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Published: October 9th 2016
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#Week 5
This week has been a very special one for me. I have been in contact with family members from Pleasanton, which is near San Francisco, for a few weeks now. They’re called Bob and Cheryl Takens, and they are such amazing people. They had planned a trip to southern California this week, and they really wanted to meet me. Of course I was super excited when I heard I was finally going to meet them. We decided we wanted to do something fun together and we agreed that a day at Sea World San Diego would be the perfect place to get to know each other a little more and have a fun day together.
Bob and Cheryl picked me up at 8:30 AM at the ranch and from there we would head out to Sea World. They had not been there in over 20 years and were very excited to see it again. I have never been to a park even slightly similar to Sea World. On our way to San Diego, Bob handed me a super long piece of paper that showed exactly how we were related and which distant family members I have. He
made this all himself and I was very impressed by how detailed all of it was!
When we arrived at Sea World I had no idea where to go first. There is so much to see and so much to do. We decided to get a map and mark a few shows or activities we definitely wanted to do. We started the day by casually petting some sharks. After this we got to see the show with the dolphins and went to see the actic wildlife. I don’t know why, but I had never expected there to be polar bears in Sea World. Of course, they do live in the sea, but the only thing I expected to see at Sea World were fish, dolphins and sharks. So cliché. In fact it is much more than that. Not only can you see animals who live in the sea from all over the world, there are themed shops and places to eat everywhere. Not only this, but even rollercoaster rides and places to pet the animals!
There were two shows that absolutely stood out to me the most on this day. The first one was a show with sea
lions and a tiny otter. It was a complete comedy with the trainers and the animals. I have not laughed that hard in a long while and trust me, I laugh a lot. The other show that absolutely amazed me was the one with the killer whales. I know that there have been so many negative comments about the killer whale shows and that Sea World is now allowed to bring any more killer whales into the programm. Despite te negative things I have heard about the shows, I enjoyed it so much. It was so wonderful to see how these giant creatures will do tricks and stunts for their trainers at the smallest commands. The trainers did not get in the water with the whales whatsoever and the tricks the animals did were movements they do in the wild all of the time. The tricks they are taught to do on command are natural “tricks” and instincts.
To end our amazing day at Sea World, we just had to see the last killer whale show which had all sorts of music and lights to make the show even more spectecular. It was so great to meet these amazing
people and I am very proud that I can call them my family. Bob and Cheryl, if you’re reading this, thank you so much for the incredible day!
After our day at Sea World, Bob and Cheryl came to the ranch to meet my host family and to see more of what I was doing with my time in the USA. I showed them all around the ranch and we had the best time together. They got to see me ride my favorite horse at the ranch and loved to meet my whole family at the ranch. I cannot wait for them to come to the Netherlands next year so I can show them around where I live.
Unfortunately not everything can be perfect, and me and the rest of the group had to say goodbye to Jessi this week. After 4 amazing weeks at the ranch she is now leaving for Australia. Fortunately she lives near Hamburg in Germany, so we’ll definitely see each other again when we both get back home!
In the past few weeks I have been so busy with making the most amazing memories and working at the ranch, I have barely
had any time to do schoolwork and upload my weekly blogposts. Also, my laptop and the wifi up here have not been co-operating with me in the last few weeks. But hey, better late than never!
During the rest of the week I have of course been working at the ranch and I’ve been having so much fun with the whole group. This week’s temperature has been amazing, since it was not too hot to get a lot of work done. The work I have been doing was mainly mucking out the stables and giving all the horses some fresh water in the morning. Then after that we would put a number of horses in the Eurosizer to exercise them. Since there are about 60 horses on this ranch, of course not all of them can be ridden every day. Later on we would clean up around the ranch or do some work on the elektric fences.
This week was also the first week of October, which means the halloween craziness has begun! Everywhere you look you will see pumpkins and other Halloween decorations. Apparently halloween is not just one day or night anymore, but Halloween will last
throughout the whole month of October. Since this will be my first ever Halloween, I had to think of a costume to wear. This week I have been brainstorming a lot and I have come up with a few options: Harley Quinn, Red Riding Hood, Sandy (Grease) or Hermoine. What do you think?
Love, Anouk
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