The Best Holiday Ever (in The U.S)

Yesterday we went on home visit. We were lucky to have Sue as our host family. Sue's house is quite far from St. John's University since it is located in Ringwood, New Jersey. We took a bus from New York Port Authority Bus Terminal (PABT) to Ringwood. I really enjoy our trip since along the road I saw beautiful trees. Unfortunately, I don't know what kind of trees was it. The trip took aproximately 1.5 hours. When we arrived at Ringwood, Sue, Dan (Sue's husband), Pam (Sue's neighboor) and Romero (Pam's husband) already waited for us.

Since I was appointed to go to Sue's house, I took a ride with Dan. He told me that he is a teacher. He teach acting also He acted in Leonardo Dicaprio's newest movie "The Wolf of Wall Street" as a judge (I should watch it). I was amazed at the first time we arrived at Sue's house. The house is so beautiful. It is a lodge which made from Chestnut wood and surrounded by maple trees.

Sue's told us that long time ago (if I wasn't mistaken around 1920), Northeast America was occupied by American Chestnut trees. But, suddenly there was this plague which attacked the American Chesnut tree and all of the trees died and people used the wood to make houses. That's why the neighborhood's houses also made from wood.

At the house we were greeted by Sue's family members. They are Shaun (Sue's stepson), Jack (Sue's son), Sue's mother(I forgot your name grandma), Sarah (Shaun's wife) and Victora (Jack's girlfriend). Sue's live in the house with her mother and her husband, Shaun lives in Brooklyn, New York and Jack is on his senior year as an undergraduate student in Rutgers. All of them are very friendly.

In the afternoon, we started to have a barbeque party. Actually we did nothing. It was Dan who prepare the barbeque and Sue prepared the snack and vegetables. I was lucky because Sue also prepared rice because it reminds me of home (Indonesia). After having the barbeque, we went to the lake. Sue's house is also near a lake and there is an artificial beach with white sand on it. Many people from the neighborhood spent their time there. I think because it was holiday and the weather was perfect for outdoor activities. Everyone seems enjoying the summertime on a beautiful lake.

 

Overall, I enjoyed visiting Sue's house because it give me different scenery from Manhattan (which is dominated by big building). The country side sight that I really expected from the U.S. I would really love to come to your house again Sue. Thank you for giving me the chance to visit your beautiful home.