4/3 Third Meeting

Today, I met up with the other cantidates that will be accompanying me on my trip to Australia, taking place on July 16, 2011. We will be gone for about two and a half weeks, exploring the different cities and hot spots of Australia. In this meeting, we broke off into groups: teens with teens, parents with parents. While the parents discussed the importance of money, phone calls, gifts, etc we gathered together and asked questions to get to know each other better. The questions were really just good conversation starters; we were supposed to let the conversation kind of flow to make us feel more comfortable. But, oh well. We all like each other fairly well, so that's a plus. I have a feeling this trip will be a blast; I've already met the other teens and their families and for the most part,  they are all pretty normal. I loved getting to know my new pals better today, especially in an environment where there was a home-friendly vibe. You know what I mean? Very comfy and casual, like jeans and a T-shirt. We met up at a cantidates house and met his family, talking and having a blast while watching my little sister yell "Hi" to no one in particular. The trip is in less than 103 days, according to Kristina, the lady in charge of our trip. We are all very excited to be visiting Australia and traveling together to a new place. I've been a bit low on cash lately, with the few babysitting jobs I can dig up. But I've been getting some donations, which are always helpful and much appreciated. So, keep visiting the site and donating to help me get to Australia. All donations and your time spent here is much appreciated. Thanks! Talk to you soon.

2/24

Last time I posted, I wrote about the very first meeting regarding my trip to Australia next summer. I met up with the other students who will be attending the trip alongside me and really enjoyed talking to them. Our second meeting was supposed to be held last Saturday, but has been postponed until this Saturday. This time, we will be getting more in depth information about our travel details. We all have sent in our passport information and I received mine last week. Job offers have been a bit slow lately, but I'm still getting donations from wonderful friends, family members, and people I really don't know that well. Thanks to all for continuing to visit my site and donating to this worthy cause. Photos and more will be posted as soon as possible for the pre-trip and will be uploaded as we go on our big adventure.

2/8 First Meeting

Hello everybody! Thanks for coming back and patiently waiting for this post, which by the way has been written about 4 different times over the course of this past month or so and has been getting deleted. Sorry for the delay; I'm going to be talking about a certain important event that happened well over a month ago. My mom and I drove for about an hour out to Santa Rosa for a meeting at a local Chevy's restaurant, where we met the other student ambassadors and their families. There are two other girls besides me (one girl did not make it to the meeting) and three boys, who are all very funny, smart, and it was easy to tell why they stood out enough to be welcomed into this amazing program called People to People. We all got to know each other and bonded rather quickly. It made me very comfortable to be around them and by the end of the afternoon, I found myself looking foreword even more to the trip after meeting the people who would be going with me. But don't think that the meeting was simply an eat-and-greet. We were also given some serious homework that we have about a month to complete. 2 PAGES OF WORK ABOUT OUR COUNTRY that we will need to know for our travels when people ask us about where we come from and what we know about our country's history. The worksheets consisted of about 15 or less questions about our country; for example, one question was who is our country's current governor-and other questions like that. We also have to memorize the Pledge of Allegiance (I already know it by heart; thank you St. Rosalia) and the National Anthem (which needs a little work in my case). Later on in February, we will be having another meeting (hopefully not in Santa Rosa) to get more familiar with the travel details and our first journal writing assignment. Well, that's all for now. Keep checking in at my site and I will be posting some new writing pieces and posts soon. Thanks again for the generous donations from my friends and family. Your never-ending support will never be forgotten.

1/20 Hello Again!

Hey guys. Sorry I haven't posted anything lately. I've been very busy. With what, you may ask. Well, my 8th grade class is planning our graduation ceremony and the dance that will be held after the ceremony the following day. We are all so excited and want this night to be magical and spectacular. So, our teacher suggested that we hold a chili feed at our local improvement club to help us raise money. For the past two weeks, my classmates and I have been going door to door to people we know in our neighborhoods and have been asking them to purchase some tickets or even donate some money. Currently, just from pre-sales alone, we have made over $1,000 (but we had to take away about $200 to pay for the food at our fundraiser). I have gotten several donations for my own fund and I just wanted to thank the good friends and family member who have taken time out of their day to visit me or even simply sending some money to my people to people account. Keep reading and coming back to my site. New writing samples coming soon.

12/30

Good morning to all and to all....well you know the rest. Last night, I had my second job offer and I got to babysit two great kids and two wild and rambunctious dogs! Can you believe it? I'm already moving swiftly through my funding. Thanks again to all of you for your various donations. Keep checking back here for more info on my pre-planning and if you need someone for some crazy jobs, look no further. See ya later.

12/28 First Funding Call

Hello everyone. Sorry Ihaven't been on in awhile. But I've just been so BUSY with WORK! Yes, it finally happened. A few days ago, someone noticed my babysitting ad that I posted at the local post office and they immediately contacted me. I have been watching their cats since the 26th and boy, has it been a blast. These cats are adorable and the one has already connected with me. :)

I have also been working with some family members at their homes with various,crazy jobs. Actually, I worked about 3 and a half hours in the past two days with the same person on the same project! :O It was so crazy! So much stuff, so little time. I'm lucky I made it out of there alive. I could have drowned in household items! :)

Anyway, long story short, I've been working my butt off these past few days and not only that, but I've had so much fun with everything. If you ever need me for things such as cat/dogsitting, babysitting, housecleaning, etc, I'm your gal.

Also, I have received many emails and phone calls regarding donations and where to send them. I'm going to clear up those questions right now. You can easily donate online by visiting payment.peopletopeople.com (if you can't click on this link, you can email me or visit the site at https://payment.peopletopeople.com/webpayments.aspx

Hope everyone had a fun holiday and that you are all happy, healthy, and safe. Thank you all so much for your generous donations and just for visiting my site every once in awhile. It is much appreciated.

My Dad Doesn't Know How To Spell Handful

H-A-N-D-F-U-L got it? get it got it goooodd!