Football Games in HC (Maroons)

Football games of Maroons are the most popular ones, comparing to other sports in Holland Christian. Also, this season was special because they were the undefeated team and State Champions. I went almost to all their games and watched them how they've beaten the opponent team.
The students had the privilidge of having their own section to watch the game. Pretty much every student was there, so it was always fun; hanging out with friends, cheerings, conversations, comments about the game and etc.. And of course, the cheerleaders (who are now the State Champions)... The cheerings and the moves, which they did can't be forgotten. You have to be really elastic to do those moves. Meanwhile, every one of them is prettier that the other one, as I expected.
Other than the previous years, Maroons were really good with the new coach who came from Florida. He coached them through the State Championship and couple months later resigned from his job for another school in this area, giving him more money. That was a big bummer for our school, because this year was the only year which our team was succesful.

My First Semester Classes in HCHS

I really enjoy all my first semester classes in Holland Christian. I start my day with engineering and with a really nice teacher, Mr. Hompkis. He shows us the basics of engineering and teaches us what different kinds of engineers do. Also we do some projects in this class, for instance one of them was building a suspension bridge. To finish the project I worked with also an exchange student, Adam from Hungary. It was really enjoyable to build the bridge. However after we built the bridge, we decided to test how strong it was. So Adam stepped up on the bridge and of course it broke down. =))
After engineering class I have AP Calculus which is one of my favourite classes. I am quite good at math and also I have already taken this class in Turkey, so I am like a genious in the eyes of my friends. In addition Mr. Knouster helped me a lot in english terms of math. It is really enjoyable to take that class.
I have physics in the third hour with Mr. Peterson. I really like physics because you can learn the reasons of most of the things are happening in the world. It was even better with Mr. Peterson because he was a talkative person and he encourages us to learn physics. Also doing homework is really enjoyable because you do them on the internet. There is a program called CAPA so that we could do our homework (questions about our topics).
Lunch and study hall came after physics. During lunch I generally buy a normal meal ($2.25)from the cafeteria. Study hall is for studying your classes but for me it is just about surfing in the internet for 45 minutes. I really regretted taking this class.
Then I have keyboarding class which I gained a new ability: to use 10 fingers while typing. And my last hour is English. I think it is the best english class I've ever taken. My teacher, Mr. Koeman makes this class really enjoyable by making jokes all the time and having different activities in each day. (Make me laugh Monday -explaining jokes to the class-, encouraging someone by writing a note on wednesday, reading a part of Chronicles of Narnia book on Thursday, "I am thankful for.." on Friday.)
It is really good to be in Holland Christian because it makes my exchange year wonderful.

Cross Country Team in Holand Christian High School

First I was planing to play in the soccer team. However when I arrived here, I found out that I was late for the tryouts and the coach didn't want to take any new players to the team because he would have to cut some players, who has already practiced for 2 weeks, if he took new players. Then Dan suggested me to attend cross country team and I said ok although I am not good at running. I started going to the practices 2 weeks before the school started but the team had started one month earlier so I just missed 2 weeks. We had 3 practices in a week before the school and after the school started we had everyday. There were approximately 25 girls and 25 boys in the team and it really helped me to make some friends and to have some fun. We went to at least 6 or 7 meets that we had ran 5 km every each of them. In the begining it was hard for me to run 5 km but then I started to get used to it. Although I have never enjoyed while I was running =)), it was a great team and I spent with them a great 2 months. (By the way these pictures are from a Cross Country Team party.)

Tandem Rally in Springfield, Illinois

It was a great trip with DeCooks on my second week in U.S. We put the tri-cycle and two-cycle in a smal truck behind the car and did our 3 hours trip to Springfield. When we got there, we put our luggages to our rooms. Oh! By the way we stayed in Hilton Hotel. It has enourmos beds and comfy pillows. Anyway after we changed our clothes and prepared the bikes, we did a short trip in Springfield. (Springfield is a small but good looking city. It is also the capital city of the state of Illinois.) We rode approximately 20 miles around the city. It was the first time that I rode a tri-cycle. The things you just have to do are pedaling and helping the guy on the front for the balance. On the second and the third day we pedaled over 120 miles through the corn fields and near small lakes with 300 bikes and 700 bikers. It was amazing. It had been prepared 2 food breaks in each day and a dinner on the last day so it was a huge organization. Also it was my first trip with the DeCooks and I understood that how joyful they are. They were always talking, making jokes and smiling. This trip was a sign of how happy I will be with them on rest of the days that I stayed at their house.

My Host Family, DeCooks

I was feeling anxious about my new life while I was sitting on the seat of the plane which was from Chicago to Grand Rapids. On the way to Holland, that feeling passed away when I met with my host family, DeCooks. Yet they have been really nice to me. I want to explain some about their family. Dan&Cecillia DeCook are both doctors. Dan is a surgeon and Cecillia is a family practician.(even though their job is very stressful, they are always joyful). They both like biking and they have two Tandem bikes (a tricycle and a two-cycle). (I also went to a Tandem Rally with them in my second week in U.S. but I am gonna write about it later). Also Cecillia is a great cooker so I haven't had hard times with foods yet. They have three kids; one of them is Abby (Abigail), she is also an exchange student in South Africa this year (I think I am gonna meet her on May), second one is Nate (Nathaniel), he is an 8th grader, likes skateboarding and playing electric-guitar, and the last one is Elena, she is a 7th grader, loves ballet and also she is good at playing piano and getting piano lessons but I don't know whether she is interested in playing it because it seems like that she is forced to play it. =)) And of course there are two cute dogs; Tedy (Left) and Roxy (Right). They are siblings and love playing with each other. Also they both love licking your face while you were sleeping. Roxy is shier than Tedy but she has a good ability. When she wants to go somewhere, she bites your hand and pulls you wherever she wants to go. =)) Besides the dogs there are also different kinds of animals, it is like animal farm. =)) A cat called Larry (He likes laying down on your stomach while you were sitting on the couch), a rat, a rabbit and the most interesting one is Nate's iguana. Nate had taken it from his physics teacher and it's now in his room. It is spending time by eating carrots, lettuce and by sleeping.