Pauline's 5th host family @ Sao Caetano

This house is well-furnished.

The entrance

The living room

The bathroom

The kitchen

But what bring me to this stylish home? It's the "dog". Since I found myself allergic to dogs, I have kept a request to stay away from a house with dogs. At Sao Caetano, there is no host family has no dog, even this one.....

Luckily, this is only a door stopper at the door of my bedroom. I was lucky to be arranged to live with this wonderful family here. Here you see my bedroom - a room which is belong to a 12 year old girl - Estela - a dream room for me too.






Now, I show you around for my host family. Welcome to my home here. It is stated on the wall that : This house is full of goodness, beautiful and justice. Yes, it is.





My host family at Sao Caetano is Sandra Costa, she is a single parent of two kids. They live in an apartment in a staired building. When you entered the gateway, you will find that you are surrounded by warm atomsphere. We arrived in a late evening with a starving stomach. When I found that the table has been filled up with assorted selection of food, I could see how considerate Sandra is. Sandra has one boy, Victor aged 16 and one girl, Estela aged 12. They are very friendly and polite.

Estela showing the chopstick sets and chinese painting at the doorway.

Sandra invited a Japanese friend to join us at the evening.

In the next morning, I enjoyed a full table of breakfast too.

Sandra is a very capable mother. She is a lawyer. Her office is just 2-minute walk from her house, so that she can take care both her career and family more easily. From the window, we can see her apartment in a distance.



Sandra's family is very friendly. Her mother was a rotarian. She owns a florist shop in Sao Caetano. We visited there once.

Sandra's father and brothers operate a food-export-import company. They have imported garlic from China too.

Dry Garlic from China.

Sandra's new house under renovation.

A family photo with Costa family.

I do not have much time to stay with Estela and Victor. They are very sweet always. Most of time they waited me to come back, usaually after midnight from the Rotary presentation. In some evenings, I handmade a Chinese lion dance head for Estela, she always sat there and watching me to do the work.

Victor is always my translator. He is very tall and relatively mature than for his age. He loves basketball and will go to Mexico fo a one-year exchange very soon.

Sandra's family is always warm and sweet. They will hug and kiss each other every evening before bed. I am glad to be a member of them in a week. Here is our family photo.

My last breakfast at Sandra's house. Sandra prepared a bilingual poem for me praising our friendship.

Our crazy video taken on the last night I stayed with them.
Counting 1-10 in Chinese by Estela and Victor

Estela's words to me

Victor's words to me

This house is full of my memories. I love you Sandra, Victor and Estela.