Marlene and the Exchange Students

Marlene has been here now for 2 1/2 weeks and we are loving the new addition to our family. We could not have asked for a nicer, fun, and enthusiastic person. She and Kinsey are having a great time checking out all the stores in Manchester and working on their wardrobes. Marlene also likes the outdoors and has been playing lacrosse, shooting baskets, throwing frisbees and just generally playing with Jamie. He is thrilled!
School started last Friday. There are a total of 11 foreign students and four of them are from Germany. The day before school started, I invited all the EF exchange students and their host family kids to the Bromley Thrill Zone. We spent 3 hours going on a variety of rides. In this first picture, Sasha (from Northern Germany) is standing on the left and Marlene is standing next to him in the brown sweatshirt. Sasha is living with Matt Rosenthal who is lounging (posing) on the bench.







Here's another, closer in, picture of Marlene. I don't know - with this expression she must have hit a bad shot in miniature golf.




















When we were looking at Marlene's application, there was one area of concern. She liked cats (which is essential), but she stated that she did not like dogs. We were aghast. How could anyone not like dogs? Well, even if she didn't like dogs in general, we knew that she would love our two dogs. At least, that is what we were hoping. Yeah, well look how much she dislikes dogs. She has been won over by Brook and Belle. If we breed Brook again in the Spring, we are convinced that Marlene will want to take a puppy back with her to Germany in June.















There's one more thing we have learned about Marlene. She loves Nutella. I think she even considers it one of the major food groups. We introduced her to Vermont Maple Syrup last week, but she wasn't impressed. So, on Sunday morning, I made pancakes and, instead of butter and syrup, we put Nutella on them. Oh, my God, they was good! I had five kids for breakfast that morning (due to sleepovers) and they all loved them. I will never eat pancakes the old fashion way again. I'm also sure that it is alot healthier. I mean Nutella is like peanut butter - made from nuts-right?