Ohhh

So I was reading my past posts and I read the one about Alice, and I’d realized I’d never given you guys an update.

After she’d been in Lebanon for a while, she began to get back in contact with us and towards the end of summer, she even put up a picture.  She looked better in her picture and according to Alaima, she’s SO much better, which is really good .

Just thought I’d let you know

So freaking busy.

There are not enough hours in the day. I seriously need two me’s to do everything I need to do this weekend. Not only am I packing, moving, unpacking and moving, I have rehearsals tomorrow from 9 to 5, which obviously I can’t make all of. I have homework, studying and cleaning and it really doesn’t sound that bad when I put it in words on a computer. But it feels really bad, and I know some of you might be saying, “Well, I have way more stuff to do than she does. Why is she complaining? Why does she feel so stressed out about this stuff? She doesn’t know the meaning of stress!”

Trust me, I do. It’s just everything is happening at all one time and when things overlap, that are equally important, it starts to make you stressed, but you know there is no way, you can make both, Then you start to feel guilty about the one you’re missing, but you know if you’d gone there, you’d feel the exact same way about what you’re doing then. It’s just a bad cycle. So that’s why I’m trying to do a bit of both.  It should be fun.

Anyway, I really should be sleeping, but I’m not. But I will be, soon in fact. But I want to finish this first. Okay, I KNOW I had more to say. Well, if I think about it, I’ll write it down and get back to you.

Now I’m finished.

Have a good weekend!

Box Hill + 3 She Hulks = Adventure

So we went to Box Hill today, it’s a REALLY big hill, if you didn’t get that already. Anyway, Gemma got Alaima and I on a bus and pronounced, “I’ve a confession, I have absolutely no idea if we’re going the right way (for this was her idea, to go to Box Hill).” We finally arrived and we saw this clearing:

We walked along this path and saw this older couple and Gemma asked them where we were and they asked where we were off to and Gemma replied saying, “Box hill.”

The lady said, “Oh, you’re going the hard way, there’s about, oh, 300 steps up and then once there, there will be this nice, gentle way down.”

So we headed off, crossed a bridge:

Then we walked the, oh, about 300 steps. I had never felt so out of shape, I had to stop a couple times and rest before going on.

I have never hated stairs so much, I’ll have so much fun in Monument with 316 continuous steps. So the view was really amazing, here’s a picture:

So then we headed back the "nice, gentle” way down the hill….

I still can’t believe this actually uploaded it took me like 4 hours

So, we didn’t exactly follow the path, we kind of made our own! We went down the hill, swinging from trees, slipping and more often than not, on our butts sliding on the ground from tree to tree. We figured out this was the best way when Alaima “ thought” of the idea when she slipped and fell on her butt. So we went with it! At one point, Gemma went sliding for one tree, well she missed that tree and ran into another one. Then Alaima followed suit and did the same. And me, as well. At another time, I tried sliding, but lost my balance and ended up sliding over rocks and branches and pulling my shoulder trying to hold onto the tree with no success. I didn’t slide too far, I stopped in the middle. Gemma called out, “Are you okay?”

I replied, “I don’t know, one minute, let me find out.” I’m fine.

So going through brush and bushes and over dirt and roots and under branches and trees, we ended up at the river at the bottom of the hill. So we asked ourselves, “If there were murderers following us, what would we do?”

I replied, “Well, going back wouldn’t be an option.” So we plodded along to the river, of course there was more videos that didn’t want to upload so unless you come over to my house or I randomly upload them one day, you won’t see them unfortunately.

So, in reality this is wayyyyy far away from when I wrote this,  more like a month and a week. So I’ll finish this story then post another blog because this would would just look way too long if I put the two together.

To get back to the story, we were at the river.  Now, Alaima can’t swim, so our first instinct is to find out how deep the river is, sorry stream. So Gemma takes off her shoes and socks and wades into the stream. It was waist deep. So I take the shoes and some bags and carry them across the stream, while Alaima piggybacks on Gemma.  After we cross the river, we’re soaking wet. Then we had to ride all of the way home on two cold buses. But it was totally worth it . 

The next day we set out with our friend, Tasio (who is half Spanish, half American) to go ice skating, taking more than our fair share of trains (if that even made sense) we get to the ice skating rink to find that the rate is way too expensive, so we decided to go swimming instead, but that never panned out and so we stayed at Alaima’s and watched movies.

The day after that we went into London again, we made our way to Monument (which is a monument dedicated for the Great Fire of 1666 and if it fell over a certain direction it would land on the spot where the fire started) and we climbed the 300-something stairs to the top. And the stairs go in a circle. After a while they all kind of blended together and you were so scared that you were going to miss a step or something, at least I was like that.  Then we made our way to Hyde Park where we found the Peter Pan statue and walked to Kensington.  Then Alaima and I went to Kingston and ate at Byron's, it was so good. Then we walked along the River to Surbiton to see pass our old house again.

The next day we went into London to Shakespeare’s Globe to watch Dr. Faustus, which was really good, I mean the acting was amazing. It was a really great experience.  We then got on trains and tubes to Hampstead Heath where we couldn’t stay for very long, which made me kind of sad, but it was really fun.

The last day I was there, we met more friends and had a picnic in Richmond Park where we climbed trees, saw deer, and ate and talked. It was really fun , I’m saying that a lot because its late and it really was really fun! Afterwards, Gemma, Alaima and I made our way BACK to Hampstead Heath, where we got to stay longer, which was really nice. We even joined a running group towards the end, which instead of kicking us off, encouraged us and when we broke away, random people encouraged us, it was really cool. Then we made our way back to the station to get a tube.  By this time, its dark outside, so it wasn’t particularly full. So I sat by Gemma and Alaima sat across from us. This older black guy asks if he could sit next to Alaima and she says yes. He starts speaking to Gemma, now Gemma doesn’t judge somebody right away, she tries not to at least. I had a magazine I was “reading” so I didn’t say anything. He asked Gemma how old she was, Gemma said, “16.”

He replied, “You’re legal.” Except to me it sounded like, “Illegal,” but apparently not.

Then he reached for Gemma’s hand and he shook it and then Gemma tried to pull away and he kissed it. Now I knew from the beginning this was weird and not exactly right, so then he turned to Alaima asked the age question and she replies, “16.”

Then he turns to me and asks, “How old is she?” Now, pretending to be deeply involved in reading this very interesting article in the magazine, I didn’t say anything. “15? 16?” He threw his hat in the chair beside mine, “Must be 15.”

After a little bit, I leaned over to Gemma and behind her hair I whispered, “Can we get off at the next stop and get the next  one?” She nodded as the guy gave her a piece of paper and an advertisement card to Alaima. The tube came to a halt and we got off.

We got behind this huge column and Gemma starts freaking out, waving her hand, saying, “OH MY GOD, EW, HE KISSED MY HAND!!!! EW EW EW EW EWW!!!” Which I didn’t blame her.

While Gemma repeatedly said “ew”, Alaima was like, “Gemma? Gemma? Gemma?” We turned around and there was the guy, behind us. We ran up the escalators as fast as we could, got through the machines, then I stopped.

“NO.” I stood still, Gemma and Alaima stopped, “No.” Gemma and Alaima were almost out of the station in a place we had never been before at night with a creep following us. Wasn’t this how murder investigation shows start?

“Right, get assistance,” Gemma finished.  We made our way to the Assistance Guy, that’s literally what he was called. I told him our predicament and he decided to help us out. We stood with him for a while and then he took us down to where the tubes are and watched us get on.  From then on, it was good, but it was one of the most creepiest things I have ever been through.  Just writing about it gets my blood pumping and adrenaline running.

Since we had been getting to bed at around 4 in the morning every night, Alaima and Gemma decided to stay awake, I on the other hand, took a nap.  I then got my stuff and we headed for the airport. It was sad to see them go, or me leaving, but I know I’ll see them again. I got on the airplane and decided to prop my head on my hand and arm, like the Thinker, and rest my eyes. I wasn’t even awake for the take off, or the safety message, well I take that back, I woke up for “Thank you for paying attention to this message”, I said in my head, “Your welcome” and fell back asleep.  I landed and met Dad and Alexa at the airport. My journey to London had come to an end, for now.

Uffff.

I really hope people had a better first day and first week of school, because mine absolutely sucked. So, I now I have to catch you up on London, I will get to that another time, because I'm on an iPad and it's too long to write from here.

So my first day was, how do I put this... Interesting. So I get off the bus, 10 minutes before school starts, with no schedule. I think my brain couldn't read the alphabet or something, so I went to the wrong homeroom in the first place. They then sent me to room 223 where I should have been placed. I was not on the list, so they told me to go to the sophomore homeroom, I went to my old geometry class, where I met my old geometry teacher in 326. I was not on that list and so I made my way down to the Library.

In the library, they told me my homeroom was 226, so I made my way to room 226, well it was N-O and my last name is M. So I obviously wasnt on that list either. So I went back down to the library where I waited in a long line. Then when it was my turn, they out me on the side and told me there was a problem with me. Then this lady took me to the Grade Level Office, telling me on the way that I was "invisible" and the "mystery woman of the hour". I saw my counselor, she gave me my schedule then told me to go to room 226.

"I've already gone there, I'm not on the list, it's not my homeroom," I replied.

Then another lady took me outside to look at the list, "Your in 10th grade-"

"I'm not in 10th grade. I'm a junior. I know I'm a junior."

"It says here that your a sophomore."

"Well, I'm a junior." then we went back into the grade level office.

Turns out I'm still considered a sophomore and am in a sophomore homeroom.

So I'm a junior that's considered a sophomore that's taking senior English.

It's so confusing.

Made. My. Day.

Dear Parents of Richard M-,

Richard is again invited to travel and study in the summer of 2012, this time to Australia and New Zealand. She will join other high school students from the north H- area as a part of People to People, an educational exploration program founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. You know all the potential that lies within Richard and this is her unique opportunity to stand apart from peers.

Richard can experience 17 days of rewarding activities and meet the people of Australia and New Zealand, all while earning high school or university credit. -

If you didn't know by now - Richard is my dad. :)

Alexa has also stated that she will be keeping this letter and framing it.

The party was amazing Just thought I’d tell you this.

Soooo I owe you another Ketchupp

So the next day we rode a bus to Epsom, where we went to a park and played on a playground. It was sooo much fun, then we went to this place, climbed a tree and then had a stick/sword fight then headed back. We met this guy that’s in our year at our school and that’s coming to the party tonight and got on the bus to go back to Alaima’s.  Then we went to go watch Princess Bride in the park  and afterwards we went to TGI Friday’s.

The next day, we went to the Beach, or Brighton, where it was so windy that the waves were humongous and it looked like the ocean was angry.  The water was FREEEEEZING, even colder than Lake Michigan!!!!!!! Alaima realized that she dropped her phone in the sea, but we played in the ocean anyways.  After this, we were so wet and it was cold so we attempted to dry ourselves with the wind with no success, but no worries,  we dried off slowly. We ate lunch then headed to the pier where, I was the reigning champion on Guitar Hero.  We went into a haunted house that was more laughable than scary, which was totally fine with me. Then we rode on  a ride sort of like the one you see in the Sandlot, and then a baby ride… we rode the baby ride 3 times… Then we went to Alaima’s.

Monday, we woke up late, got Alaima a new phone, then headed to Central London. We got into Mayfair, I got a mango passionfruit drink that made my dayyyy, then walked down Bond Street, then walked to Picadilly Circus, walked to Green Park, saw Buckingham Palace, walked around St. James’s Park, walked to Westminster, got the tube to South Kensington, posed with a poster of Justin Bieber, got Phish Food, took it to Hyde Park where we ate the whole pint in, oh, 5 minutes at most. Then we climbed this awesome tree.  We headed to Edgware Road where we had dinner then went back to Alaima’s.

Tuesday, we weren’t allowed to go anywhere but Kingston because of the stupid riots. So we watched a few movies and hung out for basically the whole day.  Then at the end of the day we met Yousoff at Frangos and we stayed for a really long time. So then we walked Yousoff to the train station where there was these creepy guys (who I’m pretty sure were drunk) were staring. So we hugged Yousoff goodbye and the guy went in for a hug from Alaima. I was so proud of her, she stepped back, put her hand out and said, “Excuse me, no.”

The guy replied, “What I don’t get a kiss goodbye?”

Yousoff looked at the guy and said, “You want a kiss goodbye?”

“No! Not from you!” They got on the train and rode away. Then we hopped on a bus and went back to Alaima’s.

Today we ran some errands and hung out. Now we’re getting ready for the party.  Cant wait!!!! So excited!!  

 

Until next time,

Amberr