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!
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