Thursday, April 30, 2009
Three Months (last Thursday)
Wow, so much is happening! I had a Rotary conference at the Mo-Ranch in Kerrville two weeks ago, Fiesta celebrations in San Antonio last week, I am spending this weekend in Dallas and I am about to move to my second family!
This week of school was supposed to be TAKS week. TAKS is a series of standardised tests that students (except seniors) throughout Texas have to take, which for me means I get the mornings off school :) However, our entire county is out of school until May 11th because of the Swine Flu. Apparently there have been three cases suspected to be Swine Flu in New Braunfels so all the schools are in quarantine and a lot of public events have also been cancelled, including rotary :P, to prevent the spread. I think this is fantastic :D but it also means that the end of the school year will be extended for another week probably which interferes with a few things.
So tomorrow I am moving into my second host family, Tom and Chrissy Clark. Tom is my YEO and I also stayed with this family during Pam and Gary’s last holiday. I’m not sure what the postal address is but I will let you know. In this family I will have younger sisters and I will be sharing a room with the oldest. Also, there is very poor internet connection as they live out of town so it will definitely be different.
As I said before, two weekends ago was the Mo-Ranch conference in Kerrville. Not all of the exchange students could make it, which was disappointing but still a good time as we (exchange students) did not have to attend most of the seminars so that gave us some free time to hang out, go swimming and canoeing down in the neighbouring river. There was also a rope swing and giant slide into the river which were good fun too :)
From last Wednesday afternoon till Sunday morning I was in San Antonio for the Fiesta celebrations. It was another Rotary activity hosted by the San Antonio West club who had a special meeting the Wednesday evening which we exchange students were guests to. That evening we were put into host families, I stayed with the four other exchange students in at the host home of Alice (France) who live in San Antonio (her host sister is a Rotex who comes to most of our activities and we are all really close to as well). The family are originally from Venezuela but have lived in Texas for some time now, however, breakfast and dinner were often meals from Latin America.
On Thursday we did a full day of sightseeing. Our first stop was the San Jose Mission then we went down to the River-walk for lunch and guided boat ride, then on to see the Alamo, The Tower of the Americas and The Texas Institute of Culture. It was a long, full but fun day.
Friday was even better! We all went to 6-Flags which is an amusement park. It was fantastic, we rode all the biggest and scariest roller-coasters, got wet on adventure river rides, took photos with cartoon characters and danced with the park mascot!
Saturday was the last day of Fiesta so we actually saw and participated in some of the celebrations happening in the streets. A number of streets are blocked off and stalls and stages are set up and people can eat, create, purchase, watch and participate in a number of activities going on. In the morning we marched in a parade carrying our flags. It was really interesting to see all the other parade participants, there were some very eye-catching costumes! After the parade we did some charity work. For two hours we stood around rubbish bins making sure the right kind of rubbish went into the right kind of bin, taking it out of one bin and putting it in another if need be :( Needless to say it wasn’t my favourite part of the day! After that we had some free time and we all just wandered around the stalls and sat by the river and relaxed before leaving for dinner. After dinner we went to the main parade, it was three hours long, but not at all boring, unfortunately we did not get to stay for the entire thing even though we were there till about 10pm.
The next morning we left for home at about 10am which sucked :( The time had gone so fast and it was the second last ‘official’ time we are all going to be together.
This week of school was supposed to be TAKS week. TAKS is a series of standardised tests that students (except seniors) throughout Texas have to take, which for me means I get the mornings off school :) However, our entire county is out of school until May 11th because of the Swine Flu. Apparently there have been three cases suspected to be Swine Flu in New Braunfels so all the schools are in quarantine and a lot of public events have also been cancelled, including rotary :P, to prevent the spread. I think this is fantastic :D but it also means that the end of the school year will be extended for another week probably which interferes with a few things.
So tomorrow I am moving into my second host family, Tom and Chrissy Clark. Tom is my YEO and I also stayed with this family during Pam and Gary’s last holiday. I’m not sure what the postal address is but I will let you know. In this family I will have younger sisters and I will be sharing a room with the oldest. Also, there is very poor internet connection as they live out of town so it will definitely be different.
As I said before, two weekends ago was the Mo-Ranch conference in Kerrville. Not all of the exchange students could make it, which was disappointing but still a good time as we (exchange students) did not have to attend most of the seminars so that gave us some free time to hang out, go swimming and canoeing down in the neighbouring river. There was also a rope swing and giant slide into the river which were good fun too :)
From last Wednesday afternoon till Sunday morning I was in San Antonio for the Fiesta celebrations. It was another Rotary activity hosted by the San Antonio West club who had a special meeting the Wednesday evening which we exchange students were guests to. That evening we were put into host families, I stayed with the four other exchange students in at the host home of Alice (France) who live in San Antonio (her host sister is a Rotex who comes to most of our activities and we are all really close to as well). The family are originally from Venezuela but have lived in Texas for some time now, however, breakfast and dinner were often meals from Latin America.
On Thursday we did a full day of sightseeing. Our first stop was the San Jose Mission then we went down to the River-walk for lunch and guided boat ride, then on to see the Alamo, The Tower of the Americas and The Texas Institute of Culture. It was a long, full but fun day.
Friday was even better! We all went to 6-Flags which is an amusement park. It was fantastic, we rode all the biggest and scariest roller-coasters, got wet on adventure river rides, took photos with cartoon characters and danced with the park mascot!
Saturday was the last day of Fiesta so we actually saw and participated in some of the celebrations happening in the streets. A number of streets are blocked off and stalls and stages are set up and people can eat, create, purchase, watch and participate in a number of activities going on. In the morning we marched in a parade carrying our flags. It was really interesting to see all the other parade participants, there were some very eye-catching costumes! After the parade we did some charity work. For two hours we stood around rubbish bins making sure the right kind of rubbish went into the right kind of bin, taking it out of one bin and putting it in another if need be :( Needless to say it wasn’t my favourite part of the day! After that we had some free time and we all just wandered around the stalls and sat by the river and relaxed before leaving for dinner. After dinner we went to the main parade, it was three hours long, but not at all boring, unfortunately we did not get to stay for the entire thing even though we were there till about 10pm.
The next morning we left for home at about 10am which sucked :( The time had gone so fast and it was the second last ‘official’ time we are all going to be together.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Easter and Stuff
Hey guys!
Sorry it’s been awhile! But most of you have been on facebook I’m assuming and have seen the things I’ve been getting up to. :)
Last Thursday after school I headed to Kerrville with Perle, Demi and Danielita (fellow exchange students) for Mariana’s birthday party. It was good fun! There were quite a few of Mariana’s friends from school there as well as some other exchange students. We all hung out, played rock band and jumped on the trampoline until about midnight when all the people who weren’t staying the night had left for home. There were about 10 of us left and we all decided to get into the hot tub! It was very uncomfortable but good fun :) We counted there were 20 legs and 100 toes!
The following morning Perle’s host mother and sister picked us up and we went to Fredericksburg for lunch at this cute little tea house and walked up the main street which was packed with quirky little shops to explore.
Then for Easter Sunday I was invited by Matt Harrison, a member of the rotary club to spend the day with him and his family on his brother’s ranch. It was such a great day!
They have some animals out there and the horses had just had babies and they were walking around, it was so cute xD and there were also some Longhorns which are Texas natives. After lunch Jennifer (Matt’s daughter) and I went four-wheeler riding which was great fun! They have a lot of land out there to ride around on and we also spotted some antelope which they also have out there. After that I got to ride a horse... dressed as a cowgirl :D Yeeeah! 
It was a really strange feeling being on the back of a moving horse but I got more used to it after a while. They had a really good horse who could ‘sense’ I guess how good/comfortable the rider was and wouldn’t go into a run unless I encouraged him, which I did :) It was actually a little fun, I had been concerned because horses kind of scare me. Likewise, I am scared of guns :P BUT I did have a go at shooting some skeet (clay pigeons) after I’d put the horse in the stable and given him something to eat :D Not only did I shoot the gun, I actually hit the things I was aiming at :) The only thing though was the next day, my shoulder was ouchy from the force of the gun as it comes back when you shoot it.
Monday night Gary took Perle and I to a minor league baseball game. Minor league is a professional league, it’s just not major league :P It was good, we got to eat peanuts (but not drink beer) and watch the game. Baseball gets kind of boring after a while but it was amusing listening to the ‘fans’ around us getting drunker and yelling out bizarre things to the players :P
Sorry it’s been awhile! But most of you have been on facebook I’m assuming and have seen the things I’ve been getting up to. :)
Last Thursday after school I headed to Kerrville with Perle, Demi and Danielita (fellow exchange students) for Mariana’s birthday party. It was good fun! There were quite a few of Mariana’s friends from school there as well as some other exchange students. We all hung out, played rock band and jumped on the trampoline until about midnight when all the people who weren’t staying the night had left for home. There were about 10 of us left and we all decided to get into the hot tub! It was very uncomfortable but good fun :) We counted there were 20 legs and 100 toes!
The following morning Perle’s host mother and sister picked us up and we went to Fredericksburg for lunch at this cute little tea house and walked up the main street which was packed with quirky little shops to explore.
Then for Easter Sunday I was invited by Matt Harrison, a member of the rotary club to spend the day with him and his family on his brother’s ranch. It was such a great day!
They have some animals out there and the horses had just had babies and they were walking around, it was so cute xD and there were also some Longhorns which are Texas natives. After lunch Jennifer (Matt’s daughter) and I went four-wheeler riding which was great fun! They have a lot of land out there to ride around on and we also spotted some antelope which they also have out there. After that I got to ride a horse... dressed as a cowgirl :D Yeeeah! 
It was a really strange feeling being on the back of a moving horse but I got more used to it after a while. They had a really good horse who could ‘sense’ I guess how good/comfortable the rider was and wouldn’t go into a run unless I encouraged him, which I did :) It was actually a little fun, I had been concerned because horses kind of scare me. Likewise, I am scared of guns :P BUT I did have a go at shooting some skeet (clay pigeons) after I’d put the horse in the stable and given him something to eat :D Not only did I shoot the gun, I actually hit the things I was aiming at :) The only thing though was the next day, my shoulder was ouchy from the force of the gun as it comes back when you shoot it.
Monday night Gary took Perle and I to a minor league baseball game. Minor league is a professional league, it’s just not major league :P It was good, we got to eat peanuts (but not drink beer) and watch the game. Baseball gets kind of boring after a while but it was amusing listening to the ‘fans’ around us getting drunker and yelling out bizarre things to the players :P
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