Today's excursion (22,09,2010)

So today our class went on a "learning" excursion. We went to the Mežaparks in Rīga. There we first played football for a while, and then ate lunch. BUT AFTER, we went to what was called Mežakaķis (forest cat) and that was a high COPE course. I thought that we were going to go rock climbing, but no...but this was great! First we had a little training exercise which basically taught us how to use the equipment and the proper safety procedures. Then we went to the green course, the easiest course and lowest to the ground. That consisted of some cool little things like having to walk through a net, walk on moving platforms 9they were planks of wood attached to ropes) and a zip line at the end. Then was the silver course. That one was I think the same height as the Green course, but was harder and longer, and with some different obstacles. I dont remember exactly which though. The silver course ended with another zip line, except it was longer. Then was the gold(?) course. It was harder, twice as high, and with the strong winds we were getting, quite wobbly. Oh yeah, and longer. The first thing we had to do was climb a ladder, then cross a gap, then climb another ladder. After the second ladder, we had to cross a gap by means of a barrel hanging from wires. After the barrel, we had to walk across a thin blue piece of what looked like tarp material. It was about 6-7 inches wide, so really nothing scary. Somewhere along the way, one classmate, Jolanta, got stuck on an obstacle somehow. It was the planks of wood hanging by two ropes and organized in a way that they were like a walkway with two foot gaps in between each other. But they were hanging and so they were now solid and quite hard to cross. She got stuck on this. So one of the guides, I guess, they weren't really guide-ish people, had to completely beast his way through to Jolanta to help her. When he finished helping her, everybody else started moving again. At this point, I had to zip line across a gap to a platform where we "Tarzan" jumped to a net. By the way, the platforms were about 3 feet long with a tree going through the center, so about a foot or so of walking space. The Tarzan jump was fun. There was a rope that you connected your carabeeners to, and swung to a net. it wasn't a long distance, but it wasn't a short distance either. When you hit the net, you had to climb up it to the next platform. That platform was where Jolanta got stuck. The next courses where basically different variations of one another, all having to walk across a wire with yourself connected to one wire and walk across. One variant made you step either on or over some small barrels. Nothing really difficult. Then you had to walk on those planks like those that Jolanta got stuck on, except they  were connected to one another at a pivot point and they could turn when you stood on them, like in a zig-zag formation. Then climb down a ladder to another zip line. This zip line was longer. :D I was able to flip upside down on this one. :) But, when i had to grab the net at the end, I lost my grip and went to the middle and got stuck. I tried to pull myself back, which was 25-30 feet, but could not. One of the girls below me yelled: "Yeah show us how Americans do things!" I almost made it there but my fingers just could not hold...i went back to the middle. Frustrated, I hung there...upside down of course hehe :D. After that course was the Black course...the hardest and second shortest. The green course was the shortest. I was too tired to do the Black course, but Arnolds, Niks, Romija, Toms, Ansis, Pēteris, and some others did it and said it was intense. I went to the first platform for it, but then backed down cause my arms weren't with me in this decision. It was fun. Yeah thats basically the COPE course. :)

This Friday is a science night at the medical university where Aija works. I am going to it along with one of Eva's friends, Erika.Artūrs will come too, I'm pretty sure. We are just going to hang out there and look at everything, and try to avoid the cadaver room...That's creepy at night...Eva knows. One time, Eva was at Aija's work for something and she was alone for a bit. Then she had to use the bathroom, and had to walk by the room where they kept these cadavers. She told me it was one of the creepiest things ever. XD

Next Friday is Teacher's Day at our school. So some of the students teach during some classes rather than the teachers. I chose to help teach English along with Niks and Diāna. We have to teach the Freshman. It should be fun. So that's what's new! :D

Update...

So recently, I was assigned the task of giving a presentation about the USA. It went well and was highly informal. I basically said stuff about the government, food, Superbowl, football, California, Poway, and oher stuff you would expect to be in a presentation about your home country. But then I decided to throw in the word "Dude". I basically said it was how we address one another, usually between friends. But my English teacher looked at me with a surprised look...A look that looked like she was about to send me out of class....I wasn't sent out, but she told Artūrs and then he told me that in British English, its a verrryyy bad word...new thing learned? So yeah...that went well. XD

I think AFS requires me and the other exchange students to have an after school activity. So today after school I went to choir class. The Audition went well and they speak ENGLISH!!!!!! :D I was happy about that. But the lessons during practices are in Latvian, naturally. There are four girls from my class in choir and two or three boys from my class in it as well. Arnolds, who is in my class, was happy that there is one more boy cause there are apparently 8 boys to about 25-35 girls...they were not heard really well at some concerts as you can imagine... So yeah this will be fun! But I will most likely do a sport after school as well. I don't know which yet; I have to go to the Olympic center for sports cause my school doesn't even have a team...and the pool is 12 Meters long, compared to Poway's 25 meter pool. And same with the gym. MUCH smaller than Poway's...there are no bleachers.

Other stuff...I found Mormons!!!!! There is a small branch in old Rīga. The first time I was there, two people were being blessed because the day before, they were baptized. And they just sustained a 1st and 2nd counselor to the branch leadership.


The Saturday before going to church, I met up with Allie in Rīga. That day we just walked around Old Rīga and we eventually got lost. We noticed that we were lost near the Mormons, which, that the next day, I discovered where it was. Just got to remember big Catholic church with a road that circles around the building and then I know that I'm near the Mormons. But we did not see any Mormon church because its in a building  and the only way to know what your looking for is to look for this sign that they put out on a plaque. It's small... But I didn't recognize the BIG Catholic church and that's when we realized that we were lost. So we tried to avoid using the map as much as we could....ok, I didn't want to use it. She did. But we eventually did and it was useful. Who would've thought that a map could be useful?? It was fun. Old Rīga is a fun place to walk around.

Last Friday, Artūrs (my contact-person), and I went to where Aija works. At the Medical University. That meant skipping my last lesson, Ķimija (Chemistry), which worked out because I had a test. Don't worry, I don't get marks the First Semester in that class. But on the way, we saw the Polish President (he was in his car). When we got to the university, our neighbor, Julija, joined us. She was looking for new ideas for designs for her Porcelain-making business. We had to wear lab coats and play the role of the student, cause apparently they don't allow non-students in the area that we went. But Aija basically showed us all these different cells, from Bone and bone marrow cells, to the cells in the cerebellum. It was cool. And she showed us the part of the university that taught about conjoined twins. The specimens in the jars were nasty...Why were we there, in the university? Cause Artūrs is going to be studying medicine and I came along cause I have an interest in biology. It was fun but as you can imagine, some of the stuff was nasty.

So yeah, if there is anything specific about Latvia you want to know, comment. If anything else comes to mind, I'll post it. :)

We got lost for a little bit...

So just yesterday Aija, Agnese, her father, Ericks, and I all went mushroom picking in a secret place where absolutely no one goes. We found so much mushrooms! All very large at that! it was fun too cause we had to expedition  through the forest where there really isn't any real trail. After a while, we filled our buckets with mushrooms and the majority of them were the best kind. :) But then we found ourselves lost for a bit... It was...awesome. Really fun...once we got out. But we had to go through really tall plants where there was an infestation of spiders and other insects liked to reside. At some point along the way my foot slipped all the way into some water. All the way meaning inside the tall rain boot I was wearing. Was it really worth a couple buckets full of mushrooms?? Yes, it was. We never hike through anything like that in scouts. We always stuck to the trails. So a little trail-blazing was quite nice. The forests, everyone says, are small, but really, they are quite big. But the scenery was amazing. A seemingly untouched forest with bright green grass/moss covering the ground, tall trees that are nice and green, mushrooms of many colors: yellow, golden, orange, red (poisonous, but cool to look at), brown, and some had speckles on the top... they were deadly poisonous but I still think they looked cool. Some of them grow in perfect rings, one such ring circled a tree and looked cool. But when we got out, everyone was relieved to see the power-lines in the distance and the hunter's tower near the car, not to mention the car itself. So yeah we then went home but stopped to pick some fresh apples. It was fun. When we got home, we spent all night cleaning and cutting the mushrooms...and of course impersonating Bear Grylls (Spelling??) because of the abundance of spiders, worms and other insects we found in the bucket. :) It was fun. After this day, I officially dub Latvians "Crazy".

School!

The schools here in Latvia are really different than in California. One day can consist of a small amount of lessons and therefore ending earlier, or can have many lessons and end at 16:00. (4:00). Yeah...that was the way it was for me on the second day...:/ But the first day of school was only ONE hour long! :) It was basically a free day to meet your classmates and main teacher. The director asked me to give an introductory "speech", but was just and intro. That went well. I am in grade 11, track E. Basically, the science line. I have a great bunch of classes which are: Latvian Literature (don't have to go! :D), Math, Biology, Chemistry, Russian Foreign language, English (muahahaha!), Psychology, and a Latvian Language class. There may be others but I think that's it. It looks like a lot, but I don't have all the classes everyday like in Poway. In California, the students are given a class schedule which is the same throughout the year, and subject to change in between semesters. Here, at least to my understanding, I have a list of classes, and my schedule changes everyday. So you see how it can be confusing. The grading scale is on a scale of 1-10 as opposed to the A-F scale in America. A mark of 10 is achieved when the teacher feels that the student has surpassed the teacher. Like me in my English class. XD That's going to be my easiest class. Yeah, that's the main difference between Latvian and American schools, and the fact that you dress formally and bring the teacher flowers on the first day.