Week 18: ❅ CANADIAN CHRISTMAS ❅

Week 18:

On Tuesday (Christmas eve) my hostdad, my hostbrother and me went to Kingston to celebrate Christmas with their relatives.
During my family was opening their presents and celebrating 'Weihnachten', I skyped them and had a chance  to talk to my whole family for a few minutes. That day I got very homesick and cried, but my hostsiblings calmed me down.. They are so caring and lovely and they will always be my siblings to me.
At night we went to a huge family party. There were around 40 people in one house and these were only relatives from my hostmum! They were all very nice and tried to talk to me and I, I had a good night!

On the 25th in the morning, we got up very early to unwrap our presents. That day I didn't feel as homesick as the day before, because we celebrate Christmas on the 24th. I got many presents from my hostfamily and had a very good time We stayed at home with over 20 relatives for the whole day. At night my hostsiblings played the guitar and sang for everyone. It was great! They are so talented!

We also stayed at my hostfamily's cottage in Kingston for 1 night and I took a nice walk on Loughborough lake with my hostfather. The whole lake was frozen and the ground was covered by a thick layer of snow. Even the trees were frozen, it looked like a Winter Wonderland!!

Me in a snowmobile outfit

Me on the lake

Loughborough lake

frozen tree

The next day we went back to Niagara Falls and I spend some days with my hostbrother and my friends from highschool.

Week 17: Myer Christmas Week and Santa!!

Week 17:

The last week at A.N. Myer was fun because there was a dressing theme for every day in the last week. On Thursday, we had Pajama day because Friday was off. I came to school in my Onesie ! :)
There were no classes all day and the teachers played movies in their classrooms or played boardgames. There also was an assembly where some students sang or played the guitar.
They even hired a Santa Claus and I took a picture with him!

On Tuesday I went to a Rotary Christmas dinner. I had some very good food and one Rotarian dressed up as Santa Claus and gave me and the other exchange student a present!

In the weekend im met my friends, went iceskating and prepared for Christmas. Because there isn't much entertainment in Niagara Falls, boys go iceskating with girls for a date. It was so much fun because I saw many friends from my school at the rink.

Janessa and me

Katie and me at the rink

Week 16: Snow and Santa Claus Parade

Week 16:

One of the best days of my exchange was Thursday, december 12th. Two Rotarians gave me the oppurtuity to watch my first hockey game ever, and it wsa just amazing. I was so excited to watch the Niagara Icedogs play against the erie otters and I even had a ticket in the first row, behind the protecting glass. The hockey players often bumped against the glass or threw the puck against it. That was sooo exciting! I definitely need to watch another hockey game soon!!
Special thanks to the Rotarians Travis and John for inviting me to the game!

I enjoyed spending some time with my hostsister Sarah Mae who was coming home for 2 weeks. A week after, my hostbrother Robb came to stay for a week too and it was great to see them, as always.
On Friday some family members came to stay over the weekend. They brought 3 little kids with them, so we looked for some activities in the weekend. We went to see the falls by night and drove by the christmas decorations in downtown Niagara Falls. A few days before, we had a beautiful snowstorm so everything was covered in snow. On Saturay I had to get  up early to go to the Santa Claus Parade. It had over -15°C outside and i needed to wear 2 T-shirts, to sweaters, two coats, furry boots and two pairs of pants outside. I was walking behind a horse carriage with a Rotary sign. The Rotarians kids sat in the carriage because they were too young to walk for an hour. Me and Rayane handed out candy for the kids watching the parade and wished them a Marry Christmas. After all, I had fun at the parade! I came houme at about 2pm, had lunch and fell asleep for nearly 5 hours!

The horses were the best :)

That was my week.
The next update will hopefully be next Saturday.

Week 15: BUFFALO aka Rotary Weekend #3

Week 15:

All week i looked forward to the next Rotary weekend, where I can meet the best friends anyone could have. These weekends are always the highlight of a month. On Friday I stayed home because a Rotarian picked me up around noon. There would have been the Holiday House Tour with all the fancy houses decorated in Christmas stuff, but I was away all weekend so I couldn't see them.

At noon me and Rayane were picked up from our houses and were driven across the border to Buffalo. First stop was the "Ralph Wilson Stadium" in Buffalo. All the exchange students and some Rotarians met there and we got a tour through the stadium. We saw the field, the seats, the fitnesscenter, the indoor training field and the gym for the football players. We even went to the lockers, where all the famous football players had all of their stuff in. Ther was a football player coming to get some of his stuff but I was too shy to ask him for a pictue. :(

Fitnesscenter

the lockers

After that we had dinner in a restaurant and finally went home to our hostfamilys. I was very lucky and stayed with some of my best friends Carole and Ana in Carole's hostfamily. They were very welcoming and so nice! Later in the evening, Carole showed us her school and we visited some friends of hers. 

On Saturday, we all went in the Buffalo City Hall. We went to the very top and could see whole Buffalo. To be honest Buffalo is not one of the most beautiful cities in North America ;)

In the afternoon we went Ice skating in the Rotary rink! It was so much fun, even though some of the exchange students had never done that before. They played Christmas songs, we met some noce new people and it was snowing. Perfect!

Carole, Marcos and me iceskating

We had a little party in the evening at a Rotarian's house. All the exchange sutdent were there and we said goodbye to the tree of us who will be leaving in a couple of weeks.

On Sunday it was time to say goodbye to some of the exchange students for more than 3 months. The whole day was very emotional and it made me sad to be seperated from my "second family" for such a long time. I can't even express how much I love these guys and I reallly can't wait to see them again. They mean the world to me.