Today feels a bit sad day really, as my Dad took the long flight home to England after four lovely weeks as our house guest. With the flight alone being a 34 hour round trip, friends and family from home who come visiting are always invited to stay as long as they can. It is a very long, expensive journey to do as a short stay.
We love having guests and offering them our hospitality. Brunei isn’t the most exciting place on any tourist map, but it is lovely to be able to share our everyday life, and the sights and sounds that we are used to with our nearest and dearest.
Most importantly, our little girl and her granddad have had an amazing time together and are thick as thieves now. At least we have FaceTime, so we will be able to catch up with him again at the weekend, but I think she is going to get a bit of a shock when she wakes up tomorrow and her ‘gaggy’ isn’t there. Such is expat life I guess.
I’ll admit I don’t have a raft of true ‘x’ words that sprang immediately to mind for this week’s challenge. Although lots of unwanted ‘ex’ words broke through unbidden into my thought process! Many true ‘x’ words are very technically to do with science or medicine, so when I stumbled upon xenial, I knew it was the perfect choice.
Xenial (adjective).
- of, relating to, or constituting hospitality or relations between host and guest and especially among the ancient Greeks between persons of different cities / relationship / customs.
- pertaining to hospitality.
- hospitality, especially to visiting strangers.
- the friendly relationship between a host and guest.
Word derivation: Greek xenios xenial (from xenos guest) + English -al
First known use: 1834.
“Xenial’ is a word which refers to the giving of gifts to strangers. . . . I know that having a good vocabulary doesn’t guarantee that I’m a good person. . . . But it does mean I’ve read a great deal. And in my experience, well-read people are less likely to be evil.”
(Lemony Snicket, The Slippery Slope).
readsbyredriverbanks 
Best of luck with your little one !! My son is always in his crankiest moods when my parents leave for their hometown. He and his grandpa are the best of pals.
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Thank you Mamta. It’s such a shame for the little ones isn’t it? It’s been a tough week here! Granddad left and we’ve all also had awful colds, as well as our little one teething quite badly. But today seems a bit better, so here’s hoping for a better week next week! 🙂
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Hi Jenny, you’ve taught me another new word!:) Know how difficult it is when family or friends leave after a stay. Always thought living away from home gets easier as the years go by, but saying goodbye gets harder. Hope the next few days aren’t too difficult.
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Great – I love it when that happens, thanks Aileen! 🙂 Yes, it’s pretty tough at times, and it does seem to get harder. The plus is that it makes the good times with friends and family all the sweeter when they happen, so it’s not all bad. Thanks for your kind thoughts. It’s been a tough week but we are on the up now!
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Loved this post, and I learned a new word! Thanks.
I am far away from the five grandchildren, and love FaceTime and Skype to get to see each other every couple of weeks.
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Thank you – I love to hear when people have enjoyed a Word for Wednesday post, and even better if they get a new word out of it!
My parents relocated us to Africa for a few years when I was young. Of course then there was no equivalent to FaceTime and Skype, so we had very little communication with grandparents. I feel so lucky to be able to give our daughter a really strong continuing relationship with her grandparents, thanks to tools like FaceTime. They really are a blessing.
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