Brazil Day 1!

Day 1 in Brazil!
Howdy Family and Friends! We have finally landed in Rio de Janerio, Brazil! After spending 26 hours in airports and airplanes, we were met by Eduardo with an STS sign welcoming us to Brazil!
Our journey started off in all reality on November 1 at around 7 a.m. It was a day full of activities and then finally packing around 11 p.m. that night. Why so late? Well, that’s just how the day went. After spending over 5 ½ hours in the dentist office for me due to complications and adverse reactions to some of the procedures, it was 7:10 when I finally got home. Such fun!
At 3:00 a.m. we left our home to head to Grand Island to catch the first of three planes. A quick stop to Wal-Mart to buy batteries and run through at McDonalds, we arrived at the airport—before the employees!
We checked in our bags and began our journey. Our very small flight took off at 7 a.m. and we landed in Dallas, Texas at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport! But instead of taking us to Brazil, we again boarded a little bigger jet and headed to New York, La Guardia Airport. After arriving there, we had to collect our luggage and then make our way over to John F. Kennedy International Airport 12 miles away! A nightmare you say, we agree. The Foundation booked our tickets without reviewing them too closely. Oh well, new territory to discover and in a limo none the less!

After a nap in the airport next to our concourse during the nine hour layover, we finally boarded the plane. We watched Mr. Poppers Penguins and ate a delicious chicken and pasta dinner . Of course our eyelids were quite heavy, but sleeping on a plane is not necessarily the easiest! Luckily, Dave and I had 3 seats for the two of us and I could stretch out across them. The next thing we know, we were waking up to breakfast being served and trying to fill out customs forms written in Portuguese!
After disembarking the plane ,we were met in the airport by security guards who said, “Brazilian’s here. You foreigners, over there.” What a greeting to say the least.

We made our way through the line,got our passports stamped and retrieved our luggage.
We then boarded a bus with 4 other people and drove through the slums of Brazil and heavy traffic to our airport. I would love to tell you where we are, but I haven’t got a clue how we got to where we are. But I will tell you about the traffic we encountered! The taxis and buses like we were on move through traffic as though they own the streets. They have 4 lanes of traffic clearly marked but in all actuality, there are six lines of cars! The motorcycles drive the lines between the cars and honk as they pass you by. On certain streets when you are stuck in traffic, people work the streets with pop, fruit, candy and all sorts of snacks to sell you. We were told when you saw these people working the streets, the traffic was really jammed and plan on being there for a while!

After arriving at our hotel, we found our room (803) and tried to figure out how to turn lights on! Go ahead and laugh, but as you walk in the door you must insert your key into another scanner and that turns on everything electrical in your room! That took us about 5 minutes to figure that out. When we did, everything from the TV to the A/C turned on as well as every light in the room and bathroom! The only thing that didn’t turn on was the water!

At noon we met up with Thiago (our foreign exchange student from 2006-07) and his Aunt Amelia and we hopped in a taxi and headed to the Brazilian BBQ restaurant Porqui which translates to ‘Big Pig’! While Thiago lived with us he continually talked about his beloved Picanah—which would be similar to Prime Rib only much, MUCH better! At this restaurant, when seated, they give you a circle that is red on one side and green on the other. After going through a monster salad bar that had everything from fish to sushi, to heart of palms, cheese blocks, breads, pastries, rice…I could go on, it was simply amazing and colorful! I didn’t know a carrot could look like a flower!!!

Then the magic happened! We turned our circles over to the green side and 5 waiters circled our table and began to offer meat after meat after meat! Chicken, chicken hearts, leg of lamb, a pig—yes a pig that was cooked and then you picked out your cut right at your table, picanah, our favorite thanks to Thiago, filet minon, you name it, you had it! Then after stuffing yourself like a pig (maybe that’s why they call the restaurant what they do!) they came back and offered dessert! Not just one or two choices, but 10 choices! Simply amazing!
Our next item on the agenda was to tour with Thiago’s family. While we had great fun doing that, Dave and I were exhausted. We came back to our hotel around 4, and fell into bed waking up just in time to meet the other reps that are here and have appetizers and drinks with them on the top of our hotel! What a night to say the least. After this was over, Dave and I went for a short walk on the town and found ourselves at McDonalds for ice cream and then a 24 hour grocery store because we were told not to drink the water here. What an interesting day. From my Brazilian picture window to yours, have a great day!

Foreign exchange spotlight on Henriette Pedersen Rogne!

Howdy Thedford Residents! Welcome to another view from a far off place known as Norway and the home to foreign exchange student Henriette Pedersen Rogne! Henriette is 17 years old and is a member of the senior class at Thedford High School. At home in Norway, Henriette's favorite subjects are English and Physical Education. Besides attending Upper Secondary School, Henriette spends her time working in a cafe called No. 3. She also enjoys working out at the gym where she participates in yoga/Pilates, goes spinning, or runs on the treadmill! When she was younger, Henriette also took Tae Kwon Do and graduated at age 11 with a Black Belt!
Travelling the world isn't something new for Henriette though. At age 11, she attended the Children's International Summer Village in Indonesia, Jakarta for 3 weeks where she met with other students and leaders at a school. But when comparing her education there are many differences! For her, the biggest difference between Thedford High School and her school at home, Gjovik High School, are the amount of people, the classes/subjects, the teachers, and almost everything. The school at home has approximately 1200 students, and 70 teachers. Every class last for 80 minutes, which means they only have four different classes a day. The first year (11th grade) students don’t get to choose their classes and the schedule is different every day. Henriette stated, " I feel that I have a better relationship with my teachers here in the U.S. than in Norway, because the school is smaller and it is therefore easier to talk to them. Right now I would have been in 12th grade, but when I go back I will still have one more year left before I graduate."

Not only was the educational system different for Henriette, but coming to Thedford was as well! "It is a lot smaller than the town I come from. I thought I came from a small town (population of about 28.000) before I got here, which proved me wrong! I didn’t like it at the beginning, but now I love it! I love that everyone knows each other, and everyone is friendly to one another. At home I usually hang out with my friends, boyfriend and family, and even though I don’t do any sport, I love to work out on my own. I also love living with my host family, the Haumann’s, they’re the best host family I could ever ask for!"

From a picture window in Norway all the way to the US of A, Ha en flott dag, Thedford!

Foreign exchange spotlight on Lorena Noé-Nordberg

Howdy Friends and Family...Travel with me in your mind to the country of Austria this week as we meet foreign exchange student Lorena Noé-Nordberg! Lorena is from Baden, Austria and is sixteen years old.She was bom on October 12th, 1994 in the capital of Vienna, Austria. She is living with host parents Ruth Quinn and Rocky Fliegel in Thedford, Nebraska!
Lorena chose to become an exchange student because she always wanted to go to the USA and as she says, "Then there was a great opportunity to stay here for ten months, so I took the chance!" Lorena said, "I really like to learn about another culture and I enjoy meeting new people, learning from them and experiencing a lot of new things. ln my free time I prefer to play the electric and acoustic guitar but unfortunately not like Jimi Hendrix. I also really like sitting on the bed trying to play new songs, to meet my friends and to listen to music- favored Pop and Rock.
I love travelling a lot!"

Lorena said that a big difference between Austria and her new home here in Thedford is definitely the school. In Thedford she is in the 12th grade, but in Vienna it would be like the tenth grade. "I attend school in Vienna where I go by train and subway and so it always keeps me on the go. My school is difficult to describe but I want to try: It lasts five years (l am in the second grade) and it is a business school which finishes with a diploma and from the third grade, the sector I've chosen is focused on social work. At this kind of school you
also get an education in cooking and serving in hotels, etc. But I don't want to catch such a job. I have some special subjects but also "normal" ones like German, French, History, Music and Physics, and of course Math- I hate it. My favorites are Geography, English and Physical Education."

Lorena has enjoyed her time here so far. She stated that one other difference from Austria to Nebraska was that "people here are not harried but helpful and nice--what I really appreciate!" From our second spotlight view on Lorena and a look through her picture window to yours, have a great week!

Foreign exchange spotlight on Nian Zhan!

The first foreign exchange student spotlight is on Nian Zhan. She is one of two girls living with Rocky Fliegel and Ruth Quinn. Nian comes all the way to Thedford from Shanghai, China. She decieded to be an exchange student because the western culture and customs are quite different from her country and she wanted to experience the U.S. culture. Nian said, "There has been a lot of changes in my life indeed .I've never been to such small place with only about 200 people. China has a great population. Everywhere is full of people. In here I can't see anyone on the street sometimes. Most Chinese people live in the apartment, but everyone has a house in Thedford. The environment here is better than my hometown. There's a lot of grass and tree and I enjoy here."

If Nian was at home this year she would be in "Grade 11", but at Thedford High School she is a member of the senior class. "The schools in China and in U.S. have few things in common. My high school has about 2000 students. 40 students form a class and we stay in one classroom all day while the teachers go to different classrooms.We have 8 classes a day, the same in Thedford. Our maths,chemistry and physics are more difficult than here and we have plenty of homework to do."

The STS Foundation is excited for Nian and all the students and welcome her to Thedford!

Missions Bike Ride Day 6...From Grand Island, NE to Columbus, NE

Today we rode from Grand Island to Columbus! This was supposed to be a light and a rather easy day!! Ha Ha Not really!!! We ended up riding into a head wind most of the day!!! It was brutal. We traveld 72 miles and averaged 17 miles an hour. It was a hard fought ride, but it had it's memorable times as well. Around half way Dale Ackerman, Jon Millier and I decided to stop playing games and get serious. We started leaving stops a little early and pushed pretty hard. It paid off, we pulled out in front and hung on to the lead until we reached our destination. Two times we had to wait for the support vehicle to catch up to us because we were making such good time. We even missed the church and went two miles out of our way! I am sore and tired, but it was an enjoyable and memorable day. Tomorrow is our last day and we finally get to ride some hills!! If everything works out right I will enter the 500 miles club tomorrow. Presently there are 4 of us with 410 miles and tomorrow we will be riding close to 90 miles. I may have to circle the parking lot a few times, but the plan is to get there. Thanks for all your prayers and support. I am looking forward to coming home tomorrow!!

Back on the home front, I had the awesome opportunity to stay with Dave and Jon last night! Although their 630 am wake up call was not my favorite, I watched them depart on the 6th leg of their journey to Columbus...watching them leave on Monday was hard, but today was just as hard if not harder! Luckily, I was able to go back to the hotel and sleep in until 945 and then Garage sale my way back to Burwell!
The Busch boys spent their day at a Royal Ranger PowWow over in Taylor and didn't get home until 630 tonight--very hungry and tired none the less. A nice break for them (and for Jalise and I) but we were sure glad when they arrived home in the bus! And of course the night was topped off by a win in the Husker Nation! From my very tired, yet very excited view out my picture window to yours, have a great night!

Missions Bike Ride Day 5, from Lexington, NE to Grand Island, NE

Hello all!!! Only 2 days left.
Today we rode into Grand Island and it was quite a ride. We rode 82 miles and averaged 17 miles an hour into a light and moderate breeze. Overall it was a good day. I was in a bit of a mood and either rode by myself and then led the pack for 27 miles towards the end of the day!! It was a lot of fun. Our group grew by 3 and tonight another 2 gals joined us for the final 2 days! Tomorrow we are looking at a 60 mile ride with the possibility of adding some extra to hit the 500 mile club!! Tonight I was the given the racer award because they say I just don’t know when to stop!! Hey, my motto is “Shifting is overrated!” I had a comical conversation with some of the guys that if I didn’t need to start, I wouldn’t need my lower gears, maybe I could find a someone to push me to get started and then I can just let er rip!! The highlight of my day was being surprised by Jen at the Hotel!! It was a nice surpise to open the door and see her and Jalise standing in the hallway! Thanks for all your prayers.

Back on the home front, after getting the boys off to school and making sure they had all their luggage packed for their weekend pow wow for Royal Rangers, Jalise and I tried to get out the door as we wanted to surprise Dave...unfortunately, it just didn't go as planned. The best part of my day though was receiving a rose today for my flower arrangement! It is absolutely beautiful!

Finally after lunch, Jalise and I headed out to Grand Island. We arrived in town and the bikers had already gotten to the hotel. I had asked Toby if he knew what room Dave was in and he thought 128...so of course I knocked on the door only to be greeted by Jodi Banzhaff...ya, so not Dave. Luckily, just at that moment, Dave called me and I asked him where he was and what room he had gotten. He then said he was on his way to the mall so Jalise and I scooted back down the hall and as he walked out of his room, there we stood. It was the best to see the look on his face and surprise him!

I was able to spend the night with Dave and Jon and my parents were also able to come down with my Grandma Miller for the little get together that the church had. Fun times! We enjoyed some swimming after that and of course then got some much needed rest.

From my very happy picture window view that included Dave and Jon in it to yours, have a great day!

Missions Bike Ride Day 4...North Platte, NE to Lexington, NE

Day number uhhhh I have lost track!!

Today was a brutal day. Our destination was 60 miles away. Which would seem like a light day except we rode into a pretty strong head wind most of the day. There was a group of 6 riders that lined up and we were a riding machine. We would each take a turn of one mile in the front and then coast to the back and resume our position in the draft. Once we were established this worked really well. We rolled at a pace of 16 to 19 miles an hour. It is amazing how a draft can drastically lesson the difficulty of the ride. It was fun to be a apart of. As we got closer to Lexington we were totalling mileage and we were thinking we were going to be a little short of the 500 miles in Omaha so 4 of us turned back around and rode 14 miles with the wind to Cozad. We rode there partially because that was the way the wind was blowing and also because they had a bike shop there. Let me tell you if you ever need a good bike shop there is a great one in Cozad. For us four our mileage totalled 74 miles with an average of 17.7 miles an hour. It took us around 4 ½ hours of total ride time.
At our closing rally I was given the drafting award for my ability to tuck in behind somebody and make them pull me. I also was given a small license plate that says “2 FAST 4U” I atttached this to the back of my helmet in case somebody tries to pass me. Ok--maybe it just looks cool there!!! Tomorrow we have another big day we are riding 84 miles to Grand Island. Wahoo!! right now it looks like the wind will be blowing across us and that is ok. Thank You for all your prayers!

Back on the homefront...today was one of those days that when the alarm clock went off I could have just kept sleeping! So could the boys! I think everyone just laid there listening to their alarm clock going off for a few minutes before crawling out of bed.
Today, Jacob decided to try fishing--he caught the clothesline quite nicely! I on the other hand was not impressed as I reeled in his catch!

Shortly after supper, Jalise found a pen and colored herself with it while I was skyping with Dave...oh joy! Such fun for me! She looks great in stripes--really!

From my great stripped catch to yours, have a great day!