Today has been exhausting. I’m sitting in the Metra train and commuting home. I have a huge head ache from the heat. I got my Chicago cellphone today from the office and I made my first call in the USA.
In the morning Anya picked us up at the Union Station and we took a cab to the office, as we were running late. At first we had the orientation continued, also it was SO good to speak Estonian again and to hear the quality jokes from Ruuben and listen to stories about other hosts. It seems, that me and Greta are the most satisfied with our family. At WorldChicago we also started with a little bit of brain-storming for the action planning. I’m in the same group with Greta from Lithuania, Rasa and Ralfs from Latvia (both are actually cool. Rasa cares about this precise topic very much, and Ralfs is a very cool guy, nice jokes etc.), Triin from Estonia and also the Estonian chaperone Lauri is working with our group.
After the brain-storming we went to the Canadian Consular for lunch. We had a one hour talk with the consul: interesting information about their education system, history and politics and also a comparison with the USA.
After lunch we returned to the office to meet our Dream Leaders youth from Chicago. We had Mecca and Alyssa (birthdaygirl) in our group for the scavanger hunt. Also Lauri, Monika and Julianne came with us. We ended up being the third group out of three, but we still had loads of fun, although I was quite like melting in the sun and not very active.
At first we headed to the Millenium Park to make a peace sign incorporating the bean and taking a picture of it. Then we had to take a picture of a bunch of people by the head fountains as diverse as possible. Third stop was the most popular stage at Grant park. We wrote a haiku about non- violence and also called our group the haikus. Fourth stop was by Lake Michigan and we had to make as much pictures as possible of people being active. Last thing was to get ten people sign a paper and tell, what’s the biggest issue of importance for them as the Americans. We had immigration and heat and healthcare etc.
The Dream Leaders are all very fun and active and I’m glad that we’re gonna spend more time with them throughout the whole time in Chicago.
Ema ja Neti- helistan teile varsti oma kõnekaardiga, mis mulle siin anti.
Pictures are coming tomorrow I hope.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
the Wexler family
This is amazing. After arriving in Chicago O’Hare Airport we took an hour- long busride to WorldChicago were we met Lisa and all other program coordinators of the Chicago program. We got tons of papers and telephone cards (I have $5 credit to call home) and metro cards. Me and Greta live the farest away, so we have more metro cards. We have the CTA pass and the Metra zone F cards. We had a snack and the hostfamilies started to flow in. My heart was pumping and I was wondering, who’s gonna pick me up.
Lisa called my name and took me to the Wexler family, waiting down tthe hall. Ken and Suzanne (the parents) and the youngest daughter Alyssa were waiting for us. We had a little chat and then started to drive home. It took us about 45 minutes, without traffic. On our way Alyssa suggested that we could go to the „American mountains“ (rollercoasters) and to the cinema to see „Eclipse“ on our free time. Also to a Reneissance fair and maybe shopping. These plans sound awesome, especially the rollercoasters (ma tean Neti, et sa oled kade :D). The family lives in a suburb called Buffalo Grove. It seriously looks like the Wisteria line from Desperate Housewives, only two times bigger. It is just crazy, the neighbourhood is just so neat and wow, from the movies. Still getting used to it. The house is about three times bigger than mine, looks very pretty. I think you’ll hear more about the house and everything materialistic about my stay.’
But to the more inportant part, the family. Ken works at an office and does employment benefit councelling (I hope I got it right) and he’s interested (very, very) in photography, so he can teach me all about my new camera. (või siis meie kaamera, ema) He does that as a side work and as a hobby. And he’s great at it, they have pictures made by him all over the house! He is very helpful and kind. Suzanne work 15 hours a week in network marketing and volunteers as a home-less shelter director! She is the sweetest person I’ve met, really makes us feel like home with Greta and I could say all the good words about her. She even offered to do our laundry. Alyssa is 12 and she is very smart for her age. I’d say 12 year-olds in Estonia are never that cool. She made a surprise cake for us, saying „Welcome Anna and Greta“. How sweet is that! And she lets us sleep at her room, while she stay’s at her sisters. Lauren is at a camp right now, she’ll be arriving on Monday and Jeff is coming home from Germany today. The family even has a table for exchange students at their house, thay have had many of those.
I could carry on and on and on and as you may have noticed, my posts have become more American in my expressions, at least it seems so to me. I’m smiling all the time and saying „sorry“ and „thank you“. I couldn’t be happier with my family and I try to keep you updated, but I also try to spend as much time with the family as possible and so I have a little time for blogging. Well, right now im taking the Metra with Greta and Ken, it takes an hour. And then we have a 25-minutes walk to the office.
I’m gonna finish now, or I won’t stop. Kallid Eestisse. Minul on tõesti kõik super hästi. Kodus räägin kõigest veel sada korda detailsemalt. Skaipida praegu ei jõua eriti, aga jätan teate, et millal tulen. Siis saan skaibis võib- olla pere ka näidata.
Lisa called my name and took me to the Wexler family, waiting down tthe hall. Ken and Suzanne (the parents) and the youngest daughter Alyssa were waiting for us. We had a little chat and then started to drive home. It took us about 45 minutes, without traffic. On our way Alyssa suggested that we could go to the „American mountains“ (rollercoasters) and to the cinema to see „Eclipse“ on our free time. Also to a Reneissance fair and maybe shopping. These plans sound awesome, especially the rollercoasters (ma tean Neti, et sa oled kade :D). The family lives in a suburb called Buffalo Grove. It seriously looks like the Wisteria line from Desperate Housewives, only two times bigger. It is just crazy, the neighbourhood is just so neat and wow, from the movies. Still getting used to it. The house is about three times bigger than mine, looks very pretty. I think you’ll hear more about the house and everything materialistic about my stay.’
But to the more inportant part, the family. Ken works at an office and does employment benefit councelling (I hope I got it right) and he’s interested (very, very) in photography, so he can teach me all about my new camera. (või siis meie kaamera, ema) He does that as a side work and as a hobby. And he’s great at it, they have pictures made by him all over the house! He is very helpful and kind. Suzanne work 15 hours a week in network marketing and volunteers as a home-less shelter director! She is the sweetest person I’ve met, really makes us feel like home with Greta and I could say all the good words about her. She even offered to do our laundry. Alyssa is 12 and she is very smart for her age. I’d say 12 year-olds in Estonia are never that cool. She made a surprise cake for us, saying „Welcome Anna and Greta“. How sweet is that! And she lets us sleep at her room, while she stay’s at her sisters. Lauren is at a camp right now, she’ll be arriving on Monday and Jeff is coming home from Germany today. The family even has a table for exchange students at their house, thay have had many of those.
I could carry on and on and on and as you may have noticed, my posts have become more American in my expressions, at least it seems so to me. I’m smiling all the time and saying „sorry“ and „thank you“. I couldn’t be happier with my family and I try to keep you updated, but I also try to spend as much time with the family as possible and so I have a little time for blogging. Well, right now im taking the Metra with Greta and Ken, it takes an hour. And then we have a 25-minutes walk to the office.
I’m gonna finish now, or I won’t stop. Kallid Eestisse. Minul on tõesti kõik super hästi. Kodus räägin kõigest veel sada korda detailsemalt. Skaipida praegu ei jõua eriti, aga jätan teate, et millal tulen. Siis saan skaibis võib- olla pere ka näidata.
At the airport
This post was written on Tuesday morning.
During the night I had a dream about my hostfamily, I am so excited to meet them. In the morning I woke up to the alarm clock at 6.45 am, very sleepy, almost ready to go jogging.
I met up with Ruuben downstairs and we ran to the White House and the Kosciusco Park. We saw a lot of squirrels and birds, not shy at all. And of course a lot of people going to work. It was very hard to do any kind of physical activity due to the dampness and hotness in the air. We came back after a half and hour, took a shower, had breakfast and packed my bags. I also visited Ruuben’s suite with Eva and chatted with a funny Lithuanian guy Andrej Kokoc. He’s hilarious with his huge love of records and Cold War. He call’s himself a chatterbox and says, that all Lithuanians are to sleepy and inactive. I had a good session of laughter and then we headed to the Ronald Reagan National Airport. Right now I’m sitting at the gate and waiting for my flight to Chicago. I’m super excited about meeting my hostfamily. As I don’t have wifi here, I’ll post this later.
We chatted with Karoline from the Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Summer Institute on facebook, and it turns out, that she is also in Washington DC right now, staying at a hotel just a few blocks away from us, but she has such a tight schedule and we just have no time to meet.
Vahtusperest kirjutan juba loodetavasti täna õhtul või homme hommikul. Tervitusi kõigile!!
During the night I had a dream about my hostfamily, I am so excited to meet them. In the morning I woke up to the alarm clock at 6.45 am, very sleepy, almost ready to go jogging.
I met up with Ruuben downstairs and we ran to the White House and the Kosciusco Park. We saw a lot of squirrels and birds, not shy at all. And of course a lot of people going to work. It was very hard to do any kind of physical activity due to the dampness and hotness in the air. We came back after a half and hour, took a shower, had breakfast and packed my bags. I also visited Ruuben’s suite with Eva and chatted with a funny Lithuanian guy Andrej Kokoc. He’s hilarious with his huge love of records and Cold War. He call’s himself a chatterbox and says, that all Lithuanians are to sleepy and inactive. I had a good session of laughter and then we headed to the Ronald Reagan National Airport. Right now I’m sitting at the gate and waiting for my flight to Chicago. I’m super excited about meeting my hostfamily. As I don’t have wifi here, I’ll post this later.
We chatted with Karoline from the Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Summer Institute on facebook, and it turns out, that she is also in Washington DC right now, staying at a hotel just a few blocks away from us, but she has such a tight schedule and we just have no time to meet.
Vahtusperest kirjutan juba loodetavasti täna õhtul või homme hommikul. Tervitusi kõigile!!
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