thirteen THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLDS

After 48 hours at home I am back in Heredia with a new group from Dallas, TX. They are all thirteen-year-old girls, many away from home for the first time, and after picking them up Sunday night and dropping them off at homestay families it seemed like everything would be fabulous this week...! The two professors who accompanied the group are both nice enough, one is a little more demanding but after all it is a group of minors and understandable. But after 24 hours...reality set in.

Last night I got two calls from Familia Ticas, with students crying and sick and who knows what else! With the professors we went to two different homestays and took stock of the situation. Luckily the professor knows her students well and was able to calm them. Another student she took home with her to help her peace of mind...did I mention that these professors are my next-door neighbors this week??? I am almost bothered by being so close to them, but so far they haven't come knocking on my door. After calming the students and bringing one home, I had a phone call after 10pm from another student who was having a little bit of a meltdown. After speaking with her professor on the phone she felt better...but wow, I really have my hands full it seems with some delicate young ladies for the next two weeks. What luck! But I know I can handle it. Also, I cannot imagine leaving the country without my parents at thirteen...I don't think I would have handled it well. So I just take a deep breath and dive in, and hope that my energy this week is infectious enough to distract them from any homesickness they may feel, espcially after 24 hours...! Hopefully I will not have any more calls tonight.

While I was at home I had a visit from a howler monkey in my backyard. Talking with my landlady we are pretty sure he saw his own reflection in the glass door on my terraza, and came down to investigate. He was all of 4 feet from me!!! I took several pictures and all of the little kids next door came in and watched him, and my landlady even tried to feed him a banana, but he just wanted to check out his reflection...what a vain monkey, haha!! Or maybe he just wanted a friend??? (Pictures below)

This week it's like I am in college all over again. I have 3 compañeras in the little chaperone apartment with me. We have a random assortment of food in the fridge and share stories in the evenings, and it has been a lot of fun! We are trying to arrange a trip to the mall sometime this week...vamos a ver!
But man, we are officially in high season here at CPI.

PURA VIDA!