Two Months on an Emotional Rollercoaster

I've probably tried writing this over a hundred times and I'm still having troubles finding the right words. There is so much I want to write but I'm just tongue tied. I've logged on to my blog way more times than I'd like to admit and I'm honestly stuck.

I love it here. I love the people, the food, the language(sometimes), and I love and always will love the memories I've made. So far I've celebrated my birthday, and Halloween is happening right now. We have a four-day break called Autumn Holiday. 

(Now at this point I was distracted for over an hour...)

This is one of the many reasons why I haven't written. I can have a very short attention span which is not good at all.

In either the first or second week of December I will be moving to my second host family, I will stay there for around three months, and then go back to my first host family. Which I will stay there for the rest of my exchange. I have spent time with my second host family once and they seem amazing.

Now time to talk about my first family. I love them. I love my extended family. I also love my new family friends. I have no idea what to call my host parents. To my friends and host brother I call them my mamina and my octino (Slovak for mom and dad) but, I haven't said it to them. I don't even call them by their first names because I feel like that is too formal. When I start a conversation with one of them I get their attention by usually saying "umm." I know it's weird and awkward but, those two adjectives describe me and many of my conversations here perfectly. I love hiking and anything involving the outdoors so luckily for me my host family is the exact same and I've gotten to see some beautiful places. I've probably climbed over two thousand stairs if you add many different castles and sight seeing spots I've been to together. One of my favorite things is to watch the sunset here and in my village there's a spot that I can do that and see the city. Pictures that I take will never do the real thing justice.

This paragraph is dedicated to my host mom who is ABSOLUTELY adorable. She has the strongest accent in my family when is comes to trying to speak English but, that doesn't stop her. She recently started taking English lessons which makes me very happy. Everything that she's learned so far I already know in Slovak so it is very easy for me to understand and help her. Sometimes we sit at the table together and try having conversations in Slovak and whatever I don't understand she tries to say it in English and if that doesn't work then she brings out a book to translate. Also anything that I can't say in Slovak usually requires the translation book. There are so many words that don't exist in other languages which can be a huge problem but, thank goodness for adjectives because those are lifesavers. One last thing about my host mom, she is an amazing cook/baker/anything involving creating meals, and she made my favorite dish a couple days ago which made me an extra happy-camper!

My octino a.k.a dad. He is very much a comedian and it is very obvious that my host brother looks up to him so much. He works with cars and my guess is that he is very good at it because for a weekend he had a business trip to Poland (but maybe that's normal here). One time my family and I went on a trip and as I was walking I saw a beetle which I thought I had stepped on so I stopped walking to check my shoe and the bug. My family all stopped and noticed the bug, my octino then went and poked the bug. He told me that it was dead but, the way he told me was by dragging his finger across his neck and making whistle noises then pointing to the sky. My host mom laughed and only said the word "dead" just in case I didn't understand. For a solid minute I stared at my octino and then started laughing so hard. In many situations he whistles and does hand signs to explain things to me. I've had to act out many things that I couldn't describe to him which always ends up in one of us laughing so hard because we come up with something totally different then either of us meant. There has been many cases not only with my octino but also with others where communication gets mixed up and we just start laughing. Sometimes laughing is all you can and should do. I've heard laughing is very healthy for you and can lead to a longer life. I will live a VERY long time.

There is no possible way I can only write a paragraph for Romanko. He is indescribable, so I have decided that later on during my exchange I will dedicate a whole post to him. When will it be? I have no idea, you'll just have to visit my blog every time I post to find out.

Everything that you've read so far has been pretty darn positive but, as you can tell by the title it's not always that way. I've been told all the time that I'm always happy, or smiling, or laughing (which is because I am very easily entertained,) but in all honesty it is impossible for me to be or do any of those things 24/7. 1- because I don't smile or laugh while I sleep (that's creepy) and 2- it is unnatural for anyone to be like that. As a normal teenage girl/exchange student/human being, you're supposed to have bad moments and even bad days. I've had both and they usually come at my happiest moments here. Not too long ago I was having a bad moment, now one of my friends noticed and said that I should just stop thinking, knowing me I knew that it would be impossible. She then told me that she stops thinking after 7pm because it's too late at night to think (I like this very much). Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE it here so much. I also LOVE Oregon so it should be normal to have my bad moments and days.

To EVERYONE that's reading, my Oregon family and friends, my Slovakian family and friends, my Rotary clubs and districts, and of course my HUGE exchange family, always know that it's okay to have your bad moments and even bad days. But don't stay in those times for long because life won't stop moving for you. Everyday has to have something unforgettable. Something I've heard and love is that people may not remember what you did or said but, they will always remember how you made them feel. So, on that note go make someone feel unforgettable.

As always thanks a million for reading and making me feel something unforgettable,
Emani

A Little Over A Month

This post is for my mom because she said I needed to post today. Hi Mommy! I've been here for a little over a month and I feel as though I left Oregon just a week ago, but also forever ago. Everyday is a new day with crazy memories which I couldn't thank MANY people enough for. 

I recently did a presentation about my life to a couple different classes at my school and it was really fun. For a while I was nervous because my last slide said "Questions?" and it would have been extremely awkward if no one had any questions so for the longest time I thought about deleting that slide. But more people felt comfortable talking to me because I had my friend there just in case of translating. I got a lot of good questions! My favorite was when a teacher asked what we did for Columbus Day, he asked if we had school, and what all happens on this day. Mentally I was laughing thinking about all the American holidays that we don't celebrate and even the ones that nobody knows about unless they have a paper calendar. I told him that when we are younger we do arts and crafts and read stories about the holiday but once we get older, we only talk about it if the teacher is interested. He then told me that he makes his class do arts and crafts and reads stories to them about many other American holidays, including Columbus Day (they are older than elementary students.) If you have been wondering what he teaches it's English and I hear he's a bit crazy about the US. I got questions ranging from really personal, to questions just about how exchange works and what it's like. There will be another day like this in May; by then my presentation will all be in Slovak (hopefully.) 

Today I told my mom that I was going to travel the world and live in tribes in Africa. Now none of this is fully true but, exchange does change your thoughts about the future and priorities. Many things that I had put second in my life have now become my number one priority, and life seems to be easier this way. Today I went on a walk and watched the sunset. I of course took pictures but they could not do it justice. I felt very peaceful and was thinking about how lucky I am. Earlier today I also went on a hike with some friends it was short but a very beautiful one. Afterwards we had talked about how everyone's always wanting to go, go, go; nobody stops to even take a breath anymore. This exchange has gotten me to appreciate so many small things in life and I haven't even been here for that long. I can't wait for the future.

Many things almost stopped me from going on this adventure but, there was something (or maybe someone) that made me get on the plane. I've been very unlucky in life and I feel as though my luck has turned around. I wanted to go on exchange for a total different reason that is why I signed up over a year ago, Honestly if I knew what this past summer was going to be filled with I don't think I would have signed up. I had to think about the girl who had signed up for this adventure and all the reasons why, even if I am a different person then I was I still had to listen to her. But, as I said earlier I felt a pull to go; I guess you could call it my gut. Usually listening to my gut is a bad idea but, this has been a VERY good idea.

Thank you to everyone who has led me to this VERY good idea!
-Emani