Hello from the other siiiiiide (of the computer),

This year is going by fast, November is behind us, which means it’s time to let you know what I’ve been up to this month. Let’s start at the beginning of the month when all the exchange students in Indiana got together to volunteer at Election Day. It was a local election, not the big presidential one that’s planned for 2016. Cassidy and I had to be downtown Indianapolis early in the morning and since we didn’t know exactly how to get there, we used our phones as GPS. Once we were in Indianapolis some of the roads were blocked off, so we ended up driving in circles… but we got there… eventually, haha.

We all had to wear a T-shirt with “Vote for Sam Goldstein” on it. Dora and I were placed to hand out pamphlets together. We had a fun time and managed to pass out quite a lot of the pamphlets. We weren’t the only ones there trying to gain votes. There were a couple other people who were in addition to us, very competitive. Dora and I managed to ignore their behaviour and decided to just laugh about it and have fun together. It was a long day and the last part was the most fun. Well… sort of. It was only until the evening that all the girls were able to get together, but when we did, we had a great time. We all get along well, which is great. When Abby tried to start her car so she and Rose could go home, her car wouldn’t start. We tried to jumpstart her car, but we couldn’t get it to work. We were pretty sure there was something wrong with the cables, so those weren’t really any help. Even when a man who just got off work offered to help us, it didn’t show any progress. Abby’s parents came to pick them up and they got home safe.

In the beginning of November Becca and I went for a workout in Mooresville park a couple times. This was really fun and we tracked our run with an app on my phone. Lucky for us we run very similar, so we didn’t have any trouble adjusting to each other’s speed. One time we were so focused on our run that when a squirrel jumped out of the bushes it caused both of us to scream a little. I know… it’s just a squirrel, haha.

Debbie went to Tennessee for a couple days to handle some business. While she was gone, her cousin Beth stayed with us. It was really nice to finally meet her!

November 11^th was Veterans Day and that’s a pretty big deal here. The whole school got together in the gym and we had a few guest speakers sharing their stories. One of them served in the army for a long time and he told us about his experiences. It was very interesting to hear. Every time we are in the gym it amazes me how many people fit in there. At my school in the Netherlands we don’t have such place, but here in America, we fit all elementary kids, middle school students and High School students in one gym. It’s fun though, because to me it really feels like we’re ‘one’ when we’re all together.

One more time. At the volleyball banquet the whole team got together for one more time. It was only then, while we were all sitting at the table talking, joking around and having fun with each other, that I realized how much I missed them, the sport and being part of a team. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always played a sport, so now that the volleyball season is over and I’ve chosen not to play basketball (because it takes up too much time), it feel strange to come home early after school every day and not have any plans for the rest of the evening. I must say that there’s nothing wrong with being lazy sometimes. On the other hand I also miss being active and burning the calories of all this amazing food. Don’t worry I’m not turning into the size of a sumo wrestler. At the volleyball banquet our coaches talked about every player and rewarded them for their specialties and improvements. A couple weeks before the banquet the whole team voted for three award winners. One award would be for the most valuable player, the other one for most improved player and the third one for player with the best attitude throughout the year. My team voted for me as most improved player, so I got home that night with a real award (picture will be uploaded). I was (and still am) so happy. It’s just so cool to win this award. I want to thank my team again for helping me to get better. If it wasn’t for them I would never have been able to learn the things I have learned and to have as much fun as I’ve had. They supported me at all times, showed me new things and practiced with me. I can’t believe how awesome this season has been!

The team got presents for the seniors who will be graduating this year, and because I’ll be leaving too, they got me some (well actually a lot of) presents too. One of them was a great big scrapbook. Every player made a page to go in the scrapbook and I got tears in my eyes when I read all the kind things they wrote about me. Another great and creative gift was a big photo frame with messages written around the edges. I will upload a picture that shows what other gifts they got me. I can’t thank them enough!

As you probably know, or actually, as you should know, the movie Mockingjay part 2 came out in November. It’s the last movie of the ‘Hunger Games’ series and together with Becca and Bre I went to the movie theatre to watch it. It was amazing! I’m not only talking about the movie, but also of the movie theatre itself. The screen was huge, the sound was perfect and we had the most comfortable chairs ever. Afterwards we had a sleepover at Becca’s place and later that evening Courtney and Alicia came to join us.

That Sunday Cassidy, Olivia, Becca, Courtney and I went to see our school perform a school play (musical). It was really cool to see our fellow classmates perform and sing on stage. The performance was great and I can’t believe what great singers they are. It was just so creative and the decorations were all made by hand. It was kind of weird though, seeing my friend from volleyball on stage like a whole different person. They all did an amazing job! This school play is another typical American thing. At my school in the Netherlands we don’t have anything like school plays, but there’s other schools that do.

Time for Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is a special day in the States and it’s celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. It’s a time to be thankful for all the things that we have. On beforehand we were warned for all the food that was going to be there. Cassidy and I went to three different Thanksgivings because the family is split up and we wanted to see everyone. In the morning of Thanksgiving Cassidy flew in from Florida where she had spent the last two days. I’ll explain, so let’s go back in time. A couple weeks before Thanksgiving, Beth told us she was going to go to Florida to visit a family member. Since Beth didn’t want to drive down there on her own, Cassidy offered to go accompany her. That’s what they did. They drove all the way down to Florida, which was about a 16 hour drive. On Thanksgiving morning Cassidy flew from Florida to Indianapolis and when she arrived at the airport her grandparents were waiting for her.
We went to her dad’s house first. A big part of the family had gotten together and just like in the TV shows and movies, you eat turkey. There were also many side dishes to choose from. After we had all eaten, we nominated people for the Turkey award. The Turkey award goes to the person who has done the most funny, stupid and or awkward things in the past twelve months. It was a lot of fun hearing all the funny things people had done. It went from breaking your arm in a fight to backing out of your garage and damaging your car.

Now it was time to go to our second Thanksgiving. Debbie was also there. It was really nice to finally meet Annelize and Jim. Annelize is originally from the Netherlands, so we could communicate in Dutch. It felt really strange in the beginning, because we could hear the other people in the room speak English and then there was us, speaking Dutch. It was also a strange experience for her because the only time she would speak Dutch was when she called her mother. Considering the fact that she had been living in America for quite a few years now, her Dutch was still really good. I walked past all the cakes and pies that were on the kitchen table and my eyes got caught on a something that looked a lot like a Dutch apple pie. I was right, it was a Dutch apple pie and Annelize made it. Hmmm it was delicious!

Up to our third and last Thanksgiving. We went to Cassidy´s cousins house and hung out with Jalon. We had seen enough food for the day, haha.

The Friday after Thanksgiving is called ´Black Friday´. On this day stores have really big sales that start at midnight. At 2 am. Cassidy, Leighann and I went to Plainfield where I bought the last book of my favourite series. I got it for only 10 dollars instead of 20. What a great deal and I can´t wait to read it! What we didn’t get to see, but what is very normal for ‘Black Friday’ is a huge crowd in the store, fighting for the products. You’ve probably seen this in movies before.

A very exciting day, not only for the football players, but for all of Monrovia, was when the boys got to play the State Championship game in Lucas Oil Stadium. This was also their last game and it was very special considering they were now playing on the field where the ‘Colts’ usually play. I must confess that football team weren’t the only one nervous for this day. I was too. It looked like the whole school and town were there to support and watch the game. I hope you’ll be able to see how big the stadium was on the pictures I’m about to upload. It was huge! I won’t keep you wondering who won no longer. We won! The Monrovia Bulldogs won! This was the most exciting part of the day, it was just amazing. The end score was Monrovia 33 – Whiting 6.

After the game Bre and I went to the zoo with Becca, her brother and her mom. Her mom has a special pass and with that pass she can take up to four people to the zoo for free, so guess what, I went in for free. Not only did we have a great time walking through all the different sections, we ended the night enjoying the dolphin show. Apart from the fact that I worked in a zoo, back in the Netherlands, I hadn’t been to the zoo (for the animals) in a really long time. It was only now that I remembered how much fun it can be. We saw polar bears, monkey’s, sea lions, snakes (venomous and nonvenomous), tigers, turtles and so much more. Since Christmas not very far away, the zoo was lit up with strings of coloured lights. I can’t believe how much excitement I had that day. First the Football game and then the zoo!

In the beginning of the month Debbie and I volunteered at the animal shelter again and this time we had a lot of work to do. There was a long list of things that had to be done, so we both helped out as much as we could. Debbie loves to work with the dogs, so she took care of those chores. I prefer to work with cats, so I spent the day cleaning the cat rooms. It´s hard not to get distracted when all those little, soft and cute cats climb all over you. Whenever I would pick something up from the ground, a cat would jump on my back, find its way up to my neck and just lay down there. At those very moments I hoped there would be a camera filming all of it, haha. ´ll just have to replay that moment in my head.

Last but not least, Debbie and I have been cooking quite a lot lately. We made a bunch of Christmas cookies, that are slowly disappearing from the freezer, I wonder who’s eating them…
The healthy thing we cooked was a Dutch dinner with asparagus, ham, eggs and potatoes. Debbie and Cary were a really big fan of the Hollandaise sauce.

Now November can be considered ‘history’, I have one more full month left to enjoy and live the American dream. There’s a lot to look forward too. A concert on the 9^th of December, a Christmas carol on the 12^th, Christmas itself and an awesome American New Year’s Eve!

Love,

Tasha