Hosting our first foreign exchange student!

I don't think I've mentioned it here before but Marco and I are hosting our first foreign exchange student. Her name is Mara and she comes from Greece. She arrived Friday and has adjusted to her new life in Amsterdam wonderfully so far. Her English is pretty crap but I've learned a few key phrases in Greek so communication isn't too big of a problem yet. She'll only be with us for 2 short weeks so we hope to bond quickly.

Below are some of the first pictures of her arrival!

This is Mara in her favorite chair:

This is Mara walking with her new best friend, Scooter. (I'm the human)

OK so she's not really a foreign exchange student but she is Greek! Mara is the adorable puppy of my friends Alexandra and Theodore. She's staying with us while they're vacationing in Spain and Portugal. Lucky bastards.

She is probably the sweetest dog I've ever met. Marco fell totally head over heels for her the first time we were introduced to her. Don't get me wrong, we LOVE Scooter but when we chose a dog Marco was thinking more of a lap dog that is lazy and sits next to you and likes to cuddle. Scooter would rather chew off your hand than let you snuggle him and lazy? This little terror of fur will chase a ball all day long if you didn't make him stop to catch his breath before he passes out.

But Mara is the lapdog of Marco's dreams. She'll sit on your lap all day long if you'll let her. She is sitting on my lap right now as a matter of fact. She has her little blanket on the floor that she sleeps on every night and has just been an absolute angel all weekend.

We had one small bout of food aggression with the two of them but I've sense separated the food and water bowls into two different rooms and it hasn't happened again since. I did have to learn two words in Greek, come and there, since she doesn't "speak" English or Dutch but that was no problem at all. Her English is coming along though! She actually does come when I say it and if I need her to go lay down I will point and say THERE and she actually goes. I don't know what school she went to but we're signing Scooter up! (awww, that's so mean. Scooter really is a great dog and just so stinkin cute! see?)

I know this wasn't weight loss related but I'm just so excited to have her with us that I wanted to share!