2# As spirits roam the neighbourhoods at night, Let loose upon the Earth till it be light.

That's right! Halloween goodies have, from an early age, become inextricably melded in my mind as one experience for all time. The main difference is that it is going to be held in America, in a country where they are taking this kind of event very serious, so therefore are every single street in Lynnwood decorated with wonderful and scary decorations like, pumpkins, skeletons, scary sounds and etc. For instant have our neighbourhood set up a sensor which will play a scary noise or Michael Jackson’s Thriller song for every time you cross his house. It is absolutely very creative, and it is very interesting to see how creative these Americans are. 

My arm, which I just make up by myself.

 

Halloween night is almost upon us, and tomorrow we will likely see trick-or-treat night. Last Friday, we had a Halloween dance at Edmonds community college. That was an unforgettable night; I was actually very surprised and happy to enjoy a Halloween with my classmates and American fellows.  I was 

very exited about that night, and ready to scary other people even my own classmates. So what I did, was that I bought my Halloween clothes and bought some make ups, and made a kind of scar with tissue in water and fake blood, which was included in the make-up box. I just showed to my host mom and host dad, and even to one of my exchanging students, and they were in chock and said that it was very scary, and asked me, how I did it. 

 

 

My costume

But as soon as I was, at the Halloween dance, I suddenly find out how much fun and delightful it really was. Every body was dressed very well, and it was more than just creative. I really loved Andreas’, Jan’s, Frederik’s Christian’s costume. It was very funny and the way they act with those costumes was a little bit scary, like they dressed up like 4 old ladies. 

It is me, Christian and Oliver

the 4 old ladies

On the other way, the music, or probably the DJ really turned many good songs on, so therefore you really feel like to dance very much, and that was absolutely what I was doing. I was dancing and dancing, and even sometimes I danced with somebody who I really didn’t know who they were, and we really had a great night.

At that night I remember one sudden experience, which was when I was teaching Mette Lundorf a Dance step, which is this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU8pOjpZQW8

When I was doing this dance step, I could see a boy following or more like watching me very much, and I thought it will be very nice to know who he was, so I asked him whether he wants to dance with me. Suddenly, he really made different and most awesome moves, and at that moment I was feeling like, I really want to learn something from him. We were just starting a kind of dance battle, but I thanked no, because I really want to know him better and even learn something from him, and by the way I have a swollen ankle so therefor my dance would be more limited.

Anyway, I found out what his name was, and he showed me many moves, which was very crazy and even smart. Suddenly I also found out, that there is a lot of things to learn, and even if you say like I have reached my goal, it really isn’t like that, because there are actually so much to learn, so therefore the word learn is not possible to define.

I really have to say that this Halloween night was not just a scary night for me, but a night which made me think what I could do while I am here in America. What kind of things will I learn? What will make me more different?

I come up with ideas like I want to be more acrobatic, I want to dance hip-hop and even learn break dance and Pakour. So actually know I am start adding some new abilities to my self.  So for now, I have just watched some videos in youtube, and tried them out, especially the dance moves, and I have even mixed some moves with the Tamil way of dancing, and may be one day I will be very glad to show up what a kind of difference one incident in America done for me.

 

1# Living like no limitation as limitation

I had already been here for 2 weeks now, but for me it was like I had been trough a whole life, because I had experienced and learned a lot. The first day of being an American was according to me a very nice experience. I had really achieved a lot just by being here. The first thing I really was in awe with, was the way American behave, like they were very open-minded about anything, this was something very unfamiliar and strange for me. Well, how can you be so much open-minded? Don’t you need any kind of privacy?

On the other hand, I soon found out that, by expressing yourself honestly to others you will really get ride off any trouble you had been trough your whole life. According to me or through my naked eyes I feel that all Americans live like no limitation as limitation and I think it is a nice way to express who you really are, because if you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. What I have learned is that, there are no limits. There are only plateaus, and we must not, stay there, we must go beyond them.  This is just a little appetizer on what I really have learned the first day of being an American. 

 

I have to say, that I am very glad to be here in America, because you really learn a lot, and especially I am glad to have nice host family, who actually are like my real family. In fact the first day, I get to know every thing about the family and I begin to study what kind of human beings they are. Besides them, I also have 3 exchange students, two of them are from Indonesia and one of they is from Hong Kong. I really enjoy talk with them about different cultures, and share our experiences and opinions and even sometimes we also play soccer. 

Stephanus and Louis

Yosef

Me and Lousi

The first Sunday of my journey, I go to the church where I suddenly find out that churches here in America are totally different and you really feel comfortable and it is great. Even if churches are public churches they don’t have ancient building structures, they are more like a private church in DK, which have very wonderful and new building structures. What I really love with this church is that, if you are a new one or a visitor they welcome you friendly and like to hang out with you. So, we just go to a candy shop, and I really have to say this, it was scrumptious. Mmmm….. You can just eat so much candy or ice cream you like.  This is really something we must do twice a week back in DK. 

The hall of the Church.. This is so big man!!

The music was also very different !

Youth organisation in the Church

God message to us!: I'll take you to the candy shop!!

Scrumptious

Luscious !!

Stretching out, after a delicious treat !

Anyway; I also went to see my role model’s grave. The one and only Bruce Lee, I remember, when I was younger I had a kind of desire, that one day I will like to visit Bruce Lee’s grave in Seattle, and finally I did it!! 

at the cemetry

Me, Oliver and Jonathan at Bruce Lee's grave.

 

 

I really love his way of acting and fighting, and I honestly also love his philosophical quotes like, this one:

“ Knowing is not enough we must apply.

Willing is not enough we must do.”

 

The same day I also went to the public market called the pike place market in Seattle with Oliver, Jonathan and Oliver’s host mom. The public market is nearby the Elliot Bay in Seattle. To be there in the pike place market, was really a different experience. For me it is like to be around the world, because this public market has anything you want and need. It is not only a market where you can buy any American products, foods and vegetables but it is a place where you can buy Asian products or European products or African products. 

Different Chillis and vegetables

  

In this market there is a specific area where they sell fish, craps, hummers and any other kind of seafood. Right there , they practise a kind of tradition, where the salesmen ask the customers, whether the want the fish to be thrown, and if the customer say “Yes!”, then they will do that, and while they are throwing they sing a kind of song.

Me in Pike place market !

 

Anyway, even if I really love America and I feel like this journey is going to be one of the most momentous one, I honestly also miss Denmark a lot, and it is just because of rye bread and chocolate-coasted marshmallow treats and etc. I just wrote a poem for how much I miss DK:

In the moment when Lynnwood city went to sleep, loneliness caught me..      

And snow spread all over..

Even the breeze got down from the ship and started walking on shores!

Inside the four glass walls, me and a candlelight

How lonely... how trecherous..

My pen wrote your name 100 times in my daily planner

Just as I wrote, ants came from all over, did your name turn into honey?

Even, you are not here to clear the confusions of my heart

I'm here & you are there, In this loneliness, minutes have become years!

Even in this chill weather why is this winter season like hot summer to me?

Oh beloved DK, I want to come to you.. if I am there even a burning charcoal will become a snowball !

What I really want is that the Danes try to admit some of the way Americans behave over for each other, like they must be a kind of open-minded and polite, and so by that we can get ride off Jante law.