Peiter Rameakers

2009-10 Inbound from the Netherlands

Hometown: Heerlen, The Netherlands

Sponsor: Kerkrade Rotary Club, District 1550, Netherlands

Host: Ormond Beach West Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida, USA

School: Seabreeze High School, Daytona Beach, Florida

Bio

Pieter's Bio

Hey! My name is Pieter Ramaekers, I’m 17 years old. I’m from the Netherlands, where I lived in the city Heerlen. It isn’t a very big city, but I liked it there. Heerlen is in the south of the Netherlands near Maastricht. It is also near Germany and Belgium. In 10 minutes drive I am in Belgium or Germany. I lived with my father, mother and a dog. I also have a brother and sister, but they live in Rotterdam for school.

I live the first 3 months with the Davis Family. Jody, my host dad, Cindy, my host mom, and Jamie is my host sister. We have also 2 dogs, Manny and Riley.

I go to Seabreeze High School. The subjects that I have are drawing (I don’t know why, but it is funny), science, American History, math, Spanish, PE and English. My goal is to be on the soccer team at school.

December 27 Journal

Hello. Here is finally my first journal! I’m sorry that it took so long, I’m busy all the time!

Let’s start with my first few months here. The first few weeks at school were really boring and I didn’t know anybody. My classes were really boring and I didn’t understand most of the things what the teachers told me.

After a few weeks the soccer practice finally started and I made a few friends. One of my friends that I met at soccer practice was also running cross country at that time and he took me with him. I never liked running, and I still don’t like it, but I thought that it was a perfect way to make friends, so I joined the cross country team. It was a lot of fun and I made a lot of new friends! I really liked the team and the coach so it was a lot of fun! The only thing that was still not fun was the running, I was not really good and I didn’t care that much, but I didn’t get fat so I was happy.

During cross country I was also playing soccer for a club team. Some of my friends were playing in that team, and they invited me to come over and practice a couple times, and of course I did it and I was “good” enough to play in their team! I joined the team at the end of the season with 3 games left. Guess what happened my first soccer game: I scored a goal and it was completely on purpose! We tied that 2-2. Then we lost the second game that I played. The third game was the championship game. We were with 10 people and 2 guys were injured. We tied the game 2-2 and I scored 2 really nice goals (both were with a lot of luck but who cares). Did we win the championship? Yes we did! So my club soccer season ended really! Hopefully my Seabreeze season will also end that good!

After the cross country and club soccer season started the most important thing for me: Seabreeze soccer! I was really excited about that one! After the tryouts I heard that I was one of the players in the varsity team! I was really happy when I heard it official. One of the captains, my best friend, told it me before but I didn’t want to believe it. The season started pretty bad for me. I have to turn in like a million papers to the state before I could play and when I finally turned in all the papers I had to wait forever till the state sent back that I could play. Because of that I missed like 3 or 4 games. After that is was still not how I wish it was. I didn’t play that much. But after hard work at the practice and games they finally started me. Now I start almost every game and I have fun in soccer again!

Probably you already figured out that I’m only talking about the sport that I play and not anything else. That’s because the only thing I do here is playing sports, and I really like it! Oh wait I also did a couple other things than soccer - I will talk about that now.

A couple days before Halloween I went to Halloween Horror Nights! It was so scary and amazing! I went with 2 friends of me and their family. It all started when we were in the car. Me and my friend were both already scared. It was really not funny! Everybody was making fun of us and we both thought that we were going to die. When we were finally in the park I was sure: we will not return! It was so scary and all those people who tried to scare you, they were all so scary! When we went in to a house I really thought that I should get a heart attack. It was so scary I can’t even describe it! In one of the houses a friend of me was walking behind me and he was holding my shirt because he was so scared and somebody tried to scare me, and it worked so I jumped back and I almost broke his nose with the back of my head. It was really too funny and scary. I loved Halloween Horror Nights so much! You can’t even believe it! Halloween was also fun but not as fun as HHN. We went to a dress up party. It was still fun but not as fun as HHN.

Another thing that I did was the Disney World weekend. It was with all the other exchange students. It was so much fun! We went to all the parks and everything was so pretty! I was a little bit disappointed in the rides but when we saw at the end of the day one of the amazing shows I forgot everything from the rides and was it amazing again! Especially the show in Epcot was amazing with all the fireworks! It was really amazing! It was a really amazing weekend and thanks for all Rotary!

Oh and before if forget it, yesterday was Christmas! It was amazing! We celebrated it with family. Christmas Eve we went to my grandparents. We ate a lot of good food, we got presents and the most fun thing we exchanged dog ornaments. At Christmas day we had to wake up really early because the one and only Santa came at our house and he gave me a lot amazing gifts. Thanks for all host family!

That was my journal so far. I love it really much here and I never want to go away!

March 26 Journal

Hello people!

Here is a new story for a change. I finally did something to write a new story about! Because I've been to Hawaii! Furthermore, there is also something to say about my life here in Ormond.

Well let me start at the beginning, where I stopped last time. We were in the middle of the soccer season and it didn’t go very well with me and the team. I was always guaranteed of a spot on the bench. At first I thought the coach was that he was not at me because his ex-wife is Dutch. But later I found out that it was more me than the coach. After a while I finally started, because I stood up during a practice that we were talking about our poor results and how we could change. 3 of the 4 captains wanted me in the starting line up. After this practice I started every game, and the results were good. We won every district game. We ended the season as 3rd so we qualified for the play-offs for the district championship (each team in the league qualified for the play-offs but it does not matter). The first game we won easily, 4-1. I scored 1 of the goals. The 2nd game we won 2-0, I almost scored. I shot the ball against the crossbar. So I didn’t scored that game. Instead of scoring gave me an assist for the 1-0. The third game was the final against the team we have never had won during the season, but they had never won from us, and yes we have played them twice. So it was very difficult to predict who would win. We were all well prepared for the race. We had enough team building that day. The team went after lunch to Hooligans. We were all ready to play! The game started off pretty decent for us. Both teams were equal to each other. After 30 minutes I got injured. I ran against someone came and my lip between my teeth. Without me we still played fine. The game ended after 80 minutes in 0-0. We had to go to overtime. That did not go so well. They scored a lucky goal after 7 minutes. We lost the final. Immediately after the final I had to go to the hospital for my lip to attach. I got 10 stitches. It looked pretty painful, but it was not. The following week we had a game for Region (one level higher than the district where only finalists from district play in). I wanted to play, but I could not because I still had stitches in my lip. We lost that game. The season ended not so good and enjoyable, but yea I had a lot of fun and made many new friends.

Some more about my accident, now after I've got my stitches had to go to the dentist because my front teeth were all the way were pushed back. 2 teeth were dead, so that means I have had to get 2 root canals. The root canal had gone just fine. After the root canal we had to go to the orthodontist for braces. Now I have my braces for like 2 weeks. Hopefully by next week and may already again, because it all looks really out normal again.

Hmm now about fun things. I'm a few weeks ago went to Hawaii. Was it fun? Well not really. The beaches were too white, the water was too blue, it was too hot, we were doing nothing. Sounds very nice, and it was fun. We were there 7 days.

The first day started off with nice hanging on a catamaran for a few hours. That was great! So you could get to know everyone and just enjoy the amazing views. The ocean was so blue you could see 5 meter under water, and could see fish swimming around. After the catamaran we went surfing. That was awesome, Though I can do here at home.

The second day we first went to Pali, which is a mountain or volcano, one of the 2 and we could make some nice pictures of the view. Then we went to the beach where the kayaks were waiting for us. We went kayaking to another small island. That was so amazing! We had to kayak like 45 minutes to get to the other island, but it was well worth it. When we arrived we ate lunch first and then we all jumped into a natural pool. It was all pretty amazing! When we returned we were told that there was a turtle swimming right next to us when we kayaked into a wave. Of course, we missed it. After kayaking, we still sitting here on the beach, and then we are at a great restaurant to eat.

Day 3: We went to the world famous surf spot: the North Shore. Before we arrived at the North Shore we first made a stop at the Dole Plantation. After the stop at the Dole Plantations, we went to the North Shore. That was great. If you saw the waves, about 4 meter high and during a normal day. Personally I would not go surfing there with my surfing “skills“, because the probability is about 50% of drowning if you fall. After that we went to one of the beaches and hung around there a bit. After we had gone to the beach we went to a park where they went the original culture of the people in Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia etc showed. That was great! We have all learned how to dance the Hula! After a while walking around in the park we had dinner. After dinner there was went to a show where all cultures came together so that was pretty fun. After the show we went back to Honolulu, where the hotel was.

Day 4 was a very tiring day, we went hiking. I think we walked like 20 kilometer. Where did we go? To the top of the volcanic, so we had an amazing view over the island. That was pretty amazing! After we hiked the volcano, we went to the mall. That was not my favorite thing to do. For dinner we went to a great restaurant. Just like every day. But this time properly everyone knows the restaurant I think. The name is Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.. As you may know, it is from the great movie Forrest Gump! You got 2 plates, 1 with Run Forrest Run!, this was when you didn’t need the waiter, and if you needed the waiter you had a sign with Stop Forrest Stop! It was a great restaurant!

Day 5: In one word summary: Goosebumps! We went to the most famous harbor, Pearl Harbor. When we got there what I thought is this famous Pearl Harbor? It looks so small, and not special or something, but when I stepped into Pearl Harbor I understood exactly. The atmosphere was so special. We went to the USS Arizona Memorial. For those who do not know what it is, it is a ship that was bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941 by the Japanese, and that’s when America started to get involved at WWII. You could not see the ship very well. It was under water. All you could see the ship, the chimney and the oil that is still leaking. WHAT the leaking oil, yea since December 7, 1941 oil leak. Why do they still let the oil come out? The ship flipped so weird that the couldn’t get to the oil. 1177 people have died on that ship during the attack. All 1177 people who died during the attack are all still in the ship at the place where they worked. If by chance you had survived the attack, and you die, you have the choice to get buried next to your friends in her (the USS Arizona, if you talk with people in Pearl Harbor, they call her all the ship). The USS Arizona means a lot to Americans and that is also noticeable. It is wonderful to experience. After a while we left the USS Arizona Memorial and visit the USS Missouri to go on a tour. We went in the communications room. That was all great! After we left Pearl Harbor we made a city tour and then we went to the beach.

Day 6 and 7: Day 6 started off great. We went snorkeling at one of the most beautiful beaches on earth. The water was as blue as everywhere in Hawaii, and there were great fish, and with luck you could even hang with a turtle! The fish were so amazing beautiful, and they were generally all colors you'll ever seen. That was great! After snorkeling we've been to another park with all things Hawaiian. So you could include a necklace of flowers (no idea how those things are called) and you could have put great tattoos. Furthermore you could also learn to hula dance. We all did it and now we all are professionals. That was actually all for that day and evening. It was the last day in Hawaii so we could hang out longer then normal. When we turned on the tv at 3 at night everybody got got a little scared! There was an earthquake in Chile (there was also a girl from Chile who lived in the same town where the earthquake was, there was nothing happened with her family and friends) and because the earthquake there would be a tsunami in Hawaii. They said that the tsunami would came in at 11 in the morning, and it would be 1 store high. After everybody was awake the whole night because the tsunami warning, we heard a tsunami warning at 6 in the morning. The organization had decided that we all had to go to the center of the island were we would be safe. After a few hours being there we could go back to the hotel. Unfortunately nothing happened. The wave was not even 3 feet high and you couldn’t see anything. It was also a very sad day because it was the day of departure.

That was my story about Hawaii. I have Spring Break. Furthermore I can not wait until my birthday which is Monday. And next week I will change my host family. My real family will come and visit me in 3 weeks. I cant wait for that.

Bye