Almost effortlessly though, Teo quickly became a part of our family. We watched him overcome the initial challenges an international exchange can present, grow and flourish. Our young daughter became like a little sister and funnily enough we were able to teach them both English at the same time. It’s part of our family folklore we’ll share with our girls one day, but I famously asked Teo to help Santa Claus and I set up the large trampoline on the night of Christmas Eve that Santa had bought for our daughter. Imagine the shock when on opening the box, the instructions were all written in a foreign language. Imagine our delight to discover those instructions were written in …… yep, you guessed it …. Swedish.

Still, it took us four hours to set up the blasted thing and Santa vowed never again to leave something like that to Christmas Eve.  When it came time for Teo to return to Sweden we said farewell and shed many tears – our daughter still has clear memories of that day despite only being three_ but somehow we knew we’d meet again someday. That came true in Wollongong of all places this week when we were able to reunite with a now 23-year-old Teo and reintroduce him to our family, which had grown by one in his six years away. I look back and realise how much that experience shaped our daughter. She has a greater understanding of other cultures and the reward of helping others. Take opportunities in life. You never know where they will lead.