Advertisement
Published: October 6th 2008
Sziasztok! Here's my 3rd blog about: My First Week Away from Home
My first week away from home wasn't actually out of the country. A few months before I actually left, I suggested to my parents that we visit some family in New York before I leave, because I had been really wanting to visit my grandma FOREVER, and I felt like I needed a few days with them, alone, before I left... you know, some sweet, old fashioned family time. It had been a few years since we took a family vacation, so it was really nice to be just with them, and rexperience "family time", which reminded me how they can drive me crazy sometimes, making me laugh to think of how funny we were together when my sibs and I were little on long car rides (sorry mom and dad). So, it was planned that 5 days before I had to be in New York City for pre-depature orientation with the other AFS kids in America going to Hungary that we would visit various family members along the way in: Pittsburgh, PA, New Lebanon, NY, and New York City.
But the my very first day was spent packing and repacking my bag a million and a half times (shows how prepared we were), calling friends to say good bye and seeing some people for a last goodbye - Adrienne Ellis stopped by, Craig was helping us weigh the bags, Gwen and Claire Lash were there as support, Fanny was there too and some others that can't come to mind now (comment if you were there my last day at home). Basically it was pretty hecktic... but, after some time (like two hours after our planned departure), we FINALLY hit the road!
(during the day, Fanny had called her family on skype, and I was really excited to talk to them, so I ran into my room... and stubbed my pinkie toe, real bad (I won't go into details, but there was some blood and a possibly broken toe)! It's healed now though, so it's all good 😊)
Our first stop was in Pittsburgh, PA (a short 2 hour drive) and visited my dad's relatives: Ward (great uncle, gma's brother), Sherly (grt aunt), the K-Team (Kelsey, Kevin, Kristen, Kyle, Kristopher; Lars (Ward's son) and Marybeth), Kai (Ward's son), Pina (Kai's wife), Ana and Marina (K and P's daughters). We spent only one night on Kai's farm, (I wish we could have stayed longer), but it was still a lot of fun! When we finally arrived, mostly everyone was pitching in to help prepare the last bit of dinner when we got there, so we sat around with the adults and chatted, or walked around the farm with my cousins. Around 7 o'clock we sat down for an outdoor dinner (adult table and kids table), and ate an awesome meal, as always (we always have good food when we are there :D). Then after cleaning up and some chatting, the K-Team went to a friends house to watch the Olympics, and the eldest, Kelsey, ended up coming back later to spend the night. The next morning we woke up early so we could get a start on the wonderful 8 hour trip to my grandma's house in New Lebanon, New York, which gave us time to explore the farm a little more. When we were walking around, Kai took us around showed us his chickens (he just bought new ones), honey bees, a good-sized vegetable garden, a large front yard... he also has a golf cart and a little trail for the golf cart to get to and from the house faster.... well, you can just guess what we did the day after we arrived (golf cart + Claire and Jordan + back road = fun timess); I got the golf cart stuck up a small pile of dirt (because I'm a really bad driver and I was trying to be cool like Claire because she could get around it at a pretty high speed), and we basically just drove it around in circles around the farm and in the grass! Then we went in to get our stuff ready, and the girls (Ana, Marina, and Kelsey) still hadn't woken up. But when we left, they came out to say good bye (I'm gonna miss you guys for thanksgiving! Save me a slice of pumpkin pie :D, haha!). We then left about mid-day for the lovely 8 hour drive to my grandma's house in New Lebanon, New York.
The next few days after our Pittsburgh visit were spent in New Lebanon, New York with my grandma, Rabia/Mary Jeanne/ "Baba", who is one of my favorite people, (she's so wise, thoughtful, kind and full of life!) 😊
When my dad was growing up, they lived in Berea and there, she started the Berea AFS chapter with her good friend, Jean Snow, who is a close relative of mine - her daughter married my uncle - so she's bascially family (3 of the 5 siblings in that family traveled abroad as exchange students, as well as hosting various exchange students through the years... so, as you can see, this traveling thing is kinda in my blood).
She now lives in New Lebanon on an old Shaker estate that has been the Abode for about 30 years, or so... check out the website (http://www.theabode.net/). The Abode is a Sufi commune, surrounded by spectacular forest views, nice walking trails, rolling hills, history (fact: the place that Shakers from all over the Nation would meet in the 1800s and early-1900s is just outside the Abode... it's an awesome building), and wonderful people! There, they have a farm and grow their own fruits, vegetables, and herbs; they host numerous workshops during the year (for adults and children), and they also have their own school for younger families with children. I hope that one summer I'll be able to live up there with her during college and work at the commune or just helping around the Abode in anyway I can (by then I SHOULD have my license, so I MIGHT be able to drive around during my free time, see some concerts, etc., hahaha). The day we arrived was our 18th birthday, so we celebrated with an awesome dinner, made by Baba and ate some home made angel cake (soo good). The next day we visited Norman Rockwell's house (http://www.normanrockwell.com/), drove around the hills near the Abode (so many beautiful houses, BIG and RICH houses, and great views ), walked around a cute little town close to the Abode(went into an awesome antique store; I am in LOVE with old stuff, so I was in heaven!), a famous outdoor concert hall (I forget what it's called :/), saw a some famous yoga schools, almost went to a lake (which is famous too, but I forget all of the names of these things, haha... I'm gonna get the names in a few days), walked around the Abode for a few hours... haha, we had a hard time getting up the hill with the car, and the hike was tiring, but we got an awesome view from the top! (I'll post some pictures sometime soon, on facebook, myspace, or here) Then we walked down from the top of the hill to the car and drove down to the apartment. Then we packed up the car, and said our goodbyes.
We then headed to New York City, about 2 or 3 hour car drive on a really cool, old high way (it was really scenic, and there was NO traffic on it) and arrived there in the evening (around 8 o'clock), and met up with my Uncle Greg, who took us up to his apartment where we stayed for 2 nights (thank you, köszönom szepen, again for letting us stay there!). My parents got the guest room, while the 3 kids got the living room floor on blowup matresses (my mom ended up coming out on the couch with us). The next morning, we woke up bright and early to take a boat tour around Manhattan Island, which was an extremely long 2 hours. Then we went shopping for the rest of the day because Cole wanted to get us a birthday gift (stopped in a Starbucks for some coffee). Then we went to Grand Central for lunch and dropped Cole off because 2 days later he would have to start school. It was a pretty unemotional departure (thank goodness! I kept telling myself that I'd see him again, "it's not like I won't ever see him again!"). Then, the four of us went walking around the city and had dinner out with Greg. We then came back to the apartment and watched Over the Hedge (we'd been wanting to show my dad that movie for some time), and we laughed soo much during the movie (it's awesomee)! Then, the next morning (my LAST morning with my family together because this was the day that I had to go to the pre-departure orientation) we woke up, later than the previous day, and had a New York breakfast (salmon with cottage cheese sandwiches), and I can't take so much fish at once, so I couldn't finish it all. We didn't plan anything for this day, so we hung out at the apartment, took pictures, I called some people on my cell, played some piano with Claire for the last time, and rechecked my bag. Then, we drove to the hotel where there were other American exchange students checking in for the orientation. The tears didn't start to come until I hugged my dad, then it got really bad when I hugged Claire, and then soo bad when I hugged my mom, it was horrible! But, eventually they left, tear streaked, puffy eyed, blochy cheeked, with large smiles on their faces...
That's my first week, well FIVE days, away from home.
Hope you enjoyed it!
Take Care!
Much Love, Jordan
(next blog: Second Week away from home)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.065s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 9; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0305s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Fran Sayler
non-member comment
oh duets with your sister! I would've been crying then. You say you take flute in Hungary, are you able to also play piano?