Rotary Youth Exchange 2013/14: 6 MONTHS

Okay so I feel very bad right now, because I haven't posted anything in forever. It has been like a month or so. I always tell myself to write a post. Yes, there are actually things happening I could write about, but I never have the patience to sit down and work on a post. It takes me about one and a half to two hours to write a post, just because of selecting and uploading pictures and reading through the whole thing about three times to make sure that there are no mistakes.

However, a lot of things happened in that past month. People start asking me when I have to go home and if I can ask my parents to just move to America so I don't have to leave. I wish… It's making me sad! I can't believe that over a year ago, on February 11th, I finally finished that long long long application and sent it in way too late. For those who didn't read my first blog post: Normally people apply in like September/October, but I was really late. I only got a place, because somebody else dropped out and I am very lucky and thankful for that. A year ago! It feels like it was yesterday. It is unbelievable!

So the month of February started pretty well with a shopping day in Iowa City with Franzi, Laís and Lucas from Brazil and Justin, a guy going to Spain next year. We also went ice skating in the mall. Later we all drove to Laís' house and had tons of fun! After the guys had gone home, we watched a movie, but I don't really know what happened, because I fell asleep after about ten minutes.

I also watched wrestling a little while ago for the first time. It's … interesting. Kind of gross and also so fascinating! I wouldn't do it, because I wouldn't want to get touched everywhere and hurt and also I wouldn't want to have the butt of the guy i wrestle in my face - no thanks. I think that the guys and girls who wrestle are really strong and I admire them for working really hard on their body.
The wrestling cheerleaders are cool to watch. They sit on the wrestling mat and their cheers mainly consist of clapping and hitting the mat. So awesome!

We also had the "Coaches vs Cancer" basketball game which was a fundraiser. The basketball players, boys and girls, wore pink and we, the cheerleaders, had funny outfits, which you will see later. Some girls cut their hair to donate it for wigs for people with cancer and the the coach of the girls and some guys shaved their head.

At another basketball game we had a cake auction. People bring their self made cakes and then there is a sheet of paper where other people can write their name in and how much they want to pay for it. So if I write let's say $20 for a cake I like and somebody else wants it too, then this other person can write his name under mine and can offer to pay $25. The cheerleaders also made a cake and I think it would have deserved the first place.

On Saturday there was The Battle Of The Bands. Students can perform alone or in a group and then the students vote for the winner. It was so cool to see the amazingly talented students!

Concerning Valentines Day: It is a big deal here - like pretty much everything. As there are a lot of couples in my school, many flowers and giant teddy bears are delivered right to school and you can also order one flower which will be delivered anonymously to your Valentine. I think it's really cute!

I also moved to my third family, the Schindler's, on Saturday! I was soooo excited! My new mom's name is Dawn, my new dad is Greg and I have a freshman brother named Kyle and a junior sister with the name Kayla. I share a room with Kayla which is kinda new for me. It means less space and privacy, but I don't really have a problem with that. It will take me a while to get used to everything in the new house and with the new family, but it is a new chapter in my exchange and it has started pretty well.

Yesterday Greg, Kyle and I drove all the way up to Cedar Falls to go to a silo. One side of it is covered with ice and you can climb up. That's exactly what we did. We put on the safety belt, the shoes with the spikes and helmet and got started. The first time I didn't even make it half way. Believe it or not, but it is really hard to get up the ice. The second time I made it a little bit over the half and I was very proud of myself. It was such a fun day!!

Now I'm going to show you some pictures!