G'day! What an honour it is to be sponsored by the Delmar Rotary
in New York State. I am keen (excited) to share my first month with
you.
Upon coming to Australia I imagined to go to a
place with a beautiful beach, exotic animals, and a perfect sun for
tanning in. July 27th
I arrived here in Sale where the only exotic animals you will see are
wombats laying perfectly dead on the road side, where there are more
cows on dairy farms than people in Victoria and where it rains almost
everyday in these months of "winter". Nevertheless it is an Awesome
place.
Homesickness is not even in my vocabulary. In
fact it is probably the last thing on my mind. I have not had one day
since the second day I arrived where I have not had something going on.
Right now I am staying with the Strauss Family.Their two kids are
all grown up and out of the house but my host parents keep me
entertained. David is my host father but really he is more like a man
child. You can not have one conversation with David where he will not
make a joke; a joke that by the way is never very funny even though he
finds himself hilarious. We have a great relationship; its never a
boring day when David is home. Rachel is my host mum. She is a wonderful
person. Rachel takes real good care of me as she so kindly makes my
lunches daily, washes my clothes weekly and makes sure I have whatever I
need for the activities I attend. How grateful I am for these two!
School is quite an experience. It is very different from american
school from the uniforms to the way the schedule, or "time table", is
laid out to the requirements for graduating, to the various activities
the school has. I attended a three day camp that my entire grade of a
whole 90 students attended. Never have I ever been on a three day camp
in the middle of the year with my fellow peers in High School. Maybe
that gives you a little idea of just how laid back Australians are.
Everyone at school is so nice. In my opinion they are more polite and
accepting then in 'Merica. I have already made heaps of friends. It is
still a challenge, as everyone at school has known each other for so
long, to become more then a new person and find my place in the group
but it is a working progress. Through my girls footy team and netball
team I am sure I will find my lace soon.
The
questions I receive are quite hilarious. As a country where we
understand our culture we enjoy adding humour and drama into our movies
but I don't think we realise how much it confuses other countries.
People really start to believe those things they see. I get a lot of
questions about High School Musical and Mean Girls. I enjoy hearing
everyone's questions not just because they say it with a really cool
accent but because it is fun to see what Australians think of 'Merica.
Mostly I have come to learn that you can't believe everything in the
media. Its also been funny to hear the stereotypes of America from an
outside perspective.
Since my current host mum is
actually the Sale Rotary club president I usually attend Sale Rotary
weekly. I havn't been going much lately since I started on a netball
team every Monday
night at the same time as rotary. Every other week my host counselor
dries me to the Sale Central rotary club. Both clubs are great and do
their best to help me and their community as much as they can. With the
generosity of the clubs I receive a monthly allowance of $150.00 AUS
dollars. Everyone is always excited to hear what i've been doing and i'm
always excited to to tell them.
The other day a
family from the Sale rotary was informed of my love for horses and
because this family owns three horses they invited me to go horse riding
with them. This family has five kids and are all so kind and friendly.
As I am an only child in my host home right now i am invited over to
this family's house often to play with the kids and brush the horses. I
love going over there and I am so grateful for this family.
I am having such an amazing time over here learning about the
world down under. I am taking advantage of every opportunity that comes
my way and I am thankful for everyone who has provided me with those
opportunity's.
hoo-roo,
Torri Herdegen
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