hehe... itz been so long rite?? well.. i've been like UBER busy! In only 9 days... i will be graduating! wow.. i can't believe that the school year is already over! Also, i meant to write an update while i was at my second host family, and never really got around to it because i was so busy with play rehersals and performance, and then vacation in cebu, and then finals ... its just been crazy around here! lol! but.. here goes an update about .. the last 3 or so months of my life. (by the way, if you check out my website, you will already know some of this stuff.. if not, make sure to check it out for pictures and the like ...
www.xanga.com/lindsey_on_exchange )
well.. in the last email, i mentioned about English/UN week (november 20-24)... it was quite fun. Micah and i were the hosts for the final program... we did accidently leave the microphone on once tho, when our principal was giving a speech, and everyone could hear what we were talkin about! oopS!!! :D :D Next thing that happened here was my birthday. It was a fun day... i was at the Rotary club in the afternoon with some other people from school for a career talk thing... so, got out of some classes, plus we convinced our teachers to go to McDo afterward... so no classes for the whole afternoon! then, after play practice, i had some friends to the house for a party... which was definitely also a lot of fun.. awesome memories.. like putting 14 people in my host dad's SUV :D Intramurals came on December 1 & 2... seniors ended up as GRAND CHAMPS overall... as well as Girls B-Ball, Boys B-ball, Girls Volleyball, Boys volleyball, and Table Tennis winners.... our batch shirts were awesome (if u check out my page, the huge picture at the top is the back of our shirts) ... After that, there was pre-third quarter exams... and then it was christmas break! there was a christmas dinner for the high school as well as a caroling competition. The other senior class won 1st place and my class one 2nd... so seniors in the top two spots. :D over christmas, we went back to bukidnon to be with my host dad's side of the family there. I got to talk to a few people from home that weekend... like the people who were at Wal-Mart with RMUth. :D Christmas here wasn't too much different.. not near as commercialized as it is at home though. Since i am Protestant, i never experienced giong to a midnight mass until this year. it was interesting; there were people dressed up like Spanish soldiers/explorers who had swords and stuff and lined the center of the church during the entrance. After the service, we opened our gifts then headed to bed since we had to head back to the city early the next morning.
On december 26th, we came back to the city and then on new year's eve, we had about the best seats in the city. It is traditional here to have a lot of fireworks on new years, as it chases away the bad spirits of the previous years. You also should turn on all lights in ur house and toss coins around and have round fruits... circular objects are supposedly good luck. During the fireworks, there was a brownout... which actually made it look really neat. From where the hosue is, you can see the whole city. The entire city went dark, but there were still a bunch of fireworks. On january 4th, school began again. I also moved to my second host family on janurary 3rd. I didn't really get to know them well at first because practices for the play started to last longer and longer... sir roland came back and things became much more intense. As the play dates drew nearer... we realized how very unprepared we were and began to get a little scared of the performance. The last week of january was 3rd quarter exams, so we couldn't have play practice for more than a few hours. Then, the first week of february, practices went from like 4 pm till 11... talk about a long school day (when school starts at 8 am) ... and then February 3rd was our opening night. We had some problems with the lights and sounds, but with each performance, it got better and better. I was the baroness on february 5th and then the 10th. It was really fun to perform in front of everyone... it was my first singing solo in a play like that since... grade 6 (oh the great days of christmas plays in elementary..^__^ ... hehe)... a bunch of my host dad's (the second one... Tito Inting) family came... and they really enjoyed it. Some people from one of teh churches that i go to came too (neighbors of my second host family) ... the last nite of the play... february 12th... brought a lot of tears because we knew there would be no more hanging out at practices and everything. The play was definitely one of the highlights of my year... it was an amazing experience. We had a cast party which, as anyone who has ever been in a production, was awesomely fun.
after the play was over, it was time to really get serious about homework. Finals were only two weeks away! However, my host family wanted to go on a trip before i left them ( i was only going to be in that family for 2 months) so, on february 17-19, we went to Cebu... another island. It was a lot of fun... we went to a resort called Plantation Bay where there are a lot of swimming pools and other things to do. We also got to go into the city of Cebu and go shopping.. which is awesome when the malls are HUGE! :D ... We also went to a few historical sites, like the first fort that was built by the Spanish in the Philippines, the cross that Magellan planted when he first reached here, and the place which Magellan was killed by the native filipinos on that island. I had a lot of fun and got to know that host family better, since i wasn't busy with the play anymore. They are very nice people who i really enjoyed staying with. :D not to mention that my little host sister there was absolutely ADORABLE!! :D ... lol. We got back to CDO on a monday morning, and i had to go back to school like as soon as we got home. That week was the last week of lessons and then reviewing for finals (which covered the entire year)...
February 24th was prom... the theme was Ritz & Glitz and we had a really cool choreographed Red Carpet entry as well as photographers who were paid to walk around taking pictures all the time like paparazzi (is that how u spell it?? :P).. again.. check out the site for pictures (only a few now.. more soon hopefully!) A cool thing about prom here was that there is a ceremony too... with the prophecy (in which i became the US ambassador to the Philippines... lol!) and a legacy thing. I was also voted the "hot chick" award .. LOL!...prom queen here is juniors which is different from home. The week after prom was finals... so a lot of studying and stuff. Then thursday & friday was the graduation retreat. It was very emotional; we had the opportunity to talk to people in private and say stuff like "thanks", "im sorry", or "i care about u" ... it was a very cry2x experience ... lol... you really realize how much everyone means to you now that it is all over. This week... like monday and tuesday, our final requirements were due... big projects in almost every class. But now, everything is passed in and we just wait for the judgement. We're still at school everyday tho for practices for graduation. Today was a fun day, because we were at school like all day, but only practiced about an hour and a half. So.. just hanging out with friends, out to lunch at pizza hut, and then hiking up the mountain to "heaven" with some other friends (its this place with a really nice view of the city) and now... im here. wow.. its been amazing these past few months! sorry i haven't emailed.. i keep my webpage updated a little better (ok.. a lot better) than emailing..so just check that out .. although updates won't be often anymore because i am no longer at my 2nd host family who had internet at the house.
Well.. all for now! HOpe ya enjoyed it! till next time... LOVE YA! *MUAH*
~*~Lindz~*~
.... this is just the email... but if ya don't get the email... here it is for you. by the way... 4get about the last post... it was just a bad day... and a very emotional weekend with the retreat and everything... hope to update soon again!
