If our goodbyes to our students from Spain was any indication, parting really was "such sweet sorrow".
The kids went from quiet, shy and nervous visitors to one of the family in just a short month. Everyone was taking pictures and giving gifts and promising to stay in touch, and everyone was crying or wiping tears - even the men.
It was a pretty amazing scene. You would think we'd all known each other much longer.
As you can see from the pictures, our farewell party was really fun. The Lewis Host family held the party and we swam, played foosball, ate a great pot luck meal - complete with several Spanish favorites that the visitors made for us! There were computer games, board games and even karaoke! The kids sang some American tunes but mainly sang their favorite Spanish pop songs and they even danced the macarena for us! It was a great afternoon and a fitting send off.
After the farewell party, we put in one more day of shopping in Old Town Sacramento, which was a lot of fun. I had hoped to have it be in Old Elk Grove but there is a lot of change going on there and not alot of stuff to do - especially on Mondays. With all of the shopping we were all doing there and at the K Street Mall, there was a lot of money left behind in our area, however. The Vacaville Outlets got the vast majority :-)
Elk Grove was an amazing host to our visitors from Spain. Thank you for making them feel welcomed, and for supplying so many awesome host families. American Discovery hopes it can look forward to sending many kids from Spain to Elk Grove again next summer!
I would like to personally thank all of the host families in Elk Grove, Sacramento, Rancho Murietta, Wilton and Rosemont that I had the pleasure of meeting and sharing this experience with this summer. Thanks so much for the beautiful yellow roses and card and for being awesome host families! Thanks also to American Discovery for the experience.
This concludes the Spanish experience - on to the French experience next time.
