Just two days to go

It's friday... and monday my exchange student will arrive.
I can't wait. She's so nice and lovely. And today I found out she's the same height as I am.
I'm not very large, the shortest kid of our year. So it's nice not to have to look up to talk to someone.

Mom bought large cusions to sit on, as we don't have enough place on the couches for everyone to sit on when the exchange students and my brothers are at home.
Plans are made and now it's cleaning and waiting.

At sunday the exchange partner of my sister arrives and on monday mine.
I'm happy for my sister she's finally been able to talk with the guy in facebook. She's finally looking forward to the exchange too.


Someone asked how many donations we've got so far.
The answer is easy: none.
That's not what we hoped for.

Clock is ticking

Today we're one day nearer to the exchange.

Both me and my sister studied very hard and so concentrated that were were both very surprised.
Because I did very well with the former test I felt very encouraged, so I hope my tests will be OK tomorrow.

Yesterday one of my brothers had two very important exams and he passed them both well.
I feel very happy for him, because one of those tests was a much feared one.

Today my oldest brother came to make pizza. He has a shop near where he lives where they sell delicious pizzas and he brought those to us. Yummy!

We discussed how we would manage dinner with so many people at home next week.
It's either two rounds of dinner or sitting all together in the livingroom. Mom found some sitting...eh.... things in a leaflet that seemed to be great for us to sit on, losing no space and gaining a seat.
My brother said he had the same thought and he would get two of them tomorrow morning and maybe we can get some more later in the week.

Another problem solved.

History now

It's interesting to see history develop.
Yesterday the egyptian president Mubarak told the world he wouldn't reseign and today he suddenly stepped down.

The egyptian people where very happy.
Some are still worrying because they don't know what will happen after this.

We had school and after the lessons we went to one of our group of the stage night and made decisions about clothes and such.
We had a good time and I have more confidence that we will do well at the stagenight.

It's just a week and then my exchange partner will arrive.

I can't wait!

Packing your travelbag

When you're going to travel by plane you should know how to use the available space in your bags as good as possible.

Ofcourse you shouldn't take anything with you you're not allowed to take with you.
You can find the rules on the site of every airport and on the sites of many embassies.

When you have questions, ask them, or leave the item you have questions about at home.

You should also know what you're allowed to take with you when traveling back.

Take old socks and underwear with you and when you've used them throw them away. That creates space for souvenirs.
When you plan to buy a watch or other things, don't take the old ones with you.

In your handluggage:

• ID papers
• traveltickets
• money
• medication. If possible in sealed package.
• recipe in latin of the medication you're taking with you. With stamps from doctor or pharmacy.
• chococlatebar, in case you're hungry.
• chewinggum
• glasses
• copies of your ID and other paperwork. (Also in case)
• adressbook
• handkerchief

And the best way to pack your bag is this one:

Last meeting with parents before the exchange

Yesterday we had the last meeting with parents before the exchange.

We got a timetable with all the things we're going to do during the time our exchange partners are here, and we made some plans.

We were lucky that a friend of one of my brothers was able to drive us, because that gave me still a bit of time to make my homework.

In the morning it turned out we had a dentist appointment.
Mome hadn't told us to keep us on top of things, as there's so much to do and I would certainly have taken the rest of the evening off.

My teeth were OK and I got a compliment for keeping them so clean. My sister too.

What kind of travelbag?

My sister asked what kind of travelbag we need to travel to Istanbul and Spain.
You can't take a case as handluggage, so we thought that maybe a nice cotton totebag would do.

What would you advice?

If not...

I wonder what happens if exchange students can't get along.

I feel very lucky with my exchange partner. She's wonderful and we can communicate well.

Some of the girls in my group can hardly communicate with their partner.
And the same goes for my sister.
She has to bridge the gap between two completely different cultures and that between boy and girl.

It's almost as if the school assumes everyone can go along well, but we all know that even within the same culture and group there are enormous differences.

So I wonder what happens if the exchange student only uses the family to sleep and ignores his partner and walks with the boys. For instance.

A sister comes in handy

My sister got the plans for the student exchange today so we know the dates, times, flightnumbers from the arrival and leaving of our partners and ourselves.

My sister has to be at school at 4 in the night.
We're the only people without car...

I have to be there at 6.

She returns one day later than I, so I can wait for her and welcome her home.

My class hasn't got those details, so a sister comes in handy. :)

I can't wait until we meet our exchange partners. I've got nice contact with the girl who visits here. She is able to read and write english, but not all girls from her class are able to.

I feel very lucky.

The face of my borther shows no change yet. He is very careful to take his meds in time. That's all he can do at the moment.
Thanks for the well wishes for him.

So many names

My sister got the name of her exchange student and a classmate told she had seen him on facebook.

My parents are not in favor of young girls surfing internet at places that are told to be not very safe for us, but they don't want to stay in the way of the exchange either.

So we sat down to find the exchange student of my sister and with the name she had about 50 or more people with the name popped up!

It must be a name like Jan Janssen, which is a common name here in our country.

As my sister mailed her student a few days ago, she had a close look if she did something wrong while writing the address.

Maybe resending the mail helps???

Flamenco skirt

My mom went to the attic today to tidy some things and put our iceskates there. When She came down she had a black jacket, a skirt and a pair of trousers which might fit one of us.

The jacket is for me, because it fits me.
And I tried the skirt.

It's black with a red border with white flowers on it.
It's a circle skirt, a real one.

I love it.

Mom told me she used to wear it during the flamenco lessons she had.
I can imagine here throwing all ther energy and passion in it.
I've seen her using her feet to create the flamboyant rhythm of the flamenco.
She can use them so fast that she doesn't have to flop her feet, but she can just stamp the rhythm without missing a beat. Wow!

So now the skirt is going to us.

And I'm going to Spain this year.

That makes me think...

And the next exchange student is....

I'm very happy with my exchange student.
We mail each day and it's nive to learn about who she is and about her country.

My sister heard today who her exchange student is.
As the group she exchanges with consists almost completely of boys, her student is a boy. She doesn't mind. We've got enough brothers not to make a problem.

We tried to find out how his school looks, but it's such a large school that we don't know yet.
Children go there from the first schoolday in Kindergarten to the last day of university.

Tomorrow those students will hear about their dutch exchange partners and I think they will mail too and we'll know more after this weekend.

That was stupid

I was so happy to hear about the exchange student and that we got in contact that I forgot that not only kilometers are between us.
In my mind she was already far more familiar than she is so I forgot that she might read my mails different from my intention.

I told her that my brothers have autism.
I'm so familiar with them that I forgot that many people don't even know what autism is, or have a completely different picture from it than my brothers display.
Autism is just a name for such a huge variety of problems.

Oh, I feel so stupid.

On top of it: I couldn't sleep and I was so enthousiastic that I asked if she was online, far too late in the evening.
It was irresponsible. Not only to her, but to me too.

As soon as my mother saw I was online she asked me if I was nuts and made me go to bed. People in Spain thought I was nuts.

I'm so sorry I caused a problem.

As soon as I heard that the people in Spain had serious questions about it all, I explained it and apologised.

I'm very happy that everything is alright now.

I'll be blogging about autism this week, but for now I say goodbye.

She's nice!

Today I heard the name of my student and I was able to mail her and receive an answer back.

She seems to be a very nice person and I feel so happy she's my exchange student.
It's great we can talk through internet and I'm sure we'll contact each other a lot before she arrives here.

Today I aslo heard that the brother of someone I know has died of the mexican flu last month.
That's so very sad.
More and more people are afraid that the flu comes back and even worse than before.
All I can do is to try to live as healthy as possible, sleep and eat well, and stick to the rules of hygiene.
I'm happy I don't smoke or drink.

I got an 8 for biology. Wow!
I worked very hard for it and it paid off.

Who will be my exchange student?

Wednesday we heard that the matching was almost done. All my classmates who participate this exchange gave some excited noises.
We have been waiting the hole holiday and this would be the final moment, but then our tutor said we had to wait until friday since they were not ready yet.

And yeah, today was the day, when we heard who where going to be our exchange students and I got home with a big smile, even when the rain was pouring down.
I came inside and heard my mom on the phone, she was talking to my dad. I didn't understand what was going on.
When mom was done phoning she asked why my tutor would call them and I was shocked, I could't remember I did something bad or wrong.

I gave a little smile and my mom smiled back, she was just fooling around.
She told me that my tutor was a little in shock since she and our other team leader found out there was another girl who participates the exchange, who they didn't know about.

Well since I don't have any place (my brother is autistic and he can't deal with other people in the house, and we have little space) for my exchange student I shared someone with one of my best friends.

But since there is another student who participates I will get my own but now my tutor has to find some place to stay for her.
I don't really want to since I've got homesickness and when I'm with someone I know, trust and who knows about my homesickness I can stand the situation better then when I'm alone.
My mom said I had to stop saying I didn't want it since we can't look in the future and we don't know how it will go in Spain. She offered to try to talk with the parents of my exchange student or write a letter in their language. She also said that these people are loving parents too and will care for me as well as they can.
I had to give in since my mom gave hole a story about how it would be for my exchange student and further. Even when I got a little irritated because she was going on and on and on, I thought what she was telling was true and I changed thinking about the fact that I got my own student. Now the only problem is that
my tutor has to find a place for my exchange student otherwise I have to stop calling the girl like that.
Furthermore I don't know anything about the girl, I know as much as my parents and the family. Nothing. I need to wait and hope that everything will be fine.
Wish us luck.
Or say: "break a leg". Which means the same as good luck. We use that in the theatre world before going on stage.
Bye, Bye.



We need to find donations and sponsoring for the exchange and I hope you will help me. Maybe you want me to send a card to you from Spain, or maybe you want me to write down something positive each day to conquer my homesickness? You can read more about donating and/or sponsoring: here

I can't wait...

I can't wait.

This evening is very important to me.

Next year, in spring, I'll participate in a student exchange and this evening we'll hear which country will be our partner country.

As soon as I know more I'll blog about it.