Orientation meeting, Homecoming, Tournament and Slovak food

Orientation meeting in Corvallis
7-9.10.2016

Po škole sme sa stretli všetci študenti z Eugene a Springfieldu. Rotariánka Holly nás odviezla do asi hodinu vzdialeného mesta Corvallis. Stretli sme sa na parkovisku, odkiaľ si nás vyzdvihli host-rodiny. Najskôr som bola prekvapená, že spíme v host-rodinách, keďže na Orientation meetingoch na Slovensku sme boli všetci po kope, v penzióne... V host-rodine som bola spolu s Marion z Belgicka a Tinou z Nórska. Každá sme dostali vlastnú spálňu s veľkou posteľou. Host-rodina bola veľmi milá.

V sobotu sme sa stretli všetci študenti v kostole (nie nemodlili sme sa, kostol nám poskytol jednu zo svojich miestností). Ja som sa s väčšinou stretla po prvýkrát, keďže som zmeškala prvé stretnutie v Auguste. Doobedu sme mali aktivity vo vnútri. Potom sme mali sme skorý obed pizzu, keďže nás čakala skorá večera. Po obede sme išli do parku a urobili sme si mnoho fotiek s vlajkami a našimi Rotary sakami. Potom sme si povymieňali odznaky na saká, konečne je na mojom saku pár odznakov. Vymieňanie si odznakov je tradícia výmenných študentov Rotary. Každý vyrobí, alebo kúpi odznaky s motívom, alebo typickým znakom svojej krajiny. Večer sme išli na futbal. Vďaka Rotary sme boli na hracej ploche, keď na ihrisko vybehli domáci hráči. Bol to jedinečný zážitok. Cez polčas sme vyšli pred štadión, kde sme opäť mali kopu jedla (tailgating). Po predĺžení náš tím zvíťazil.

V nedeľu sme mali prednášku o miestnej univerzite. Potom nasledovalo lúčenie a cesta domov. Bol to veľmi krátky víkend, ale zato veľmi zábavný.

big american sandwich

Friday after school all exchange students from Eugene and Springfield met. Rotarian Holly drove us to Corvallis. It is a small town one hour from Eugene. We met in a parking lot, where our host-families for the weekend picked us up. I was in a host-family with Marion from Belgium and Tina form Norway. We all got our own bedrooms with big beds. The host-family was very nice.

On Saturday we all got together in a church, we played games and socialized. We had an early lunch period. Guess what we ate? Pizza. Later we went to the park and took lots of pictures of everybody with their Rotary blazers and holding our flags. I got some new pins for my blazer. It is a Rotary tradition for exchange students to give each other pins. Everyone makes or buy some pins reminiscent of their country. We went to a football game in the evening. Thanks to Rotary we were standing on the field while the players were introduced. It was an amazing experience. During halftime we walked outside the stadium to join a tailgate party. Our team, the Oregon State Beavers, won in overtime. There was a presentation on Sunday about Oregon State University. After that we said goodbye and returned home. It was a very nice, but short, weekend. I wish we had more time together. 

Homecoming
21.10.2016 Friday 

V škole sme mali upravený rozvrh, každá hodina bola asi o 10 minút kratšia. Medzi 4 a 5 hodinou sa konalo zhromaždenie v telocvični. Na začiatku pár žiakov zaspievalo hymnu. Následne vyhlásili zopár oznamov. Zábavnou časťou bola súťaž. Každý ročník zastupovali 4 študenti. Absolvovali štafetu vtipných úloh. Po nich nasledovali učitelia. Nastúpili 4 tímy, každý tím za jeden ročník. Nakoniec triedy dostali body podľa umiestnenia.

Večer sa konal homecoming dance. Bolo to niečo ako školská diskotéka. Ako som sa dopočula na niektorých školách je to veľká udalosť, každý sa nahodí, namaľuje… Tu to bolo však voľnejšie. Niektorí sa nenamáhali a kludne prišli v rifliach. Tancovalo sa v školskej jedálni. Témou bolo glow in the dark. Pri vstupe dostal každý svietivý náramok, vytvorilo to jedinečnú atmosféru, keďže všade bola tma. 

homecoming assembly

Our day schedule was a little bit different today. Every class was 10 minutes shorter. Between the fourth and fifth periods there was a homecomig assembly. At the begining some students sang the national anthem. After that a student made an annoucement. The fun part of the assembly was class competition. 4 students representing each class competed in a relay race. After the students had finished the race it was our teachers turn. There were 4 teachers for every class. Classes got points depending on how well they did in the competition, therefore each class cheered their team on.

In the evening there was a homecoming dance. I have been looking forward to it for weeks. It is like a school disco. In some school it is a big event, boys wear suits and girls wear dresses. In our school the dresscode was more casual. Some students even wore jeans... The dance was in the school cafeteria. The theme was “glow in the dark“. At the entrance everyone got luminous bracelet, it created a special atmosphere, because the room was dark. 

My first freesbee tournament

22.10.2016 Saturday

V sobotu sa konal prvý freesbee turnaj. Nebol to však klasický turnaj, išlo v prvom rade o to, aby sme sa pripravili na skutočné zápasy. Zúčastnili sa tri školy, nehrali sme však proti sebe, boli sme rozdelený do  náhodných 4 tímov (mix chlapci aj dievčatá). Hrali sme tri zápasy, každý trval asi hodinu. Bol to naozaj vyčerpávajúci deň. Večer sa konal teambonding u našej kapitánky. Cieľom bolo lepšie sa spoznať, aj spolu s chalanmi, keďže sa blížia naše spoločné zápasy. Bola som prekvapená koľko ľudí sa zúčastnilo teambondingu (asi 20), keďže na zápas sa ráčilo prísť ani nie desiatim. Postupne sa Emina obývačka zapĺňala, najskôr sme iba sedeli, jedli naše snacks a rozprávali sa. Potom niekto navrhol, aby sme si išli hádzať lietajúci tanier. Mne sa vôbec nechcelo, keďže som bola pol dňa na turnaji. Išli sme do areálu univerzity, kde sa nachádza viacero ihrísk. Aj napriek tomu, že bolo asi osem hodín večer a už bola tma, sa v areáli nachádzalo viacero športovcov. Hrali sme sa pár zábavných hier s lietajúcim tanierom.

The first ultimate freesbee tournament took place on Saturday. It was not a regular tournament, the main purpose was to get ready for the real game. Instead having each school play against each other, the players were randomly divided into 4 teams (mixed boys and girls). We played three games, each game lasting approximately one hour. It was very exhausting day. In the evening there were teambonding exercises at our team captain’s house. The goal was to get to know each other better as we have some mixed tournaments coming up, where boys and girls would play in the same team. I was surprised how many people showed up (around 20), because at the tournament there weren’t more than 10 students. At first we ate snacks, that we brought and talked. Later someone suggested to go to throw a disk. We went to the practice fields of the local university. Despite the fact that it was eight o’clock in the evening and it was already dark, a lot of people were playing on the fields. Even though I was very tired from playing so much freesbee all day and I didn’t feel like throwing a disk at all, it was still fun.

Slovak food

Konečne som sa odhodlala urobiť aj nejaké slovenské jedlá. Pripravila som krupicovú kašu, burizonový koláč a halušky. Všetkým najviac chutil burizoňák.

krupicová kaša-semolina poridge

burizonový koláč-puffed rice caramel cake

halušky-typical slovak potato dumplings with cream cheese and bacon

Slovak dishes, that I prepared for my hostfamily.