"How can it be 'dirty dancing', if there is no twerking?" -Eli

Monday (30.12) was a day of enjoying having sisters (I love having sisters. I. LOVE. HAVING. SISTERS.) and shopping (ajajajajajajaj, I bought so many colorful tights, just because they were colorful, that now I need to purchase more not-long skirts!). I discovered that my credit card was blocked owing to the most foolish reason in the world. I just simply… spend too little money, that it is highly suspicious.

Tuesday (31.12) morning I was sitting on my favorite couch, conscience-stricken about homework I was supposed to work on during entire break, when my host dad offered a little ride to town center, as he has something to do there anyway. It was a perfect opportunity to pretend that I’m busy so I didn’t even wait a second. We dropped something round my host parent’s friend and then we headed home (at least that’s what I was thinking). When we turned into smaller road I saw tattoo&piercing parlor, so I started joking, if we can stop so I can get a huge tattoo on my back. When we actually stopped on parlor’s parking place I thought that dad is simply teasing me, especially that for a few last weeks I was pursuing him about some piercings I wish to do one day.
What I didn’t expect was that he wasn’t teasing me, but really decided to make me 18-birthday present. So I ended up with a dragon on my back, flame on my butt, pierced nose trill, lip and bellybutton (with wide chain between them).
Well, not really :)

I feel like people in USA don’t celebrate New Year’s Eve as much as we do back home, so we spent a few hours in my host parent’s friends’ house and I really, really, really enjoyed it. Back in Poland I always hung out with people my age and I was perfectly fine with it, but it doesn’t work this way anymore (I don’t know if high school kids are different here or maybe I’m different than I used to be, but something doesn’t match). Anyway- I had much more fun sitting with people almost my parent’s age than I would have with any other group I know here. Around 11 they sang “Happy Birthday” (I was born on 1^st January around 5 o’clock polish time) and me and my host dad headed home to watch New York’s square with host mom who didn't feel like leaving home.

Wednesday (1.01) was my first day of being an adult (as the matter of right, because- let me quote a guy whose relatedness to me is complicated that I don’t even know how to call him- “dorosła mogłam być już kilka lat wcześniej, lub mogę być za pare lat,ale od dzisiaj jestem PEŁNOLETNIA.”
I was receiving many wishes entire day, mostly from good friends (smart me decided to hide date of birth on facebook) and I’d like to thank you all again. Every single wish from home made me smile (I really liked that they were mostly personalized, only for me) and it made me look forward meeting all of you in summer! :)

I got this one with wishes of "all of these things". Yup, it's my face.

I was working hard to get my homework done, especially when I found out that I had forgot about part of that. But I did my research and created entire paper on Gender (the bad, homo-propagating Gender that we have to fight. I literally have no idea what I’m doing on exchange, while I should learn how to cook for my future husband. DUUUUUUH).
On the evening we ate birthday dinner, cake and I got a present. My host parents bought me a book I read about before I arrived  and I really wanted to read it! I have never mentioned it (I’m sure about it), so I’m even double-happy!

The author is close to my American Rotary, so my host dad contacted her personally asking for signing the book for me! She had a polish version in stack, so I appreciate it even more from my “you-shouldn’t-use-any-polish” dad. It was truly amusing to watch my American brother-in-law looking through it with ‘what kind of crazy language is that!?” expression on his face. And than they were even more entertained when I translated the polish title and talked a little about various improper translations of titles.

Card I've got from my host dad. 

On Thursday (2.01) the normal classes started again, and it was pain. It was also the last day I could enjoy my oldest sister and her family’s company, as they left on a very morning next day.

On Friday (3.01) all my prayers finally reached to Heaven and school was cancelled due to “snow day”. All in all, we got some snow (not like the last time), but it seem like they let us stay home every time I can’t wear sneakers (and honestly I wore them every day so far. EVERY. DAY).

Not much happened on Saturday (4.01), except that my host brother’s-in-law mom had birthday and I tried more Filipino food that I expected to eat during one day.

Sunday (5.01) was supposed to be a really good day, when I meet other exchange students and hand out with outbounds (American kids from the district who go for an exchange to various places next year). So we hit the road going to York, PA, through Washington. Just before we reached DC we got a phone call, that event is cancelled due to icy roads in Pennsylvania. So we ate in Belgian Restaurant where my youngest host sister works part time and came back to Leonardtown (good for us that we both like car trips).
Poor Ian who goes to Poland next year (and doesn’t know it yet) will have to wait to meet wonderful polish chick (me) a little bit more. Wooo-hooo, I’m soooo excited to be an rebound back home!