Here is Hannes and Louise. The couple. They were so cute together. He's from Germany, she's from Denmark. And they just hung out all the time. We had a campfire outside the hostel in the trees and they sat together under the same blanket. Awwwwww.....
Here is Eleanor with brownie. Those are her super adorable dog pajamas. They played Uno almost the whole evening while the students did their orientation activities.
And here's Karen, corrupting the students with a poker game. Gambling is like the only addictive thing other than caffeine that's legal for these poor exchange students. No alcohol, no driving, no drugs, no getting pregnant. See, I think we're not allowing them the full teenage experience because of these rules. Not that they always get followed.
I drove Anna, from Belgium, to and from the orientation. She lives in Half Moon Bay, which is right on the coast and it was easy for me to pick her up. She is such a great girl. As a Belgian, she speaks four languages: German is her native language, then French of course, then English and Dutch.
Here's the whole group in front of the hostel in Saratoga. We were really up in the woods. It felt like camping, except the hostel was super warm. And we were on beds. And we could cook breakfast without gas burners. Ok, maybe it wasn't like camping.
We went bowling before driving to the hostel. My team was Diego, Jonas, Anna and Dante. Diego fired some strikes out of his little arm, Anna and I got in some spares and Jonas was sarcastic the entire time. I like him.
And before they got picked up on Sunday, we went to a cafe and I played MASH with them. Here are the results:
Philip and Karen will live together in a shack in Brazil with a chinchilla and nine kids.
Jonas and I will live in a treehouse in D.C. with a fish and five kids.
Diego and Louise will live in a house in London with a rabbit and one kid. (They won for most normal situation.)
Hannes and Charlotte will live in an apartment in Eupen, Belgium with a dog and six kids.
Fernando and Anna will live in a mansion in Italy with a monkey and seven kids.
Johannes and Boglarka will live on a ranch in Holland with a snake and 23 kids. Poor girl.
It was lots of fun and completely relaxing because I didn't have to do much, as compared with the Sacramento weekend. Thank God!
No more orientations for now. Just interviewing American kids who want to go abroad. Quick, painless and easy. That sounds nice. :)