temur journals

Since it takes almost a day to go from one point of Texas to another, I was not having a chance to get out of the state and see other cities. Because of Christmas break, I could manage to make it. The first destination was New Orleans. Just like other cities, it was beautiful, modern, and full of lights. But now I want to talk about how wild the streets of downtown are. After travelling to museums and around tall buildings, we had a good walk with my double placement. At first I was smelling something similar to grass, which turned out to be a drug. State's laws are different compared to the laws of Texas; this is why people were legally playing casinos in the streets, selling drugs, and all the wild clothes. In one street I could see more than 20 clubs and bars and lots of drug shops. Streets were noisy, and you do not feel yourself totally safe. Some random dudes scream for no reason, and another random guy comes and gives compliments to everyone's shoes. Still, I really liked the city. Diversity is high. A little wild but fun.

I have never seen a non-christian person celebrating Christmas or New Year for the purpose of praising the birth of Christ. Everyone I know loves Christmas for the gifts, decorations, family gatherings and movies. Taking my town as an example, from mid-november/early December to Christmas, everyone is busy with having fun while planning how to spend their winter holiday. Children make their Christmas list, decorate their homes, go to parades or other events and etc. Most people start spamming comments when they see something related to that holiday. Ever since I grow up, I can not remember a time of the year where I got lots of gifts, except for my birthday. If we do not want to celebrate New Year as a whole nation, we should start celebrating a holiday where children receive gifts, decorate their homes or do anything that would bring happiness in their eyes. There should be a time in the year when everyone has nothing to do but celebrating the holiday, exchanging gifts, playing games and having fun.

I had my first parade yesterday and I was part of the parade with my friends. It was too long and includes different teams and organizations of the town. Unfortunately, the weather was cold but still many people gathered to wish merry Christmas. We started gathering at around 4:30 p.m. and the parade started at around 6 and lasted around 30-40 minutes. Every organization decorated their truck except for poor cheerleaders who were supposed to walk all the way. Overall, it was a good experience to see how the parades look like and how they adore their holidays.

Some random photos of last year's December when I was learning English and also worrying about my upcoming 3rd round interview and team games. And at the end, the video of me riding my friend's bike in a park of a small town in south Texas where it snowed last time in 2020. Time can change people and situations just like it changed my activeness here. Whatever happens to us, we all should know that we are all the same person during our whole life. No matter what kind of habits and new personalities we gain, we are who we were 10 years ago. You get mature, older, stronger, but you are always the same person and you stay as that person. Again coming up with random thoughts that have been going through my mind. Many photos to share which are not going anywhere but Instagram. Trying to make everything better here which means I may start posting more often just like before, but before I need to take some time to recap what actually happened in this year before it comes to an end. Happy Winter

Got my badge

Sleeping inside a cave surrounded by water. The quality is bad so that you can not see hippos inside the water.

Literally spending my night at the zoo. Just had a dinner and about to start the tour. I may overpost tonight.

And this week was Homecoming week. During the whole week, there were special themes for every single day. The first day was about teaming up with others and dressing as cartoon characters. The second day was just Disney Day. The third day was a mid-life crisis where you have to dress up like people in their 40s and 60s. The last day was "Green out" day. We ended up the week with a pep rally. In the next 2 days, we will have a homecoming game and a homecoming dance. Also, this time we have 4 days weekend. Here you can see how corridors are decorated for HoCo (this is 1 out of 4) and some shots from the pep rally.

One of highlights of the last week is probably visiting to one of my host relative's house. He is interested in collecting cowboy related staff. Everything in his office is original: from 100+ years old newspaper to indians' tambourine. He wants to keep everything original and spent thousands of dollars on his collection.

Life is getting more and more busy. I have many things to share, but what matters for me is the quality. My insights about guys here get changing and changing. It is not really possible to describe a generation in one or two posts, but kids here are more into socializing, sports, etc. They are different. Some of them are very friendly, some of them mean, and some of them just do not want to socialize with strangers. But most of them are ready to help you in almost everything. For example, today during the whole period, one of my classmates told me about American slang and American music.

Today one of my friends carried a watermelon with himself the whole day and drunk its water with straw. That looks funny.

Recently moved to another family and these are in my room.

And yeah name is a problem here.

What I really do not like about myself is I do not take pictures wherever I go. Still, life starts going well once you realize there is less light pollution here.

School As expected, almost everything differs in terms of school. School is cool, modern and beautiful. I am not really obsessed with taking pictures, this is why I do not have many pictures to share, but have insights. Social life and athletics is the most important parts of the school life here. Every Friday, football team plays with other schools and they celebrate this day. Parents come to watch the game, everyone wears clothes represent school or the team. Cheerleaders, volunteers, school band will be responsible for the game. Students mostly come here just for hanging out with friends and other related stuff. They are not restricted from using their phones during classes and doing other things. For example, two of my classmates played guitar during the whole period and the teacher ended up saying "You had a free day because of Friday" Also, school has its own traditions. For example, in the photo I sent earlier (the one with cowboy-looking man) we were expected to wear Hawaiian clothes. Even some seniors were wearing kids' pool balloons during the whole day. Overall, school is great, easy to make friends and great opportunity to taste what the actual social life means.

And btw, it is common for people to try different things like me worked in such mini shop as a seller (a little), and a person responsible for preparing hot dogs, sausage wrap and nachos Straight for 7 hours🥰🥰🥰