New Host Families in Monteverde

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We arrived in Monteverde yesterday afternoon for the last week of the program. It's hard to believe that we have been in Costa Rica for three weeks!

We had an exciting weekend, but that entry will take a while to put together. For now, I just wanted to get pictures of new host families up and available fairly quickly, so they will be the focus of this entry.

We arrived a bit early and had to wait a little while for the families, who had a set time to pick us up. But then, Sonia (a different Sonia), the host family coordinator in Monteverde, came and got on her cell phone and started calling the families. In just a few minutes, they were arriving quickly from all directions. I got pictures of almost everyone, but not quite. Lisa was not feeling well and Sarah's family came and whisked her off while I was taking pictures of the others. I'm sorry that there are no pictures of those two families. Lisa also missed getting her picture taken with her host mother the first time, and I promised to include that later, so that picture appears here. I can't promise, but we will try to get a picture of Sarah's new host family to put up this week.

By the way, we had a brief orientation and classes started today on a new campus with our fourth set (one per week) of teachers. Here in Monteverde, our group has classes in the afternoon instead of in the morning. Most are reporting that they preferred having class in the morning starting at 8:00, which was the case at CPI Heredia. Imagine that!

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Photos

Honorary Red Wolf
Johnny became an honorary ASU Red Wolf at our last stop before Monteverde.

Front Seat Team
Randy rode most of the way in the front seat with Johnny and Wiley, our driver. Even with one flat tire and some crazy roads, Wiley got us to Monteverde safely.

Waiting
Everyone was a bit nervous waiting for the new host families to arrive.

Addie
Addie's host mother arrived first.

Justin
Justin's host father was a real character when he arrived.

Randy
Randy's entire host family showed up.

Sara
Sara's whole family came to pick her up, too. Her host father seems to be very strong!

Jasmine
Jasmine's host mother seemed to be very sweet and kind.

Morgan
Morgan's new host father seemed to be very friendly.

Ginger
I almost missed getting a picture of Ginger and her host mother, but they waited a little bit and here is the photo.

Nicole
Nicole and her host mother also had to wait for me to catch up with them, but here they are.

Lisa
This is Lisa and her first host mother outside her house in San Joaquin.

Sarah
Sarah got very close to her first host family, so I thought it would be nice to post this picture again (since I missed getting a shot of her new host family).

Orientation Session
There was a brief orientation to Monteverde and the CPI campus here this afternoon.

Listening
The group listened closely to Daniel, a CPI Monteverde staff member.

One of the Class Groups
Jasmine, Randy, Ginger and Justin with their new teacher, Magaly, in Monteverde. (Sorry I couldn't get all of the groups).

Comments

[gina]

sara!!!!!! i hope you are having the time of your life!!! enjoy monteverde and your new host family!!!! we cannot wait to see you home safe and sound on sunday!!!! can't wait to hear all about your bungee jump!!! we certainly miss you and look forward to hearing some very entertaining stories of your most wonderful adventure away from home. hugs and kisses. we love you!!!

[Tami Jones]

Hurricane?
Are you all getting any of the rain from hurricane Alex?

[Dr O]

No hurricanes here now
No, Alex didn't affect us at all. We weren't even aware of it until it hit the Cancun area. On the other hand, we do get daily rain, since it's the rainy season here, but we have been very lucky. During our time here, has never rained for more than a couple of hours straight and certainly not for several days in a row. Let's hope that our good luck holds for the rest of the week!