King/Queen for a day

Today was a not-ordinary school day. The day started out with a usual Senior Band practise and  then afterwards I had music. Of course on the announcements they started out playing 'O Canada' and then afterwards they said something like this: "Bella Engberg has won the chair-for-charity contest and we hereby declare her Queen for a Day." (The competition was kinda a lottery I bought tickets for, where a club called Beyond Ourselves raised money for Japan.) It was absolutely hilarious and I turned completely red in my face... haha but everyone clapped in my class. After the announcements my two music teachers made me come down to sit in the middle of the class (the music room is set as a amphitheatre to help the placings of the instruments in the Orchestra.) I got smarties and root beer and a little crown (which I soon took of, haha.) So for the rest of the class, even when I played clarinet, I had to sit there in a comfortable chair. The whole school day people walked around and carried the chair to my classes. It was very funny! I got a refreshment in English class with yet another Root Beer and a bag of chips. 

Unfortunately I do not have any photos from today, but my teachers took some, so I'm sure I'll get a copy somehow or it will be in the yearbook. Instead of a picture I present to you the one and only video of me and my buddy Rachel singing at my Final Performance in Vocal Music back in January. As I like to mess up movies and make them more funny, I tried some things on this movie... but then afterwards I couldn't figure out how to turn it back! So now you'll have to see it in black/white. Another thing is that I feel that I've got a lot better at singing, so do not judge me! I put this up because of some requests and it is only an extract of the whole song because otherwise it'll take years to upload... Due to privacy and such I'm deleting the video in two months ... I think

Just keep your arms open wide

Don’t say no to anyone

But keep your heart safe inside

Don’t let go to anyone

And keep your heart safe from harm

Safe and warm in your hand

And raise above the trials of love

- Tina Dickow - 

Coming home

The 28th of March I came home from my vacation in Tobago. I stepped out after the immigration and realized that I ended at the same spot in Toronto Airport as I did when I came over for the first time. Except this time, a YFU representative wasn't there to help me, and this time I did not have the not-knowing-what-is-coming feeling, this time I knew what was coming when I got back to Oil Springs. It was a strange thing. But it felt good, it made med feel like I was home. Because Canada feels so much like home. I realized when I was on vacation that I missed my Canadian friends, and that when I will leave in July it will be absolutely horrible.


At school I've had a lot of things to catch up on. Because I've been sick almost the whole week, I haven't felt very good and because of the tons of homework I haven't had time to sleep really. So today I slept in till  about one o'clock in the afternoon. It was very appreciated.


Today I went swimming and playing badminton at the community centre, and after that I went to see my friend Rachel (who wanted to get mentioned in this blog, lol) play at Coffeelodge in Petrolia. She is a good singer, and she also sang with me for my final perfomance in Vocal Music. It is nice to sit there and listen to good music while chatting and just having a good time :-)


Allright I think that was all for now, maybe you did not understand the first thing I said in the blog. I just had to come out with it, you know? Cheers

Tobago (March Break)

Okay since I do not get much feedback from people considering going on exchange or just people generally, I'm a bit uncertain about how I am going to continue a blog that isn't being followed. So I'm not sure whether I will continue writing. Though I will, of course (as promised) tell you what I've experienced the last two weeks of my vacation. I will do this by translating some of the pages from my travel diary for you...


"March 14th 2011 - Monday - ...We had to wait 5 hours in Toronto Airport before we could board and we 'killed the time' by going on a restaurant, playing cards and such. I showed my host parents the 'Danish' way to play fish. Right now we are on the plane, it is a small plane, and we have a long way ahead of us. Now we are going to watch the new Narnia movie... don't know what is is called, but it is number 3...."


"March 15th 2011 - Tuesday- ...Oh yeah we landed in Trinidad and were able to take an earlier plane to Tobago. I got greeted with an unbelievable heat. Tropical, eh? Pat and Gordon (my host dad's sister and her boy friend) came and got us at the airport and we drove home to the apartment. We live about 15-10 meters from the beach, the view is amazing, and the apartment huge. I got a dip in the pool and in the salt water and suddenly realized that I was tired and had a jet lag. So I took a huge nap and I've been reading and drawing ever since...."


"March 17th 2011 - Thursday - ...Today we went to the south coast of Tobago. It was an amazing trip, very beautiful. We drove to Charlotteville, a small little village which had a very special atmosphere. Small (rotten) stores, freshly caught fish, salt water and old bikes and cars. You could hear Bob Marley singing in the background "No Woman No Cry." We walked around, talked with the locals, and saw fishermen in action...."


"March 19th 2011 - Saturday - ...I started out the day by spending an hour or so in the sun and after that on the beach. Few hours later I went diving with some americans who instructed me. What beautiful fish I saw! There were small ones, in yellow-blue-red colours, and I saw quite a big a flounder... I also saw a 'Scorpion Fish' which they all instructed me NOT to touch. When I got back to the apartment I heard the news about the coalition attacking in Libya; gosh, couldn't the world soon get better?..."


"March 20th - Sunday - ...Harris, our local guide came and picked me, my host dad, and Gordon up. We drove to the northwest coast in a minibus. Quite a terrifying experience because the roads were so narrow. It might even beat the small roads I've seen in the alps of Europe. But what a nice view: To the left --> coast and to the right --> rain forest. Finally we turned right and stopped in the absolute middle of the island where we got boots in the right sizes to protect us from mud. And then we went on a hike! I learned a lot about some biological stuff in the rain forest, and the Tobagonian history about the rain forest and how it was the first 'preserved' rain forest. Other than that I went swinging in the wines like Tarzan, which wasn't really that hard. Even my host dad tried. We also passed a big termite 'house'. When I just touched very slowly, termites quickly came out soo quickly. The guide said we had try to eat. And so I did... "Tasted like Chicken.." After the hike we drove to Argyle Waterfall which was absolutely beautiful and I enjoyed it very much. I went and took a dive in the pool underneath it and tried to be directly under the fall... It kinda hurt my head. I also saw huge Bamboo trees (no Pandas though, haha.) ..."


"March 23rd 2011 - Wednesday - Today I woke up early to get picked up by a guy called Michael who drove us to a Glass-bottom-boat tour together with to women from Quebéc, Canada. So in this boat you could see in the bottom what was underneath the boat. We drove pass Coral Garden, which was absolutely amazing. Sooo many fish.... And then they let us snorkel in Coral Garden too. 




I will write more. Just give me some time.,,, I have home work to do too.. Tomorrow I will put an end to this!


Here are some pictures from the trip: 

Waiting in Toronto International Airport

Bad Plane food

First view from the balcony

Yes they drive on the opposite side of the road, and they also play cricket  

BaBaQ? Oh so that's the rasta way to say it

Just a very nice sunset

King's Beach. Nice, eh?

In the rain forest

This is me feeling like Tarzan

A souvenir from the diving 

Argyle Water fall. The woman in the back is from America and the guy was our guide

My daddyoh and me... eating warm food... on a beach

Yeah the local fishermen said they created this  mountain  in a weekend

Another Tarzan picture

Me playing the steel drums which were invented in Trinidad/Tobago

I guess I haven't mentioned that I am now officially on the badminton team. My buddy Lindsay wrote to me that I was on the team. Of course I didn't know if I was going to play single, double, or mix. But I found out today. I'm going to play mix with a guy called the same name as my brother. It's going to be so much fun! 


I do very much agree with a lot of people now. This time of year as an exchange student has been the best so far. Not only because of the vacation, but also in school. Things are starting to melt together and I'm keeping myself busy and enjoying every bit of it. And I love my school here, my friends, my host family, just my every-day-life. Home sickness would be a complete waste of time by now, and I haven't experienced it for a looong time. 

We were lost in the dark but we've opened the door 
We're afraid cause this thing's never happened before 
There's a fear making noise in the back of your head 
But there's no need to be afraid crawl back in my bed 

Get in line for the sunshine 
Get in line for the sunshine 

- Ginger Ninja -

Badminton update

I just wanted to make a little bit of an update on how it is going with the try outs for Badminton. I've had two and there is one more after March Break,  I'm not going to be there because of my vacation, but that won't matter (...said the coach.) Okay, so I am hoping to get on the team since I really like the people on the team. I like the fact that we play singles/doubles/mixed doubles (boys and girls.)  And of course I will hopefully be on the senior team, which makes everything a bit more challenging! But that is what is funny! 


The try outs went well, and I think there would be a spot for me on the team. This all very exciting to me since I've never been on a high school sports team. I didn't play hockey, I didn't play volley ball, I didn't play basket ball ... No. This will mean that I'm very busy through all the weeks since I've got Senior Band and JazzAttack too. 


Now that we talk about JazzAttack... In the moment we are singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" which is a very cool piece of music, but also extremely hard to sing since a lot of the harmonies are terribly close together. But when we do it right, it does sound quite good. 


I am deeply sorry that I can not give you pictures, I haven't been active with my camera lately...  I will for sure change that on my vacation. So I am just going to warn you guys now; as of Monday the 14th of March till the 28th of March, there wont be any blog posts because of my holiday on the island of Tobago. I am very, very excited, and I am of course going to take a lot of pictures for you to see afterwards. 


Allright, thats all for now! I've been quite busy the last couple days, resulting in being tired all the time! I guess it is a thing to get used to. Cheers

The past week

This week has actually been quite un-eventful! But in another way it has still been nice. I have been trying several things with my gym class, including curling, broom ball on ice, and going to the fitness room... most of it has been fun, but it is things that we would never had done in gym in Denmark. I just do not like to land on my back all the time because of the ice -.-

We had another Reach for the Top meeting wednesday where I finally got my Reach for the Top-sweater. It looks... I don't know... strange? No that's not the word, it looks fine, it's just a bit big for me. Anyway, we won 2/3 games, and we were close to win against S. Pats with 20 points. And this means we are going to the semifinals!

I've signed up for the Badminton team, since some of my friends wanted me to join. The team plays Mondays and Wednesdays, so it wont interrupt my JazzAttack time. Wauw - it seems like everything fits! I have to go the try out's first though, and I hope I'm good enough. We'll see. It wont be that bad if they tell me that I am not. 

In Seniorband they made me play on the Timphany, it's three drums where you can change the pitch. They are extremely big, and I'm kinda honoured, even though I'm not quite sure how to change the pitches in the middle of the song. I have to play it to a very epic song of course; these drums are meant for those kind of songs!

I think it is fair to say that it is starting to warm up a bit, I've been some seeing grass on the ground since Thursday. It is still cold here. But since it is March (SPRING) and because I'm going on vacation soon, I thought it was a good idea to change to a warmer look on the blog. It's fun to do anyway :)

Today I am going to the cinema with my friend Lindsay, as an old reader of the blog you would probably recognize the name! Let's hope that it does not suddenly start snowing so that we can not go. 

And yes, it is Canada Geese in the picture on the top.

Cheers for now

The music concerts

Hi! Because of yet another snow storm I am now trapped in my house while the wind outside is having fun and we have yet another snow day because of bus cancellation. So I finally got the chance to wake up late at 11:30 and draw and paint. Now I'm just having a ball finishing up a drawing of my favourite actor... if your are new to my blog, you wouldn't know that I love drawing and painting, and that is what I do in my spare time. 

Okay, yesterday and thursday the week before we had school concerts as I am thinking I mentioned last week too. We performed for elementary school children who we tried to make interested in music at High School. So Senior Band, Jazz Band, and JazzAttack played. And because I'm in both Senior Band and JazzAttack I got to perform quite a lot. I don't have any pictures unfortunately, since I forgot my camera... again! I think I'll have to take more pictures. This can't go on! 


Anyway, we played several songs, here are a few of them:
Senior Band: 
- Gimme some Lovin'
- Land of thousand Dreams
- A 'The Lion King' medley, that sounded a bit like this. It was fun to play the conga drums to this...!!
- Raider's March (from the motion picture INDIANA JONES, this was epic awesomeness)


With JazzAttack we were singing:
Satin Doll by Duke Ellington
Blue Skies by Irving Berlin
And I love her by The Beatles
Keep Holding On by Avril Lavigne in that Glee Version which I don't really like... but we had some good soloists... 


I liked playing with a lot of my friends, and I also got to know some new, which has been nice of course.  This was a small little blog post, and I'm not sure I'm going to post more this month. I have a concert to go to, and other small things that makes the rest of the month a bit hectic. And then I'm thinking I'll change the look of the blog when we approach March, since it hopefully going to look more like spring soon... 


Finally I would just like to say: Support the countries in the middle east for their right to a civilized country with freedom and democracy! They are fighting for something we fought for 100-200 years ago, and deserve it just as much as we did. 
Peace from here;
Bella

This is how it STILL looks like here... but a snow-blower is always a good thing

How is it going?

Hello fellow readers and writers! I've decided to let you know how my second semester is going so far. For now it has been a blast. I start out in the morning with music where I'm getting taught to play the clarinet. It is a nice, but big class. Luckily they are all some really nice people. I really enjoy it, and I feel that I just get better understanding music by not only playing the piano and singing. Even though it is still hard for me to reach the high notes on the clarinet. I just managed a B. I can also play the Canadian national anthem 'O Canada' and 'Imagine' by John Lennon. 

Second class I have gym with my friend Lindsay, who is awesome, and we're kinda just having fun. Right now we have a basketball unit, but I really do not like basketball... Anyway, I am excited for playing more games, especially Badminton, Volleyball, and Squash!

I've met a couple of new people that I'm hanging out with at lunch, which is nice. I mean of course I like to talk with the same people as before, but new people are always interesting! I am starting to get busier and busier at lunch too, running back and forth to a lot of weird stuff.

English is the hardest course for me; all that grammar and all that writing! But I decided before I got here that I wanted to write more English. I feel like that was a smart decision, because it really challenges me in a way that my first-semester subjects did not. I don't talk with a lot of the people in this class, but it is okay, since I seriously need to focus on the subject. 

Okay, the last and the best period of the day is PEOPLES GYM. It is a class where I have gym with people from the special needs - classes (this classes at the school for disabled.) There also co-op classes for this. It is very interesting and reminds me a lot of a summer camp that I used to be at every summer in Denmark. It is just the feeling of doing something good for yourself in a social way that makes this class good. You know you will feel good by having fun yourself and sharing it with these awesome people. And to try to be a role model is a healthy thing too; I am certain I will learn tons of practical skills of this class. 

I think it was last Wednesday we had a Reach for the top competition. If you haven't read my blog before; it is a trivia thing where we answer questions. We won 3 out of 4 battles, so I think we did okay. I think we are currently number two in the tournament. I am very happy that I can contribute to answer some questions that my partners can't, so that I also feel as though I'm a bit important. It's mostly geography questions, society questions, art questions, and some others I've been able to answer. 


Thursday I went to some concerts with the music department of our school. I was singing with JazzAttack and playing percussion with Senior Band. Unfortunately Senior Band played songs from the Lion King, so they are now stuck in my head. Since I only had about 14 days to remember the lyrics and harmonies of most of JazzAttack's songs, I had trouble remembering bits of the songs. Good thing that miming is one of my specialities. 

Oh and did I tell you that I am going on a music trip to New York City in May? If not, well now you know. I am getting very excited! Especially because it is with all my hilarious music friends! I'm indeed very grateful for this opportunity, and I can give all the credit to my wonderful music teachers. They wanted me to go, and they've been very nice to me. Today I was in the U.S.A just crossing the border to get my travel visa, so that the poor music department wont have any problems with me when we are travelling to New York. This also led to a little bit of shopping since everything is so incredibly cheap in the U.S. compared to Canada. It kinda reminds me of crossing the border from Denmark to Germany and get cheap candy. 

I've now come to the conclusion that I really don't want to go home. Of course I want to see my friends and family again, but the people at my school and the fact that I can almost just do what ever I want to do makes me want to stay. I don't want to start Danish high school. But I do realize that Denmark is where I belong and it is my homeland. And that is where I'm supposed to get a proper education for the next three years. My Denmark-counter says 133 days till I come back to Denmark. It is too short a time. 


This is a beautiful song we are singing in JazzAttack. It has grown to become one of my favourites. I thought you should take a listen.