Chobani Winner!

Aloha everyone! I am pleased to announce the winner of the Chobani giveaway is…

Here are your random numbers:

4

which means…Kay! I was happy with these results because Kay is also from Oahu and she informed me that Chobani is unavailable on the island! I had no idea! I’m glad that a fellow “local” (can I consider myself a local if all my friends are? I guess that would make me an honorary local?) gets to feel some Chobani love. You can email your address to me at mayapamela@gmail.com, Kay!

These past two days I’ve been really into yogurt parfaits, which of course starred Chobani.

Yesterday’s mix was a Strawberry Chobani with an AppleBerry Vitatop, mashed banana, and peach slices. I really enjoyed the Vitatop, the muffin was very moist and I loved the bites of dried fruit in my parfait. I really like the fruit on the bottom feel to the yogurts–after trying the strawberry flavor I have to say it wins over blueberry.

Today I tried the pineapple Chobani and I LOVED it!

I was in a rush this morning, so I couldn’t arrange my breakfast parfait style. Somehow, the same proportion of ingredients but layered differently cannot be contained by the same glass. Post picture I had to put the granola in another cup and apply throughout eating. The yogurt mess also included grapes, peach slices, and strawberries (with the pineapple flavor it felt like one of those old school fruit cocktails, you know what I mean?) with ginger granola.

So the AppleBerry Vitatop was a success, but I can’t say the same for the chocolate:

Excuse the horrible lighting. The chocolate tasted a bit dry, which I didn’t like eating plain. Maybe it would have been better with some yogurt or more ice cream to mask the dryness (that was the last bit of Dulce de Leche ice cream pictured here, but it wasn’t enough). I do like that I could get a chocolate fix with a shot of iron. As a vegetarian I try and be aware of my iron and B12 intake and such.

I also recently received a large package of Gnu bars. Yesterday, I tried the Orange Cranberry.

As soon as I opened the wrapper I was blasted with the scent of orange zest. Yum! The texture was…interesting…it reminded me of quinoa. It was very seedy with a lot going on, which isn’t a bad thing, just a texture to get used to. Overall, I would give this bar a B.

Over the weekend I volunteered at Ma’o Organic Farms in Wai‘anae with the AFS students. I didn’t take any pictures as we left our belongings behind, so any photos you see are from Google.

It was amazing. The farm is all about growing fruits and vegetables that are often deemed impossible to grow in Hawaii. For example, they recently successfully grew cauliflower. This is extremely important for an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, as cauliflower usually has to be shipped. That is a long distance for cauliflower to travel, which means a lot of burned fossil fuels in transit. It is not healthy for Hawaii to be so dependent for produce. Ma’o Farms wants Hawaii to be more self-sustaining, and I think it’s incredible that they can do so organically.

The farm also makes incredible strides to involve the community as much as possible. Ma’o Youth is an internship program of two years that employs Wai‘anae youth and gives them the opportunity an Associate’s Degree at Leeward Community College in agricultural studies. The program covers education costs, provides a monthly stipend, and sends participants to agricultural workshops around the world. Wai‘anae is an impoverished region–en route we passed tents on the beach with mailboxes out front. Camping tents serve as makeshift homes. This program allows the youth to literally get their hands dirty in their own native land and start a career doing so.

As AFS volunteers, we hauled rocks to make room for new fields. It only took about two hours, but with a total of 30 volunteers, the Ma’o Farm staff said we did the work of three weeks. Afterward they treated us to an incredible lunch–10 types of organic salad greens, pasta salads, purple sweet potatoes, hummus, fresh tuna salad sandwiches, homemade bread, and fresh fruits. Many volunteers contributed other treats to the spread.

My eyes were bigger than my stomach, but could you blame me? They had fresh baked challah!

Now I would much rather buy high quality produce from such a farm then, say, a tomato with a faint, watery taste that traveled 3,000 miles. Buying local produce is important anywhere, but I think the message is particularly pertinent in Hawaii.

What do you guys think of buying locally? Worth the money?

A toute a l’heure!
Maya

Belated Weekend Recap

The weekend must seem like a distant memory at this point in the work week, but I’d like to backtrack a bit and recap a little of my weekend. Don’t distress, the next weekend will be around the corner before you know it!

On Saturday I went to an AFS party as a volunteer at a fab-u-lous beach front house. The house basically centered around the pool–ummm frickin brilliant idea. The refrigerator was twice the size of a standard fridge. My mom would freak. So much room for storage after a Costco room. The room I liked the most, though, was this one:

Why yes, I would like to live in this room, thanks for asking. If you need me, I’ll be on that couch to the left, could you bring me a cup of tea? Designing note to self–big rooms with beautiful painted ceilings make awesome statements. Ok enough of that.

On Sunday Sophie had to work, but her mom graciously gave Trine, Sophie’s sister and I a driving tour of the North Shore. Sophie’s mom, Jane, grew up in Hawaii and told us everything we’d ever want to know about the locales we visited.

I will never tire of beach pictures.

After laying in the sun for a bit (a peak distance run of 9 MILES tires a homegirl out!) I snorkeled for the first time! Not the best conditions, considering the rocks and big waves, but a good first outing. I saw a pink and teal fish! If I ever become a fish in a future life, I want to be pink and teal.

Yeah notice those rocks? Imagine waves crashing you into it. But I said f you to those waves and still had a great time.

We then saw the Thunderbirds show at the military base, which only happens every other year or so. When I told my mom she said that’s so scary! so dangerous! I was like uh ok mom, whatever. I understood when planes literally flew so close to us that you could hear deafening roars. I shrieked. What can I say, I am my mother’s daughter.

I now see why seeing the Pilot in the sky scared Gina. Those brave pilots do some crazay moves!

We headed back to the North Shore because someone (cough cough, Sophie’s brother who joined us midday) had to body surf on the waves out there for approximately 20 minutes, so we had to drive across the island again. But I tried my first shave ice at the famous Matsumoto’s located in the North Shore!

While I did not particularly enjoy shave ice, this outing holds a special place in my heart. A couple of months ago I was eating Sunday breakfast while reading my beloved Washington Post. The travel section featured an article on the best shave ice in Hawaii, at Matsumoto’s. At this point I was trying to find a job in Hawaii, and the possibility of moving there seemed a distant dream and discovered the article whilst dreaming of Hawaii. I said to my mom that I hoped that come fall I will be in Oahu and going to this shave ice place and savoring every bite. Well folks, I did it! This life be crazy.

Pinch me. The line at Matsumoto’s was incredibly long, it’s a popular place! They also translate the flavors into Japanese for all the tourists.

I was never a fan of icy consistencies. But I was told that the ice in Hawaii is shaved to a feather like consistency so I had high hopes. I also don’t like fake tasting syrups.

Unfortunately my shave ice was both. The saving grace was the vanilla ice cream and adzuki red beans at the bottom of the cup, unfortunately there was not enough of either for my taste.

I got the Hawaiian flavor combo, which was pineapple, coconut and banana. Didn’t taste like any of that, hence why I don’t usually dig syrups so much.

Then we watched Roland body surf and enjoyed the sunset.

Such scenery never ceases to amaze me.

Rewind to today (sorry for all the time traveling!) Today I needed to do a short run near home. This meant tackling The Hill. The Hill on which, despite my best efforts, I always end up walking. This 3 mile run scared me more than my 9 miler last Sunday. I put on my game face and enjoyed the first 2 miles. Then I attacked that b!tch hill. The whole time I thought about my marathon training, and how important it is to challenge myself. If I’m scared of the hill and if I can accomplish it, then that means I am getting stronger. I also reminded myself of why I’m training and how many people I can benefit with my fund raising. I also reminded myself that over time, running up this hill will only get easier. Hey Hill, eat my dust! I worked my way up steadily and ran the whole time! So far I find that keeping my marathon in mind keeps me focused while working out, as I am exercising for a higher purpose.

I rewarded myself with Polly’s yoga for runners (love frog pose!), a long shower for my sweaty ass self, and lounging on the bed watching Tyra on Larry King. While watching I did whatever yoga move my legs asked me to do, which meant a lot of knee holding and leg lenthening. PS I never realized just how fierce Tyra is. She is a frickin mazing. Love her.

It’s almost 9 pm here, but 4 am on east coast time, so happy humpday to all! Catch ya later for a…GIVEAWAY!

A toute a l’heure!
Maya

Exciting news!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

I’ve been ITCHING to post these past few days–I have some exciting updates! Blogging proved difficult, as I spent the weekend with Sophie chez Bargiel and I was laptop-less, as my beloved Mac is currently on the mainland for repairs. Bummer. But without further adoo…

I am 98% sure I will be registering for the Hononlulu Marathon! I am now volunteering quite a bit for AFS and this past weekend we had a party for the AFS Oahu exchange students (all 5 of them, the Oahu chapter is small but growing!) One of the students, a Japanese girl named Shiori, lives about five minutes away from me. Her mom is running the marathon this year, and though Shiori has never really run before, she registered. Shiori doesn’t speak a lot of English and I want to help her train, as lord knows I’ve read plenty of running related blogs. The marathon is in December, so I need to get training! I’ve now been on a few MPRRC runs and many people asked me if I am considering the marathon. I always said no, I had plenty on my plate as it is. But I decided that I can always start training and see how I feel. Today I went on a MPRRC run in Kailua, and we ran 9 miles. That is now my longest distance ever run–and I feel fantastic! I woke up itching to run at 5:30 and I attacked the mileage. I have to say I was proud of myself, I did two peak distances in one week. I never thought of myself as a “runner,” per se, but with each passing day I feel stronger and more confident. I think that I am physically capable of training for a marathon, I just need to wrap my mind around the notion. I plan on modifying my marathon training plan on this one, more or less. My plans for cross training include swimming, surfing (hopefully!), and lots of yoga. I found an adorable yoga studio run in the owner’s home near where I live. She is willing to trade services, such as providing child care for the yogis’ kids and cleaning, for classes. I’ve only practiced yoga on my own and for an intense 2 week Bikram stint. I’ve always wanted to practice yoga consistently to really reap the benefits and I think this could be an amazing opportunity! I’ve already signed up for the introductory 3 class special to see if I like the studio, and have completed 2 Vinyasa classes, one of which ended up being a private lesson. As the studio is small (yoga is not very popular in Hawaii, it is mainly people from the mainland who practice) the personal attention is great to fix some of the bad habits I’ve formed by practicing on my own.

Anyway, sorry for the yoga tangent! Back to the marathon plan–I’d like to contact the local Team in Training group tomorrow. As long as I’m training for a marathon I’d like it to make a profound difference, and I would love to fund raise for the Leukemia and Lymphona with TIT. I hope to use the blogging community as a resource to help me reach this goal! Training and fund raising for a marathon is exactly the kind of challenge I could use right now, and I feel so good about having such an encouraging community of runners in Oahu to guide me.

So many other things I have to post about, but I am currently running on 3 hours of sleep, a 9 mile run, and a full day spent in the North Shore. But I will share a fantastic breakfast I enjoyed on Friday, thanks to Chobani!

Thanks Morgan for the samples! I can’t wait to try the pineapple flavor.

I incorporated the peach Chobani with the Multigrain Vitatop for…

A Kay inspired parfait! Please excuse the not so attractive parfait layers–I was in a bit of a rush because I had to drop off Silvino at school and attend a yoga class right afterwards. Of course I still took 15 minutes to eat…I enjoy a leisurely breakfast! The parfait also had a few peach and banana slices.

At first I thought the Vitatops were a bit small, but in a parfait the portion was just right. You can only expect so much muffin goodness out of a 100 calorie package, but the grainy sweet flavor was spot on. At first I was a bit surprised that the Chobani Greek yogurt was not as thick as the Fage counterpart, but after a few bites I came to appreciate the texture of Chobani. Fage is as thick as sour cream, but Chobani has a sweet smoothness that Fage does not achieve. I also liked the little bits of peach as I always loved fruit on the bottom yogurts when I was little. I didn’t think this breakfast would hold me for long, but it kept me going through an hour and a half yoga class until lunch. No wonder breakfast parfaits are so popular in blogland!

I have quite a few posts coming soon, can’t wait to share! Also, I will soon be hosting a Chobani giveaway…details to follow!

What’s a challenge you would like to undertake in the near future (personal, school/work related, athletic,etc)? How are you working to achieve that goal? If you’ve trained or are training for a half/full marathon, do you have any tips for my training schedule?

I must be off–I have to request every marathon training book the island libraries offer!

A toute a l’heure,
Maya

Taro: the Poi-fect food!

Aloha! It’s about time I gave the blog world a taste of the islands, no? But first, I’ll give you some context.

This past weekend I spent Chez Bargiel in Kailua with the Sophster & Co. We hiked up Diamond Head with some of Trine’s fellow AFS-ers (Trine is the Norwegian AFS student staying at Sophie’s house).

Clearly the Italian student Alessandro and I were ready to attack the hike, as you can see by my game face.

The view was absolutely gorgeous.

After the hike we sun bathed and enjoyed the surf at a beach nearby until our stomachs growled. Enter Ono Hawaiian Foods, a popular restaurant in Honolulu.

I loved the sign out front. No huhu guys!

Hawaiian food centers heavily around poi, which is made from Taro root. Here is some information (thanks Wikipedia!) on the taro root:

• Taro (pronounced /ˈtɑroʊ/) is a tropical plant grown primarily as a vegetable food for its edible corm, and secondarily as a leaf vegetable. It is considered a staple in oceanic cultures. It is believed to be one of the earliest cultivated plants.^[1] In its raw form the plant is toxic due to the presence of calcium oxalate,^[2][3] although the toxin is destroyed by cooking^[4] or can be removed by steeping taro roots in cold water overnight. Taro is closely related to Xanthosoma and Caladium, plants commonly grown as ornamentals, and like them it is sometimes loosely called elephant ear. The name “taro” is from Tahitian or other Polynesian languages; the plant is also called kalo (from Hawaiian), gabi in The Philippines, dalo in Fiji, seppankizhangu in Tamil, chembu in Malayalam Arvee in Hindi and Karkalo in Nepali.

Poi is made by mashing the taro until it is in liquid form. Water is added during mashing and before eating to achieve the desired consistency. Poi was a sacred daily staple of the Hawaiian diet, as it was believed that taro was the original ancestor of the Hawaiian people. When a bowl of taro was uncovered all conflict among the family had to come to a stop.

The menu highlighted the benefits of taro:

I loved this sign outside. The Poi-fect food!

We couldn’t help ourselves, and while waiting for our food we may have indulged in a little huhu (get your minds out of the gutter!)

 

Note the water stains from my bikini underneath!

I couldn’t wait to dig in to my first Hawaiian meal. I ordered a la carte, as the combination platters had at least two meat dishes each and you could not make substituations. I still got plenty of food!

This was a Hawiian sweet potato. I loved the purple color! I thought the potato was very dense, which may have been due to the cooking method, and I really liked the texture. Or maybe I was just telling myself the taste was different than an orange sweet potato? Anyway, in the background is a bowl of poi. Poi is definitley an acquired taste, but I enjoyed it! When you order you have a choice of freshly made poi or day old poi, which has more of a fermented taste. Those new to poi should try freshly made, trust me the taste is still very strong! It can be eaten as a kind of gelatinous soup, but usually you dip your food in the poi, as I did with my sweet potato and Lomi salmon.

What looks like salsa in the small bowl was actually my Lomi salmon. I expected a hunk of salmon and kept trying to get the waitor’s attention to bring my salmon until he informed me that I already had it on the table. Whoops. It was kind of like a salmon ceviche and it was delicious, especially when dipping forkfuls into the poi. Pictured also on the table are pork and rice with raw onion accoutrements.

 Check out Ono Hawaiian Foods’ website for an idea of more traditional Hawaiian dishes.

I loved the decor of the restaurant, the walls were plastered from top to bottom with pictures from over the years. Blast from the past.

If you want muscular thighs, apparently surfing is key.

I think these Hawaiian chicas are rocking the high thigh line bikini bottom.

I also enjoyed taro in the form of an English muffin on Sunday morning with a side of the Honolulu Advertiser’s Sunday comics. The taro English muffin is available in Hawaiian Costcos. So maybe I can’t find Fage at the Costco here but I do have access to taro! Honestly the muffin didn’t taste much different than a typical English muffin, but I loved the purple color.

I also used an apple banana in my breakfast.

I loved the cute size. The texture of an apple banana, which is very common in Hawaiian supermarkets, is a bit firmer and dare I say, a bit sweeter than the typical banana.

I topped my taro muffin with peanut butter and sliced banana.

The breakfast of American champions, Hawaiian style.

I’ve also had other delicious (albeit not traditional Hawaiian) eats lately and a great run that I’ll recap later. Hope everyone had a great weekend and (for those who care) enjoyed the latest Gossip Girl!

A toute a l’heure!

Maya

3 Euro Night

Hey! It’s felt like so long as the past couple of days have been really busy!

One of my best AFS friends spent the night on Sunday after the family barbeque at the end of stay orientation. I’ve been thinking a bit lately about intuitive eating, which has been discussed a lot in blogworld and something that I’m trying to work on. Listening to your body could never be a bad idea, right? At the barbeque I did NOT feel hungry at all, even though it had been a while since I’d had my last meal. I guess it was because of a lack of activity over the weekend–we mainly sat around in our groups. Even though there was a delicious quiche for vegetarians, couscous salad, and a large array of veggies in the salad bar I was just not feeling dinner at all, so I had an apple. But on the other hand, I woke up at 4:30 am starving, so I made a really early breakfast of a toasted roll with walnut butter. The power went out before my toast finished, and I had to fish it out of the toaster with a knife in the dark and then eat it in the dark. Classy. Needless to say there were a lot of crumbs on the counter in the morning.

Anyway! When I woke up at 9:30 I could still feel my early breakfast so I kept my pre exercise meal simple:

Fresh canteloupe and watermelon. My friend doesn’t run as much as I do, so I told her that I wanted to complete at least 5 miles, and I would be comfortable walking them all, so she could dictate when we jogged and when we walked. We ended up jogging for 10 minutes and then walking about 6 miles. It was a beautiful day and we had a good time talking about our years in Belgium.

I needed lunch when we got back (and lots of water!) so I heated up celery root soup, added wilted salad greens to it (making it like a stew) and put some of the goat cheese from the market (which I didn’t realize until today is actually raw) on a whole wheat baguette.

Not photogenic, but delicious. I have been needing a pedicure like whoah, and while walking home from Delhaize I found a poster on the window of a house in the neighborhood advertising inexpensive salon services such as manicures and waxing. 15 euro pedicure? So there. I made an appointment for Monday and it was one of the best things I’ve done for myself in a while. My friend scored a pedicure, too, and we gabbed while she massaged our feet and peeled off entirely too much dead skin. I keep rubbing my toes together and marvel in their softness. After our pedicures we napped for a bit, and after I nap I always need something sweet, which I kept to fruit on Monday, and had a fruit orgy of strawberries, frozen grapes, and a bit of watermelon. We took the train to my friend’s town, Liège, because one of the American exchange students organized a goodbye party of sorts at a bar. Liège is famous for the carré, basically a neighborhood of all bars. I packed a veggie burger and an apple for dinner because I figured drinks would factor into my meal, so I kept the eats light. And boy, was I right.

The bar we went to, Cuba Libre, has 3 euro ladies’ night on Mondays, meaning you pay 3 euros ofor a red bracelet and can basically have as many drinks as you want. The only catch is that you have to wait in a separate line from the bar and it can get packed. I’ve heard there’s been a lot of cat fights that have gone down. I kept waiting for a catch of some kind, but I guess they do this kind of thing to compete with the many other bars in the neighborhood. I also feel like maybe the alcohol was a bit diluted or cheaper because after 3 tequila shots and 3 mixed drinks I felt relatively fine, when usually a couple glasses of wine are enough to make me tipsy. But still gotta love the 3 euro price!

We may or may not have taken those feathered toothpicks from the bar.

A little bit after this photo was taken the bartender had a blending mishap and we got a little frozen beverage on our backs. As a condolence he gave us 10 free tequila shots, which though we could have had them for free, it meant we didn’t have to wait 20 minutes in line! I’ll happily get a little ice in my hair for tequila shots!

Just so everyone knows that AFS was at Cuba Libre.

I spent the night at my friend’s house as she lives outside of Liège. I’m so glad that I had the liberty of grocery shopping and cooking as I please this year– her family eats a very typical Belgian diet which means little fruits and vegetables, a lot of white bread and cheese, and a lot of potatoes. Breakfast was whole wheat bread with nutella/peanut butter/banana and coffee. The fact that they even had whole wheat bread was fortuitous enough. For lunch we had baguette with cheese and sliced tomatoes. As soon as I got home from her house I craved a run, so I went for a 3 miler and made a cereal mess when I got back of a serving of Special K honey and oat flavor, Fage 0% Greek yogurt, and sliced strawberries.

 I made a cauliflower/whole wheat pasta risotto like concoction for dinner, which I served over lettuce/spinach for me.

I made oatmeal chocolate chip raisin walnut cookies afterwards, as I had oats and wheat bran to use up before I leave Belgium this weekend. Host mama MC doesn’t touch oatmeal due to bad childhood memories that not even the most creative of my oatmeal concoctions can reverse and she would have no idea what to do with wheat bran. I baked them while I started packing and had about half a cookie once they cooled. Fortunately my packing is going really well, I’ve done most of the difficult parts and I’m almost all packed besides what I’ll need before Sunday. Since most of my things are already in my suitcase I can see what is still lying around the house in the meantime and pack that as well. At least I don’t have to send anything home, which is very expensive, and I’m pretty sure I won’t have excess baggage. While baking and packing I talked to one of my friends on the phone about her psuedo short lived relationship with her Belgian best friend that ended with him cheating on her over the weekend. Boys. Still up to the same immaturity, even in Europe.

So a lot of people have been talking about clean eating lately, and I gotta say, after this week I could definitely use a few days of much more conscientious eating. I’ve actually lost weight this year (many exhcnage students gain weight) but it isn’t a question of weight. I’m still the same weight after these last two weeks but I just don’t feel so good, which is more important than a number on the scale. I do have to admit, though, I still feel guilt even though I weigh the same. I’m really looking forward to eating well and listening to my body (meaning less ice cream and mixed drinks) before I leave for the States because it makes me feel better.

What do you guys think of indulging? Do you still feel guilt despite what the scale says? Before I would have only felt the guilt of gaining weight after “indulging” and though as I said I still feel some of that guilt, I mainly feel off track and now look forward to balanced eating to feel happier and healthier!

P.S. Emily from Curly Top is hosting a blog makeover giveaway. Check out the the makeover she did for Shelby. Love the banner, much more original than my google search for maps!

A toute à l’heure!

Maya

Less Than a Week!

Hey ladies! Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend–mine was very busy and I couldn’t update until now! I spent my exchange year in Belgium with AFS and the weekend before we leave Belgium we have an obligatory end of stay orientation. Honestly, a lot of these orientations are bullsh!t (we’ve already had two orientation weekends–one in the beginning of the year and a mid stay orientation) but it’s great to see all the other exchange students from around the world. And actually, this orientation did have some interesting things to think about it (what a surprise!).

But Saturday was the typical wtf sh!t. We broke into groups and played “get to know you games” (such as running around like a bird, we only let that one fly in my group for about 30 seconds) and then we received this piece of paper with strange looking people hanging out on a tree. We had to describe which strange looking person we felt like with our family, with AFS, and with our friends. Whatever. I used the sheet of paper for my own purposes:

And I characterized a bunch of the AFSers! It started because I really liked the look of this guy:

Wtf is up with that smile? Anyway, there’s this creepy Indonesian exchange student who grunts a lot, and I decided that it looks like him, and then it just took off from there. Sorry for the blur there from focusing in on him. Here I am:

I’m on top of the branch trying to save my friend who can’t take her host family’s craziness anymore so she takes drastic measures. For some reason, I am obese looking here (haha, don’t think I picked her for bad self image reasons!) My friend there on that board is from Hawaii and hanging out on her surfboard.

AFS ridiculousness extended into the evening, when they kept us trapped in a room by taking our keys (so we don’t sneak back to our rooms and drink, which some students may or may not have a history of doing at past orientations, but not yours truly) and had us play the most random games well into 1 am, at which point we desperatley wanted our keys not to commit shenanigans but just to SLEEP.

Anyway, enough of that. Sunday was pretty beneficial. The AFS organizers had us close our eyes and turned out the lights in the room as they slowly recounted what e’ll be facing when we return to our countries next week (along the lines of–you pack  your bags and leave the house you’ve lived in for a year. You look one last time at the house, prepare the car with your suitcases, and think about what to say to your host family as a goodbye…etc). I’ve enjoyed my year in Belgium and I’m so glad I went through this experience, but I feel like it’s time to go home, so I’m pretty happy to return to the U.S. However, a lot of students are heartbroken, and this mental exercise made them confront their emotions concerning the end of their exchange year and many people started crying. The AFS organizers also had us write letters to ourselves that they will send to us in December. I really enjoyed this exercise, my letter got kind of deep, and I can’t wait to see where I am and what I’m doing in six months when I read the letter.

Then we found swings…swings that were formed in a circle! Chouette!

I’m prtty sure the swings were designed for the short legs of little kids, so consequently our legs hit each other a lot, and we used that opportunity to give each other feet high fives!

I’m miss calves right there to the left.

The Americans are definitely going to see each other again at the airport this weekend, but we weren’t sure if we’d see the other exchange students before they leave for their own countries, so there were a lot of photos and a lot of tears.

I love the Norwegian kid!

One of the best things about being an exchange studnet is meeting people from so many countries. I’ve learned so much this year and encountered so many new things. For example, the Thai student wrote this on one of the student’s names in Thai on her arm:

Thai looks like such a beautiful language.

This post is sorely lacking in the food depaartment, but AFS orientation food is usually not that interesting. I have to give them props this time though, they had this falafel tasting veggie burger concoction for the vegetarians and salad bars on both days. But I hope you found this post interesting, nonetheless! If you’re interested in being an exchange student check out the AFS website. There are other organizations as well, such as Rotary and YFU (I reallly like the name of that one!).   

I’ve been gone for a year and it’ll be both interesting and bizarre to go home and see how my friends and family have changed. I’m sure I’ve changed, also, and I think that seeing everyone again will serve as a mirror to see how I’ve matured this year. Have you been through a similar experience? Were you surprised by what you saw when you came home?

I’ll be back soon with some eats!

A toute à l’heure!

Maya