Oops! What's Wrong With This Picture?

Here is a picture of the first time the EIS exchange group danced for the Apostilica? As you can see, Mia is not in costume. She is normally pretty good at remembering everything she needs for school, however she does tend to depend on me to make sure every "i" is dotted and every "t" is crossed. I think this trip will be a good lesson for her in not being so dependent on Mom for every little thing. When I spoke with her she didn't realize I knew she had forgotten her costume. When I said "did you forget your costume?", she replied "maybe" and then when I said "did you know you were supposed to take it?" her response was "not really". So, something tells me she won't forget it again :-). I haven't spoken with her or IM'd since Wednesday. Helen has been wonderful about e-mailing me each day with a little recap about her day. She was attending a birthday party yesterday for the other student she is staying with the second half of the exchange. And they were dancing again yesterday. The mom mentioned she would be taking her costume...lol.

I must admit I feel a bit information starved. It is very strange not to know what my child is doing each day....how she feels, how her day went, what she's doing, etc. But I feel secure knowing "no news is good news". I have no fear that all is well and she is fine, it's just an adjustment not being so "involved" in her day to day life. I'm sure it will get more familiar as the weeks pass. Thanks for stopping by....Melinda

Pictures Finally!

I got on IM with Mia last night after the phone call and she had received her uniform for the Apostilica (that is the name of the school). Above are some pictures of Mia in her new uniform as well as a picture of her with "Puchi", Emily's cousin's dog. Emily took some pictures and sent them to me over IM. I was thrilled to get them.. Wanted to post and show everyone. Also, I've heard from several other moms who are communicating with their children and they are also doing well, but also being very cryptic on the phone and e-mail with information. They say it is very normal, so that made me feel better. Thanks for visiting. Melinda

Phone Call To Mia

I had my first official weekly phone call with Mia tonight. She was her usual, unchatty self on the phone! The main thing she did want to tell me was she had been stung by a bee that day at a picnic they had after school for the exchange students. She was wearing pants, but somehow it stung her on the knee. She immediately wanted me to know she was NOT messing with it as she had not even seen it and I have always told her that if she does not mess with them, they will not hurt her. So, she scolded me for that one. I had to tell her, "well, they usually don't, maybe it got up inside your pants and it got mad". She said she did cry and that is the only time she has cried since being there, which I guess is a good thing.

She is in class with Lily and MacKinlee, which she was very happy about. Lily is in the middle of the picture above. The other girl is Emily Jarnigan, who moved to California last summer, but was still able to go on the exchange. She and Mia had become BFF's before she left, so Mia is enjoying getting to see her on the exchange. She and her host student, Emily, had their first Ariba Dancing (belly dancing) lesson last night and she said it was fun. She said the school is very large, like a college, and they get two recesses, however there is no playground, so the kids "just run around acting crazy" during the recesses. They only have "snacks", so they have to take their lunch, which is what she usually did at home. I asked how the food was and she just said "OK". She said she is sleeping all right, but wasn't sure what time she was going to bed. She did sound tired, but said her bee sting was still hurting. Overall, she said she was having a good time and was glad she was there. She did say Lily had cried some due to homesickness, but most of the other kids were doing very well. I encouraged her to please take some pictures, so hopefully we'll get some soon.

I think all in all, she is doing well. Thanks for visiting. Melinda

I Messaged With Mia Yesterday!

Yesterday I was home still relaxing and catching up on all my backlog of TiVo shows and lo and behold Mia popped up on MSN Messenger! We got to "chat" for awhile and she was able to see the dogs and I on the webcam. Unfortunately her family does not have a camera so I could not see her, but I think she enjoyed seeing us (especially Scamp & Lacy). She said she was having a lot of fun and even typed "I thought I would be sad, but I am happy". Needless to say, I was very relieved to hear that and told her so. I got an e-mail from Helen and she said that day they met all their family and went on a big double decker bus tour of SLP and fed birds (pigeons and doves) and Mia enjoyed it because they would come right up to her. She did say Mia had a little trouble going to sleep last night because she was somewhat nervous about her first day of school, which is expected. Above is a picture of most of the group from their party at Carl's Jr. on Saturday. Emily is in red. I don't see Mia's second host student, Karen. Some of the other kids are missing. I heard that not everyone was able to attend the party. I asked Mia to PLEASE take pictures and send me some, but who knows if that will happen. I hope so.

Mia and I were trying to determine what day would be the best day of the week for me to call and she told me "any day but Tuesday or Thursday". I said how about Saturday or Sunday? She responded "well, we are very busy on Saturdays with lots of activities". Well now, hope she can fit me into her busy schedule :-). I'm so glad she is having a good time. I must admit it was nice not having to get up and get her to school this morning, but I know about a week from now, I am going to miss those hugs! Already do, actually. Thanks for stopping by.....Melinda

Mia Made it to SLP!!!!

Well, Mia made it to SLP. Above are some pics one of the host families sent to another family. The one on the bottom right shows Mia's host student, Emily, seeing Mia (she is in blue jacket with red at bottom) and her mother, Helen, (in black with reddish hair). You can see they had quite the festivities for their arrival. In the picture on top, you can see Mia in the background to the left. I got a nice note from Helen late last night saying all the kids and families had gone to Carl's Jr. for lunch after the airport. We parents all laughed because we thought they probably went there thinking that was a nice American place to take our kids, however none of us ever go there :-). She said afterwards they went to a mall, which is where the other picture of Mia and Emily was taken. Mia called me about 5 p.m. Most parents had heard from their kids by then, so I was on pins and needles waiting to hear from her. She sounded very tired and a little overwhelmed but overall OK. I could hear people in the background speaking Spanish 90 miles an hour. She was not very talkative and just answered my many questions with "yes, no, uh huh", but when I said "are you OK?" she said "uh huh" and it sounded sincere. She did say she would have her own room, which was different than what I had expected. I thought she would be sharing with Emily. I asked if that was going to be all right and she said "yeah". I've been told that sometimes this first day is the hardest for the kids because they are away from the group and feel more "alone", but the fact that she does already know Emily will help, I am sure. As for me, my first day and night was actually good as I was exhausted and pretty much just slept off and on all day and straightened up the house (sort of), when I wasn't checking the computer for updates from other families and talking to my friend, Rhonda, MacKinlee's mom! Thanks for stopping by...Melinda