A Swiss/American Dinner/Celebration/Competition

So yesterday was my new dad, Jean-Michael's, birthday. We all got up around 11 and had breakfast. After breakfast, we decided we would do something fun for dinner since the suprise trip to the mountains got rained out both on Sunday and yesterday. So we decided on doing a competition. Magali would prepare the cocktail (don't worry, no alcohol) and the food to go with it. Laetitia would prepare the soup, mom (Marielle) and I would prepare the main dish, and dad would prepare the dessert. Then we would be judged according to taste, presentation, and originallity. So around 21, we headed to Vevey, to hit up the market for the foods needed for dinner. When we got back, the cooking began:)

Magali was running around, since she had the most food to make. Here, she was making the amazing smoothie for the cocktail hour:)

The night before at dinner, we were talking about potatoes and they asked me how I liked them cooked. For those of you who don't know, potatoes are my favorite food and I will eat them any way you make them:) So I was listing off ways to make potatoes, and one was hash browns. They were intrigued by this and had never heard of them, so when we wanted to do a competition, they all asked me if I could make hash browns. Lol. So. I did. But i cut them myself, so they weren't as thin as I would of liked. Here is the before cooking them picture. . .

Here is my mom, Marielle, working on the other half of the main dish. It was like a chicken with some other meat, wrapped like a taco. I'm not sure how to describe it, lol, but it was good!

These are the other part of Magali's cocktail food. There was one more that's not in the picture. They were all really good! Well. Except the fig. I wasn't too fond of that one. Niether was Magali. The judge with the highest vote was Jean-Michael, because, well it was his birthday. While he was judging the presentation of her food, the tone of the tomatoes he felt was too strong and so she was docked points. Lol. He loves to joke around.

Here was the table that Laetitia and I set. I think it looks pretty snazzy if I do say so myself:) If you look at the windows, you can see how gross and dreary it was outside.
Here was us at the cocktail hour:) After this, we moved into the dining room.
I didn't get a picture of the soup but it was REALLY GOOD! Then we had the hash browns and I just have to say that there was leftovers of everything, BUT the hash browns. Lol. They loved them. I should of made more.
Then this is the after eating the main course. No leftovers. We were all groaning at this point because it was so much food. But we still had dessert!

So Jean-Michael headed into the kitchen to prepare the dessert. He was upset with the finished product because I guess it was suppossed to be a mousse, but it wasn't:(

Then he got to blow out his birthday candles. After that, the final scores came in....Magali got an overall of 9 out of 10. Laetitia got an overall of 8 out of 10. The main dish got an overall of 9, but the hash browns got a 10! And the dessert got a 1. Lol. It was quite the night:)

Christophe Mae!!! Ahhh!

Last night, I went with my host sisters, my host dad's good friend, and his two daughters to a Christophe Mae concert. He is a famous French singer and my one sister really likes him, so she was so excited! We drove about an hour to get to the concert, and once there, we had some dinner. When we were almost done eating, my sister thought he came on and we were missing it so we ran, i mean really ran, to where the concert was from the resturaunt. Turns out he wasn't on yet, so we causally strolled back, since were were totally out of breath.

This was at the end of the concert. It was kinda hard to understand because it was fast music, but i enjoyed it:)
These are who I went to the concert with. The two girls on the right ( I can't remember their names) are my sister's friends, then me, then my host sisters.
Another picture of the concert! It was at an outdoor arena and it was pretty packed. When the concert was over, we went and some some drinks, and then headed home. When we reached my house, it was 2am. It was quite the night:)

Switzerland!

So. This is the first offical blog post from Switzerland! Everything here is so beautiful! I love it. In this past three days though, I have given so many kisses it cracks me up. Everytime you meet someone you kiss them. Then, when they leave, you kiss them. But sometimes, you kiss them during your time together too. You never know when a kiss awaits:) I'm still getting used to the kissing. I have also yet to find some ice. I am lead to believe that ice doesn't exist here. So I'm now used to muke warm things:) The food here is so good! I have been trying new things, and absolutley love everything I eat. American food is no match for the Swiss food I've been having. Here are some pictures from my first few days. . .

This was the first Swiss sign I saw, so I had to get a picture. It's the post office.
On Friday, we went to Vevey, which is a big town about 20 minutes away by car. We went shopping, had a baguette for lunch, and just took in all the sights. Here are my two host sisters, Laetitia (18) and Magali (16). Laetitia is leaving on Friday for Canada to be an exchange student as well.

In my room, I have a magnetic board where I hung up some photos. I guess my host mom noticed that I had used all the magnets, so when we were shopping, she got me my first Swiss souviner, a magnet for more pictures:)
My house is right on Lake Geneva! It is so awesome. This is the balcony off the bottom level. You can see the lake, and in the background is France and the French Alps.
This is my new doggie, Lema. She is now a KU fan:) This is part of my room, with my bed and armoir.

This is the dining room, where we eat dinner every night and look out over the lake and over at France. There are windows around the whole room, and the doors open up completly. It is gorgeous.
This is one of the many windows in my room. It is right by my desk. Now....
Here is the view from that window. I have defintetly gotten used to this:)
And lastly, here is the front of my house. It is three stories, but it is built in the hillside, so it's really short in the front. That's all for now:)

Leaving Kansas. And America. And all of North America.

Well. Two days ago I left from KCI airport for Zurich, Switzerland. It was really hard saying good-bye for a year, but we just sucked it up beacause we all knew I was going on an amazing journey:)

Before we got in the car, we got one last family picture. Here it is :)

Here we are at the airport. It's a horrible picture but I'm sure Mom wants to see it, so I guess I'll put it up. ;)
Here is when I was checking in. My bags ended up being too heavy, so we had to cut down by a total of 9 pounds. It wasn't easy. So I ended up not taking this carry on beacuse when we took stuffo ut of my checked, we shoved it in a much larger bag that my Mom brought, so I gained some muscle lugging that thing around:)
I was the last one on the plane, but we still didn't leave for about another thirty to fourty minutes, due to space issues. Even though I was crying, I couldn't help but laugh and think that it was due to me and my oversized and overweight bags. When we finally took off, I took a last shot of Kansas and the airport. Bye and see you in a year Kansas!

More goodbyes. . . .

Well. It is finally here. Tommorrow at 11:44am, I will officially be leaving for Switzerland. It feels like I've been waiting forever for this to come but now that it's here, it feels like just another ordinary week. On Sunday, my mom (and dad) threw another party. But this one was for everyone that wasn't invivted for the limo ride:) We had lots of my teachers come, friends from church, families that I babysit for, and neighbors. Here are just a few. . .

Me with Payton and Sydeny, the girls that I have babysat the past two summers. They kept me on my toes this summer:)

Aunt Pam and I. This isn't the greatest picture beacuse our eyes were all puffy, but it'll do. She goes to our church and works at my high school. She is so amazing and I'm going to miss her so much!
Aaron and I. He goes to my church and we just got back from spending a week together in New Orleans for a youth gathering. We have a love/hate relationship:)
My French teacher Mme. Platt and I. She is the one who inspired me to go to a French speaking country. She suprised me when she walked through the door. She is defintely one of my favorite teachers.
Two more kids I babysit, Jadon and Sienna. They have grown up so fast since I started watching them almost two years ago. I probably won't even recognize them when I get back they'll be so big!

Lastly, Bob and I. He goes to my church and traveled to Africa with us last year. He is known around here as Bob the Builder:) He always knows how to make someone laugh:)

I still can't believe I leave in the morning. It's been such an awesome adventure so far and it's just beginning. I can't wait to find out what the next year has in store!

Suprise!!!

Last night, my amazing mom and my best friend threw me a suprise going away party for all of my closest friends! I had suspisions that something was going on, but had no idea it was going to be as over the top and memorable as it was!

I thouht Abby was coming over to pick me up and go out to eat, but when i ansewered the door, she and one of my other best friend were standing there, and in the background was a limo! I was completly suprised!

Then, when I got in the limo, I found the rest of my closest friends! We popped open some sparking cider, cranked some tunes, and the party started!

We headed up to the Plaza in Kansas City to a Japenese restaurant! Here's a picture of the whole group:)

The food was SOOO good. It took me a little while to master the art of eating with chopsticks and this picture shows the first shrimp I was able to pick up. The chef was tossing food into our mouths (quite amusing) and everyone was laughing and having a good time!

After dinner, we still had another hour with the limo, so we went to one of the many fountains on the Plaza and took some pictures to last as memories for the year.

When we got back to my house, we all pilled out and, of course, got a picture by the limo! Then most stayed the night. What a great memory!!! Thanks mom and Abby!!

T-Minus 11 Days!

I'm now only 11 days out from leaving for Switzerland! I found out that my visa won't be ready in time and that I will have to travel over as a tourist until my visa is finalized. This next week and a half is going to be busy, busy, busy! Getting all my things packed, fininshing up my babysitting job, and making some lasting summer memories with my family and friends:) My family in Switzerland sounds so nice in their e-mails, as well as my counselor. I can't wait to meet them all! I'll keep you all posted as I get ready to depart!