Three weeks in the United States. Wow. It is only when I start writing a blog post in here that I realize how much time has passed. I am officially registered at Mac High for the 2016-2017 school year. Mom, Alex and I went to school to figure out the missing paper work and after a lot of thought signed me up for cross-country this fall. I don't know what classes I'll have and I won't find out till the day before school starts. Hopefully I will get to take some of the AP Bio classes I've been looking forward to. School will start on the 7th of September for seniors, the unlucky freshmen like Alex will have to start a day earlier so on the 6th.
Two weeks ago I headed out to Portland for the first time and got to hang out with Topias. We did some back to school shopping and enjoyed some delicious pizza at Sizzle Pie. I also attended a pool party with my host family. It was a lot of fun and perfect timing considering it got to around a hundred degrees that weekend.
Before y'all get started, I know. Axia and sports??? It has been just as weird for me as it is for you, but I had to make a conscious choice to gain the infamous exchange pounds or make a desperate attempt to start doing some sort of physical activity after just playing call of duty with Alex for the first couple of weeks. For those of you that don't know what cross-country is, it is a running sport which differs from for example track and field mainly on the terrain the races and practices take place on which is natural, either dirt or grass, instead of a manmade track. The races are often 5 km runs for high school students.
I started practice last Tuesday. In order to sign up for a school sport, I had to visit yet another doctor to fill out my physical examination form and make sure I was in good health. The second part was getting online and taking an impact test. I hope none of you ever have to take one. You basically have to spend a good half an hour answering stupid questions about yourself and then take a memory and reaction time test. After the okay from the doc we went back to school and found out my impact test had come out as invalid. Well everything else was fine so I was told that if I retook the test that evening, I could go to practice the next morning. Well I retook the test and started getting ready for bed as I had an early morning coming up. The stress and panic didn't really hit until I got into bed and had to set my alarm clock for 5.45 AM. The 'what have I gotten myself into' kind of thing. (For the whole first week practice took place at 7 AM and 7 PM)
I got to school on time and went to talk to the main coach (Downs) and found out that according to his app I still had some paperwork to be cleared out and had to go visit the athletic office after practice. The other girls encouraged me to come and watch practice anyway so I got to ride in the mini van to the park practice was held at. The girls on the team were really welcoming and immediately made me feel part of the team. After practice I went to the office to check what the problem with the paper work was and apparently it was nonexistent, so I was just told to attend the second practice in the evening. I was invited to go have breakfast over at some of the girls' houses and had heart shaped pancakes. They also extended an invite to go boating that afternoon, but I had my weekly Rotary meeting to attend to, so I had to decline. They promised that next time they'll go on a different day so I can make it too.
During the evening practice I was finally faced with the harsh reality. Not doing any sports all summer has taken a toll on me. I am not in the shape I would like to be, not even close. I am easily the slowest on the team and have had to struggle to keep up even with the slowest girls on the team. The rest of the week consisted of me getting up really early and attending practice twice a day. By the end of the week the impact of all the physical endeavor was very visible. Not only was running twice a day a huge adjustment for me, but mom had dragged me to cross-fit practice on Monday and the DOMS was very real for the rest of the week. The pain I was in on Tuesday, I could have sworn could not get any worse. Oh boy was I wrong. Each day the pain just got stronger and the usual "just exercise more to reverse the effect" approach was only making matters worse. On Friday the situation progressed to a place where I could no longer walk down the stairs. Squatting was impossible. I would get home from morning practice and head to bed with the idea of just taking a short nap and waking up four hours later, only to have dinner and go sleep for another 12 hours.
During the weekend I finally got the indispensable rest my body had been longing for the whole week. Instead of going to practice on Saturday, I got to go to a district Rotary event with my counselor. I got to meet about one fourth of all the exchange students in our district and got to add a ton of pins to my blazer. Yesterday there was no practice so we went hiking with the family and got to enjoy what I consider to be perfect hiking weather. The trail was really pretty and had a cool suspension bridge and a beautiful waterfall.
During the weekend I finally got the indispensable rest my body had been longing for the whole week. Instead of going to practice on Saturday, I got to go to a district Rotary event with my counselor. I got to meet about one fourth of all the exchange students in our district and got to add a ton of pins to my blazer. Yesterday there was no practice so we went hiking with the family and got to enjoy what I consider to be perfect hiking weather. The trail was really pretty and had a cool suspension bridge and a beautiful waterfall.
This week practice will finally be held at a more decent time, 4 PM and once a day. On one hand the extra practice would not have hurt considering we have our first meet next Wednesday. I got the team uniform a couple of days ago and got myself a pair of xc spikes so I should be all set as far as apparel and equipment go. I'm still working on the mental and physical parts!
The plan for before back to school includes visiting the local water park with Alex, a Rotary picnic on Wednesday, which means I'll finally get to see Mari and going to Bend for the Labor Day weekend. I'm really excited about all the activities we'll get to do in Bend which will hopefully include more hiking and kayaking, in addition to a visit to Crater Lake and a jump off a cliff into the 'chilly' water.
I'm excited yet terrified of heading back to school. I haven't had to make a bunch of new friends at school since I've been in the same class with some of my friends back at home for over 10 years. They've gotten me through good and bad times and not having them physically by my side will be very weird. At the same time I'm excited to get to meet a bunch of new people and meet the 11 other exchange students that will be attending my high school this year.
Wish me luck for that race on Wednesday; I will sure need it if I even intend to get to the finish line.