Ciara's Intercambio (exchange)

Last January, when Ciara was going through a very difficult period, the school counsellor suggested that we talk to Nuria Tamayo, who is a music therapist.  I was desperate to try something, as we could not figure out how to help her.  Nuria was amazing with Ciara.  Right from the beginning, Ciara felt comfortable enough to talk and before long she was singing, dancing and even writing her own songs.  Her attitude changed noticeably, and we were very surprised at how much she was able to express herself with Nuria.   Unfortunately, after about 4 months, Ciara no longer wanted to attend music therapy.  I am not sure why she changed her mind.  Nuria and I were both disappointed, but we talked about maybe doing a language exchange with Ciara and her daughter sometime in the future.

So a couple of weeks ago, I remembered my conversation with with Nuria and decided that it would be a good time for Ciara to try a language exchange as her Spanish has improved a lot and she is much more open to meeting new people.  When I contacted Nuria she was more than happy to do the exchange.  We decided that her daughter Martina would come to our house first for the English portion of the exchange and then the following Saturday Ciara would go to Martina's house.

Martina came over on Saturday at 11am. We decided that we would make cheesecake.  It was great, because Ciara and I have not really cooked together since she started school 4 weeks ago.  Once the cheesecakes were in the oven we headed outside with the boys to play at the park.  Martina and Ciara got along quite well.  They didn't talk much, but they both had fun.  I hope that all goes well when she goes over to Martina's house next week.  Hopefully they can become good friends and learn a language too.