Productive/Peaceful...32º

Friday was a busy day without accomplishing much (as in actual work)...It was lunch out with the girls for me at the new Thai Restaurant in Enterprise, back home to make a banana cream pie and help Rusty with dinner as Becky and John were joining us...Rusty pounded the elk/deer steaks into flat discs and I breaded with flour, milk and seasoned cracker crumbs (our version of snitzel)...Mounds of mashed potatoes and a dish of grated raw apples laced with horseradish (Austrian recipe) was served on the side.

In the back of my mind all day was a FaceTime between Ci and her parents...The three month mark had finally arrived and "Rotary" guidelines said they could touch base with real conversation...For the past three months we had seen many photos of Ci; Arriving at Bangkok Airport, Rotary signs and people giving her a big welcome, including a new sister Janique...Then began a whirlwind of Rotary meetings, Celebrations and Trips to three different resort towns where she met up with fellow Rotary Students, swam in the ocean, explored caves, went rafting, flew solo our of the Bangkok airport, rode a train for 14 hours and God only know what else...And in every photo she had this huge smile plaster across her beautiful face...That meant she was happy, adjusting to her new surroundings, settling in, RIGHT?..We hoped so, but until we heard it from those smiling lips, none of us was quite sure...Was this Rotary exchange a smart thing, sending a 16 year old halfway across the world to a culture so different, trusting the system that she was as safe as possible?...She wasn't telling us much in her blog posts and reading between the lines didn't help...We needed a voice.

I knew that Bobi would fill me in as soon as their facetime ended and Herb and I could set up our own FT at a later date...We had just started dinner when my iPhone rang and and the words Cienna Wall appeared on the screen and then that smile as wide as a Halloween Pumpkin appeared and I realized it was a FaceTime...We all talked and listened as she said, "Yes, she is happy, settling in...She loves school, is taking private Thai language lessons (has learned the alphabet), No she hasn't been homesick and feels a little bad about that (silly girl)...So far the only thing she has really missed is wearing sweaters?...Really, what does that mean?..She said, "It's cloudy outside so I would get a sweater to wear to school, then find out that it was hot and humid and I was sweating." Her solution to this is; just for a few minutes she turn the air conditioning up in her room, curls up on the floor wrapped in a blanket and gets warm like she did at home."...She is adjusting to her host family, parents, 2yr old and a baby, a grandmother and an aunt all live together in one house...And a lady that comes in to do laundry, cooking etc.

So the smile is genuine, the voice the same and now I'm feeling peaceful and patiently waiting for the next FaceTime....Hugs To All, especially Cienna, we love you Sweetheart...OWAV:)

PS..The smile is REAL.

Ci at a wedding

Ci with new friends

Rafting

Enjoying the View

Rotary

Three Smiles

Smiles and a Tearful Goodbye

One More Smile