Hi there!
Three months have already past since my arrival in the US and looking back it feels like time went fast... Unfortunately my visa expires within 2 days, so i better get out of the country before they decide to deport me :) I just finished packing and i thought it was time for probably my last message on my dearest blog :) In fact it's not sure whether i'll be home on Saturday because i'm flying standby and the flight that goes directly to Brussels is already overbooked... We'll see when i get home, it's kind of a surprise :)
A few days before my departure, some of you asked me to let them know if 'bigger is better'. Well, after being here for 12 weeks, i can tell you that bigger is sometimes more impressive (like the gigantic malls where you name it and they have it, the huge buildings in New York and Las Vegas,...) and maybe you would think that people are less personal because of the focus on mass production but actually that's not true at all. It's amazing how friendly they are, they always ask you how you're doing and if they can help you with anything without being obtrusive. The only thing they couldn't help me with was finding the traditional 'ginger bread men' and even after looking for them in almost 10 stores, they were not to be found :)
During my trip, i've been in 12 different states, stayed with 9 different families and by taking the courses and visiting different practices, i've learned many valuable things i will certainly apply when i start working as an optometrist. This was one of the best decisions in my life! It was very nice to be a part of all that and to experience how it is to live here. And although i had a great time here, i'm also really looking forward to go home and seeing you all again!
Good night and sleep well xxxx
donderdag 4 december 2008
maandag 1 december 2008
Thanksgiving weekend in Lubbock, Texas
Good evening friends!
First of all, i would like to thank everyone for their birthday wishes through email/facebook/postcards! You all really made my day unforgettable!
Thursday November 27th
I've spend the past four days in Lubbock (Texas), visiting some very good friends of my parents. Frances and Lesley picked me up at the airport and we drove straight to their family to celebrate Thanksgiving. Looking out of the car window, i immediately noticed the different landscape. In general, it seemed less dry than in Phoenix and the grass had a yellow color. The white spots on the fields which i thought were snowflakes turned out to be little pieces of cotton. Once we arrived at the house and after greeting everybody, i felt at home from the very first minute and the whole family was so friendly! Elizabeth's cooking was just delicious: the sweet potatoes, macaroni with ham and cheese, the frozen cranberries/pineapple/marshmallow salad, the pumpkin and pecan pie and last but not least: the turkey :) The whole atmosphere of sitting together with friends & family and enjoying each others company looks a lot like our Christmas diner in Belgium. Especially when all the houses in town start to be decorated with lights, trees and Santa Clauses! My first Thanksgiving was a success :)
Friday November 28th
The day after Thanksgiving is always the biggest sales day of the year and shops open their doors at 04.00 AM! At Wall mart, 2000 people were waiting to get in and an employee was stepped on so many times that they had to bring her to the hospital!
After a very early swim with Francesat 06.00 AM (yes you read this right:)) and a good breakfast, i visited the Science museum (you can compare this to Technopolis in Mechelen). Although it was mainly meant for children, i learned a lot :) They also had an exhibition about the sea life and while i was closely looking at some fish in their aquarium, suddenly a hand showed up in the water. My god, that hand scarred me to death since it was not supposed to be there :) Once at home, we watched The Rockettes Christmas show on TV.
Saturday November 29th
Today the Texas Tech University Football team had their last game of the season and on the very last minute Frances could arrange a ticket for me! Borrowing a jumper with the Texas Tech logo, i was ready to go to my first American Football game ever and i was so excited! Twenty minutes before the start, the band and the cheerleaders did a performance on the field, four little girls song the National Anthem and the senior players together with their parents were thanked for all their efforts during the past years. The freshmen of the Texas Tech University could now take their places. During the third quarter it didn't look to good for Texas Tech, they were two touchdowns behind on the Baylors. I will not bother you with the rules of the game, but one touchdown is 6 points. If you really want to know more, just Google it! It's the way i did it before i went to the game :) But then suddenly in the last quarter, they scored three touchdowns successively; the crowd got more noisy, the band enthusiastically played music and we all went crazy :) This is so much more fun than our soccer games! The coach said later in the newspaper: 'you had the first part which was pitiful and you had the second part which was impressive.'
Sunday November 30th
It seems like there is a first time for everything during my visit in Texas: Thanksgiving, an American football game and a church visit on Sunday morning. Also the square shaped hosts and the little plastic cups filled with red wine during Communion were new to me!
Monday December 1st
Oh yeah, that's right, it's my birthday today :) I honestly almost forgot! As i mentioned on facebook, i've spend my first hours as being a 22 year old in the airport and on the plane. I guess i've never started my birthday this soon, waking up at 03.00 AM this morning! During my lay-over in Dallas, i bought myself a cappuccino and a piece of chocolate/vanilla cake and i was able to read all the messages and emails on the public computer! That was just perfect :) This afternoon i tried to sleep a little bit, made a couple of long phone calls home, opened all the postcards and i've just blown out the candles on my birthday pie :) It's not a real party party day, but i enjoyed it a lot turning one year older in America!
I just had such a wonderful time with Frances and Lesley and they made my last days in the USA unforgettable!
Big hug x
P.S You find the pictures of this weekend in the album 'Thanksgiving in Texas'.
zondag 23 november 2008
Phoenix, Arizona
Hello!
It has been so busy the past week that I didn't find the time to write something on my blog, so today is D-day :)
November 9th till 11th
I finished my stay in Michigan by having my first snow experience for this year. I was absolutely excited! We got back home after the course and thirty minutes later when we were on our way to have dinner with the group, it started snowing and it stayed until the next day! I took a picture as proof since i was thinking it would probably not snow in Belgium, but today the contrary is true :)
On Tuesday i left Grand Rapids, heading to Phoenix. I felt really sad leaving Bob and Sue, I had such a great time there and I hope I will see them back some day! Since the next course would start on Wednesday, I only had one day to make it to Arizona. And because I was flying standby, I was not sure whether I would make it or not :) Thirty minutes after my arrival at the airport in Grand Rapids, they let us know that there was a technical problem with the flaps of the wings. In other words, the plane was broken... At least I was glad they figured that out before we got on :) Four hours later we finally took off. Of course I missed my connection flight in Chicago. While spending some hours in the airport there, I discovered they offered instant flu shots for 35 dollars right next to Mc Donalds and Starbucks :) I also found out they had something called a 'shoe hospital' where they fix your shoes. Kind of funny that they call this one a hospital and the flu shot place not :)
November 12th till 16th
I’m staying with the family Bacon as my second host family, with Howard & Laura and their two children Angela and Jacob. I remembered Arizona from my trip cross country, so I knew it would be a desert landscape. Still, it was pretty impressive to see all the big cactuses about 3 metres high!
The third course was really practically-oriented and we had a chance to experience many of the therapy activities ourselves! This group was absolutely fun, we even made our own course t-shirts with this picture on it!
It has been so busy the past week that I didn't find the time to write something on my blog, so today is D-day :)
November 9th till 11th
I finished my stay in Michigan by having my first snow experience for this year. I was absolutely excited! We got back home after the course and thirty minutes later when we were on our way to have dinner with the group, it started snowing and it stayed until the next day! I took a picture as proof since i was thinking it would probably not snow in Belgium, but today the contrary is true :)
On Tuesday i left Grand Rapids, heading to Phoenix. I felt really sad leaving Bob and Sue, I had such a great time there and I hope I will see them back some day! Since the next course would start on Wednesday, I only had one day to make it to Arizona. And because I was flying standby, I was not sure whether I would make it or not :) Thirty minutes after my arrival at the airport in Grand Rapids, they let us know that there was a technical problem with the flaps of the wings. In other words, the plane was broken... At least I was glad they figured that out before we got on :) Four hours later we finally took off. Of course I missed my connection flight in Chicago. While spending some hours in the airport there, I discovered they offered instant flu shots for 35 dollars right next to Mc Donalds and Starbucks :) I also found out they had something called a 'shoe hospital' where they fix your shoes. Kind of funny that they call this one a hospital and the flu shot place not :)November 12th till 16th
I’m staying with the family Bacon as my second host family, with Howard & Laura and their two children Angela and Jacob. I remembered Arizona from my trip cross country, so I knew it would be a desert landscape. Still, it was pretty impressive to see all the big cactuses about 3 metres high!
The third course was really practically-oriented and we had a chance to experience many of the therapy activities ourselves! This group was absolutely fun, we even made our own course t-shirts with this picture on it! 
Almost everybody from the course was coming from all over America, so most of them stayed in a hotel. Since some of them had two beds in a room, they asked me to spend the evenings with them and have a ‘sleepover’. At night we went out for dinner, shopped and had a party till 01.00 AM although we had to wake up at 06.30AM the next morning. From the moment we stood on the dance floor with our group, suddenly everybody would join us and we had just so much fun! And I can tell you, the local boys were really dancing like they do on the R&B music clips on tv, I don’t know where they learned all their moves, but it was pretty cool to watch :)
November 17th till 23rd
The time between the last course and the next course at the beginning of December, I’m spending in the optometry office observing the vision therapists and the doctors. Normally the three therapists with each their child/patient and their parents would be in one big room. So the first day I was really distracted because I wanted to see everything that was happening, but that was far from possible :) It’s amazing what the impact of vision therapy is on for example the reading process, comprehension, body balance, communication skills, posture, concentration... I could never have thought that this was all caused by teaching their visual system how to do things more efficiently. And since the brains are plastic, it is possible. It’s not just about eye exercises, but about vision that is so much more than only the eye. It’s the whole process between the eyes and the visual cortex and I’m so happy that I will be able to help patients when I’m back in Belgium! It’s amazing how much things you actually DON’T know when you finish school… and I still find it sometimes a little difficult to really explain what optometry and vision therapy is all about so people would understand, but I’m sure that when I come back to Belgium, I will know :)
I’m sorry if this message is getting too long, but there is one more thing I would like to add :) Yesterday Laura, Howard and I went to a restaurant that is well known for their home made beers and guess what: they even had a Belgian beer list that said ‘every Belgian beer is wonderful and should be treated and enjoyed like a piece of art.’ :) And even better was that you could taste different samples before you ordered your final beer!
The next message on my blog will probably be about Thanksgiving next week! See you soon!
Kiss x
dinsdag 4 november 2008
The elections...and the winner is...!
Als plaatselijke reporter hou ik jullie graag op de hoogte van de verkiezingsstrijd die hier momenteel gaande is. Ik typ dit berichtje al zittend voor tv (dus meer up to date dan dat kan ik niet zijn) en in het nederlands zoals jullie zien omdat het nog steeds iets gemakkelijker is voor me om over politiek te praten in mijn eigen taal :) Vanaf 18u deze avond maakten alle tv-programma's plaats voor deze historische verkiezing. De afgelopen dagen vond je in bijna alle voortuinen een bord terug met de naam van de kandidaat voor wie dat gezin stemt. Sommigen hadden zelfs 4 of meer borden staan. Je kan jezelf de vraag stellen of ze dit doen om zichzelf nog meer te overtuigen van hun beslissing of eerder als poging om de buren op andere gedachten te brengen:)
Ondertussen worden stilletjes aan de resultaten per staat bekend gemaakt en tot hiertoe heeft Obama een serieuze voorsprong. Mischien even wat achtergrond informatie over hoe de stemming concreet verloopt. Eerst en vooral is niemand verplicht om te gaan stemmen. Bovendien is het niet de kandidaat met de meeste stemmen die sowieso president wordt. Het gaat er om om 270 kiesmannen voor je te winnen. Elke staat krijgt een bepaald aantal kiesmannen afhankelijk van het aantal inwoners. Gaat het om een kleinere staat, dan is het aantal kiesmannen bv.5, gaat het echter om een grotere staat zoals California, dan is het aantal bv. 25. De kandidaat die in die staat de meerderheid wint, krijgt het aantal kiesmannen van die staat. Dus ook al zou een van de kandidaten bv. 30 staten voor zich winnen, wil dit niet zeggen dat deze persoon de verkiezing heeft gewonnen.
Hoewel ze dit jaar de stemprocedure volledig hebben proberen afstemmen op de massa mensen die vandaag hun stem uitbrengen, slaagt Florida erin om het systeem te verknoeien. Waar in alle staten gestemd wordt door het desbetreffene bolletje/cirkeltje in te kleuren, besloot Florida om het anders aan te pakken. Ze vervingen elk bolletje door twee afzonderlijke rechthoeken met aan de linker rechthoek een pijl. Veel mensen wisten niet precies wat de bedoeling was dus kruisten of vinkten beide rechthoeken aan. De uiteindelijke bedoeling was echter om het gedeelte tussen de rechthoeken in te kleuren zodat de pijl volledig wordt en wijst in de richting van de kandidaat voor wie je stemt. Ze hebben daar in Florida dus een probleem gecreeerd en de vraag zal zijn hoe ze er mee omgaan. Roepen ze er juristen bij om na te gaan welke stemming wettig is en welke niet of lossen ze het anders op... Elke staat heeft zo zijn eigen manier om om te gaan met the election. Zo maakten ze in New York een grote 'outdoor' ijspiste met de kaart van Amerika op. Telkens als de stemming van een staat bekend gemaakt wordt, wordt die bepaalde staat ingekleurd op het ijs; blauw voor Obama en rood voor McCain.
De kiesmannen worden verder verdeeld en je gelooft nooit wat ik net hoorde op tv: 'President' Obama has 200 votes'. "President"? Een kleine verspreking denk ik. Blijkbaar weten de nieuwsmakers meer :) Nog 63 kiesmannen te gaan voor Obama.
Een klein uurtje later, rond 11uPM is de 44ste president van Amerika bekend: Barac Obama wint! En dit terwijl nog niet eens alle stemmen binnen zijn. Op die paar minuten dat ik dit laatste stukje aan het typen ben, is het aantal kiesmannen voor Obama gestegen tot 297 tov McCain met 146. Ondertussen worden we hier overspoeld met beelden die getoond worden van juichende mensen op straat. Obama zelf hebben ze echter nog niet aan het woord gelaten.
Ik kruip in mijn bedje, ben blij dat ik dit kon meemaken!
Sweet dreams x doei
Ondertussen worden stilletjes aan de resultaten per staat bekend gemaakt en tot hiertoe heeft Obama een serieuze voorsprong. Mischien even wat achtergrond informatie over hoe de stemming concreet verloopt. Eerst en vooral is niemand verplicht om te gaan stemmen. Bovendien is het niet de kandidaat met de meeste stemmen die sowieso president wordt. Het gaat er om om 270 kiesmannen voor je te winnen. Elke staat krijgt een bepaald aantal kiesmannen afhankelijk van het aantal inwoners. Gaat het om een kleinere staat, dan is het aantal kiesmannen bv.5, gaat het echter om een grotere staat zoals California, dan is het aantal bv. 25. De kandidaat die in die staat de meerderheid wint, krijgt het aantal kiesmannen van die staat. Dus ook al zou een van de kandidaten bv. 30 staten voor zich winnen, wil dit niet zeggen dat deze persoon de verkiezing heeft gewonnen.
Hoewel ze dit jaar de stemprocedure volledig hebben proberen afstemmen op de massa mensen die vandaag hun stem uitbrengen, slaagt Florida erin om het systeem te verknoeien. Waar in alle staten gestemd wordt door het desbetreffene bolletje/cirkeltje in te kleuren, besloot Florida om het anders aan te pakken. Ze vervingen elk bolletje door twee afzonderlijke rechthoeken met aan de linker rechthoek een pijl. Veel mensen wisten niet precies wat de bedoeling was dus kruisten of vinkten beide rechthoeken aan. De uiteindelijke bedoeling was echter om het gedeelte tussen de rechthoeken in te kleuren zodat de pijl volledig wordt en wijst in de richting van de kandidaat voor wie je stemt. Ze hebben daar in Florida dus een probleem gecreeerd en de vraag zal zijn hoe ze er mee omgaan. Roepen ze er juristen bij om na te gaan welke stemming wettig is en welke niet of lossen ze het anders op... Elke staat heeft zo zijn eigen manier om om te gaan met the election. Zo maakten ze in New York een grote 'outdoor' ijspiste met de kaart van Amerika op. Telkens als de stemming van een staat bekend gemaakt wordt, wordt die bepaalde staat ingekleurd op het ijs; blauw voor Obama en rood voor McCain.
De kiesmannen worden verder verdeeld en je gelooft nooit wat ik net hoorde op tv: 'President' Obama has 200 votes'. "President"? Een kleine verspreking denk ik. Blijkbaar weten de nieuwsmakers meer :) Nog 63 kiesmannen te gaan voor Obama.
Een klein uurtje later, rond 11uPM is de 44ste president van Amerika bekend: Barac Obama wint! En dit terwijl nog niet eens alle stemmen binnen zijn. Op die paar minuten dat ik dit laatste stukje aan het typen ben, is het aantal kiesmannen voor Obama gestegen tot 297 tov McCain met 146. Ondertussen worden we hier overspoeld met beelden die getoond worden van juichende mensen op straat. Obama zelf hebben ze echter nog niet aan het woord gelaten.
Ik kruip in mijn bedje, ben blij dat ik dit kon meemaken!
Sweet dreams x doei
woensdag 29 oktober 2008
Back in Grand Rapids
Good morning!
(i admit it's already 12.30AM but i feel like it's still morning since i slept quite long:))
Right now i'm back in Grand Rapids with my first host family after spending one week in California. I'm so happy to see them again, it feels a little bit like coming home! Because i was so focused on giving you a summary of each day, i almost forgot to tell you in general about the trip! Normally, we would wake up at 06.30AM, showered, get dressed, eat breakfast, make our luggage, take down the tent and load the trailer. At 08.00 we were ready to take off! In total we drove 4000 miles and crossed 10 states! It's really amazing how we all became friends in this short period of time. I enjoyed this trip, it's a great way of seeing different things and meeting new people, learning about their cultures also. In the beginning i had the feeling that there was a bit too much driving but we had to cover a certain distance of course. It was sad to say goodbye and realize that we might never see each other again... But we keep in touch and who knows, maybe one day i will go to Korea and visit my best friend Lucy! Okay, where were we in the trip? First day at Grand Canyon i think. So lets get further from there on!
October 15th: Grand Canyon
Seven of us decided to check out the canyon! We prepared ourselves by taking enough water (approximately 1 liter per hour hiking), a few granulla bars and a rain jacket. We hiked to Skeleton Point and the view while going down in the canyon was incredible. At first i couldn't believe we were really walking IN the canyon:) At noon we reached our point and the boys wanted to go further down to get closer to the river. Fionulla, Emily and me decided to hike back up. Easily said though, but a lot harder to do:) At some points we only walked for 10 minutes and felt like dying! But once we reached the top, we were pretty proud of ourselves! Back on the camping ground, we desperately needed to do laundry since our clothes were covered by a layer of red dust. Unfortunately things came out of the washer more dirty than we put them in because the dust was now all over, even clothes that didn't had dust on before turned out to be red...:) Since everybody warned us for a really cold night below freezing, we decided to sleep with four people in one tent instead of two in order to keep each other warm. Putting two layers of pants on, one thermic shirt, two t-shirts, three jumpers, gloves, a hat and two extra pair of blankets i was quite warm but still shivering sometimes.
October 16th: Lake Powell, Arizona
After swimming in the coldest but most refreshing lake ever we headed to our camping. This place was owned by an ex tour leader from Trek America and was really well provided, there was a dorm (so we could sleep inside), the usual shower facilities and best of all a chill out place with music, seats and a pool table. James and Alan learned me how to play and i won two games. It was one of the most nicest evenings, probably because it was so unexpected, we danced like crazy (for those in the scouts: it really seemed like a scouts party:)), played pool, had fun and went to bed maybe a little bit too late :)
October 17th and 18th: Zion National Park, Arizona
The first day in the park was a little lazy, we had a chilly afternoon, we even made some pancakes! The next day, five of our group did a hike called Angel Landing, pretty difficult and since my back was really hurting i decided not to join them. Instead we walked to the town, had lunch there and planned to do the Riverwalk. Pretty unprepared (only one bottle of water for the three of us and one cookie) we took the shuttle bus up to the point where we started our trip. Luckily it was easy to walk but really beautiful views near the river. We didn't had the time to walk in the river itself because we had to be back on time since Lucy was cooking that night. After dinner we played Black Jack (also called 21) to practice for Vegas:)
October 19th and 20th: Las Vegas, Nevada
Let me describe Vegas in a few words to give you an impression what this city is like: impressive neon lights, casinos called New York New York/Venetia/Paris, the Eifel tower, a big fountain with an amazing water show every 15 minutes, M&M world, roller coasters, film set for a lot of movies (indeed, we felt like in the movie 'Ocean's Eleven'), a train connection between two casino's, the Stratosphere, gambling people no matter what time of the day it is, Freemont street experience (see pictures), mega outlet store, a fake statue of Liberty,... This is Sin City! At night we went gambling, wandered around the strip (this is a four mile section of Las Vegas Boulevard with the main casino's and hundreds of hotels), enjoyed the fountain show and asked ourselves how people could come here and gamble over and over again, most of the times losing their money. I realized i'm not a good gambler, most of the times it seemed too obvious that i would lose :)
October 21th: Los Angeles, California
We arrived quite late in LA, part because we had a flat tire on the last part of the trip. Fate or not:)? Luckily Rob knew how to fix it! At 06.00PM it was time for me to say goodbye to everybody (most of them would stay one more night in the hotel) and i felt so sad leaving them!
During my week in California, i had a chance to visit different optometry practices, stay with different people and learn different things from each of them! Their hospitality and kindness is amazing! I will tell you about my experience later!
The pictures are online! You can see them by clicking on 'diavoorstelling' on the right side of this blog. A website called http://picasaweb.google.com/vandeneyndelynn will open. Click 'Lynn' and select an album. I've put the pictures in different albums, sorted state by state.
Bye bye x
(i admit it's already 12.30AM but i feel like it's still morning since i slept quite long:))
Right now i'm back in Grand Rapids with my first host family after spending one week in California. I'm so happy to see them again, it feels a little bit like coming home! Because i was so focused on giving you a summary of each day, i almost forgot to tell you in general about the trip! Normally, we would wake up at 06.30AM, showered, get dressed, eat breakfast, make our luggage, take down the tent and load the trailer. At 08.00 we were ready to take off! In total we drove 4000 miles and crossed 10 states! It's really amazing how we all became friends in this short period of time. I enjoyed this trip, it's a great way of seeing different things and meeting new people, learning about their cultures also. In the beginning i had the feeling that there was a bit too much driving but we had to cover a certain distance of course. It was sad to say goodbye and realize that we might never see each other again... But we keep in touch and who knows, maybe one day i will go to Korea and visit my best friend Lucy! Okay, where were we in the trip? First day at Grand Canyon i think. So lets get further from there on!
October 15th: Grand Canyon
Seven of us decided to check out the canyon! We prepared ourselves by taking enough water (approximately 1 liter per hour hiking), a few granulla bars and a rain jacket. We hiked to Skeleton Point and the view while going down in the canyon was incredible. At first i couldn't believe we were really walking IN the canyon:) At noon we reached our point and the boys wanted to go further down to get closer to the river. Fionulla, Emily and me decided to hike back up. Easily said though, but a lot harder to do:) At some points we only walked for 10 minutes and felt like dying! But once we reached the top, we were pretty proud of ourselves! Back on the camping ground, we desperately needed to do laundry since our clothes were covered by a layer of red dust. Unfortunately things came out of the washer more dirty than we put them in because the dust was now all over, even clothes that didn't had dust on before turned out to be red...:) Since everybody warned us for a really cold night below freezing, we decided to sleep with four people in one tent instead of two in order to keep each other warm. Putting two layers of pants on, one thermic shirt, two t-shirts, three jumpers, gloves, a hat and two extra pair of blankets i was quite warm but still shivering sometimes.
October 16th: Lake Powell, Arizona
After swimming in the coldest but most refreshing lake ever we headed to our camping. This place was owned by an ex tour leader from Trek America and was really well provided, there was a dorm (so we could sleep inside), the usual shower facilities and best of all a chill out place with music, seats and a pool table. James and Alan learned me how to play and i won two games. It was one of the most nicest evenings, probably because it was so unexpected, we danced like crazy (for those in the scouts: it really seemed like a scouts party:)), played pool, had fun and went to bed maybe a little bit too late :)
October 17th and 18th: Zion National Park, Arizona
The first day in the park was a little lazy, we had a chilly afternoon, we even made some pancakes! The next day, five of our group did a hike called Angel Landing, pretty difficult and since my back was really hurting i decided not to join them. Instead we walked to the town, had lunch there and planned to do the Riverwalk. Pretty unprepared (only one bottle of water for the three of us and one cookie) we took the shuttle bus up to the point where we started our trip. Luckily it was easy to walk but really beautiful views near the river. We didn't had the time to walk in the river itself because we had to be back on time since Lucy was cooking that night. After dinner we played Black Jack (also called 21) to practice for Vegas:)
October 19th and 20th: Las Vegas, Nevada
Let me describe Vegas in a few words to give you an impression what this city is like: impressive neon lights, casinos called New York New York/Venetia/Paris, the Eifel tower, a big fountain with an amazing water show every 15 minutes, M&M world, roller coasters, film set for a lot of movies (indeed, we felt like in the movie 'Ocean's Eleven'), a train connection between two casino's, the Stratosphere, gambling people no matter what time of the day it is, Freemont street experience (see pictures), mega outlet store, a fake statue of Liberty,... This is Sin City! At night we went gambling, wandered around the strip (this is a four mile section of Las Vegas Boulevard with the main casino's and hundreds of hotels), enjoyed the fountain show and asked ourselves how people could come here and gamble over and over again, most of the times losing their money. I realized i'm not a good gambler, most of the times it seemed too obvious that i would lose :)
October 21th: Los Angeles, California
We arrived quite late in LA, part because we had a flat tire on the last part of the trip. Fate or not:)? Luckily Rob knew how to fix it! At 06.00PM it was time for me to say goodbye to everybody (most of them would stay one more night in the hotel) and i felt so sad leaving them!
During my week in California, i had a chance to visit different optometry practices, stay with different people and learn different things from each of them! Their hospitality and kindness is amazing! I will tell you about my experience later!
The pictures are online! You can see them by clicking on 'diavoorstelling' on the right side of this blog. A website called http://picasaweb.google.com/vandeneyndelynn will open. Click 'Lynn' and select an album. I've put the pictures in different albums, sorted state by state.
Bye bye x
vrijdag 24 oktober 2008
Hi there!
How are you all doing? I apologise for not been posting a message on my blog for so long, but when you're camping in the desert it's pretty hard to find an internet connection:) So it's time to update you i guess and with the help of my little diary i'm keeping that won't be a problem. I will give you a short summary of each day, so let's go back to where i finished my previous message.
October 8th: New Orleans, Louisiana
We just spent our last night in New Orleans and as we left the town the following day i was shocked by the damage that was still visible from the hurricane three years ago: houses were broken, roofs were gone... That night we arrived in San Antonio, Texas.
October 9th: San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is considered as the birth place of Texas. Before it belonged to Mexico, as well as Utah, California and Arizona. Through the town a little river flowed (i thing it was an artificial one), giving a really nice atmosphere! At night we did some pumpkin cutting using certain Halloween patterns. It was much harder than i thought it would be, but at the end i succeeded to cut a spider web and we had a lot of fun!
October 10th: Del Rio, Texas
We crossed the border to Mexico and although it was only a couple of miles away from the US, it seemed like we found ourselves in a completly different world: mexican hats, cowboy boots, taco restaurants as far as you could see! In a local park, we ate nacho's (with a lot of cheese on top of it!), had the best taco's ever (they were totally different from those we ate before in america, these were crispy, rolled up very thin, stuffed with beef and a dressing on top) and how could we not end drinking a tequilla :) Entering back in the US took us over one hour and we ended up setting our tents in the dark and having dinner at 09.30 PM.
October 11th: Carlsbad, New Mexico
Because this was our first night in the dessert, me and Lucy were so looking forward to the sunrise that we decided to wake up at 05.30AM to enjoy the wonderfull upcoming sun! At 06.00AM it was still dark... Finally at 08.30AM it became lighter but without a rising sun! It turned out to be a cloudy morning :) In Carlsbad we visited a beautiful cave with a lot of stalagmites and stalagtites. A little bit further away there was an other cave and every summer 400.000 bats are coming over from Mexico! Every evening at 06.00PM they come out of the cave, looking for insects to eat. It was amazing to see them and hear their wings flapping!
October 13th: Monument Valley, Arizona/Utah
Monument Valley is the largest indian reservation of America. Years ago the Navajo people came from Asia, through China, Russia and Alaska to Canada and made there way to the US. They don't have any electricity or streaming water since they wanted the area to stay as natural as possible. Fourteen families are living their, having their own believes and religion. I will try to tell you how this valley looked like but i allready know that this will be impossible. You have to be there to experience the beauty of this scenery, it was absolutly amazing! We arrived at 05.00PM and start discovering the reservation by jeep. Massive red rocks as far as you could see and this in combination with the light of the undergoing sun made it perfect although it was really freezing out there! I've never been this cold and the wind felt like cutting in my face.. Once we arrived at the hogan (name for the Navajo hut made of clay on the outside and wood on the inside with a fire place in the middle), there was a fire to keep us warm. Later that evening they did some traditional dancing for us and at the end we joined them because it was too cold to sit down and not move.
October 14th: Grand Canyon, Arizona
At 06.30AM we woke up and the jeep took us to the perfect spot to watch a real sunrise :) At first it was still pretty dark but as soon as the first sun rays showed up, it didn't take long for the sun to come up and shine! In the afternoon we arrived at the Grand Canyon, having our first views from inside a helicopter! These mountains together with Monument Valley are the two most beautiful things i've ever seen!
I promise to tell you later about the Grand Canyon, Zion and Las Vegas but right now i'm pretty tired, so it's time to go to bed now.
Good night and see you later!
X
How are you all doing? I apologise for not been posting a message on my blog for so long, but when you're camping in the desert it's pretty hard to find an internet connection:) So it's time to update you i guess and with the help of my little diary i'm keeping that won't be a problem. I will give you a short summary of each day, so let's go back to where i finished my previous message.
October 8th: New Orleans, Louisiana
We just spent our last night in New Orleans and as we left the town the following day i was shocked by the damage that was still visible from the hurricane three years ago: houses were broken, roofs were gone... That night we arrived in San Antonio, Texas.
October 9th: San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is considered as the birth place of Texas. Before it belonged to Mexico, as well as Utah, California and Arizona. Through the town a little river flowed (i thing it was an artificial one), giving a really nice atmosphere! At night we did some pumpkin cutting using certain Halloween patterns. It was much harder than i thought it would be, but at the end i succeeded to cut a spider web and we had a lot of fun!
October 10th: Del Rio, Texas
We crossed the border to Mexico and although it was only a couple of miles away from the US, it seemed like we found ourselves in a completly different world: mexican hats, cowboy boots, taco restaurants as far as you could see! In a local park, we ate nacho's (with a lot of cheese on top of it!), had the best taco's ever (they were totally different from those we ate before in america, these were crispy, rolled up very thin, stuffed with beef and a dressing on top) and how could we not end drinking a tequilla :) Entering back in the US took us over one hour and we ended up setting our tents in the dark and having dinner at 09.30 PM.
October 11th: Carlsbad, New Mexico
Because this was our first night in the dessert, me and Lucy were so looking forward to the sunrise that we decided to wake up at 05.30AM to enjoy the wonderfull upcoming sun! At 06.00AM it was still dark... Finally at 08.30AM it became lighter but without a rising sun! It turned out to be a cloudy morning :) In Carlsbad we visited a beautiful cave with a lot of stalagmites and stalagtites. A little bit further away there was an other cave and every summer 400.000 bats are coming over from Mexico! Every evening at 06.00PM they come out of the cave, looking for insects to eat. It was amazing to see them and hear their wings flapping!
October 13th: Monument Valley, Arizona/Utah
Monument Valley is the largest indian reservation of America. Years ago the Navajo people came from Asia, through China, Russia and Alaska to Canada and made there way to the US. They don't have any electricity or streaming water since they wanted the area to stay as natural as possible. Fourteen families are living their, having their own believes and religion. I will try to tell you how this valley looked like but i allready know that this will be impossible. You have to be there to experience the beauty of this scenery, it was absolutly amazing! We arrived at 05.00PM and start discovering the reservation by jeep. Massive red rocks as far as you could see and this in combination with the light of the undergoing sun made it perfect although it was really freezing out there! I've never been this cold and the wind felt like cutting in my face.. Once we arrived at the hogan (name for the Navajo hut made of clay on the outside and wood on the inside with a fire place in the middle), there was a fire to keep us warm. Later that evening they did some traditional dancing for us and at the end we joined them because it was too cold to sit down and not move.
October 14th: Grand Canyon, Arizona
At 06.30AM we woke up and the jeep took us to the perfect spot to watch a real sunrise :) At first it was still pretty dark but as soon as the first sun rays showed up, it didn't take long for the sun to come up and shine! In the afternoon we arrived at the Grand Canyon, having our first views from inside a helicopter! These mountains together with Monument Valley are the two most beautiful things i've ever seen!
I promise to tell you later about the Grand Canyon, Zion and Las Vegas but right now i'm pretty tired, so it's time to go to bed now.
Good night and see you later!
X
woensdag 8 oktober 2008
Trek America Trip
Hi everybody!
Finally i found a stable internet connection! As you may have noticed allready, this blog message is in english so my American friends also understand how i'm doing:) and i apologise for possible spelling mistakes. We have been on the road for one week now and i can say it's great! There are people from Scotland, Ireland, England, Switzerland, Japan, Korea and Australia. The different cultures and accents are making it really interesting! Some days we drive for many hours, other days we have time to do rafting, visiting a city, doing a swoamp tour while seeing alligators... Most of the time we cook ourselves; Mexican, Korean and Japanese food were allready on the menu. At night we sleep in tents and although i've bought two extra blankets, i always wake up shivering... I hope i will survive our nights in the dessert next week! My tent mate is Lucy, a girl from Korea, and she is awsome! I have the feeling that we will be friends for a long time. Washington DC, Tennessee and Mississippi are allready behind us and right now we are in New Orleans. Yesterday we went out in Bourbon street (karaoke, piano bar, jazz concert, live bands...) and i can tell you it was a real culture shock to me! I had the feeling that all the people were crazy :) Today we leave for Lake Charles, Louisiana and Thursday we will arrive in Texas. Next week we drive to Arizona and we will visist Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon! Unfortunatly i don't have much time left to write more about my adventures. Just wanted to let you know that i'm doing fine and that this trip was a great dicision!
Love you all!
X lynn
Finally i found a stable internet connection! As you may have noticed allready, this blog message is in english so my American friends also understand how i'm doing:) and i apologise for possible spelling mistakes. We have been on the road for one week now and i can say it's great! There are people from Scotland, Ireland, England, Switzerland, Japan, Korea and Australia. The different cultures and accents are making it really interesting! Some days we drive for many hours, other days we have time to do rafting, visiting a city, doing a swoamp tour while seeing alligators... Most of the time we cook ourselves; Mexican, Korean and Japanese food were allready on the menu. At night we sleep in tents and although i've bought two extra blankets, i always wake up shivering... I hope i will survive our nights in the dessert next week! My tent mate is Lucy, a girl from Korea, and she is awsome! I have the feeling that we will be friends for a long time. Washington DC, Tennessee and Mississippi are allready behind us and right now we are in New Orleans. Yesterday we went out in Bourbon street (karaoke, piano bar, jazz concert, live bands...) and i can tell you it was a real culture shock to me! I had the feeling that all the people were crazy :) Today we leave for Lake Charles, Louisiana and Thursday we will arrive in Texas. Next week we drive to Arizona and we will visist Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon! Unfortunatly i don't have much time left to write more about my adventures. Just wanted to let you know that i'm doing fine and that this trip was a great dicision!
Love you all!
X lynn
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