Well I am in my last 12 hours of 2009 (actually I am in my last 10 but 12 sounds better because it is a half day) and it has made contemplative.
1) WHAT THE HELL! I turn 20 this upcoming year! That is two times the age of 10! I can remember 10! Craziness...
2) I want to know why you never hear about crappy superpowers. Why is there never a superhero tag-along that has the ability to flush the toilet from 30 feet away? Or have an invulnerable pancreas? It seems to me that the majority of superpowers are caused by some kind of accident or are there from birth. Therefore would it not be just as likely that the superpowers would totally suck? (This has nothing to do with New Years but it bothers me none the less.)
3) 2009 was a very good year. Sure there were crappy parts-had the worst sinus infection ever for example- but they were FAR out weighed by the good parts making this one of, if not the, best year of my life so far. So I would like to thank you all, Spanish, American, or other, who were around this year (unless you were an ass) for making this year truly amazing. And I promise that this sounded a lot less like an acceptance speech when I started...
Anywho... grapes tonight! Should be a good time. Os echo de menos.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Monday, December 28, 2009
Christmas.
PSYCH! This is not the Christmas post either! This is just a notification say that I am going to combine a Christmas post with a New Years post to make one Super Post. So if you are just hanging around waiting to hear about Christmas, it will not be up until after New Years (maybe the 3rd?).
For those of you do not care about Christmas updates (applause for you), here is a regular post:
I am extremely bored. Spaniards-at least the ones I am around-do one of two things during the holidays: vacation or study. Since I am currently one of eight-and one of those is five-vacation is virtually impossible because everyone has a different schedule to work around. So I am left with the second option, study. Now as most of you know, I do not exactly "study." I go to class. I pay attention. And I do my homework... usually. But once I am out of class that is my time and I do NOT want to spend it reading about the different types of Spanish literature, especially since my grades do not matter to me this year. And normally I would just ignore the need to study, but there is a problem.
The problem is a rather simple one even though I am unable to complex to resolve it. Remember when I said at the start of the last paragraph that Spaniards spend the holidays studying or vacationing? Yeah... that is the problem. Everyone is either studying or on the coast (or as far away as Egypt). So that means I can either go hang out with myself or stay at home and study. Great options huh?
For those of you do not care about Christmas updates (applause for you), here is a regular post:
I am extremely bored. Spaniards-at least the ones I am around-do one of two things during the holidays: vacation or study. Since I am currently one of eight-and one of those is five-vacation is virtually impossible because everyone has a different schedule to work around. So I am left with the second option, study. Now as most of you know, I do not exactly "study." I go to class. I pay attention. And I do my homework... usually. But once I am out of class that is my time and I do NOT want to spend it reading about the different types of Spanish literature, especially since my grades do not matter to me this year. And normally I would just ignore the need to study, but there is a problem.
The problem is a rather simple one even though I am unable to complex to resolve it. Remember when I said at the start of the last paragraph that Spaniards spend the holidays studying or vacationing? Yeah... that is the problem. Everyone is either studying or on the coast (or as far away as Egypt). So that means I can either go hang out with myself or stay at home and study. Great options huh?
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Sorry but Christmas will have to wait.
So I know I promised some of you a Christmas post, but it will have to wait because it is time for a moment of honesty: This is hard. I prepared myself for coming here by telling myself "Hell. If I can do this, I can do anything!" I am now almost four months in and I now realize that was far more true than I realized then. Not to say that Spain is not amazing or than I am not having the time of my life, but every once and a while it gets to you. Making new friends is great and all, but when you are like me and have lived in the same place all your life, there really is not anyway to replace the friends and confidants that you have had since you were born. Oh sure with modern technology such as Skype and Facebook you can still keep in touch, but it is no longer the same. You are still talk, you are great friends, and sharing the knowledge that one shall return. But the physical aspect is gone. There is something about a face-to-face conversation that cannot be replicated through technology. The blunt truth is that you are living different lives, and until the two are reunited the essence of the friendship lacks.
All this is to say that, as expected, there are times when loneliness sets in. When friends-and especially confidants-are missed, and one really begins to understand that "No man is an island."
By now you are probably wondering how on Earth I am still alive. Well I thought you might want to know what keeps me going day to day so here it is. (Oh and I needed something to keep this post from being totally emo!)
1) The letter W
The majority of Spaniards remain unable to say words that start with W. They just can not make the sound so it ends up sounding like "goo.
2) The Break
We have a 3.5 week break here for Christmas instead of the 1.5 that I am accustomed to. The only downside to this is that my philosophy teacher gave me a book to read and when we go back to school I have to present an exposition to the class to open a class debate. But it is still a much need break that I am enjoying greatly!
3) My host family/friends in Spain
My host mom would probably be extremely disappointed that I do not, in fact, feel completely comfortable telling her everything about my life. But then again, I do not tell my biological mom everything either! (Mom, if you did not already know that: I am sorry, but it is time you faced reality. However, I am presuming that you already did so disregard this.) Anyway, between them and Spanish friends I occasionally am able to spit something out.
4) The Mountains
The first time I saw the mountains clearly it was early morning and the sun was streaming over my head and hitting the peaks. It was quite possibly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life. And in that instant I promised myself that I would never become so accustomed to the mountains that I would not look at them whenever I could. And every morning that I look at them, they still take my breath away a little.
5) Cards
I do not know if any of them read this, so can someone please tell the CS people thank-you for the cards. I opened the last one a couple days ago. They were all extremely helpful.
5A) Can someone give a special thanks to Victoria for the frog card that had Is. 58:9 in it. It was the last one I opened and-ironically-probably the most helpful! I have probably read it 10 times already. For the rest of you, should you ever be feel down, I strongly recommend Isaiah 58:9 (or for special occasions Isaiah 58:6-9).
And now it is 2:30 in the morning so I am headed to bed. Good night.
All this is to say that, as expected, there are times when loneliness sets in. When friends-and especially confidants-are missed, and one really begins to understand that "No man is an island."
By now you are probably wondering how on Earth I am still alive. Well I thought you might want to know what keeps me going day to day so here it is. (Oh and I needed something to keep this post from being totally emo!)
1) The letter W
The majority of Spaniards remain unable to say words that start with W. They just can not make the sound so it ends up sounding like "goo.
2) The Break
We have a 3.5 week break here for Christmas instead of the 1.5 that I am accustomed to. The only downside to this is that my philosophy teacher gave me a book to read and when we go back to school I have to present an exposition to the class to open a class debate. But it is still a much need break that I am enjoying greatly!
3) My host family/friends in Spain
My host mom would probably be extremely disappointed that I do not, in fact, feel completely comfortable telling her everything about my life. But then again, I do not tell my biological mom everything either! (Mom, if you did not already know that: I am sorry, but it is time you faced reality. However, I am presuming that you already did so disregard this.) Anyway, between them and Spanish friends I occasionally am able to spit something out.
4) The Mountains
The first time I saw the mountains clearly it was early morning and the sun was streaming over my head and hitting the peaks. It was quite possibly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life. And in that instant I promised myself that I would never become so accustomed to the mountains that I would not look at them whenever I could. And every morning that I look at them, they still take my breath away a little.
5) Cards
I do not know if any of them read this, so can someone please tell the CS people thank-you for the cards. I opened the last one a couple days ago. They were all extremely helpful.
5A) Can someone give a special thanks to Victoria for the frog card that had Is. 58:9 in it. It was the last one I opened and-ironically-probably the most helpful! I have probably read it 10 times already. For the rest of you, should you ever be feel down, I strongly recommend Isaiah 58:9 (or for special occasions Isaiah 58:6-9).
And now it is 2:30 in the morning so I am headed to bed. Good night.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
I almost saw the sun last night.
So to reiterate how late the Spanish fiesta goes into the night I am going to make a few wee observations for all of you.
1) There is a 7 hour time difference between Iowa and Spain.
2) I got home at about 7 A.M. last night.
3) If you take into account the two above facts, I went to bed after you if you went to bed before midnight even with the time difference.
I find this humorous.
1) There is a 7 hour time difference between Iowa and Spain.
2) I got home at about 7 A.M. last night.
3) If you take into account the two above facts, I went to bed after you if you went to bed before midnight even with the time difference.
I find this humorous.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
The Undulation of Moods Continues
So my theory about the undulation of my feelings about Spanish are proven yet again. The pessimism reflected in my last post has been overwhelmed by two realizations:
1) I am fluent in Spanish.
2) I am in Spain.
The former I realized lying in my bed. And since I came here with 2 main goals (become fluent and have a good time), I am doing what I need to be doing and that is really all that matters.
The latter I realized this for the 100th time as I was talking out the trash a couple nights ago at 23:30. I responded by throwing mt head back, running down the middle of the street with a trash bag in both hands, and laughing hysterically. My neighbors must think Americans are insane.
On a totally unrelated topic I took my math test today and feel as though I did quite well. This is the first time I have actually felt like I did well on a test since I have come to Spain-wow I missed knowing what I am doing! But I I knew how to do all but one of the problems, which is a definite improvement over my last test when I was only sure how to do one thing! TAKE THAT MATH!
Anyway-on yet another totally random topic-I just tried "gulas" which are a farmed form of "angulas" which translates to "elvers" which dictionary.com defines as:
Elvers
-Noun
a young eel, esp. one that is migrating up a stream from the ocean.
Anyway, angulas apparently cost about 1000€ per kilo, thus we were eating the farmed form which, while still extremely expensive, are far more reasonably priced.
... They were not very good.
1) I am fluent in Spanish.
2) I am in Spain.
The former I realized lying in my bed. And since I came here with 2 main goals (become fluent and have a good time), I am doing what I need to be doing and that is really all that matters.
The latter I realized this for the 100th time as I was talking out the trash a couple nights ago at 23:30. I responded by throwing mt head back, running down the middle of the street with a trash bag in both hands, and laughing hysterically. My neighbors must think Americans are insane.
On a totally unrelated topic I took my math test today and feel as though I did quite well. This is the first time I have actually felt like I did well on a test since I have come to Spain-wow I missed knowing what I am doing! But I I knew how to do all but one of the problems, which is a definite improvement over my last test when I was only sure how to do one thing! TAKE THAT MATH!
Anyway-on yet another totally random topic-I just tried "gulas" which are a farmed form of "angulas" which translates to "elvers" which dictionary.com defines as:
Elvers
-Noun
a young eel, esp. one that is migrating up a stream from the ocean.
Anyway, angulas apparently cost about 1000€ per kilo, thus we were eating the farmed form which, while still extremely expensive, are far more reasonably priced.
... They were not very good.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Hola Niños Y Niñas.
Buenos días mundo (aúnque no debo decir "mundo" porque la unica gente que lee esto están en EEUU).
Nada ha pasado.
Me aburre.
Siento como mi español está empeorando.
Y hemos empezado estadisticas...
Odio estadisticas.
¿Que divertido, no?
Nada ha pasado.
Me aburre.
Siento como mi español está empeorando.
Y hemos empezado estadisticas...
Odio estadisticas.
¿Que divertido, no?
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
My Hand Is Green... Does That Mean It Is Jealous Of The Rest Of Me?
Well boys and girls I finally got my cast off. And even though I still cannot bend my pinky and have to keep it buddy-taped (not to mention that my hand is a mixture of purple and green), I am still extremely happy that it is gone! It also means that I can type again, thus I now feel compelled to write about all that has happened during the imprisonment of my poor, innocent hand.
To start off the list I turned 19. Now let me say this: Spaniards know their cake. I have eaten many cakes in my day and this cake-while fairly small-was by far the best cake I have ever eaten in my life. The only real downside was I had a hellacious headache when I got home from school, which would not have been a problem except my bed was covered in balloons and presents when I got home so I had to clear my bed of obstructions before napping. But speaking of presents, I was gifted rather heavily by my host parents. They gave me a shirt, a couple books, and a jacket. That may not seem like a ton but clothing is extremely expensive over here with a regular T-shirt costing about 30€. Thus the jacket-which is a Calvin Klein jacket and about 8 points more preppy than I would normally wear but it is really nice-probably cost around 300€. To be honest I do not really like to wear it because I am terrified that I am going to ruin it in some way...
School is rocking... or at least as much as school can. I got invited on a weekend trip to Salamanca yesterday, and even though I can not go because of Rotary rules and all that it was still nice to get invited! I also passed my geografia test! This might not sound like much of an accomplishment but I should explain the difference between American and Spanish schools.
In American schools, if you go to class, do the homework, and study, you will pass no matter who you are. (There are exceptions to this of course.) Thus we focus more on how much you pass by. We have an honor roll and give out awards for good grades. There are students who make it through all of high school with a 4.0 but score under 30 on the ACT. In Spanish schools, grades do not matter so long as you pass. Of course it is also infinitely harder to get a passing grade and there is NO ONE who ever gets a 10 (the equivalent of an A), even they over-achievers who live for studying and would normally get a 36 on the ACT. A passing grade is a 5, thus anything better than a 5 is something to rejoice about. Well I just so happened to get a 5.6 on my geografia test and I am most definitely rejoicing!
Other classes are coming along somewhat too. I got a 2.1 on my math test which is quite bad, but half of my class did worse than that and no one in school who has this class was able to pass it. I blame the teacher, she it terrible.
Speaking of teachers, my teacher of lengua castellana LOVES saying "Eh?" She says it so much that we started counting the number of times she says it in one period. The two days we have counted she said it 169 times one day and 175 times the next. This is in a 50 minute period so she was saying "Eh" an average of once every 17.75 seconds and once every 17.14 seconds respectively. Some of you may frown and say tsk tsk that I am passing my time doing such pointless activities instead of "utilizing" my time. But one must realize that in order to count all the times she says "eh" I have to actually pay attention to her the whole class, which is an improvement.
Thanksgiving was... well... thankful. I rather love the way the Spaniards celebrate Thanksgiving, which is to say, they do not. They live more from the perspective that if you are thankful all year round you should not need a special day. We Americans tend to sometimes use Thanksgiving as an excuse to not be thankful for the other 364 days of the year (365 during a leap year). However Rotary rejoices in holidays likes Thanksgiving therefore there was a turkey dinner for all the exchange students and their families in the Madrid area. The turkey was OK, but lacked pie.
In the last two weeks there was also another Rotary Excursion which-although I do not want to whine-was quite boring. We went to Soria which is about 255 km away so it took almost 3 hours to get there. When we got there we went to a church/museum that was interesting, but nothing fantastic. Then we went to lunch which was quite tasty, and from there got on the bus for an hour bus ride to a little pueblo to see a Roman arch. Then we went home. Do not get me wrong. Everything was interesting, but considering that we were gone for 12 hours and spent 6 of it on the bus it felt kind of like a waste of time. I also forgot the memory card for my camera on the coffee table so I have no pictures. Boo.
That is far from all I have done these past few weeks, but you all will have to content yourselves with that because my brain is tired today. GOOD DAY!
Also for those of you who dont have a Facebook or just did not see it. If you want a postcard send me a message on Facebook (or if you do not have Facebook send me an E-mail). Might want to include WHY you of all people deserve a postcard as well as an ADDRESS to send it to!
To start off the list I turned 19. Now let me say this: Spaniards know their cake. I have eaten many cakes in my day and this cake-while fairly small-was by far the best cake I have ever eaten in my life. The only real downside was I had a hellacious headache when I got home from school, which would not have been a problem except my bed was covered in balloons and presents when I got home so I had to clear my bed of obstructions before napping. But speaking of presents, I was gifted rather heavily by my host parents. They gave me a shirt, a couple books, and a jacket. That may not seem like a ton but clothing is extremely expensive over here with a regular T-shirt costing about 30€. Thus the jacket-which is a Calvin Klein jacket and about 8 points more preppy than I would normally wear but it is really nice-probably cost around 300€. To be honest I do not really like to wear it because I am terrified that I am going to ruin it in some way...
School is rocking... or at least as much as school can. I got invited on a weekend trip to Salamanca yesterday, and even though I can not go because of Rotary rules and all that it was still nice to get invited! I also passed my geografia test! This might not sound like much of an accomplishment but I should explain the difference between American and Spanish schools.
In American schools, if you go to class, do the homework, and study, you will pass no matter who you are. (There are exceptions to this of course.) Thus we focus more on how much you pass by. We have an honor roll and give out awards for good grades. There are students who make it through all of high school with a 4.0 but score under 30 on the ACT. In Spanish schools, grades do not matter so long as you pass. Of course it is also infinitely harder to get a passing grade and there is NO ONE who ever gets a 10 (the equivalent of an A), even they over-achievers who live for studying and would normally get a 36 on the ACT. A passing grade is a 5, thus anything better than a 5 is something to rejoice about. Well I just so happened to get a 5.6 on my geografia test and I am most definitely rejoicing!
Other classes are coming along somewhat too. I got a 2.1 on my math test which is quite bad, but half of my class did worse than that and no one in school who has this class was able to pass it. I blame the teacher, she it terrible.
Speaking of teachers, my teacher of lengua castellana LOVES saying "Eh?" She says it so much that we started counting the number of times she says it in one period. The two days we have counted she said it 169 times one day and 175 times the next. This is in a 50 minute period so she was saying "Eh" an average of once every 17.75 seconds and once every 17.14 seconds respectively. Some of you may frown and say tsk tsk that I am passing my time doing such pointless activities instead of "utilizing" my time. But one must realize that in order to count all the times she says "eh" I have to actually pay attention to her the whole class, which is an improvement.
Thanksgiving was... well... thankful. I rather love the way the Spaniards celebrate Thanksgiving, which is to say, they do not. They live more from the perspective that if you are thankful all year round you should not need a special day. We Americans tend to sometimes use Thanksgiving as an excuse to not be thankful for the other 364 days of the year (365 during a leap year). However Rotary rejoices in holidays likes Thanksgiving therefore there was a turkey dinner for all the exchange students and their families in the Madrid area. The turkey was OK, but lacked pie.
In the last two weeks there was also another Rotary Excursion which-although I do not want to whine-was quite boring. We went to Soria which is about 255 km away so it took almost 3 hours to get there. When we got there we went to a church/museum that was interesting, but nothing fantastic. Then we went to lunch which was quite tasty, and from there got on the bus for an hour bus ride to a little pueblo to see a Roman arch. Then we went home. Do not get me wrong. Everything was interesting, but considering that we were gone for 12 hours and spent 6 of it on the bus it felt kind of like a waste of time. I also forgot the memory card for my camera on the coffee table so I have no pictures. Boo.
That is far from all I have done these past few weeks, but you all will have to content yourselves with that because my brain is tired today. GOOD DAY!
Also for those of you who dont have a Facebook or just did not see it. If you want a postcard send me a message on Facebook (or if you do not have Facebook send me an E-mail). Might want to include WHY you of all people deserve a postcard as well as an ADDRESS to send it to!
Friday, November 20, 2009
This will be brief because typing with one finger on your right hand due to a cast sucks.
So I have an irony to point out!
About a week after I got here my status on facebook read something like "they say that you should be more or less fluent in 2 months, by this reasoning I should be more or less fluent before my birthday." Well boys and girls I had my first spanish dream on november 19th... eg the day before my birthday... eg the last time I slept before my birthday... eg the last possible opportunity for that prediction to come true.
Even my subconscious procrastinates.
About a week after I got here my status on facebook read something like "they say that you should be more or less fluent in 2 months, by this reasoning I should be more or less fluent before my birthday." Well boys and girls I had my first spanish dream on november 19th... eg the day before my birthday... eg the last time I slept before my birthday... eg the last possible opportunity for that prediction to come true.
Even my subconscious procrastinates.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Matt Damon Should Never Ride A Scooter On Screen...
So I have discovered that watching movies in Spanish is by far one of my favorite pastimes. Watching movies that I have never seen before (like The Godfather, Death At A Funeral, etc.) it great like always, but there is also watching the great old favorites just to hear the same lines but in Spanish. My favorite so far is "No es volando. Es caer... con estilo!" (for those of you who are too lazy to translate, the quote is from Toy Story.) It also frees up some attention cells because I have seen it before so I notice odd things, like the fact that Matt Damon looks like a complete moron on a Mo-Ped.
Mondays suck. Tomorrow is one. Good Night.
Mondays suck. Tomorrow is one. Good Night.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Irony
I find it extremely humorous that my feelings about Spanish are in constant flux. (Of course feeling that is humorous fluctuates too.) One day I will be feeling like crap because I am feeling like my Spanish has not improved in weeks and I am just wasting time, and the next day I have a day when I have some great improvement. This happens fairly regularly, and it happened today.
The past few days I have been feeling kinda down on my Spanish skills because, like previously stated, I felt they were not really improving. My vocabulary was not grow (at least it felt like it), and I had to concentrate like all hell just to understand what is going on. Then today I was sitting in Psicología when I realized I was understanding the Jav (see previous posts if this confuses you). The fact that I was understanding was not in itself remarkable because I can usually kind of understand-more or less-what he is saying, but the fact that I was kind of-more or less- understanding WITHOUT CONCENTRATING struck me suddenly.
I was going to write way more than this but I am extremely tired so that is all.
buenas
The past few days I have been feeling kinda down on my Spanish skills because, like previously stated, I felt they were not really improving. My vocabulary was not grow (at least it felt like it), and I had to concentrate like all hell just to understand what is going on. Then today I was sitting in Psicología when I realized I was understanding the Jav (see previous posts if this confuses you). The fact that I was understanding was not in itself remarkable because I can usually kind of understand-more or less-what he is saying, but the fact that I was kind of-more or less- understanding WITHOUT CONCENTRATING struck me suddenly.
I was going to write way more than this but I am extremely tired so that is all.
buenas
Thursday, November 5, 2009
WARNING! DANGER! TAKE EVASIVE ACTION IMMEDIATELY!
My host mom has started to threaten birthday festivities...
And now on to a topic that has nothing to do with the title of this post. (the above line is, while true, really just an excuse to write "evasive action")
School is getting better. I had a philosophy exam yesterday, and today the philosophy teacher sought me out to tell me that I had done better than most of the class. I also do homework now because I can actually understand when the teachers tell us what we have to do, but I still usually have a reduced assignment. Not that I usually do it right, but I am getting there.
I am trying to cut back on English a little so that is all for today.
And now on to a topic that has nothing to do with the title of this post. (the above line is, while true, really just an excuse to write "evasive action")
School is getting better. I had a philosophy exam yesterday, and today the philosophy teacher sought me out to tell me that I had done better than most of the class. I also do homework now because I can actually understand when the teachers tell us what we have to do, but I still usually have a reduced assignment. Not that I usually do it right, but I am getting there.
I am trying to cut back on English a little so that is all for today.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.
Well everybody it's Wednesday (Hump Day), and that sucks. Luckily it's Wednesday night and almost Thursday, but unfortunately Thursday-for me-is the worst day of the week. Here's a glance at why:
Monday: School until 2:10, futbol americano 6:30-8:30
Tuesday: School until 2:10
Wednesday: School until 3, futbol americano 6:30-8:30
Thursday: School until 3
Friday: School until 1
So as you can see Thursday is a definite weak point in this schedule. It ties for "getting out of school latest" with Wednesday, but lacks the redeeming "futbol americano." In fact it has almost no redeeming qualities except that first hour is English. But even that isn't much because it just means that I'm expected to occasionally answer a question.
*RANDOM TOPIC SHIFT*
So I don't really think Spaniards understand how difficult it is to be a foreign exchange student to Spain if you are American, especially the ones who have gone/are in EEUU. For one most of them have studied English for something like seven years whereas I only had two (I technically have only been studying for two years even though I took Spanish 1-4). Also they have English injected into them daily through movies, TV, and music whereas Spanish is much harder to find in EEUU. So the people who have lived in the US for a year (they are surprisingly plentiful) think "Oh! I know what these exchange students to Spain are going trough because I went to America!" when in reality it's profoundly different.
*RANDOM TOPIC SHIFT #2*
Spaniards have discovered the secret to eternal youth/looking older when you are young. They literally do not age at all from the age of 15 to the age of 35. It's amazing. By the time they are 15 they look about like they are in their early-20's, when they are about 35 they look to be in their late-20's. For example: there is a girl in my class who looks for all the world like she should be in college... she's 16. I didn't believe her when she first told me that so she got other people to confirm it... I looked like a douche.
But that's all it from Spain for today. Sorry for the pointless ramblings but I am quite cansado. Buenas noches.
Monday: School until 2:10, futbol americano 6:30-8:30
Tuesday: School until 2:10
Wednesday: School until 3, futbol americano 6:30-8:30
Thursday: School until 3
Friday: School until 1
So as you can see Thursday is a definite weak point in this schedule. It ties for "getting out of school latest" with Wednesday, but lacks the redeeming "futbol americano." In fact it has almost no redeeming qualities except that first hour is English. But even that isn't much because it just means that I'm expected to occasionally answer a question.
*RANDOM TOPIC SHIFT*
So I don't really think Spaniards understand how difficult it is to be a foreign exchange student to Spain if you are American, especially the ones who have gone/are in EEUU. For one most of them have studied English for something like seven years whereas I only had two (I technically have only been studying for two years even though I took Spanish 1-4). Also they have English injected into them daily through movies, TV, and music whereas Spanish is much harder to find in EEUU. So the people who have lived in the US for a year (they are surprisingly plentiful) think "Oh! I know what these exchange students to Spain are going trough because I went to America!" when in reality it's profoundly different.
*RANDOM TOPIC SHIFT #2*
Spaniards have discovered the secret to eternal youth/looking older when you are young. They literally do not age at all from the age of 15 to the age of 35. It's amazing. By the time they are 15 they look about like they are in their early-20's, when they are about 35 they look to be in their late-20's. For example: there is a girl in my class who looks for all the world like she should be in college... she's 16. I didn't believe her when she first told me that so she got other people to confirm it... I looked like a douche.
But that's all it from Spain for today. Sorry for the pointless ramblings but I am quite cansado. Buenas noches.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Correction
I suppose I should clarify my last post a little. What I should have said is that I can almost always understand most Spaniards so long as it is conversational Spanish, lectures at the Institute are another story. For example, on Saturday Miguel and his friend Adrian were arguing about whether Madrid or Barcelona is better (which is an extremely heated topic here), and I was able to understand not only that they were arguing about which was better, but also the individual points that they were arguing. This is a fairly normal occurrence now.
However, there are still some things that elude me which mainly fall into three main categories which I have organized from least frustrating to most:
1) The Lola*
This category is all the people who have an accent (which is kind of ironic because I have a massive one). Lola is my professor de mates and has one of the most odd/annoying accent/lisps I've ever heard. It's even hard for the other students to understand her sometimes so I have companions in incomprehension, thus this category is the least frustrating.
2) The Javier*
This category is for all that vocabulary that I just don't have. What makes this so frustrating is that when I go home and look up what a word means, it's usually either so painfully obvious that I kick myself for not realizing it or it's impossible to remember. Anyway Javier is my psicologia professor and loves to whip out words that I don't understand, so for that I name this category for him.
3) The Pilar*
While I get better and listening everyday, there are still people who at times just talk too fast. The best example of this is Pilar, profesora de historia. She has a voice like a Sine wave. She'll start off talking in a normal tone (but really fast), progress to shouting (but enunciating her words very clearly), regress back to a normal (but fast) tone, continue to get quieter and quieter until she is almost whispering (but again enunciating very clearly), and finally return to her normal (but fast) tone to complete the cycle. She does this the whole period.
*The people for whom the categories are named are not the only ones I have trouble understanding, merely the best examples of their respective categories.
Anyway, all this comprehension has come as a result of a realization I had the other day about the Spanish language in general. This may sound a tad stupid, but it's the truth so live with it.
The Spanish language is not, in fact, a language but rather more like a mental state. You have to live the language, not just learn it. To be honest this kind of sucks because it means you have to make the decision to not only talk in only Spanish, but also THINK in only Spanish. And that isn't a decision that you can just make and that's that. You have to keep making it every single minute of every single day, constantly forcing yourself to use only Spanish. It's exhausting.
Luckily after a while thinking in only Spanish starts to get a little easier, but at the cost of your English skills. For example, today I was day-dreaming in economy class and tried to translate my thoughts from Spanish into English (which I like to do every once and a while just to make sure that what I am saying makes sense), and I just couldn't do it. It wasn't that I was thinking great abstract thoughts that have no literal translation in English (it was something about tires), I just couldn't make my mind think in English at that point in time. It was a very odd feeling.
Anywho, I should get going.
However, there are still some things that elude me which mainly fall into three main categories which I have organized from least frustrating to most:
1) The Lola*
This category is all the people who have an accent (which is kind of ironic because I have a massive one). Lola is my professor de mates and has one of the most odd/annoying accent/lisps I've ever heard. It's even hard for the other students to understand her sometimes so I have companions in incomprehension, thus this category is the least frustrating.
2) The Javier*
This category is for all that vocabulary that I just don't have. What makes this so frustrating is that when I go home and look up what a word means, it's usually either so painfully obvious that I kick myself for not realizing it or it's impossible to remember. Anyway Javier is my psicologia professor and loves to whip out words that I don't understand, so for that I name this category for him.
3) The Pilar*
While I get better and listening everyday, there are still people who at times just talk too fast. The best example of this is Pilar, profesora de historia. She has a voice like a Sine wave. She'll start off talking in a normal tone (but really fast), progress to shouting (but enunciating her words very clearly), regress back to a normal (but fast) tone, continue to get quieter and quieter until she is almost whispering (but again enunciating very clearly), and finally return to her normal (but fast) tone to complete the cycle. She does this the whole period.
*The people for whom the categories are named are not the only ones I have trouble understanding, merely the best examples of their respective categories.
Anyway, all this comprehension has come as a result of a realization I had the other day about the Spanish language in general. This may sound a tad stupid, but it's the truth so live with it.
The Spanish language is not, in fact, a language but rather more like a mental state. You have to live the language, not just learn it. To be honest this kind of sucks because it means you have to make the decision to not only talk in only Spanish, but also THINK in only Spanish. And that isn't a decision that you can just make and that's that. You have to keep making it every single minute of every single day, constantly forcing yourself to use only Spanish. It's exhausting.
Luckily after a while thinking in only Spanish starts to get a little easier, but at the cost of your English skills. For example, today I was day-dreaming in economy class and tried to translate my thoughts from Spanish into English (which I like to do every once and a while just to make sure that what I am saying makes sense), and I just couldn't do it. It wasn't that I was thinking great abstract thoughts that have no literal translation in English (it was something about tires), I just couldn't make my mind think in English at that point in time. It was a very odd feeling.
Anywho, I should get going.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Ay! Mi amor! Yo te he buscado por fin!
Football! Football! Football!!! ... But I'm getting ahead of myself.
So today I had my first exam in Lengua Castellana. Lucky me huh? Well it wasn't all bad because the teacher realize after about 5 seconds (and I'm not exaggerating) that I didn't have a chance of taking that test. So she wrote me up 3 questions to answer. They were:
Describe tu familia y ciudad.
Que te gusta mas aqui?
Que echo de menos?
I won't bother with the description but I will inform you of my other two answers!
The thing I like the most here is the food. At first it was like getting drop-kicked in the face by a large burly man named Chuck because the flavor was so strong. But now I love it. I have a LOT more to say on the topic of food and one of these days I'll get up the motivation to write about it.
The thing I miss the most I am sad to say was football (the other day I found my doodles turning into pass routes). But that's because it was on my mind because today was the day I started playing futbol americano here in Spain.
There's a team here in Las Rozas that practices less than a kilometer from my house so I can walk there are back if I need to. It's actually one of only three teams in all of Madrid (which means it's probably one of about 10 in Spain) and they're called the Black Demons... now read that again and try to tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor!
So anyway, today was the first day and I am happy to say I would have done Coach Roth proud. There wasn't a single person who I was guarding that caught a pass, and after the first hour the coaches had started asking me questions about how to do some things. I must say it's quite satisfying to go from semi-decent JV player to varsity all-star without actually doing anything other than get on a plane! So I have so high hopes for this spanish-american-football.
Anywho it's getting late and I do have school in the morning even if it is only ingles first hour.
So today I had my first exam in Lengua Castellana. Lucky me huh? Well it wasn't all bad because the teacher realize after about 5 seconds (and I'm not exaggerating) that I didn't have a chance of taking that test. So she wrote me up 3 questions to answer. They were:
Describe tu familia y ciudad.
Que te gusta mas aqui?
Que echo de menos?
I won't bother with the description but I will inform you of my other two answers!
The thing I like the most here is the food. At first it was like getting drop-kicked in the face by a large burly man named Chuck because the flavor was so strong. But now I love it. I have a LOT more to say on the topic of food and one of these days I'll get up the motivation to write about it.
The thing I miss the most I am sad to say was football (the other day I found my doodles turning into pass routes). But that's because it was on my mind because today was the day I started playing futbol americano here in Spain.
There's a team here in Las Rozas that practices less than a kilometer from my house so I can walk there are back if I need to. It's actually one of only three teams in all of Madrid (which means it's probably one of about 10 in Spain) and they're called the Black Demons... now read that again and try to tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor!
So anyway, today was the first day and I am happy to say I would have done Coach Roth proud. There wasn't a single person who I was guarding that caught a pass, and after the first hour the coaches had started asking me questions about how to do some things. I must say it's quite satisfying to go from semi-decent JV player to varsity all-star without actually doing anything other than get on a plane! So I have so high hopes for this spanish-american-football.
Anywho it's getting late and I do have school in the morning even if it is only ingles first hour.
Friday, October 9, 2009
"And that's the way it was."
So I don't have the motivation to write about food (it's a pretty big topic), so instead I am writing about the differences between Spain and E.E.U.U.
#1) Swearing in more common. Actually it's more like pretty much everyone does it... parents, little kid, teachers, etc. Everyone is just kind of desensitized to what we would call "bad words." To them they are just strong words. (Not that they won't take offense if you call them something bad.)
#2) Man-jewelry. Most guys have at least one earring and it's not unusual to have 2-3 piercings. Guys wearing bracelets, necklaces (especially one's that have a cross or some other religious medallion), and rings way more here than in Iowa.
#3) They live on a different schedule. Lunch is usually at 2 and supper is usually at 9. They still eat breakfast at 7 though. And they also eat at 11 and 5-6.
#4) There are mountains.
#5) The temperature is about 70 right now and there isn't a cloud in the sky... and this isn't usual weather.
#6) People don't say thank-you as much. When I first got here they were constantly remarking how odd it was that I was constantly thanking them for everything when I wasn't saying thank-you more than I normally do. I was talking to some people who were intercambios TO Iowa last year and they said they were kind of shocked at how much the were expected to thank people. This leads to...
#7) People are much more honest about their feelings. When I first got here I thought everyone was a tad temperamental because they would start yelling at each other over the smallest things, but that's just how they are. When they are mad, they yell. When they are sad, they cry. When they are really truly thankful, they say thank-you.
#8) Bread is awesome. I'm convinced that it is baked daily by God and just dropped down to the bakeries. (They use the chimneys as funnels to catch it.) It's amazing normally, and then I had some that had JUST come out of the oven. But candy ain't got nothing on that.
#9) If you're in school, you study like 1-2 hours everyday. The other American in my class asked somebody if he wanted to do something after school (and this person is probably the least studious in the class) and the reply was "Dude. It's Monday. I have to study!"
#10) There are no penalties in school for skipping of being tardy. However, if you ARE tardy the teacher might just refuse to admit you to class because all the doors have to be opened from the inside.
#11) The teachers also don't really do anything if you talk in class except maybe tell you to leave. So there will be times-especially in lengua castellana-where the whole class is carrying on a conversation.
#12) There aren't really clocks anywhere... you have to either have a watch or a cellphone to know what time it is.
#13) Racism is-at least in my area-much more common. Calling someone a faggot (pardon my French) is trite, but calling someone a Moor is grounds for bloodshed.
#14) Everybody smokes, unless they have a medical condition which prevents them from doing so.
#15) Everybody drinks, no exceptions.
#16) They LOVE tomatoes, vinegar, and olive oil. Everything is cooked with olive oil, usually has tomatoes in some way, and the often pour vinegar on it once it's on their plates.
#17) Clothes cost a ton. It's a big sale if you can get a shirt for 30 Euros.
#18) They don't drink very much water. I find this odd because I drink a ton compared to them, and I am still dehydrated all the time. So maybe I am just lacking the Spanish genes that allow me to retain water. Who knows?
#19) Little kids drink coffee all the time. And their coffee is more akin to espresso than to our coffee.
#20) This one isn't really a difference, but everyone thinks I am Russian. Nobody over here really has freckles... or my color hair (Whatever it is. It's getting redder)... and rarely pasty colored skin (although it's probably more common than in the US). So they all know right away that I am foreign. But people rarely guess than I am American. I have actually had strangers come up to me and ask if I am Russian. It's quite odd.
So that's my list... there are more but I am lazy.
#1) Swearing in more common. Actually it's more like pretty much everyone does it... parents, little kid, teachers, etc. Everyone is just kind of desensitized to what we would call "bad words." To them they are just strong words. (Not that they won't take offense if you call them something bad.)
#2) Man-jewelry. Most guys have at least one earring and it's not unusual to have 2-3 piercings. Guys wearing bracelets, necklaces (especially one's that have a cross or some other religious medallion), and rings way more here than in Iowa.
#3) They live on a different schedule. Lunch is usually at 2 and supper is usually at 9. They still eat breakfast at 7 though. And they also eat at 11 and 5-6.
#4) There are mountains.
#5) The temperature is about 70 right now and there isn't a cloud in the sky... and this isn't usual weather.
#6) People don't say thank-you as much. When I first got here they were constantly remarking how odd it was that I was constantly thanking them for everything when I wasn't saying thank-you more than I normally do. I was talking to some people who were intercambios TO Iowa last year and they said they were kind of shocked at how much the were expected to thank people. This leads to...
#7) People are much more honest about their feelings. When I first got here I thought everyone was a tad temperamental because they would start yelling at each other over the smallest things, but that's just how they are. When they are mad, they yell. When they are sad, they cry. When they are really truly thankful, they say thank-you.
#8) Bread is awesome. I'm convinced that it is baked daily by God and just dropped down to the bakeries. (They use the chimneys as funnels to catch it.) It's amazing normally, and then I had some that had JUST come out of the oven. But candy ain't got nothing on that.
#9) If you're in school, you study like 1-2 hours everyday. The other American in my class asked somebody if he wanted to do something after school (and this person is probably the least studious in the class) and the reply was "Dude. It's Monday. I have to study!"
#10) There are no penalties in school for skipping of being tardy. However, if you ARE tardy the teacher might just refuse to admit you to class because all the doors have to be opened from the inside.
#11) The teachers also don't really do anything if you talk in class except maybe tell you to leave. So there will be times-especially in lengua castellana-where the whole class is carrying on a conversation.
#12) There aren't really clocks anywhere... you have to either have a watch or a cellphone to know what time it is.
#13) Racism is-at least in my area-much more common. Calling someone a faggot (pardon my French) is trite, but calling someone a Moor is grounds for bloodshed.
#14) Everybody smokes, unless they have a medical condition which prevents them from doing so.
#15) Everybody drinks, no exceptions.
#16) They LOVE tomatoes, vinegar, and olive oil. Everything is cooked with olive oil, usually has tomatoes in some way, and the often pour vinegar on it once it's on their plates.
#17) Clothes cost a ton. It's a big sale if you can get a shirt for 30 Euros.
#18) They don't drink very much water. I find this odd because I drink a ton compared to them, and I am still dehydrated all the time. So maybe I am just lacking the Spanish genes that allow me to retain water. Who knows?
#19) Little kids drink coffee all the time. And their coffee is more akin to espresso than to our coffee.
#20) This one isn't really a difference, but everyone thinks I am Russian. Nobody over here really has freckles... or my color hair (Whatever it is. It's getting redder)... and rarely pasty colored skin (although it's probably more common than in the US). So they all know right away that I am foreign. But people rarely guess than I am American. I have actually had strangers come up to me and ask if I am Russian. It's quite odd.
So that's my list... there are more but I am lazy.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
La familia Moreta
So I suppose I should write something about my host family since they are kind of letting me live in their house for a year... Anyway there's 8 of them.
Daniel (Padre) is the CFO for a company called Sedecal that sells medical equipment world-wide. They have offices in Madrid, Chicago, and Beijing. He works a ton and I don't actually see him that much. He usually leaves before I get up at 7:00 and gets home sometime between 18:00 and 1:00 (usually closer to 1:00 than 18:00). He was in Chicago last week and when he got back (at 6:00), he came home, took a shower, and went to work. He is definitely one of the hardest working people I know.
Silvia probably works even harder than Daniel because she is always working! They don't have any alarm clocks in any of the bedrooms because Silvia wakes everyone up when they need to be woken up each morning. Breakfast is the only meal she doesn't cook for everyone everyday in addition to doing all the laundry (which also includes ironing everything from dress shirts to jeans to my Under Armor. They seriously hate wrinkles here). She also cleans the whole house when it needs clean; picks me, Sofia, and Paola up from school everyday; does all the shopping; and is basically one of the nicest people I've ever met.
Guillermo is the oldest of the hijos at 23. He's in his final year at university and is studying to become and engineer. I am probably more like him that anyone else in the house. Whenever we go to the fiestas or anything like that I always go home early with him because neither of us has the desire to stay for 8 hours. He also spends hours on the computer reading manga and watching anime. He's a huge One Piece and Bleach fan (for those of you who have any idea what that is) so we get along pretty well just because of that! He's also asthmatic like and a little bit of a hypochondriac, but I think that's because he gets sick pretty easily. For those of you who didn't know this, Guillermo is the Spanish version of William.
Miguel is the second son and he just turn 22 a week ago. He's studying Law and Economy. He also spent a month as an exchange student in England when he was younger, so his English is just about perfect. He's the one that we call when something needs to be explained. Everybody tries to get me to call him "Papi" because he is always worrying about how everything is going for me and he's also the one that keeps track of me when we go somewhere so I don't get kill by Spaniards or something along those lines. One time a friend and I played joke on him pretending that I had gotten lost during the fiestas and he totally freaked out! His name is the Spanish version of Michael and he is so named because he was born on El Dia de San Miguel which is a big deal here.
Daniel (hijo) is the third son at the age of 20 and is technically named Angel Daniel, but everyone just calls him Dani. He's is studying to be an industrial mechanic. He's one of those people who can fix just about anything if you give him 5 minutes and a spoon. He's the one that I share a room with but at the same time he is the one that I see the least. Partially because he speaks the least English but I also think he feels kind of uncomfortable with the whole random-foreign-kid-who-can-barely-speak-Spanish-sleeping-in-my-room-and-awkwardly-walking-around-my-house-for-a-year thing. Not that he isn't extremely nice, he just seems like he doesn't know what so say to me.
Rafael is 16 and the last boy. He is in the Rotary Exchange Program too and is living in Kingston, NY. I honestly can't say too much about him because I've never actually met him.
Paola is 11 and goes to the same school as me. I would probably have never gotten to school the first day I rode the bus without her because she has at least SOME idea of what's going on. But it's also her first year at El Instito, so sometimes we get lost but at least I am lost with somebody who speaks Spanish! Plus there's the added benefit that if there's a word to describe Paola it's sensible. She really loves Spanish dance which I can't remember what it's called but it's pretty intense and not flamenco. I think she was a little freaked out by the whole random-foreign-kid-who-can-barely-speak-Spanish-awkwardly-walking-around-my-house-for-a-year-and-following-me-the-whole-way-to-school thing but I think she's starting to get used to it.
Sofia is only 5 but makes up for by talking about 5 times as much and at least twice as loud. When I got here I couldn't understand a single word that came out of her mouth because it all sounded like a high-pitched squeal, but now I can usually understand most of what she's saying. She's also is a bit of a drama queen. For example, today I shoved the dog out of my room with my foot so she didn't speak to me for a couple hours because she thought I was being mean.
Well that's all eight so I'm all done. Tomorrow I might write about food if I have the courage.
Daniel (Padre) is the CFO for a company called Sedecal that sells medical equipment world-wide. They have offices in Madrid, Chicago, and Beijing. He works a ton and I don't actually see him that much. He usually leaves before I get up at 7:00 and gets home sometime between 18:00 and 1:00 (usually closer to 1:00 than 18:00). He was in Chicago last week and when he got back (at 6:00), he came home, took a shower, and went to work. He is definitely one of the hardest working people I know.
Silvia probably works even harder than Daniel because she is always working! They don't have any alarm clocks in any of the bedrooms because Silvia wakes everyone up when they need to be woken up each morning. Breakfast is the only meal she doesn't cook for everyone everyday in addition to doing all the laundry (which also includes ironing everything from dress shirts to jeans to my Under Armor. They seriously hate wrinkles here). She also cleans the whole house when it needs clean; picks me, Sofia, and Paola up from school everyday; does all the shopping; and is basically one of the nicest people I've ever met.
Guillermo is the oldest of the hijos at 23. He's in his final year at university and is studying to become and engineer. I am probably more like him that anyone else in the house. Whenever we go to the fiestas or anything like that I always go home early with him because neither of us has the desire to stay for 8 hours. He also spends hours on the computer reading manga and watching anime. He's a huge One Piece and Bleach fan (for those of you who have any idea what that is) so we get along pretty well just because of that! He's also asthmatic like and a little bit of a hypochondriac, but I think that's because he gets sick pretty easily. For those of you who didn't know this, Guillermo is the Spanish version of William.
Miguel is the second son and he just turn 22 a week ago. He's studying Law and Economy. He also spent a month as an exchange student in England when he was younger, so his English is just about perfect. He's the one that we call when something needs to be explained. Everybody tries to get me to call him "Papi" because he is always worrying about how everything is going for me and he's also the one that keeps track of me when we go somewhere so I don't get kill by Spaniards or something along those lines. One time a friend and I played joke on him pretending that I had gotten lost during the fiestas and he totally freaked out! His name is the Spanish version of Michael and he is so named because he was born on El Dia de San Miguel which is a big deal here.
Daniel (hijo) is the third son at the age of 20 and is technically named Angel Daniel, but everyone just calls him Dani. He's is studying to be an industrial mechanic. He's one of those people who can fix just about anything if you give him 5 minutes and a spoon. He's the one that I share a room with but at the same time he is the one that I see the least. Partially because he speaks the least English but I also think he feels kind of uncomfortable with the whole random-foreign-kid-who-can-barely-speak-Spanish-sleeping-in-my-room-and-awkwardly-walking-around-my-house-for-a-year thing. Not that he isn't extremely nice, he just seems like he doesn't know what so say to me.
Rafael is 16 and the last boy. He is in the Rotary Exchange Program too and is living in Kingston, NY. I honestly can't say too much about him because I've never actually met him.
Paola is 11 and goes to the same school as me. I would probably have never gotten to school the first day I rode the bus without her because she has at least SOME idea of what's going on. But it's also her first year at El Instito, so sometimes we get lost but at least I am lost with somebody who speaks Spanish! Plus there's the added benefit that if there's a word to describe Paola it's sensible. She really loves Spanish dance which I can't remember what it's called but it's pretty intense and not flamenco. I think she was a little freaked out by the whole random-foreign-kid-who-can-barely-speak-Spanish-awkwardly-walking-around-my-house-for-a-year-and-following-me-the-whole-way-to-school thing but I think she's starting to get used to it.
Sofia is only 5 but makes up for by talking about 5 times as much and at least twice as loud. When I got here I couldn't understand a single word that came out of her mouth because it all sounded like a high-pitched squeal, but now I can usually understand most of what she's saying. She's also is a bit of a drama queen. For example, today I shoved the dog out of my room with my foot so she didn't speak to me for a couple hours because she thought I was being mean.
Well that's all eight so I'm all done. Tomorrow I might write about food if I have the courage.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Party! Party! Party! Party! sleep. (repeat) This is life during the weekend.
So today I'm talking about the fiestas in Spain.
Fiesta has 16 definitions which are:
You also have to be extremely careful at these festivals. The first night I was at the festivals in Las Rozas I saw 3 fights that were all quite entertaining. Unfortunately these festivals also have a habit of turning into riots at about 6 so it's usually a good idea to leave at about 5 because after that things can get rather nasty. (Apparently the police showed up in riot gear at about 6:30 on Saturday night. I had already left but two of my host brothers stayed until 7 or 8.) Now all you Americans are probably saying "Why on earth would you still be out at 5 AM?!" But you have to remember that everything is several hours later here. I usually eat lunch at 3 and supper at 9 or 10. So people don't actually start leaving their houses until about 12-1, so it's not really that late just scheduled differently.
Before I continue I would like to point out that if you aren't drunk and don't try to mess with any drunk people, you will be fine. They fiestas are also a good deal of fun so if you ever get the opportunity to attend don't avoid it because something bad might happen.
But that's about it for fiestas because I have to go. I got invited to join an american football team so we're going to go check that out.
Fiesta has 16 definitions which are:
- party
- holiday
- feast
- feast day
- leap day
- fete
- feteday
- shindy
- shindig
- convocation
- frolic
- do
- junket
- gala
- carnival
- festival
You also have to be extremely careful at these festivals. The first night I was at the festivals in Las Rozas I saw 3 fights that were all quite entertaining. Unfortunately these festivals also have a habit of turning into riots at about 6 so it's usually a good idea to leave at about 5 because after that things can get rather nasty. (Apparently the police showed up in riot gear at about 6:30 on Saturday night. I had already left but two of my host brothers stayed until 7 or 8.) Now all you Americans are probably saying "Why on earth would you still be out at 5 AM?!" But you have to remember that everything is several hours later here. I usually eat lunch at 3 and supper at 9 or 10. So people don't actually start leaving their houses until about 12-1, so it's not really that late just scheduled differently.
Before I continue I would like to point out that if you aren't drunk and don't try to mess with any drunk people, you will be fine. They fiestas are also a good deal of fun so if you ever get the opportunity to attend don't avoid it because something bad might happen.
But that's about it for fiestas because I have to go. I got invited to join an american football team so we're going to go check that out.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Oh I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Weiner... That understood Spanish.
So day's theme is bullfights:
Today, I went to the bullfights for the second day in a row, and I have to say I like it. There's the argument that it's cruel and barbaric, but I for one would much rather be a bull that dies to the applause of hundreds after a fight to the death than a dog that lives in some fashionista's purse who is only there because of some stupid trend and will probably eventually be dumped on the street or euthanized.
Here's is a description of what happens in a bullfight. I just have a couple of corrections/additions.
1) The bull probably weighs more than 1000 lbs. These things are big! I saw one get his horns underneath the picador's horse's belly and pick them both up! And the picador's horses ain't no prancing ponies either! That and the fact that they are wearing leather armor and carrying an overweight, middle-aged man on it's back make picking it up rather remarkable.
2) The bull doesn't become more aggressive towards the end. By then it has lost a lot of blood and is pretty much just tired.
3) The bull actually does very little all out charging. It charges into the ring and runs about a bit. But then it eventually settles down and starts trying to kill things instead of trying to run them over. During the final stage the matador is rarely more than 20 ft from the bull.
4) In my opinion the banderilleros are the real heroes of the show. They have to reach over a charging bulls horns in order to stick the banderillas in the bulls shoulders and they don't have the luxury of hiding behind a cape!
5) After the matador stabs the bull in the heart it doesn't die instantly, it runs around a bit and then collapses. Then the matador's assistant steps up and stabs in the spinal column with a short knife thus killing it. So the matador isn't actually the only that kills the bull (so it's something of a misnomer).
6) When the bull is dead the people wave handkerchiefs if they believe that the matador has done a good job. If the president agrees, he will wave his too and thus the matador gets 1 or both of the ears depending on how the president waves his handkerchief. If he has done an amazing job that surpasses all expectations then the matador gets the tail as well.
7) While the conclusion is the death of the bull, that's not what the show is about. Despite all the machismo and swagger of the matadors it's really the ultimate version of a nerd's dream where superior intelligence dominates something that has almost every physical advantage (speed, strength, horns, etc).
Well that's all for tonight. I'll probably post pictures on Facebook eventually.
Today, I went to the bullfights for the second day in a row, and I have to say I like it. There's the argument that it's cruel and barbaric, but I for one would much rather be a bull that dies to the applause of hundreds after a fight to the death than a dog that lives in some fashionista's purse who is only there because of some stupid trend and will probably eventually be dumped on the street or euthanized.
Here's is a description of what happens in a bullfight. I just have a couple of corrections/additions.
1) The bull probably weighs more than 1000 lbs. These things are big! I saw one get his horns underneath the picador's horse's belly and pick them both up! And the picador's horses ain't no prancing ponies either! That and the fact that they are wearing leather armor and carrying an overweight, middle-aged man on it's back make picking it up rather remarkable.
2) The bull doesn't become more aggressive towards the end. By then it has lost a lot of blood and is pretty much just tired.
3) The bull actually does very little all out charging. It charges into the ring and runs about a bit. But then it eventually settles down and starts trying to kill things instead of trying to run them over. During the final stage the matador is rarely more than 20 ft from the bull.
4) In my opinion the banderilleros are the real heroes of the show. They have to reach over a charging bulls horns in order to stick the banderillas in the bulls shoulders and they don't have the luxury of hiding behind a cape!
5) After the matador stabs the bull in the heart it doesn't die instantly, it runs around a bit and then collapses. Then the matador's assistant steps up and stabs in the spinal column with a short knife thus killing it. So the matador isn't actually the only that kills the bull (so it's something of a misnomer).
6) When the bull is dead the people wave handkerchiefs if they believe that the matador has done a good job. If the president agrees, he will wave his too and thus the matador gets 1 or both of the ears depending on how the president waves his handkerchief. If he has done an amazing job that surpasses all expectations then the matador gets the tail as well.
7) While the conclusion is the death of the bull, that's not what the show is about. Despite all the machismo and swagger of the matadors it's really the ultimate version of a nerd's dream where superior intelligence dominates something that has almost every physical advantage (speed, strength, horns, etc).
Well that's all for tonight. I'll probably post pictures on Facebook eventually.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
I finally caved and got a blog.
I suppose it's a little odd that I'm just now start this when I've already been in Spain for 23 days. But I finally caved and got a blog for three reasons:
1) I need to organize my thoughts in English to keep from going insane
2) I have too much to say to fit in Facebook status.
3) I kinda hate writing notes on Facebook
But on to the stuff about Spain:
I'm gonna start with school because that's what I'm thinking about right now. School is... interesting. I have 8 classes: Historia de Espana, Ingles, Matematicas, Economia, Geografia, Filosofia, Psicologia, and Lengua Castellana y Literatura.
I should also say that like most schools in the world, but unlike schools in the US, I don't have the same classes everyday. The classes are 50 minutes long and all in the same room, except for geografia and psicologia which are in desdouble 4. We also have two recreos a day which are 25 and 15 minutes respectively. My schedule is as follows;
Lunes Martes Miercoles Jueves Viernes
8:30-9:20 Geografia Ingles Economia Ingles Mates
9:20-10:10 Filosofia Economia Lengua Psicologia Historia
10:10-11:00 Mates Mates Geografia Geografia Geografia
11:00-11:25 Recreo Recreo Recreo Recreo Recreo
11:25-12:15 Psicologia Historia Historia Filosofia Economia
12:15-13:05 Economia Lengua Psicologia Historia Lengua
13:05-13:20 Recreo Recreo Recreo Recreo Recreo
13:20-14:10 Lengua Psicologia Mates Mates ---
14:10=15:00 Ingles --- Filosofia Lengua ---
(Before I go any farther I am going to post this link to a translator. It's easy to use and pretty reliable. I would advise bookmarking it because I will post somethings in Spanish that I won't feel like translating for various reasons.)
Historia de Espana is SO different from US History. We spent the first 2 days talking about the evolution of the different races which came to inhabit the Iberian Peninsula. I understood almost none of what the teacher was saying, but after the first few days I found people who I can sit next to (we sit where we want) that will let me copy their notes. So I understand most of it more or less. The only down side is the teacher kinda scares me (she's really intense all the time).
Ingles is hilarious. They whole english book is full of articles about Shakira or Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) and activities that any painfully easy. It's good for a laugh though and it's made me realize how stupid we all must have/do look in Spanish class. The teacher gave me permission to skip class, which I do occasionally, but I usually go because for those 50 minutes I am God.
Mates is odd. We're learning about the different types of numbers (integer, whole, rational, etc.) which I learned in the US during the first week of 9th grade. But at the same time the entire class has the quadratic formula memorized... I get most of it but the teacher has a really odd accent and is even hard to understand for the Spaniards, so I get lost easily.
Economia is probably my favorite class. The teacher is really nice (she occassionally lends me her book so I know what's going on), and I usually understand that class the easiest. The only bad thing is I completely understood one lesson and so now she has an overly-optimistic (all false) view of my Spanish skills.
Geografia sucks. I know we're talking about the different soil types throughout the Iberian Peninsula... but that's about all I understand. I mostly just look at the pictures in the book and copy whenever some shoves a paper at me and says "Luca, escriba esto. Lo necesitas."
Psicologia: where should I start? For one this is the one class that I have a male teacher for, and he is kinda temperamental. Today he got mad because people in the back were talking and he just walked out. Of course I had no idea why he walked out and was EXTREMELY confused. I also wasn't there for the first class because I had trouble figuring out where to go (actually I wasn't the only one). But none of the classrooms over here have handles on the outside. They can only be opened by key or from the inside. Anyway, he didn't let us into class. So we went to the park. It was kinda nice.
Lengua. I don't have a clue what's going on in this class, and to be honest, I've stopped caring. I basically just open my book and ignore the teacher. Not to say that I don't learn! I probably learn the most in this class because this is when I learn various slang terms/swear words. So at least I'm working on my Spanish!
Filosofia is complicated. Some days I get it, some days I don't (like today). But the teacher is what I suppose would be called our homeroom teacher or at least the Spanish equivalent. She always asks me how everything is whenever she sees me in the hall, and if I really need something I can ask her.
Anyway, that's all for now. I gotta get up in 8 hours and I still need to get ready for bed. Not to mention the fact that this Spanish business is just flat out exhausting.
Buenas noches mundo de EEUU
1) I need to organize my thoughts in English to keep from going insane
2) I have too much to say to fit in Facebook status.
3) I kinda hate writing notes on Facebook
But on to the stuff about Spain:
I'm gonna start with school because that's what I'm thinking about right now. School is... interesting. I have 8 classes: Historia de Espana, Ingles, Matematicas, Economia, Geografia, Filosofia, Psicologia, and Lengua Castellana y Literatura.
I should also say that like most schools in the world, but unlike schools in the US, I don't have the same classes everyday. The classes are 50 minutes long and all in the same room, except for geografia and psicologia which are in desdouble 4. We also have two recreos a day which are 25 and 15 minutes respectively. My schedule is as follows;
Lunes Martes Miercoles Jueves Viernes
8:30-9:20 Geografia Ingles Economia Ingles Mates
9:20-10:10 Filosofia Economia Lengua Psicologia Historia
10:10-11:00 Mates Mates Geografia Geografia Geografia
11:00-11:25 Recreo Recreo Recreo Recreo Recreo
11:25-12:15 Psicologia Historia Historia Filosofia Economia
12:15-13:05 Economia Lengua Psicologia Historia Lengua
13:05-13:20 Recreo Recreo Recreo Recreo Recreo
13:20-14:10 Lengua Psicologia Mates Mates ---
14:10=15:00 Ingles --- Filosofia Lengua ---
(Before I go any farther I am going to post this link to a translator. It's easy to use and pretty reliable. I would advise bookmarking it because I will post somethings in Spanish that I won't feel like translating for various reasons.)
Historia de Espana is SO different from US History. We spent the first 2 days talking about the evolution of the different races which came to inhabit the Iberian Peninsula. I understood almost none of what the teacher was saying, but after the first few days I found people who I can sit next to (we sit where we want) that will let me copy their notes. So I understand most of it more or less. The only down side is the teacher kinda scares me (she's really intense all the time).
Ingles is hilarious. They whole english book is full of articles about Shakira or Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) and activities that any painfully easy. It's good for a laugh though and it's made me realize how stupid we all must have/do look in Spanish class. The teacher gave me permission to skip class, which I do occasionally, but I usually go because for those 50 minutes I am God.
Mates is odd. We're learning about the different types of numbers (integer, whole, rational, etc.) which I learned in the US during the first week of 9th grade. But at the same time the entire class has the quadratic formula memorized... I get most of it but the teacher has a really odd accent and is even hard to understand for the Spaniards, so I get lost easily.
Economia is probably my favorite class. The teacher is really nice (she occassionally lends me her book so I know what's going on), and I usually understand that class the easiest. The only bad thing is I completely understood one lesson and so now she has an overly-optimistic (all false) view of my Spanish skills.
Geografia sucks. I know we're talking about the different soil types throughout the Iberian Peninsula... but that's about all I understand. I mostly just look at the pictures in the book and copy whenever some shoves a paper at me and says "Luca, escriba esto. Lo necesitas."
Psicologia: where should I start? For one this is the one class that I have a male teacher for, and he is kinda temperamental. Today he got mad because people in the back were talking and he just walked out. Of course I had no idea why he walked out and was EXTREMELY confused. I also wasn't there for the first class because I had trouble figuring out where to go (actually I wasn't the only one). But none of the classrooms over here have handles on the outside. They can only be opened by key or from the inside. Anyway, he didn't let us into class. So we went to the park. It was kinda nice.
Lengua. I don't have a clue what's going on in this class, and to be honest, I've stopped caring. I basically just open my book and ignore the teacher. Not to say that I don't learn! I probably learn the most in this class because this is when I learn various slang terms/swear words. So at least I'm working on my Spanish!
Filosofia is complicated. Some days I get it, some days I don't (like today). But the teacher is what I suppose would be called our homeroom teacher or at least the Spanish equivalent. She always asks me how everything is whenever she sees me in the hall, and if I really need something I can ask her.
Anyway, that's all for now. I gotta get up in 8 hours and I still need to get ready for bed. Not to mention the fact that this Spanish business is just flat out exhausting.
Buenas noches mundo de EEUU
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