I haven't posted for a while since there isn't much to say.  Josie has now been in Spain for a little over 3 months.  She has now moved to her 2nd host family and loves it!  They are teaching her how to cook traditional Spanish foods and they helped her find a running club, so it sounds like they are keeping her busy.

Just a couple of things though I thought I should pass along.  When sending a package keep it light and keep it small.  At Christmas I sent a quite large package ( with gifts for Josie and her host family and a couple of friends) and the package cost me about $60 (I don't recall the weight, maybe 13 -15 pounds).  It got held up in customs for a month and Josie had to pay 30 Euro (I think) to get it out.  The reason:  I had put a high value on it on the customs form (since I wanted to be sure it was insured  in case it got lost or damaged).  So the moral of this story:  always value your packages low.

I just sent a package weighing 2lb 3oz  and it cost me $19.45 to ship.  So . . . keep packages small and light!

Josie just let us know that her school class is going on a senior trip to Italy.  She is very excited!  We don't know if Rotary will allow her to go and what all it will entail, but I will keep you posted.


We did get an e-mail from our travel agent about needing to set her return date on her ticket.  I have to let her know by March 1 what that date will be.  Right now we are thinking the first week of August.  At least then I'll have a date to mark on the calendar of when I'll get to hug my Josie!

Not much else to report.  I'm missing Josie something terrible.  As long as I know she is doing well though, then I am OK.  :)