First Vacation!

so its been awhile again.. time seems to be flying.. yet at the same time.. its sooooo slow..

anyways this past week was the end of Ramahdan.. it was crazy loud here from tuesday on until i left for Malang.. all these kids came to the house to get money.. something that they do here for idul fitri.. and every night there are a ton of fireworks and noise and yeah.. it was fine for one night but.. it seems it never ends.. i can only hope that tonight is quiet again..

anyways so on Friday i went to Malang to visit my first host family.. man.. the way to Malang was horrible.. i left my house around 7:30/8 and went down the road to meet Krystal, who i was traveling with.. we went down to the station and all the buses heading to Jombang were PACKEDDDDDDD.. we couldnt get on anything so we decided to walk down the road to see if maybe we could walk into Jombang and then find a ride to the station there.. but no such luck.. we ended up stopping at the traffic police station where we originally started out at and after like an hour one of the police men finally got a bus/car thing for us.. The ride only ended up being like 15 minutes but it felt so much longer because we were waiting for maybe two hours for a ride to the station..

NOTE TO SELF: never travel again when its a holiday..

At Jombang station they they kept trying to get us to get on this bus that was standing room only and we kept saying no no no we want to sit.. we will wait.. they kept pulling me towards the bus.. sometimes they can be so pushy! but about five minutes after the first bus left another one came and we got on.. we had to sit in the back with three other people but luckily we got to sit.. sadly it was by some guys who chatted to us the entire way to Malang which ended up being like 3 hours.. i just wanted to sleep but i had to concentrate so hard because i could barely hear what they were saying and then i had to translate everything.. made for a longgggg bus ride.. near the end of the ride we came to the mountains surrounding Malang and Batu.. THAT was crazy.. at times we were literally a foot away from dropping off the side of the cliff.. i wish i had brought my camera to document it.. but sadly the camera would not fit in my backpack filled with mangoes.. needless to say it was a thrilling ride..

finally we get to Malang and right before we get into the city we hit a ton of traffic.. the bus decides to go off roading.. this is a regular sized road.. but he decides to bypass maybe 6 cars by driving on the side of the road.. we almost hit two trees and a sign.. crazy the way they drive here.. once we got to the station though everything was good.. went and got something to drink and eat and then it was off to the fam!

i never thought i could miss this family that much.. but i was so glad to finally seem them again.. it was also nice that i could understand 90% of what they said to me.. so much different then when i was dropped off at their doorstep 5 months ago.. crazy.. but it was good to see them all again..

anyways while there we just went shopping and hung out and it was good to just relax and not worry about school or issues here.. went out on saturday night with the family while they went around to their friends houses and said hello.. i got to see Daniels host mother and Mary Ellens fam.. it was nice.. woulda been better if the whole gang coulda been there.. felt a little empty without them..

but whatever it was a good weekend.. and now im back here.. the ride back was fairly uneventful.. got a package from my grandparents! so im happy.. for now.. school starts on thursday so i gotta get prepared for that..

wellll thats it! i miss everyone so much! hope everything is going well with everyone..

LOVE YOU ALL :)