THE BUFFET

 

 

Well to tell all of you the truth before I came to America I have never been to a buffet before. My first time going almost made me crazy, really I am telling the truth. My host parents, Miles and Nikki and I met each other at the Bilagio. The buffet was held over there, we had to stand in a really long line. There were all kinds of people there, there were Chinese people, Mexicans and a lot more. Everyone was standing in line ready to eat. When we finally got in I saw a lot of people, but mostly a lot of FOOD, you could eat as much as you want, how many times you want. Everything was really delicious. My host brother Miles told me to taste a little bit of everything. I have to say I ate a lot that day I was so stuffed. And yes I had a good night sleep after that :)

 





MY FIRST CHOIR PERFORMANCE

 

 

The one thing I really like about Legacy high school is that besides all those math, chemistry and all the other hard classes you can also join a class of your choice. Whether it is a dancing class or a guitar class or even a singing class. So the class of my choice is Glee class. Glee class is all about singing, it is a choir class. In glee class I feel really comfortable and myself, there are only girls in my glee class, because it is girls choir. Everyone treat each other like sisters which is a really nice thing. After practicing Christmas songs for the past six months we finally had a concert. The concert was on December 17th. It was such a wonderful evening, everyone dressed up in their dresses, ready to go on stage, even I was pretty excited. I was really nervous at first, but when we started singing is wouldn't stop I wanted to continue singing, it was my first time on stage and now I get why people say that going on stage to perform is a great thing, now I am looking forward to be going on stage often. Hopefully we will have a another concert really soon. THE GIRLS CHOIR ROCK :D

 

 





MEETING THE MAYOR OF LAS VEGAS

 

 

Sometimes when you look at your life and when you ask yourself what your thankful for, you don't even know. But why look so far when the answer is right in front of you, be thankful for everything you have now. I am really thankful for everything I have, for all the people in my life, who are there for me, all the people you meet and everything and everyone you will meet in the future. Who knew I would ever meet the President of America and who knew I would meet the Mayor of Las Vegas, who knew that I would ever be in the United States. I am thankful for everything in my life and all the people in it. I would like to thank Valerie who made it possible for me and Youseff to meet the Mayor. On Monday the 10th of December, Youseff and I had the chance to meet the Mayor, Mrs Carolyn Goodman. We went to her office, Lora who works there showed us around and it was beautiful op there, especially her office. The Mayor wasn't there, because she had to be downtown to light up the Christmas tree. But instead she gave Youseff and I a certificate, which was really nice of her. After seeing her office we also went downtown to see her lighting the Christmas tree, but yes finally Youseff and I took a picture with her. It was an amazing day, I had a lot of fun, but what wasn't fun was that I couldn't sleep that night. I was too excited to fall asleep :D

 





SANTA AT SPRING PRESERVE

 

 

On Sunday December 9th, 2012 my family went out for brunch with my brother Miles and Nikki. We went to this amazing Chinese restaurant called: Ping Pang Pong, if I am not mistaken I already told you about Ping Pang Pong. But just in case, it is the best Chinese restaurant in Las Vegas. We all enjoyed the food, especially the coconut bread, that was really delicious. It was my first time trying it and it was really delicious. After brunch we went home to rest for a while and then we went to the movies. We went to see Lincoln, which was a really interesting movie, it was about president Lincoln who didn't like slavery and wanted to give African American equal rights. It was really interesting and I learned a lot from it. At about 7 o'clock the movie ended and we went to Spring Preserve. The had all these nice Christmas activities for children and even I met Santa :). I went to take a picture with Santa and he asked me what I wished for, I told him that I wanted this year to be really fun, special and exciting, because I am a foreign exchange student. Then he asked me where I was from, so I tried to explain it to him which was funny because most people didn't know where Suriname is. And so I tried to explain it to him, then he said Ow I know where that is, it's in South America. I told him yes, how did you know,  and he said that he used to own a business so he had to travel through South America. Most people don't know where my country is located at, but what is really fun is that there are people out there who actually knows. It gives me a good feeling and it also makes me proud. :D



FUN EXPERIENCES AT LEGACY

 

Sorry, I don't have a picture for this post, I promise I will upload a few next time. I just want to share my great times in school with you. Being an exchange student makes live even more interesting and adventurous. Sometimes it seems so impossible, but nothing is impossible you can be whatever you want to be, you can go where ever you want to go. You just need to work hard for it, and believe in making it reality. I enjoy school a lot, school is really easy and sometimes it feels like I am not in school, it feels like I am on vacation. Most of my global diplomacy friends say that to. They said that they will enjoy their time being here before they go home because everything will go back to normal and with that they meant school. Every A day in school I sit in the cafeteria with my friends talking about my country, they still aren't done asking questions, sometimes they keep asking the same questions all over again :) because they have a hard time memorising the words and names. On B day I sit with my other friends well we sit on the ground which is different, but fun. I have to split my time with friends, because we all have different lunches. Every Wednesday I stay after school for Apisa, Apisa is a club where we learn about Tunisian dances, food and much more. And we have been practising every Wednesday. One time my body felt soar for 4 days straight, because of the dance practices. The assembly is in 1 week and the coming Wednesday I have to audition, so I have to practise really hard to get accepted. I am also in Glee club, it is a choir. The seventeenth of December my choir group has to give a performance, I already ordered my dress. I am really excited to see it, but I am even more excited for the performance. I can't wait to perform it's gonna be my first time performing in front of an audience, and everything will work out fine. :D

 

 

 



MY VOLUNTEER WORK

 

After looking for months for a volunteer work I finally found one. I got a volunteer opportunity at the Animal Foundation. Nikki also volunteered there so I asked her if I may join the Animal Foundation. First I had to attend one of their orientations, which was held in a library. After that I had to follow a training. So I have to tell how my training went. I went to my training and asked where I had to be to follow it. Then they send me to one of the rooms in the building, but there we 2 trainings that day, there was one for beginners, where I had to be and one for the staff members. I went into the wrong room, and I didn't know. After thirty minutes I realised that something was wrong, because they weren't doing anything I was suppose to do. I asked one of the trainer and he said that I was in the wrong room OMG.... After that he send me to the right one hihih so silly of me. So I was a little late, but my trainer went through all the stuff again so I could keep up :).

 



MY FIRST SURINAMESE DISH IN AMERICA

 

Hi there I am back :), so yes I told how Thanksgiving was right???:). Well now I want to share with you how my first experience was with making Roti. Roti is an Surinamese dish. I never made roti before, but on the Independence day of Suriname my host family and I also wanted to celebrate the Independence day. So we decided we would try to make roti together. While my host mom was cooking the curry chicken and the kouseband :) which are beans  :)  Miles and I were busy making the Roti. When we first were finish we waited for a while to bake them, but then.......... uhm well they stick together, we couldn't separate them :) hihih it was so funny. So we had to do it all over again. After we were done, we baked them and it turned out to be a really delicious meal. We all enjoyed it, it was fun making Roti.



FIRST THANKSGIVING IN USA

 

It has been a while that I haven't been blogging, I am so sorry. I have been really busy with school, my clubs and my volunteer work but I will tell you more about that later. Now I want to tell you about Thanksgiving,.................. well my experience about Thanksgiving. From what I have learned Thanksgiving is one of America's most favorite Holiday. I was in my US history class and all the students were excited about Thanksgiving, they said that it is a day where you can eat a lot and be thankful for it. It was my first time having thanksgiving in America, I was all excited especially about all the delicious food there were going to be. My host mom cooked all these good food, she made crabs, stuffing's, bread pudding, mac and cheese and much more. OMG there was a lot of food. Before we ate we all stood around the table and said what we were thankful for, and I am thankful for this great opportunity as a exchange student, I am thankful for my friends and American family, I am also thankful for my friends, family back home who made me who I am today.

 

 



                                             

PRESENTATION ABOUT SURINAME

 

 I had to give a presentation about my country: Suriname. I choose to give this presentation in my global diplomacy class because there are students from America in that class but also a lot of foreign exchange students from around the word. The day before I had to give my presentation I was really nervous, but when I got home I prepared myself and I knew that I could do it. When I got to school I got the last 20 minutes of my global diplomacy class to present my country, I wasn't nervous at all. The students really liked it, the were so excited to learn about my country, and they asked a lot of questions. I happily answered them. It was a great day I was so happy that everything worked out well.

 



MY FIRST FOOTBALL GAME

 

 

Yesterday was my first day volunteering at the Apisa carnival booth for the homecoming  football game at Legacy high school. Me and the other students had to cook food for the carnival. We made spam musubi, a Hawaiian dish and we made lemonade. At 4.30 we sold it at the carnival where everyone bought it and tried it, they said it was very delicious. At 7 o'clock I met my friends to go to my first football game at legacy. It was really cold that my dad had to bring my jacket for me, it was crowded, cheerleaders were cheering, people were screaming. Even I did make a lot of noise: GO LONGHORNS. My friends were really excited to have a foreigner as their friend and they were really glad that we went to the game together. It was really fun and just in cause you were wondering who fun the game, well the legacy longhorns won with 41 to nothing. :D GO LEGACY LONGHORNS

 

 

A WEEKEND IN SAN FRANCISCO

Last weekend I went to San Francisco with my host family, we went by car. It was a nine hour drive, it was really fun. I had to stay with my host mom's daughter Lisa and her four granddaughters. They were all so nice and I had a really great time being with them. On Friday I went with Sela to her dance classes, she had ballet and African dance, I also met all of her friends who were really nice to me. The weather in San Francisco is really different than the weather in Las Vegas. When I first got to San Francisco I was really freezing it was really different. On Saturday I did a little of sightseeing with the girls and my host parents which was really fun. After that we went to a festival where Selah had to perform. There were a lot of people and different kind of dances. On Sunday I had to go back to Las Vegas, cause Monday I had school. On Wednesday I began with my apisa club, I learned how to do the Hawaiian dance, which was a little difficult but it was really fun, I met new people, and they were excited when I told them that I was a foreign exchange. When I got home that day my hips were hurting, I think I need to do a lot more of practicing with the dance. This past week was really fun and I got to experience new things.

 

 



Girls day out

 

After one week of school it was finally Saturday, my friends and I were going to meet up at the fashion show mall. My friend Kayla, who lives across my house went with me to the mall, it was time to look for Millicent. Millicent is also an exchange student, she's from Ghana. But the big problem was: how are we going to find Millicent in one HUGE mall. And finally after one hour of searching for Millicent we finally found her. And then it was time for us to shop :D we visited a lot of stores, bought a lot of clothes and had a lot of fun. We walked through the strip, took a lot of pictures. We shoped for six hours, and shopping for six hours is really exhausting, but it was a lot of fun. At six o'clock it was time to say goodbye.

 





YFU ORIENTATION

 

 

 

I woke up at nine yesterday morning because I had to go to an orientation with my host parents. After driving for several minutes we arrived, the orientation was held at Alissa's host family's house. Alissa is also an exchange student from Switzerland, after we introduced ourselves we went upstairs and chatted with each other about our experience these past three weeks. At 11.30 the other exchange students arrived, and we started talking to each other. At the orientation we talked about the different cultures, how to be a lovely exchange student and much more. What I really liked was that we talked about our difficulties as exchange student and we all came with solutions to help each other. My host mom Cisca volunteers at YFU and she also gave us good advise. I will never forget this day, It was nice meeting different people.

 

 

 



Meeting President Obama in real life

What a beautiful new day, time goes by so fast. School is really fun, I always try my best to do well in class. When I came home from school my mom called me and said that my father got VIP ticket to see president Obama. I was so happy I can't explain how happy I was. My father volunteers at the Obama campaign and rewarded with two VIP tickets. Me and my father went to see President Obama, there were so many people standing in line. We didn't stay in line that long 'cause we had VIP tickets. After waiting for several hours it was time for President Obama to give his speech, everyone clapped for him, they want him for four more years. When he was done with his speech he give all the people who were in front a hand, even me. That will be something I will never forget, me seeing President Obama in person and even shook his hand.

 

 

 

A GREAT SUNDAY

 

So today is September 9th, my mother's birthday Happy birthday mom, I'm in Las Vegas but I hope you have a great birthday. Okay now today has been very awesome, I went to a Chinese restaurant with my host mom, Nikki, Dina and her little brother. The food was so delicious, the ping pang pong restaurant serves really good food, everybody had fun. After eating, talking and laughing we went to the Alliante park, wow what a beautiful park, all the children were having so much fun, even I did. I played a lot with water because it was so hot. I was all wet but after a few minutes I was dry again because of the heat. I had a great time today thanks to Dina, Nikki, and my host mom Cisca :D.

 



AN OBAMA WATCHING PARTY

 

Wake up, take a bath, and of to school, everyday is an exciting day for me. So much to learn and so many new people to meet, nothing is better than friendship. I made a lot of new friends in these past two weeks and I have been to so many amazing places. Yesterday I went to an Obama watching party with my host parents, so another chance for me to meet new people. And indeed I met a few people there and they were all so nice to me and a chinese woman thought that I was a chinese girl, cause my name is chinese :D I must say they were very nice people and the food was also delecious :p. I had a great time at the watching party and I really enjoyed the democratic national convention.

 



MY DAYS IN LAS VEGAS

 

First time arrived in Las Vegas everything was so hard for me, but now everything is working out not just because I've been here for 2 weeks, but because I never give up I always try and keep on trying. My host parents are really nice people and I must say I feel really safe, they have taken me to a lot of places and I had a lot of fun with them. Legacy high school is really crowded there are 2900 students at Legacy: that's a lot compared to my old school in Suriname. I met so many people and made a lot of friends, I'm still trying to get used to the language, but everything is working out right. Now that I'm here in Vegas I must say, I have eaten a lot of BURGERS :D they are really delicious :D. Today is Thursday again, time passes so fast before you know it, it is time to go home again. So I'm trying to make this the best experience ever.

 



ME AT RED ROCK CANYON FOR THE FIRST TIME

 

 

Every time I go to sleep I say to myself that I can do it, this is what I want, this is what I chose for and I must tell you it does make me feel better and it gives me the courage to go further and to discover things I haven't discovered yet. Then it was time for me to wake up and go to the Red Rock Canyon with my host parents I couldn't believe my eyes, all the beautiful mountains everything was so beautiful I didn't even had an idea that I would see the red rock canyon someday and guess what today I got the chance to see it and it was so beautiful I can't describe it in words it was such an amazing day for me and after all the sight-seeing we went for lunch at fat burgers and then we went home and I did my homework it was such a wonderful day. Thanks to my host parents.

 

 



AT THE SPRING VALLEY PRESERVE

 

After a long night of sleep and after washing some clothes it was time for me to take my camera and go to the spring valley preserve with my host family. So and again it was something new for me, so many things to discover. I got to see how Las Vegas became a city, how much water people in Las Vegas use in one year and so much more. I must say I had a really great time at the spring valley preserve I can't wait to discover so much more :D

 

 

After the spring preserve we went to the supermarket to buy some things for dinner today, we will have dinner at a friend of my host parents so we will also go for a swim :D so funny huh :p to be honest I can't swim but yeah I will try I can also play in the pool.

 



OBAMA RALLY

 

 

So I have to tell you that I got the change to go to the obama rally with my host parents. It was something new to discover, all the people who are supporting President Obama. I had a really great time and the food was great to :D. I also had the chance to meet Alfre Woodard a really famous actrice of America it was such an honor meeting her(see the picture above).

 

 



IN THE CAF

 

 

So and then it was time for me to go to school I can't describe how excited I was, my first day at Legacy High School how will it be. So to be honest it went pretty well, I met new people, new stories to tell them and it was really great to see how excited they were to hear stories about Suriname, some were interested some of them weren't but it was worth the shot. On my first day I bought food at school, but I didn't like it that much so from now on I bring my own lunch to school. At global diplomacy I got the chance to meet other exchange students so I had lunch with two of them 1 from China and 1 from Taiwan (see the picture above). We had a great time at lunch, we talked about our countries and about the food, they also didn't like it that much so they also bring their own lunch to school.

ONE WEEK DOWN 39 MORE TO GO

 

After one week of settling in, adjusting and getting over homesickness I finally beginning to feel that I can do this and with a little more hard work everything will work out very well. Now I'm starting to feel very comfortable with my host family and the friends I got to meet this week. Today I had so much fun at my Glee Club where I and all the other students had to sing a song, at Global Diplomacy I had the change to meet other Exchange students from different countries and I also made friends with two other girls from PE class. Now that I got to know so much other people I finally found myself and there are so many things for me to discover, I can't wait to discover them all :D

 

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

 

Today was my first day of school, getting there was not easy, the day I arrived we immediately went to the school to register only to discover that my immunization was not up to date. I learned that I had to get 5 more shots, oh no. The next morning we got up early to get in a long line, for two long hours I waited to get the much dreaded shots. Babies crying, impatient kids running around and grumpy adults did little to make the time go by faster. When I finally got to the front of the line I was greeted by two very nice nurses, they each gave me 2 shots in both arms and then one final shot and I was free to go.

 

Unfortunately, I was not able to go to school until the following Tuesday because the school did not take regisration on the firs day at school. But that was ok, as I got to hang out with my new friend Dina.

 

 

Here I am on my first day of school, what an experience, our school has 2900 students it is almost like a small city. I was fortunate to get some really good classes, Chemistry, Algebra 2, Global Diplomacy, PE, English, World History and my favorite class, Glee club where I get to sing with other students.\Some of my classes are very easy, other classes a little tougher and will require more work but I know I can do well.

 

Tomorrow will be the end of my first week, it seems like the time is flying by, I am looking forward to the week-end because it is the beginning of the Labor week-end a 3 day American holiday at the end of summer. \

 

Well I am tired now, which I seem to be everyday while getting used to the time change and new envirionment so I will write more later 

 





LAS VEGAS HERE I COME

After much planning, packing saying goodbye to friends and family and spending 2days in Washington D.C. I finally ended up in Las Vegas my new home for the next 10 months. I was met by my host parents, Dad (Tom) and Mom ( Cisca) met me at the airport. ( see the photo above and below)

 

Ir was great to finaly meet them and I was happy to finally settle into my new home and room with my new family.