each other's languages!  Breakthrough!

I don't know exactly why they turned this corner, but I hope we continue to make progress.

In the meantime, I'm going to continue to accidentally seat them next to each other at meals.