Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Thanksgiving

so we had thanksgiving on Saturday. sorta. we ate turkey anyway. i think. it was like a turkey-stuffing loaf in the shape of a turkey anyway. and we had a fancy form of tatertots for potatos and a mushroom soup. it was very sweet tho. Ill definatly be missing Aunt Lynnettes house tomorrow. i called ohio for the first time on monday! mom answered the phone and she didnt recognize me so we had a casual conversation for the fist few secondes until she was like 'whos this' and i was like 'Deanna' and she went... NO IT ISNT! IS IT? aww! sweetie?.... too cute :) we talked for wayyy longer than we should have probably. but dad said hed take the international phone bill for one hour if its a problem. i figure tho, if i would have called for 5 minutes every week since ive been here it would be up to the same so i think im justifyed. im in a Junior acheivement mini entriprise and we had our big meeting with our share holders last night. my entriprise was looking pretty spiffy if i do say. guys wore black dress pants, white dress shirts and red ties. Girls wore black skirts, white shirts, and red ties, except for me cuz ya know, i for got to pack my tie collection when i was packing for an entire year in 2 suitcases. we all matched and new our parts (mine was to stand there and smile and not let people know im from a different country) ya know your not in america when students serve students champagne at a school event. wow.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

PB and J is something everyone takes advantage of until they no longer have it.

Well, nothing is new. But family members are getting a lil bit angry because I never post anything... but theres nothing to post. I've gained weight. I drink more OJ than is good for my teeth apparently but I despise milk. I love getting mail :D its the highlight of my week even if its just my grandma informing me that her flowers died. <3 Im saving tons of stuff to scrapbook. Ive mentally filled about 5 books already. Im journaling more than I can believe... One book per month. So if your thinking to yourself right now i want to give Deanna a present.... mail me blank journals,(get the address from my mom or Gram) or start a stash of amazing scrapbooking stuff for me in July (i exahusted my supply for my SMB) Thats all. Miss everyone!

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Just an Update...

Well, nothing has really changed all that much since my last post. :) Im still in Belgium and still loving it. I went Kyacking on Saturday. the Country side was beautiful. Eventually Ill put some pictures on facebook. School is going good. Nothing new there. Im now going to greece over spring break... thatl be good fun. Oh ya... the other night we were eating chicken nuggets and I was dipping them in what I though was like a whippedcream jello dessert... no. It was fish eggs. So I geuss I like dipping my chicken nuggets in fish eggs. Thats about it.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

One Month Later...

Has it really only been a month??? It feels so much longer than that. I feel like Ive been in school for a month, let alone Europe. School is great. Ive made some good friends with kids in my class. The one kid who sits next to me speaks at least 3 languages and he translates the important stuff for me. I think Im doing a decent job of keeping up considering my french is terrible. I can tell its getting better tho. I can understand most of other peoples conversations now a days. I remember when I was sitting on the plane on the runway facing Belgium the directions were in English first then French, and I still couldnt catch anything. But now its better. I just need to work on the speaking part. Theres so many extra little words like la, de, and un in sentances and I have no idea when to use them and when not to. Its technical-grammer-crap. But other than that everything is great. I got new batteries for my camera. Its insane that I lasted this long on only one set! Insane.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

School

So yesterday was the first day of school. Im not really sure how it went since it was all in french. The school is huge but it covers middle school and elemantary school. Either that or 6th graders are tiny! Im in the same room with the same people all day. The teachers move around which is the total opposite of Minerva. I also have a different schedual everyday. Friday was religion, economy, gym, and spanish... thats right... spanish. The teacher is really sweet tho. She made me do the same assignment as the rest of the class except I wrote a paragraph in French instead of Spanish. and ive made friends!! Some of whom live in my town so its all good. This morning (saturday) I went to my host-dads bagpipe practice. Imagine... 4 bagpipes, two field snares, and a base drum in the same smokey room. It was still sweet tho, even tho 6 hours later my head is still ringing. And great news... I could possibly become the drumish-major of the Drum and Bagpipe Core here! How sweet would that be!?!? (kilt and all)

Saturday, August 29, 2009

My Birthday...

I woke up to my family singing Bonne Anniversair outside my tent. Its a tradition of my family to cook whatever the birthday gal/guy wants. I wanted chicken fingers. we searched for chicken fingers. Super markets dont carry chicken fingers... so instead, we bought cheese and turkey patties. they wernt bad at all. my sister got me a cd which she wrapped in crépes. and my family got me a necklace and two t shirts form britagne. The campsite neighbors baked me a lemon cake and sang happy birthday to me in what i think was english ;) it was a good time.

Camping!

it was great... i had a tent to myself... one that set itself up! our camp site was rite on the ocean, if it wernt for a very thick hedge between us it would have been very easy to fall off the cliff into the waves. The dangerous animals from before: snakes.... vipers to be exact. i didnt see or hear anything tho. I did see jellyfish, star fish, and crabs. we went diving for shells that we were going to eat but we didnt have the chance to cook them in time. I tried some very strange foods: raw oysters, giant shrimp things, a spaggetti- chicken- salsa dish. I got to make a crépe... it turned out pretty bad. way more crunchy than the proffesionally made ones. Europe has the best hand dipped ice cream i could ever imagine! beyond your wildest dreams lies europes ice cream. I went to a Fest Noz party thing. it was a very interesting version on line dancing. thats the closest i can describe it... youtube it. The pizza is pretty crummy. when you order a pizza here they bring you an entire 12 slice pizza... WAY too much for one person... but they finish it.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

I,m here!

it is taking me about seven times as long to type this post because french keboards are very screwed up. the a and q are switched as are the z and the w. any way... my family is wonderful. they are doing wonderful job of being patient with me. already i have learned some french. tonight we leave for france to camp. my host parents just finished explaining dangerous animals that live there also. it will be a good time.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Goodbyes to my friends...

Last night, me and my two very best friends stayed up til 5 watching the meteor shower. It was a good way to say goodbye. The one girl had to go to band practice so she left super early, well, 8. But still. So Kass and I hung out til noon. Then I was going for the quick-like-a-band-aid theory. but it failed. we said goodbye for about 45 minutes. Now I'm all alone. I won't have my cell phone in only 12 more hours. Its a bitter sweet feeling. :)

This is it!

I'll be flying away tomorrow morning! :)) I'm super excited. It feels like it isn't really happening, like I'll snap out of a day dream and go "ha! ya right. me fly to Europe by myself. thats funny" but its all coming together (Praise God!) I'm packed, My room is Jakes, and I need to shower but I don't actually have enough clothes unpacked to last me until I arrive at my first home. This will be an interesting 2 days.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Going Away...

We had my going away party on Sunday. It wasn't as sad as I thought it would be. Lots of people asked me over and over if I was excited. My answer: So Far. Everyday I get closer to leaving. My excitement levels are going down and my nervous levels are going up. I know its just nerves. I'm realizing that I won't see my baby cousin for a year, won't play gaga with the cousins and friends, I won't go to the Dairy Bar, won't be in church for an entire year. Its not that I'm sad to go to Belgium, I'm sad to leave America..... Anyway, my party was great. Nobody needed stitches and the food was pretty stinkin good. Right before my Uncle Bob blessed to food I realized how many people were there. Quite a few (like 150). I know some of them just came for my moms cooking but some of them came to see me one last time. It gives you a warm fuzzy feeling on the inside.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Hot Dogs! Get Your Hot Dogs!

We sold hot dogs and pop at the local IGA today. I don't think it was as successful as I wanted it to be since the weather was pretty crummy. But hey, its a 100 or so that I don't have to come up with anymore. Today is Saturday. I leave Friday morning. Its really starting to get to my mom. She almost woke me up this morning because she was crying. I'm glad she didn't. I can see how this year will be difficult for her. Sometimes I'm the only sane one she can speak to around here :P My visa still hasn't come in. Mom has been freaking out since June about it. I've brushed it off saying "it'll come". Now it has 6 days to get here before I leave. If it doesn't come, all of us heading to Belgium just pretend to be tourist for a few days until it does come. But I'm not sure how this is going to work with me leaving for France almost as soon as I get to Belgium. I'm praying a little bit harder for it.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

It's getting akward...

I only have 10 more days until I leave. Everyone is acting all depressed and sad around me. I catch people looking at me with sad faces and people keep saying we'll miss you and things like that. It's like "guys... I'll be back! it's not like I'm terminally ill and you won't see me this side of heaven ever again!" I think my family is more scared for this next year than I am. You would think that I'd be the one going "oh my! I don't know the language! I'll be all alone! I won't know anybody at first!" and my friends and family would reply "you'll be fine, you'll catch on, and it's only a year" But no. It's the other way around. I will definitely miss everyone, but it is only a year. I will be back! (*sigh*) I guess I should look at it in a positive light: I will be missed :) awwww. thanks guys ;) Love ya too.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Bedroom Be Gone... :(

My super sweet, amazing, overdecorated, cramped, little blue space of a room will never be the same. I started packing away things into boxes yesterday evening. It was weird. I still have all my math notes from high school. I have a whole bunch of certificates and papers and books and movies that I want to keep. So I have them taped up in cardboard cells. Jake, I think, plans on moving in before I move out. He is a little two eager to have his own room. Though I probably can't blame him. Today he asked me to move all my stuff out of the way so he could wash "his" windows. I told him I'm still living there. On Facebook I put that I wished the 14th was closer.... mixed feelings: 1. I'm going to Belgium!! I'm gonna live in Europe for a year and I'm gonna eat chocolate and have sisters and learn french and it's gonna be Great! 2. I won't be in America for a year. I won't be here for Christmas or birthdays. My baby cousin will be an entire year older when I see her again. She isn't even a year old yet! I love where I live. I'll miss that too. Now I see my friends almost everyday. That will be a huge change! :( ... like I said, mixed feelings.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Another Host Family

Yesterday my second host mother emailed me. I think this is the family that I will be spending Christmas with. The son I'm replacing is moving to Canada after my birthday. There are three boys and one girl in this family. Sweet. More Brothers and another sister. Right now my siblings (real and host) total 4 girls and 7 boys. (*sigh*) so many brothers... Only 18 more days in the USA.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Suitcase Success!

Three weeks today I will be flying to Brussels!! Since I had NOTHING better to do i practiced packing my suitcase ;) I fit every single article of clothing I plan on taking (with the exceptions of a shirt that's in the wash and the new socks I need to buy) into my largest suitcase, didn't even need the expandable zipper thingy, and then, since the airport will not tolerate suitcases weighing even an ounce over 50 lbs, I weighed it on my wii fit balance board: 32 pounds!! WOO!! I squeeze more clothes into it so I'm pretty happy right now =P I was worried, because I'm one of those people who keeps clothes just in case I may need it for, I don't know, a costume or something, I couldn't imagine living out of a suitcase for an entire year!! Shucks, when I go on a weekend trip somewhere I over-stuff that suitcase. I'm in a very good mood :)

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Brand New Blog!

This is it. My first, actual Blog Post. I thought it appropriate for me to start off my blog by saying "I'm starting a Blog!" My plan is to write about being an exchange student on these post so I don't have to Email all 528 people who said "email me!" every time something cool happens (which hopefully is all the time.) Don't worry... you'll still be contacted everyonce in a while, but not everytime something cool happens. You gotta come here for that :) Tada!...my first post.