SO FLIPPING EXCITED!!

So...I won't make you wait...I'M GOING TO THAILAND!!!
On Thursday, at 7:00, the bus pulled out of the parking lot in Tualatin. The bus pulled into Pendleton at about 14:00 and we went roller skating. We arrived in Cove at about 18:00. We talked about what we were going to go this weekend, and soon went to bed at about 22:30. On Friday, all the out bounds(the ones who are going this year) played a game. We were split into two groups. One group was called the alphas, and the other was the Batas. The Alpha culture was male dominated, and it was similar to that of a Latin American culture. The Batas were direct and to the point, and not at all warm and fuzzy. I was in the Alpha group. Two at a time, the Alphas joined the Bata group, and two Batas joined the Alpha group. You tried to fit in and see what was going on. Oh, did I mention? The Batas had their own language. Now it seems hard. It was. But it did get me thinking, that you have to be very observant of what is going on around you, and aware of what will happen if you make one mistake.
After lunch we went to an interactive museum about the Oregon Trail for the Inbounds(Students from other countries exchanging here) to learn more about the state. After that we had dinner at a pizza place and played some games in the arcade. We then went and watched the Cove girls and boys play basket ball. Neither boys or girls won, but it was still fun cheering for the team. After that it was bed time at 22:30.
I woke up at 5:30 I woke up and packed and got ready for snowboarding. We left camp at 7:00 and arrived at Anthony Lakes resort at 9:00. At about 10:00, I was out in the snow learning to snow board. I ride Goofy Foot, meaning most people ride with their left foot forward, and I ride it with my right foot forward. After falling a few times, learning how to use the rope tow, and sliding on my butt down the bunny hill, I was ready for lunch. During lunch we got a ballot and had to chose what country we wanted to go to. You had to have a first choice and four alternates. The choices were as fallows: India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Austria, Czech Republic/Slovakia, Denmark, Finland/Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Turkey, Switzerland, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru.  You could also say that you wanted anywhere in Europe, Latin America, Asia, or even the world. I could't decide what to chose, so I picked anywhere in the world as my number one choice. After turning it back in I got lunch and visited for a bit. I was soon back on the bunny hill, falling on my face and tumbling down the slope. Once, just once, I started at the middle and made it all the way to the bottom and got a bit further without crashing and burring. I snow board until about 13:45, when I stopped and played in the snow with my new friends. Everyone board the bus by 16:00, and we were off back to Cove. We had an hour to get everything packed and loaded before we were off to the La Grande activity center. After we were dropped off and unloaded, the country officers were off to decide where we were to spend the next year of our lives.
At the center, there was a haunted house, mini golf, and laser tag. They also had a game room and a bar were we were served water. We had cleared out a big space for a dance floor. First I went to the haunted house with three of my friends. The suspense leading up to it was the scariest thing about it. As we went through it, we each took turns as to who went first in line. People would jump out at us and bang a knife at us. No one ever touched us, but it was a thriller. It did frighten me. After that we had a lot of laughs, and made some inside jokes. We also went mini golfing and went to the dance floor. Then, at 22:00, one of the Rotarians walked into the dance room.  He was fallowed by a few others, and the room went quiet for a second, and then became filled with cheers and applause. After having a crazy evening, and being high on life, I suddenly stopped. The impact of my putting down anywhere in the world suddenly hit me, as I realized I could literally go anywhere. And I had no clue where. I became quite after my cheering, and I didn't laugh or say much. Time itself suddenly started to slow down. I wasn't even sure what was happening was actually real.
It took another 30 miners for the rest of the team to come wandering through the doors. Once they finally did, they had the outbounds on once side of the room, and the inbounds stand behind their country officer.

To be continued......


~FRS