Hi guys! I have lost contact with everyone, for the last 2 weeks I didnt have internet.. Life without internet is not as bad as I thought it would be! I didnt have free time anyway! I left Kansas city very sad, cause my host family was simply perfect! I have to try not to compare host families, cause Im sure I wont find any other people like them. Me and host mum Esther had the best time together, we did girls stuff and she bought me all kind of things and we went out together and danced like maniacs.. and shes 46!! Charlie and Esther really convinced me that all the fun starts when you are 40! (well not really, but 40 seems like a good age after meeting them)! We went out to a big lake and sailed with their boat and I did tubing for the first time (my bud still hurts). I ll post pictures when I get the chance.
Of course next family was nothing like the Tantillos. Next stop was Minneapolis/ St. Paul (or the twin cities) in Minnesota. I stayed with an older lady whose husband died a few years ago and I shared a bed with my old roomate Siyi from China. It was a very very busy week! Community Impact projects were so interesting! We worked for the Courage Center for physically disabled people, and met a disabled athlete from Ghana. He really changed things for disabled people in his country. Oprah did a documentary film about him. In Ghana they used to let disabled people die in the forest or have them begg their whole life, but thanks to him, disabled people are now in a better place. He was given many awards and he is quite famous. Also in Minneapolis I had a carreer day and went to a fundraising event and a debate of democrat candidates for the Congress. It was interesting to see that and I learned a bit more about campains and fundraising. One of the candidates was an Up With People alumna and we got to have lunch with her. Then we went to the Minnesota state fair, ate everything on a stick and deep fried candies and saw pigs and other animals. It was fun- in a midwestern kind of way!
But anyway, the twin cities were ok, I got a lot of sleep and I relaxed a bit. Now Im in Mankato, Minnesota and its absolutely crazy! Im having sooo much fun here! I dont have a host family, me and 15 other girls live in a homeless shelter of the Salvation Army. (its closed for the summer so they donated the facility). Its not exactly a five star hotel, but its so much fun! All 16 of us stay in one room, we have only 2 bathrooms and it smells bad most of the time.. Apart from that, its just perfect! We dont have a family so we can do whatever we want, we dont have curfew and we ve been out every day this week partying and drinking, it was crazy! I didnt get more than 5 hours of sleep every day but I dont feel tired at all. I enjoy every minute cause I know that its not going to happen again, you usually stay with families so you have to show respect and be home early and talk to them a lot and do things with them. I love it, thats how you get to know the culture, but this freedom is priceless! Things will get worse in Japan, I dont think I ll be able to go anywhere on my own, so I enjoy this. Mankato is a student town, it has a cute little plaza with bars and restaurants. Its quite small, so you can walk everywhere- I love that.
Today we went to a farm in the forest and spent the night there. We were supposed to have a diversity fair but it rained really hard so it was cancelled. I had a great time though, it was just beautiful, I felt so relaxed and I love the smell of wood and earth when it raines in the forest.
Tomorrow its a free day and then on Monday we leave for Sioux Falls, South Dakota (I dont know who picked the tour cities, but it seems like we have the weirdest places). We have already started preparing for Japan, we had cultural presentations and endless "dont ever do this in Japan" lists. It seems like the culture is so different, it scares me a little. I ve never tried sushi, I better like it! My japanese is improving very slowly, Im sure I ll have communication problems but it will be fine!
I ll post pics as soon as I get a pc to upload them. Warm kisses to everyone, I hope you are doing good, email me when you have some time, I havent talked to anyone for a long time (Im even forgetting my greek!). Im sorry I dont have time to email individually, hopefully next week will be relaxed and I ll have internet and time to email.
No comments:
Post a Comment