Changing of the Guard, Pt 2

Here we go! Ten people left, eleven came to replace them. We lost one right away, she backed out the week before her flight which meant there wasn't enough time to replace her. She was supposed to be a teacher for the Montessori school (with the babies) and since that's a pretty huge vacancy, one of the other new volunteers was asked to switch positions. Of the ten that came, another dropped out the second week of orientation and headed back to Germany. That leaves nine new people who will now live and work with us for the next six months. I know I've said this before, but it's really weird meeting someone KNOWING that you need to get along because you're stuck together. Luckily this group seems pretty awesome, so I'm not too worried.

Here's a group shot of them. In the back row we have Kim (physical therapist from Holland), Mariona (Social Worker from Spain, and at 20 years old, the new baby of the group), Cecile (Artist in charge of Recreation from France), Katie (Special Ed therapist from Chicago), Jack (Clinic Assistant from Chicago). In the front: Rachel (Librarian from Minneapolis), Jose (Montessori teacher from Spain), Alejandra (Staff Trainer from Spain, we'll be doing charlas a lot together), and finally Carolina (Tia from Germany. Her Mom is from Peru though, so her Spanish is really good).

We did a lot to welcome them in. Here's a big welcome dinner in the houses with all 30+ volunteers in attendance.

We also introduced them to La Familia

And here's the new members of house 7! What a handsome family! We laid down the law pretty hard when they first got there and told them that the house needed to stay immaculate. The hardest thing about our house has always been the cleanliness issues. I can't stand having dishes piling up for days on end and food all over the floor and counters. Luckily they all seem pretty open to a clean house, even if it means a little more work. So far our house is looking pretty damn good, so hopefully it stays that way!