Survived 200 Days

I'm back! Most of you hadn't thought I went anywhere but, for at least my Rotary club in Oregon you probably felt like I fell off the edge of the Earth. However, it was not that at all. One not so very surprising sentence. My house Wifi and computer do not get along. They decided to not cooperate for around three months. Now I did want to write in my blog but using my phone to do so was not my favorite option and me being the lazy, unmotivated, teenage girl living for a year in Europe, I decided to not take my computer to places with Wifi and write. I pinky promise to do better from now on.

200 days. That is how long I haven't yelled at my mom wondering what was for dinner, had to chase my dog because he jumped out the window, wrestled with my brothers, and ate my dads spicy foods and southern meals.

200 days. That is how long I haven't seen my best friends, hiked in the PNW, drove a car late at night, and didn't worry about being broke.

200 days. That is how many days I have grown as a person, how many days I have learned, how many days I have failed at pronouncing Slovak tongue twisters, and how many days I have not asked what meat was in my food.

200 days. That is how many days I have heard over 10 languages, how many days I have been using a student VISA, how many days I have been using a train, and how many days I have come to make life-long friends.

200 days. Also know as 6 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days, but, who's counting?

Not only can so many changes happen in 200 days but, so many changes can happen in just one day. You can go from being strangers with someone to feeling like you've known them your whole life. You can not know how to ask "may I have water" in Slovak to knowing how to ask "may I have water without bubbles or lemon?" I've been asked how I have changed in the past 200 days and honestly I don't know. The year before I started my exchange I had changed drastically, now I'm not for sure. I can definitely say I look at many things differently because of my experiences. I look at people differently, opportunities differently, and even nature differently.

EXTREMELY RANDOM ENDING NOTE...

I would like to say a HUGE thank you to President Mary from my sponsor club for the message about my blog. I'm not going to lie I did tear up a little bit reading it because throughout writing this blog I have decided to keep doing a blog involving my life after this year and all of my future travels, and possibly making it a career of some sorts. I never thought words that I wrote down in my own style would inspire people. I just wanted to make a blog that people wouldn't be bored with and something that was unique.

I'm going to end this on a quote... "You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need." -Vernon Howard
Sadly I have no clue who Vernon Howard is..

Thanks for reading now I'm going to learn about Vernon Howard!

Emani

Exchange?! Slovakia?! What?!

Three months and nine days have passed by and just looking back one year ago I couldn't have seen what the future had in store for me. I have learned so much and continue to everyday I wake up here in this "not so foreign land" to me now.

I think that myself and many more in the world deserve gold medals or trophies or some type of award. I have talked to many people about going on exchange for a whole year and even just for the summer. I gave some good advice (hopefully) and told them to keep an open mind ALWAYS.  

I have learned that some of my schoolmates read my blog which is honestly nerve racking. My blog is an area where I can rant about almost everything that happens on my exchange good or bad. I was surprised to know that they read my blog because I didn't expect them to take time out of their day to read about well, my life. Many of them said that they just wanted to know what I thought of them, honestly I couldn't think of anything negative about them because they've done more for me than they or I could imagine. They've been helping me survive here by being my translators, teachers, and most importantly my friends. Being an exchange student and not having friends besides the people your host family introduces you to can become very lonely. When my classmates acknowledge me with a simple "hi" or ask "how are you," it makes me feel wanted. My favorite reaction from a schoolmate that has read my blog was that he couldn't stop smiling and there were even parts that made him laugh. I know by the end of my exchange they will be a huge reason for me not wanting to go home.  

The questions I have gotten more than a hundred times would have to be, why Slovakia? Or, why not somewhere useful? And of course, why not somewhere popular? My response to those is, why not Slovakia? It's still in Europe like I wanted and it has amazing areas to explore, so why not? This is MY exchange and I wanted my OWN experience. I wanted something rare, unique, DIFFERENT. Coming to Slovakia was such a wonderful decision because I've gotten to meet some unforgettable people, and see some unforgettable places.

The job as an exchange student is to be a positive representative for your country but also to be a positive representative for your host country once your arrive back from your time abroad. How am I supposed to represent a country that only had a small part of my lifetime but, also left a HUGE impact on my life?

To answer my own question and probably many others that are wondering the same, the answer would be, to just live life. Take everything that you've learned this year and use it in your everyday life in the future. Don't forget the time you have spent abroad, the faces you met, the mistakes you made, and your biggest and smallest accomplishments. You are now a citizen of the world not just one country or two as others are but, you are a citizen of the WHOLE world and that's because you decided to take a leap of faith. You decided to take off the label. The label that says you are an American or a Mexican. You decided to become a new you. A better you.

I've heard that exchange isn't about finding yourself but, creating yourself. So, that's what I'm doing. Creating myself. A new and totally improved self.

Thanks for letting me create myself, and as always, thanks for reading.
-Emani

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

Part 1 of Castles

Orava Castle/ Oravsky Hrad

Each Chair had an important symbol carved into them

Castles have the best views of their surroundings

Orava

My family and I didn't do the whole tour but we saw most of it
which ended up being over 660 stairs

A very young child's shoes.

There was a room full of different animals, I forgot the exact
name of this one but it had two heads!

I've seen crosses like this and small buildings all around Slovakia,
I've even seen a man praying at one before.

A well of luck&wishes or bad luck&nightmares if you drop anything
but money in it.

Who knew a crack in the wall could lead to beautiful things?

This area was roped off but a man was inn there so I went in.

Mountains every where you look.

When I'm older and rich I'll build my own castle
(probably not)

Something Like SlovEnglish

Today marks my third week across the pond and over some land, located in Slovakia. My Slovak has gotten better; I for sure can count to at least a million but, I don't exactly know when that will become useful. I've realized that instead of trying to make others repeat what they said but in English it's better to have them repeat their sentence but just slower. This helps me catch a few words I've learned and have a new sentence I can use in the future. Communicating with my host family is still a struggle but that's to be expected. All of us are trying our best and that's all anyone can ask for.

 I'm not getting any weather shock because it is VERY similar to Oregon which I love. Except in the winter there will be a lot more snow which I can't wait for. I've been on at least 5 hikes since I've been here and there's been something incredible about all of them. There are so many more I can't wait to see! 

No matter where you live in the world school is school and eventually everyone would rather be at home sleeping. I love my classmates and schoolmates, most people are very kind and want to talk to me. There are still people that I haven't talked to because they aren't comfortable with English but I have been starting to communicate more in Slovak so hopefully they'll feel more comfortable. One day at school I was in a very negative mood, I was tired of not being able to communicate with anybody. I didn't want people to feel like they had to translate every time I was around. I felt very much on the outside and I felt very lonely. It wasn't that I wanted to go home but, I just wanted a friend from back home or even another exchange student who knew what I was going through to be there. After sitting in this sucky mood for a couple of classes I talked myself into really stepping out of my comfort zone and just talking to people in the very little Slovak I had known. My day I had gotten better and the days after it too.

Everyone has there own perspectives of the worlds they don't live in and I think it's world travelers that give others the opportunity to learn correctly about the outside world. I've come across many curious minds about the U.S. One of my teachers is very blunt but she is also not very good at speaking English so what she says can come out harsher than she means (or maybe she means to be rude.) She is really interested in my ethnicity and ALL of the U.S.'s problems. She asked me where my parents had come from in Africa and after many questions realized that neither my parents or grandparents are from Africa and it's my ancestors that are from there. Once that was finished she wanted to know my ancestors EXACT location but, I had no idea (I've always been curious though), she then insisted I ask my mom where exactly and the next time I had her class to tell her. I forgot and she was kind of upset. I feel that most African-Americans have no clue where there ancestors are from but I could be wrong. I've never been asked about my feelings involving demonstrators from an outsider so when the SAME teacher asked how; and I quote "felt about the black boy last summer being shot by the police" I had no idea how to respond (I was very surprised.) Of course I don't agree with the situation but I don't know all of the details because the media can be very misleading. In the end I just laughed it off (uncomfortably) and said I didn't want to talk about it because I didn't feel like it was my place.

Last weekend I got to meet over 80 incredible people from around the world, excluding Europe, that all decided to leave their normal comfortable lives at home and live in two completely different countries then what they're use to. I've found some life long friends/travel buddies. They are people who get me in ways friends from back home truly can't and might not ever be able to. Last night I went to a birthday party and a student that went to California last year for exchange was there and I just got to talk about everything I was feeling and it felt GREAT. I figured out that a very important ingredient for an amazing exchange is support. All most people need in life is reassurance that what they're doing may be crazy (example exchange for a year) but there's someone who has your back.

So thanks for reading, sorry it was so late, and as always thank you for the support,

Emani

Introducing My New, Crazy, & Adventurous Life

          Ahoj volam sa Emani! Now if you did not understand what I had said then you obviously don’t know Slovak. That’s okay though because I’ll translate for you- Hello my name is Emani! Now you have some Slovak stored for the future. A little about me, I’m 16 years old and I am from Salem, Oregon which is on the west coast of the United States, and I am currently living in Zilina, Slovakia but to be more specific my village is called Dolna Tizina. You’re probably pronouncing it wrong because 1. You do not speak Slovak and 2. I don’t know how to add all the special markings with my computer. Anyways you’re probably wondering how I found myself in a little European country that many people still think is Czechoslovakia (it is not the country split in the 90’s.) The exchange program I am going through is Rotary Youth Exchange, in short RYE. I am sponsored by District 5100, which is northern Oregon and a small part of south of Washington, and am hosted by District 2240 which is Czech Republic and Slovakia. This program has many more branches besides youth exchange which happens to be a huge plus for anyone involved with it. I will be living in Slovakia until the end of June or the first two weeks of July 2016. I arrived here August 29^th 2015 so as you can tell I’ll be here a little over 10 months. Throughout my blog I’m not going to sugar coat anything, I’ll give you ALL of my highs and lows. I’ll also attach fun/interesting pictures from my time spent here. Dovidenia!  Goodbye! 

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