So I just found out a German friend of mine stayed with fundie freaks

[da_chimperor]

during his foreign exchange to the states. He was in Rochester, NY, and his host family I would categorize as hard-core fundies. He and his host family lived in a very poor area because they tithed $2000 a month of their income to their church, his mother covered the eyes of his host brother (who was 16) whenever there was kissing on TV or while watching a movie, the church the family went to had people speaking in tongues in the basement, his host mother told him the devil was everywhere all the time, and he was made to spend 7 hours at church every Sunday despite him being an atheist. There was no heating in his room, so during the winter it was cold enough to make his cologne freeze. He had to pay this exchange as well. He and another german friend both eventually had to bypass the local exchange program coordinator and find new host families on their own. The local program coordinator was close friends with the host families of both my friend and his frend from germany and refused to move them to other host families despite the unacceptable conditions of the house (he told me it was all filthy except for his room) and his personal reasons for wanting to move (they were trying to convert him).

He lived with these people for 4 months, and the only reason he put up with them is because he was very good natured, and another friend of his (that I mentioned earlier) was staying with another fundie family that lived a few blocks away. Both had lots of fun making fun of their respecive host families. Pretty fucked up stuff for someone to be exposed to against their will, IMO, though he's none the worse for it. I was pretty damn amazed hearing this, because he's had an up close and personal experience with a side of America few in Europe know anything about. Anyhow, thought I'd share this interesting story with everyone. :hi:

Edit: Re-wrote it some so I don't sound like a total Moran.