WARNING! This is going to be a very long post.
First of all thank you to my fellow classmate Xin Wei for reminding me to update my blog.
So,off I go writing about my experience in America. Be advice that the full version is not included and I’m only writing a brief situation about the events that happened.
13th of January 2010
Thanks Hanna, Harith, Alia, Ashiqin, Syamir and Fadzil for coming.
Soon after we started our journey to America. We stopped at the Heathrow Airport in UK and also in Dubai that connects from Malaysia to the United States. It was pretty awesome when the whole thing started. We bonded with each other throughout the whole way. I for once managed to learn a new language. Since there’s 2 out of 46 students are deaf, I was hooked to the fascinating way of communicating through Sign Language. So I picked up the basics on Sign Language. From Malaysia to the United States, we had so much fun and took a lot pictures during our flight.
Once we arrived in DC, we stayed at the 4H Centre. Activities for the next few days were done in that particular area. Our stay at the 4H Centre was pretty cool as we manage to adapt ourselves to the cold winter weather. Plus, we were brought around downtown DC to the , Union Station, The Capital, Jefferson Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial.
Malaysian Embassy
Union Station
The Capital
Jefferson Memorial
Lincoln Memorial
A few days gone by and soon it was time for us to head our own separate way. For some, they stayed at the 4H Centre to wait for their host family and as for the rest; all of us head over to the airport. We were separated into groups as we moved to our directed gate for our flight. I was heading over to Montana with Sara in the same flight with me since both of us would be living in the same state. We stopped over in Denver but continued our journey with a direct flight to Montana.
I stayed with my local coordinator Marilyn Murchie and her husband RC since Mason(my host brother) was sent to the hospital to get his appendix out. So I stayed with the Murchie’s for a night. We went over to Missoula after church and that's where I met my host mom for the first time, Ann Marie McNeel. She was alone when I met her. Walked around the big town and soon after we head back to Charlo where my host family is living.
Meet the McNeel’s
Left to right: Aynslee, Me, Mason, Mark(Dad), Ann Marie(Mom)
Aynslee was 8 and Mason was 10 years old. Mom work as an attorney while dad work as a veterinarian.
Hey dad, if you are reading this I want to let you know that I will treasure the time that we hung out together during your vet call or even while we were heading to the baseball game blasting AC/DC music in the truck. Mom, I think I spent a lot of time with you and I want to thank you for the wonderful things that you have done during my stay with the family. Mason, I’ll work on my skills on basketball, lacrosse, baseball, football, and tennis so we could once again enjoy the wonderful sport activities that we once did. Aynslee, with you around while working brings a good vibe and it certainly put a smile on my face whenever you are always around.
Highlights.
I did a lot of wonderful activities with and without the family. Unfortunately there’s too many to describe here.
Skiing & Snowboarding.
Did skiing for an hour and snowboarding for 4 hours. Met an instructor at the age of 17,Katie who became a close friend of mine while I was in the US.
Bike ride.
We did a 14 mile bike ride the first time during Spring and a 20 mile bike ride over at the Hiawatha trail.
School.
As for education in school, I took up Government, English, Adv. Computer, Spanish, World History and Journalism. As for my friends in America, u know who you are and I am greatly honored to have met you guys.
I managed to do Track and Field doing pole vault, 100m, 800m, 1 mile and 300m hurdles. All thanks to Coach Thompson for giving me the opportunity to be a part of the school team as I represented the school as the Vikings.
