If I have a reader among you guys, who is wealthy, have a generous heart, or just won the lottery and want to give me a Christmas present, I would appreciate it so much. Haha. :)
So, since I am in a good mood and feeling amused I am going to give you a hand in case.... you never know. :) :)
Christmas Present Ideas:
Number 1 is a new laptop. I don't care what brand or color it is. It is your choice. (My laptop is in a bad shape, and it is barely working now. At time, it likes to drive me crazy.)
Number 2 is an Iphone 5. It can be Iphone 6 as well. :P Don't worry too much, I would be grateful for the 5 too. Again, color is up to you. :) I give you the chance to chose me one. :) (I have an Iphone 4 which is not even S, so the camera is super bad. You know how much I love to take pictures, so this present would be so useful to me. Even you guys can benefit from it. You can enjoy the beautiful and good quality photos I take.)
Number 3 is a bicycle. Its brand, color and size doesn't matter. I just want two wheels. (I love riding a bike.)
Number 4 is a post card. :) So, you can see now that I am not ambitious, and I would appreciate so much a card as well. :P
Oh, I almost forgot to give you my address. Well, that wouldn't be the best thing to forget. :P Who knows, you will buy it and when you go to post office or FedEx you realize that you don't know my address. :D
Here I am again :). Now you don't need to wait months for a new post. :D I would continue the update from middle of September.
I remember this afternoon vividly. We were jumping for an hour with Ryder. The weather was so nice. Not too hot but not cold at all. I felt happy.
Bentley is trying to come up to the trampoline. He is Ryder's favorite dog. He doesn't behave that good. We always have some trouble with him. If we don't pay attention, he chews the sprinkle system. He have done it couple of times. Warren wasn't the happiest guy to pay thousands to repair it.... but who would be?
Bentley and Dosser became very good friends. They are playing a lot together. So nice to see it. I think after getting Dosser, Bentley's behavior became better. At least now he has a buddy.
One night my host dad came home with this teddy bear. He brought it from his other house. He wanted to give it to the dogs as a toy, but when he saw that I kinda liked it he just gave it to me.... haha.
Since the weather is not that hot Ryder is willing to get out from the house... I am so happy for that. I missed hanging out at the front or back yards. In the summer he just wanted to stay in his room.... and I felt uncomfortable to not be able to make him to get out and do something....
I dropped Alex off and I had 1,5 hour free time till I had to meet with Viki. So, I just hanged out in the nearby Starbucks. I do that often recently. Somehow I like to read there or be online... or whatever,,,
One guy was singing at the next table.....
After Viki came, we bought some present to Vova and headed to Russian Banya. It is a Spa, but it has a Russian restaurant, with Russian/Ukrainian food. These kind of food is very similar to my food, so I was glad that his birthday dinner was planned over there. We were the first who arrived... and couldn't wait for everyone, I had to order cabbage rolls. These rolls are one of my favorites. Of course it is not the same what my mom makes, but it is similar.
At this dinner I met with couple of new people.... they were Vova's friends. Almost all of them from Russia. One guy was from Moldova, but he spoke just Russian. Anyway, I didn't stay long, after dinner I left..... others went to party....
Next day, Firas invited me for a dinner to his place with his family. He is super nice with me, and always checking on me. His parents are nice, and I like his sisters as well. Actually I have a good realitionship with his sisters. I go to gym every Wednesday night with one of them.... I think he felt comfortable to invite me over since I am good with his sisters and Lama sometimes invites me over.... I was a bit surprised that nobody else where there just his family and I. It would be perfectly okay if he wouldn't be from Middle East. I mean all of my friends who were dating with Arab guys, didn't really know his family.... I know Firas previous girlfriends and they didn't go to his house when his family was at home.... I was friend with both girls, that's why I know more details. One of them is Sara.... in the beginning it was so uncomfortable, because I like Firas and I like Sara but they kinda hate each other lol. And i wanted to hang out with both of them, but sometimes I just was forced to choose between them..... I mean when we planned some activities or so on... Honestly, since I am back I got closer to him, but just as a friend of course.... We live 10 minutes from each other and I think it was a major reason why we got closer.... This distance was just so convenient for us.... If I wanted to go out with the guys.... most of the time they drove us.... so I live on the way for Firas.... so he could easily pick me up. I like him as a friend so much but I could never-ever look at him like a partner. I really don't want to be with anyone from our group.... and also I don't want to be with anyone who is Sasha's friend. Recently I was too quiet and didn't want to go out or party... and of course everybody realized something is wrong with me. Firas asked me couple of times that what happened...... I think he just invited me for this dinner since he knows how much I miss my family and sometimes I feel lonely here. Probably, he just wanted to make my mood better with this invitation.
Yummy dessert. I love Arabic sweets.... Baklava is one of my favorite.... I wanna keep myself far from Middle Eastern guys (as a partner), but at the same time I love their food, I love their music, and I love their personality. The possession or jealousy is an exception, but I think anyone can have those personalities even guys from Europe. (You just need to work on it. It may end up with success or may not :P haha) So, let's don't generalize. But to be honest these guys are my types. I like their skin color and their character. I like how they take care of a girl.... Not like Americans. Sorry, but it is based on my own experience. Lol.
She is his niece, Nana. So cute. I was playing with her a lot. When she left she came over to me saying "Dalma, come to my house too". She definitely had fun playing with me. :) I stayed for 2 hours, and had fun being there, but I didn't want to stay too long. Maybe I am just being silly, but I didn't want his parents to think that I have something with Firas.... They seem open minded, but when I talk about stuff with Lama, it doesn't seem like.
At college.... :) I was so happy, and I felt so motivated because I got two quizzes back and both of them were grade A. One of them was 100%.
How nice it is.... It is very rare, but sometimes it is happen that I go to that lake for a run.... I took this picture while running there one evening....
In Ross getting ready for winter :) It is not that cold outside... lol..... But I want to wear boots and warm clothes.... I really miss it.... I got these pieces, but of course I didn't have a chance to wear it yet.... I need to wait one more month to get cooler I guess. I love the hot.... I really do.... but after 8 months hot I really want a little cold... not that much like back home tho....
Every Wednesday morning I study outside because the housekeepers are in all over the house... haha. Actually, I really enjoy sitting there.... it is so pleasant...
We have a project fro one of my class.... we need to make a centerpiece from $25. It can't cost more and we can't use anything from home... So we need to purchase everything for it. Even if you need a glue. One Dollar Tree store is a great place to find cheap stuff... I was driving miles from one store to the other till I finally found these flag stickers. It was just funny that my gas cost multiple times more than this $1 sticker....
Oh and I bought movie for $1. What a great store! :D
Some desserts for the coming up birthdays. :) My host mom, classmate, teacher....
Driving to school.... What a wonderful view..... I always look at sunrise or sunset like a miracle of nature. I feel lucky that I have a chance to look at this while driving in the morning to college.... It gives me some positive strength and my day starts even better....
I was never afraid of bad weather back home.... even if it was a bad thunderstorm... but somehow here I worry about a little rain/storm.... I think the reason for that is because I am always afraid it is going to turn to a tornado.... You know Texas is a tornado valley... so here you never know.
My college...
When I have 20 minutes break and I like to sit down here.... watch the fountain and enjoy the sun rises...
Club meeting/event. We had three great speakers who told us horror stories in the industry...:) For instance when a tornado appeared on an outside wedding.... or when the buffet table collapsed on a cruise minutes before dinner... and so on....
Boo!!!
This event was over at 1:30. I get out quick to get to my car, I supposed to be home at 2. Alex was home by herself... I got to the highway, when I realized there is a big accident. It took almost 2 hours to get home..... Instead of getting frustrated and being hysterical I tried to calm down and entertain myself... :) I am getting so good in situation like that....
Saturday afternoon/evening at the lake...
Viki's favoritte dog. Grizzly. It took a while till I could memorize his name... lol
Watching sunset. I really like sunsets in Texas....
Next day, Lama, Firas and I decided to ride a bike around the same lake. I throw a messaged to Viki as well. She didn't want to ride a bike, but she was willing to come there to walk with her dog.
I was so excited since I love riding a bike, and I really missed it.... I have never rode a bike in America. The lake is quiet big but I wanted to go around it. It seemed like a great plan. We rented a bike in the nearest bike store. They had just daily prize, but we negotiated and they gave the bike for $ 7 per hour. The daily rate was more than $ 30. I learned that even here you need to negotiate sometimes. :)
Everything started well, i really enjoyed the ride. However, Lama had a little trouble. She wasn't the best in this riding mission... It took a while till we got to the lake. The rode was close where we should go, because a big tree collapsed in the middle of the rode. We decided to go through the tree with the bike instead of making a little detour. It was the worse idea ever. All of us got some scretch and were bleeding a bit from the thorn. When we finally got to the other side of the pile and started to go forward Lama suddenly ran into a big tree with her bike.... I felt so sorry for her, but luckily nothing serious happened. She had some scratch on her face and leg, and she got a hole in her pants. She scared a lot. We tried to find some fountain to clean her face. Meanwhile I called Viki to come by car and get us. We didn't meet with her yet at this point. So, she came and get Lama, went back to the renting place. Firas and I rode the bike back to the shop. So, our little adventure last for two hours haha. A bit i felt like I am home doing all these things, especially when we tried to climb on that tree/branches with thorn pile with the bike haha... I think it is time to learn by now that never try to do a short cut.... for me it never worked out. :D
Here are the big bike riders :D Viki doesn't know how to ride a bike, and I was always pushing her, but after this accident with Lama I decided to not try to make people to learn it haha. Actually, the same was with Lama, because she said she is not the best, but I encouraged her, and I kinda felt bad after her accident.
Halloween was coming up and I wanted to get some costume. I went to party city, but I didn't see that much option there. I picked up this, it is called: "The death of the day". I went home, tried it on, but I wasn't super excited about it, so I decided to return it and get something else.The other thing is that it was almost $80 and I didn't really wanted to spend that much on a costume what I wear once. I would rather get a boots or a new purse. :)
We made coconut shrimp again, but at this time I did almost all of them. Amanda was there, and showed me how to do it... I enjoyed so much making it, since I love to cook and I really miss it here. My friends say that I am lucky that I don't need to cook at this family, but actually I would be happier if I would need to. Cooking is fulfill me.
I really love these shrimps. It goes well with apricot sauce. If you want receipt, e-mail me :)
Let's write a little bit about school. I really enjoy all my classes. I take four classes, each of them worth 3 credits. My current classes are the followings: Introduction to Convention and Meeting Management, Introduction to Travel and Tourism, Travel Destination I - Western Hemisphere and Learning Framework.
When I first sat in the first Meeting Managment class, I remember I told to myself that OMG, it seems super hard, and I am not sure if I can make it because of my English and so on. I felt lost, especially when I realized that most of the people in the class are already event planners or working in that area... but I spent many hours with this subject and I picked it up well. Now I love it. It still seems hard time to time, but I figure it out. One of my classmate, she is a restaurant manager at Blue Fish restaurant, is so nice, I became friend with her. She lives close to me and almost every week we meet up for some revision for our common class. I like her a lot. I am happy I meet with great people through my college. I already knew the teacher for this class, because she taught speech for me last semester. So, I kind a knew what are her expectations. I am doing great at her class, and I am pretty sure I can finish with A.
For the next two travel class I have the same teacher. I love her. She is from Turkey, and she loves Europeans. I am the only one in the class so we have a great relationship. We talk a lot about everything. She is also my academic advisor. Here every student needs to have an advisor, so when we have questions or registration or so on, we need to get an appointment at her. We can't go to an other advisor. In the beginning I had an other advisor, but she put my file to her pile. Haha. Last week I applied for a scholarship. It was for international students and I needed a recommendation letter. She gave me one. It was so nice what she wrote there. She always tells me that she doesn't worry about me...because i have a great personality, I study... and I will do great. There is a very little chance that i could get the scholarship but I wanted to try. Even If I don't get it at least I know that I tried it. So, it wasn't up to me. :) The Western Hemisphere is a great class too, I learned a lot about each states, Canada, the Caribbean Islands.... we will learn Central and South America in the next few weeks. I love this class, but unfortunately my grades aren't all A. Three of them are A's and two of them are C's. It makes me upset, because I really wanted to finish all my classes with grade A. It is a fun class, and I enjoy it, but there are a lot's of information you need to know. I thought it is going to be easy since i love to travel and I love to learn about all those destinations, but i wasn't right. There is a lot of things you need to know. I learned many things from this class and I know more information about places now but it makes me upset that I messed up two of my quizzes. One of them was Canada, and it was kind of hard since I didn't have that much background of Canada. I didn't really know that much information about it and we are going deeply in details.
The last one is a mandatory class fore the Core Curriculum. I was kind a mad that I have to take such a silly course. We are learning about "the process of learning". It seemed a silly class, but actually I really like it. I learned a lot from that class, and I really enjoy it. Our teacher is amAAAzing. He teach the class so well, great explanation. He makes the class so enjoyable with all those real life experience and so on. He is so cool. Almost every class he brings us some candies.
I can't believe that this semester went by so fast. Just 5 weeks left and we are done. I have so much stuff to do from one day to an other. It keeps me busy but actually I like it. It helps me to not be bored or be homesick. These classes give me an aim. Also it keeps me away from depression.... and yeah I get depressed time to time recently, but I will tell you a bit later the reasons behind it. I think you can guess it whom related to. So, I really need my classes for survival haha. It was a much better and greater semester than my first one. I am already excited about my next (spring) semester haha.
I don't know how is college back home but it is so much difference from my high school. Especially the teaching methods. Every teacher has her own stlyle and rules. I remember when I was back home and watching movies in which there were some cool scene in a colleges .... it was my dream to go to college in America and experience all those student life. I am really grateful for being able to study here. It is just so different.... sometimes I feel that I am in a movie.... haha
A year ago when i was preparing my documents i had fears that what about if i will not be able to study in an American institute. I wanted so bad, but at the same time I was afraid.... Now I am just laughing on it. Of course I am able to do it. Sometimes it is a bit hard, but nothing is easy in life :)
Guys, for me it is more enjoyable to live in America as a student than as an Au-Pair. That was a great beginning, but College is way better. I would recommend to everyone. Your English would improve way faster. You meet with great people, and you get many opportunities.
A good advise from me to u.... always dare to dream bigger and bigger, enlarge your vision and open your heart for the given opportunities ..... :)
Instead of the class at school, we had a site inspection with my teacher and other class mates in the Renaissance Hotel. I enjoyed it so much. I am always asking many questions. A good thing with me is that I don't feel shy to ask questions. Even tho if is a silly one I need to be sure that I got it and understood it right. So, I don't care if I ask a lot. :)
The hotel stuff treated us as real meeting planners. I really liked that. We got all their pricing list and took us around, and explained everything.
Getting ready for Halloween.
Ryder
She is Amanda, my host mom. I like her a lot. She is becoming closer to me day by day. We talk a lot about personal stuff as well, so I kinda feel that she is a friend of mine. Our relationships help me with the kids, because I am more patient with them or more nice even though Alex wouldn't deserve it. It is sad to say that, but it is the true. Guys, believe me it is not easy to deal with an American 14 years old teenager. She thinks the word is hers, and she can do anything she wants too. She behave so bad with her mom. She doesn't have any respect towards her. I can't even imagine what my parents would do with me if I would behave like that. Well, I shouldn't compare her with myself because I know that the place where I grown up is a different culture, and a different life style with not that much opportunity. But still..... respect is respect wherever you are... even in Transyvania or America. The sad part is that I generalize and I think all American kids are like that. I really hope not. If it is America is f**ed up lol.
c
It was a nice evening decorating these pumpkins all together. I love the time before Halloween. It is my favorite holiday in America. I love to see how much people care or feel passion about it...
In Jumpstreet... He was so brave. I suprised that he didn't afraid of the height.
Making cupcake with Halloween style together. I remember how happy I was that he was willing to decorate it and he seemed like enjoyed doing it. That Friday night Amanda and Warren went out for dinner, so we were just together at home.
Looking for costume in Party City. I returned mine and got a new one. Actually just partially, because I just needed some accessories. My host mom gave me a wing and wig. I had black skirt and top. So, I just had to get a glove, fishnet tights, and halo.
I got excited and had to try it on. Wanted to see how it looks like.
This little Chihuahua was super cute. Gulnaz and Fadi's neighbor has one.
His name was peanut. I think his name fit it well to his size and color. This cutie dog melted our heart. Even Gulnaz loved him. You need to know she doesn't like dogs, so it is a big deal.
It wasn;t that hot how we dressed lol. The weather cooled down and we got excited about wearing jacket, jeans and boots. We were laughing a lot, because some people were walking on the other side of the road with shorts, top and flip flop.
It was a Sunday afternoon, we didn't really know what to do.... wanted to be outside, so decided to meet up in the park.
Of course I had to leave earlier as always..... I remember I wanted to stay with them longer so bad. My host family can text me anytime to come home for the kids.... Sometimes it is hard to accept that I don't have exact schedule and can't really make plan in advance. It bothers me. Well, it is already 10 months that I live like that. If I am about to complain I always remind myself how lucky I am, so I try to not concentrate on the negative stuff..... I am pretty good in it. Just to know why I don't complain doesn't mean that everything is super perfect here. Haha. But I am pretty sure every family has their own issues.... I learned how to deal with these stuff and live with people. :) Slowly I will become an expert after leaving with three very different host family. :P
Brown style. Finally I got a brown bag, boots and jacket for myself. Every fall I wanted to get these in the pass few years...
I am so happy for Gulnaz because finally she could settle down. It was hard to see that she wasn't in the best mood. She had a hard time too after her brake up with Rene, and at the same time she had to leave her host family and she didn't have a place to go. I was worried a lot about her. She was living with Fadi. I already told you that. But there is something new: they became a couple. I was very happy to hear that and see how much she changed. She is happy now. You can see she is way happier in this relationship than with Rene. I surprised that she could get over him that fast, but it is very good for her. I wish I could get over my ex that fast too. Haha. It seem that they have a great relationship with Fadi. All this situation is messed up because we were a group of friends all together like Rene, Fadi, Laith, Gulnaz,.... and so on.... Fadi is even Rene's far cousin. So, now they don't hang out with us that often, but I can understand it. Also, I think I already told you that Rene is getting married. I didn't want to believe. He already had his engagement party. The girl is from Iraq of course. Haha. When i see his picture with his fiance it hurts. It is funny, but it does hurt. Maybe because I had so much memories with Sasha, Rene and Gulnaz. We used to hang out a lot. I really liked Rene. But I know he always told to Gulnaz that he is not ready for marriage and so on. He didn't even want to rent an apartment together and after a few months their break up he got engaged. This is the Middle Eastern culture. All my friends did this. The next should be Firas, lol. I hate to see that these guys are having fun with girls, and breaking their heart, but when it comes to marriage they get someone from their culture/country. It is just so sad. If they know they can't get into something serious with us why do they keep dating with us, lying or so on..... ? If they know this, they shouldn't let us to fall in love.... haha They should tell us at least. Than it would be up to us if we still want to date, want to have fun... or whatever.
Another sunrise :) On my way to the college...
"Aki koran kell, aranyat lel :)"
So, I am perfect :)
Look how crazy Americans are.... they come to school in pajamas. At home I used to worry about what i wear when i go out to the street because people judge you over there, or say something for sure about ur appearance. If i would wear pajamas in the street at home, next day the whole village would talk about me. Haha. But here.... Nobody cares... and actually I love that they don't have any concern about their cloths.... but to come to school with pajamas is too much for me... haha :) I always try to dress up nicely even if I go to a Walmart or Kroger haha. I think it is a European habit. I feel that Americans don't really care about these things.... There is always exceptions of course, but most of the time I experience this. They don't match their cloths or just putting on whatever they find... Like few days ago, there was a beautiful girl in Starbucks wearing a nice formal coat... she looked like going to a business meeting.... and when i looked at her shoes..... Guess what did she wear? A flip flop. Oh and that evening it was super cold. I was wearing scarf and boots. It is not unusual to see people wearing winter coat with flip flop. Or summer time very warm boots. I feel that sometimes they don't know the season. :) :) Anyway, I don't judge them, everybody does whatever they want. It is just way too funny for me, haha. I had to share it. :) However, I am pretty sure if u live here you already experienced all these crazy stuff. :)
Diesel is attacking me. He loves to hang out on me. :)
It seems they love me haha. Sometimes I am covered with dogs.
Look at this. Isn't it crazy? Chips with cappuccino flavor. I have no idea how that taste would be. It sounds gross to me. :D I love cappuccino, and I like chips but somehow not together haha
Driving to Fort Worth.... How nice pic. :)
So, since Halloween is coming up we decided to go to a Haunted House to have the feeling... :) I heard there is one in Fort Worth which is the top 5 in USA. We definitely had to check it out. Sunday evening, Sara, Laith and I drove there... It is an hour away on high way from our place.
This Haunted House was so cool. It took 50 minutes to go through everything. I loved it. I entertained Sara and Laith because I was scared from everything and I was shouting a lot. I knew it is not real but really I was so scared. It was scary and creepy, but cool at the same time. I felt like we are in a horror movie. I wonder how could they do that to be so cool. The people were acting well. They saw that I am so scared, and they came more to me. The guys couldn't stop laughing at me. At the end I didn't have any voice... Haha.
2 years ago we went to the Dallas Haunted House, but that was so small and very fast. It didn't take more than 10 minutes. Even less. But this one is a big house. You go down to the cellar and up and so on..... It definitely worth to go there. Actually, this one is open all year long.
We were soaking wet at the end.
After that I was feeling cold.... We didn't have any dry cloths and it was a bit chilly.
Btw, that day was kinda creepy, I watched Annabelle with Gulnaz in the afternoon, and I went to Haunted House in the evening. I don't like horror movies, but Gulnaz loves it, and she always make me to watch it with her. After the movie I goggled the real history of Annabelle doll, and I was scared.... haha
Annabelle Trailer
One more thing, I skipped something from this post. I don't feel I want to talk about it right now, but I will definitely share it later on since I feel my blog is not real if I don't share everything or at least the important and exciting parts. :)
Okay guys, that's all for now. I will be back soon. Enjoy the cold weather (not in TX), drink hot tea, stay warm, and keep following me. :D :P
