Mi año en Pamplona

Last Week

2005-04-12T20:14:00.000+02:00

This is it... the very last week here independently. My parents will be here next Monday! I can´t hardly wait, but then again I have mixed emotions... especially after such a good day.

Today my friend Marta asked me to eat at her house. We started walking in the wrong direction and I was like what´s goin on. She told me we had to meet another friend in a lil bar-restaurant. So I just went along. Upon entering into the bar I saw like half of my class seated at a long table ready to eat. I just figured they were eating out together when Marta turns to me and says ¨It´s for you!¨ I was totally surprised. It took a minute to register. They were all there for me as a farewell party type thing.

I didn´t know what to say. When you´re surprised you automatically are a lil short on words... well in a foreign language it´s that much harder. I felt bad because I wasn´t saying much. I just said ¨oh thank you, thank you, what a surprise.¨ They thought I knew about it, because I guess people had been talking a lil loudly about it in class, but I don´t really interest myself in side-conversations... it takes enough just to listen to the teachers talking right at me.

So anyway... I assured them I had no idea whatsoever, and that I really appreciated it. They gave me a ¨pañuelo¨ or a hankerchief that says Pamplona on it. Then we passed it around and everybody signed it. It´s gonna be such a keepsake. They really have no idea what that meant to me!

We ate a good lunch. And at the end of it I stood up and said ¨Antes de volver al colegio, quiero deciros muchas gracias. Lo agradezco muchísimo.¨ Which means, before going back to school I want to tell you all thank you very much. I appreciate it so much.

They all started clapping. I had actually prepared like a whole lil speech, but obviously I speak to slow, and couldn´t hold their attention! Anyway... I had fun showing off my lil pañuelo during the afternoon classes. I showed it to my spanish teacher, Joelle, who I seem to look at as more of a support-figure here. I always tell her things that are going on, and she listens and comments. Es muy agradable. ¨It´s really nice.¨ Then I showed it to my other spanish friends in Chloe´s grade... all of Laura´s friends.

Wow, I´m going to miss speaking spanish. I´m also going to miss the city a lil bit, and the people that I´ve made relationships with. Although I haven´t honestly made any extremely close relationships with the spanish people. They will hold a special place in my memory and heart, but I think the person I really will miss is Chloe.

We´ve really had some good times together. She´s a lot of fun. And I haven´t really had a best friend for a long time, since Hailey moved. So it´s really been fun having almost a constant companion. Chlo... I´ll miss ya! We´ll be in touch.

In fact, we´ve already decided that we´re going to Mexico over spring break or in the summer some day, to practice some spanish and stuff.

It´ll be interesting what else I miss when I get back there. I look forward to hanging out with Laura for a lil while when I get back though and talking about all of our lil adventures in each other´s lands!

Well, I will probably see you all pretty soon. I´ll be back in U-town probably by the 8th of May! I´m looking forward to it! Adios por ahora!

Happy Birthday Dad and Natalie

2005-03-28T16:56:00.000+02:00

Today my sister turns 26! I can hardly believe it. And 2 days ago my dad turned, well, maybe that information should be disclosed! :D HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU BOTH... I love you guys! You are the best... no no... not just the best... but... THE BEST! I absolutely cannot wait to you you all.

Today has been a nice relaxing day. We are still on spring break this whole week. I stayed the night at Chloe´s last night. I always like staying the night over there because her host parents don´t care how long we sleep in til. Here in my house I feel bad if I sleep past 10:30. Anyway... we didn´t do much. We watched a lil TV, Chloe talked to her parents and family on the phone and that was about it.
We slept til 11:30. I came back to Zizur in time for lunch at 2:30, did a lil planning for when my parents get here, wrote an email to my sister, then went and had a conversation in Engish with Eduardo. It was nice. We talked a long time in English then later we switched to Spanish for a bit. I really like talking with him because he´s not intimidating. He gently corrects me when i make mistakes and I correct him when he makes mistakes. Since we both know what it feels like it´s easy to talk. Then we can ask each other questions about the other language really easily since we both speak both more or less.

I just got back from that and now i don´t have any plans for the rest of the day. I think it would be fun for all the americans to get together again sometime soon, but I don know if that´ll happen. I really enjoy hanging out with them. And now that my time is slowly ending I see how much these relationships mean to me. There will be many things that i miss when I come back.

Today I emailed my parents with a few lil phrases that I though would be good for them to know when they are meeting my host families and things here. Phrases like ¨Hello¨ ¨Pleased to meet you¨ ¨It´s been a pleasure¨ ¨Goodbye¨. I gave them translations and pronunciations. I told them they should repeat the phrases daily before coming so that they will not be totally mute when they are here. We´ll see how they come along with them.

I´ve got all my things all packed up to go to my new house, but we are not moving until Wednesday, which is the 30th of March, which means I will only be in my new house for 19 days. I don´t know whether or not I should even unpack everything.

Yesterday was Easter. It hardly seems like it. No egg dying, chocolate bunnies, easter baskets or hide and seek with the eggs. It was kinda disappointing. They don´t have the easter bunny here. The people that aren´t religious don´t celebrate Easter at all. And the ones that are religious go to mass, which is what I did. Choose for yourself whether or not this is the way it should be. IT´s hard telling. One thing I can tell though is that the church needs some kind of revival over here. It´s so traditional. People can´t relate with it. It´s just boring. The family that i live with now is very modern, young, and not traditional. Because of this they can´t hardly be a part of the church. Eduardo and his family too. Although Tomás and Eduardo were brought up in a very strict catholic home.

The Spanish people are really in a rebellion right now though. They are trying to get away from EVERYthing that the Franco regime represented. It was a very harsh dictatorship through the years of the second world war. The people were very repressed and the country was nearly isolated from the rest of the world. Most movies were banned from secular messages or cleavage. People were encouraged to have large families, yet there was not enough food to feed the country. I don´t know a whole lot more about Franco´s regime. It´s really interesting and I would like to study it some more. But, my point of bringing the subject up is that the Spanish people have pulled themselves away from the church. Franco was hardcore catholic and made sure the rest of the country was too. Now that they are free to choose most of them do not practice, some, like my host dad, seem to have a titch of hate towards the church.

In the times of Franco, families would have like 10 children and they would dedicate one of 2 to the church. They would send them off to a convent or a monastery where they would spend the rest of their lives, whether according or against their will. And the rest of the children would be brought up in rigid catholic schools.

Alright I´m out of thoughts right now. Sorry I´ve just kind of rambled. I seem to do that a lot. Whatever comes to mind I type! Anyway... read the parts that interest you and skip over hte others! I´m out for now. Adios por ahora.

Lil Fact

2005-03-27T22:51:00.000+02:00

This weekend while Chloe was in Guadalajara with her host family, a girl that she met there was selling, get this, lighters.... as a fundraiser for her high school class for their end of the year trip.
Of course, she was not selling greenery, magazines, or candy.... NO... LIGHTERS, because we are in Spain. This is so typical for Spain. That gives you a lil glimpse at the difference between the conservative America to the liberal Europe. This goes for smoking (among teens, mothers, everbody) nudity, drinking, prostitutes, and porn.

It´s a whole different world over here when it comes to those things.

Happy Easter

2005-03-27T22:20:00.000+02:00

Wow... the time is really dwindling down. I´m so excited for my parents to be here. I have to force myself to stop thinkin about it so that it doesn´t go terribly slow.
Today was easter. I couldn´t really tell. They don´t do easter eggs, chocolate or anything of that sort. Although I think it was commercialized a bit (I haven´t been in the stores much) Everything has been closed since last Thursday. I have a package at the post office to pick up, but they haven´t been open this whole break.
Wednesday was our last day of school, for all schools in Spain. This week is called ¨Semana Santa¨ or ¨Holy Week¨. There have been events going on at the Cathedral every night this last week, and then there was supposed to be a big ¨parade¨type thing on Friday night, but it got rained out. I was really looking forward to it, as the Holy Week processions are fairly well-known, especially the processions or parades in Sevilla.
A bunch of people participate in the processions. There are many religious fraternities, or ¨Brothers of the Faith¨that wear costumes that resemble those of the KKK, although there is no relation whatsoever. They are big pointed masks worn to hide one´s identity, and theoretically the one behind the mask is supposed to be in mourning for his sins. They are supposed to relate to Christ and his sufferings. Some people even carry wips to hit themselves on the back, or make crowns of thorns to wear on their heads. As my host mom put it to me, it can be kind of fanatic.
Along with the men who carry these costumes they´re are many men who carry these ¨floats,¨as you might call them, down the streets. They are very very heavy, and the big ones can take up to 20 or so men to carry them. This is their act of sacrifice to God, at least in theory, once again. Chloe´s host dad helps carry the ¨Dolorosa¨ or the ¨Suffering Virgin Mary¨every year, as a family tradition passed down from father to son.
Last night I went to mass with one of Tomás´s brothers. There were two baptisms, both babies. They read a lot of scripture leading up the the death and resurrection of Jesus. It´s just like the catholic church in the US, except the all the churches here are absolutely amazing.

I was talking to Montse, my host mom, about how extravagant all the churches are here, and how in the US, most of the time there are just mere buildings. She told me that if you were to take all the gold out of the churches and all that is valuable it would be worth billions, enough to end world hunger. The church has a lot a lot of money here. She said it´s really not meant for show. Actually it is the result of so many wealthy people giving donations.

Anyway, it was a pretty interesting conversation. She was asking me about protestantism. She was wondering if Jesus was God, and very basics like that. The truth is that very few people understand Christianity the way that most do in America. It is the same God, but a totally different perspective and manner of worship.

Andalucia

2005-03-12T15:47:00.000+01:00

The trip was ¨genial¨(awesome). I had such a good time. I wish I was still there. It went so crazy fast. I think my favorite place was probably The coast, ¨La costa del Sol.¨It was so gorgeous. The mediterranean sea, the mountains in the background, a bunch of exquisite tourists´houses, the sun, and a nice hotel. It was marvelous.
Sevilla was one of my favs because of it´s building. The world´s fair was held there in 1929 therefore there are a ton of beautiful buildings, I guess you would call them Pavilions. Anyway... there is one there that belongs to the United States, other to Chile, Argentina, Brasil etc. Also the Cathedral of Sevilla was pretty impressive. It`s the 3rd largest in the world after one in Great Britain and Saint Peter´s in The Vatican ( I think that´s what it´s called).
The only thing I didn´t like about Sevilla is that there are soooooo many Americans there. Someone told me there was some 70,000 american students studying there. We ran into a lot just the 2 days that we were there. We heard English all the time walking down the streets. We went to Starbucks a couple of times. I think it was like the American hangout. We talked to a couple of girls there. One was from Ohio and the other I can´t remember. They both went to Boston University and were over here studying abroad.
For that reason I would hate to be in Sevilla for more than a weekend or so. There´s too many tourists. Ronda was the same way. A TON of americans, australians, canadians. We talked to an Australian woman who was on a 6 month vacation!! I don´t know what kind of job she had but I´m gonna have to find out. She was going to all over the place. She had been to Africa, Portugal, and she was going to go through Spain and most of Europe I think!
Granada wasn´t quite as bad with the tourists. I really enjoyed our time there because it was so warm. We got to tour the Alhambra ( muslim mosque), probably the most famous piece of Arquitecture here in Spain, mostly due to Washington Irving´s book ¨Tales of the Alhambra¨. It was pretty impressive.
Chloe and I soaked in the sun from our hotel balcony for a lil while. Then we went to the Turkish baths for an hour and a half. That was wonderful. We sat in a really big ¨Roman-style bath¨ with warm water and good smelling oils. We got about 15 minute massages each. It was all with an arabic atmosphere. It was one of my best memories of trip. Later we went to a Flamenco show for only 5 euros. It as really good. They were really talented. I really enjoyed that too.

Alrighty, well I´ve been in the house all day long. I need to get out and do something. And I need to STOP snacking! Until next time.

No school for 12 days... AMAZING

2005-02-24T19:45:00.000+01:00

Welp today was the last day of school for me for the next 12 days! I´m so excited. I got my report done and handed in, and my spanish tests done. Now I¨m home free!! I got a box of stuff all bundled up and ready to be sent off. I brought way to much stuff with me over here!! So now I´m having to send some of it home so that I can get home without paying fees the whole way for excess weight!

Anyway... someone sent me a package in the mail and I´ll get to pick it up tomorrow. I´m pretty excited about that. It´s not from my parents or my grandma or Sarah so I don´t know who it could be from.

Today was my host mom´s mom´s birthday. We went to celebrate with her. But just yesterday she was diagnosed with the onstart of Alzheimer´s disease. They new the diagnosis was coming, but it´s still gotta be pretty tough.

There are lots of birthdays coming up! My mom´s is in 3 days, (I´ve already sent her a vase that says Pamplona on it), tomorrow is Melissa Brown´s birthday (I have to remember to write her), then Derek and Penni Smith, then later at the end of March is my dad´s and my sister´s. I´ve already sent my sister a lamp that I bought when I was in France. It was pretty cute and she likes it, but I mostly bought it just to say that it was from France!

I talked to quite a few people yesterday on MSN. It sounds like everybody is transfering to Kstate next year! That´s cool. Kelsie Trotman , Ryk Belt, Zach Anderson, Brad N., and I can´t remember who else. Kelsie is getting ready to go on a mission trip to Guatemala with a group of college students in a couple of weeks. That´s really cool. I hope you have an absolutely incredible trip T!! (Kelsie´s nickname since forever because for the longest time Brady would say T in place of Kelsie)

I miss seeing everybody. Hope you are all doing great!

Got her done

2005-02-22T15:25:00.000+01:00

With a lot of help from Eduardo, (my host dad´s brother that i have english conversations with) I was able to finish translating the report on the Romans. We worked on it from 5:15 until about 10 at night. Next time I get an offer to translate something I think my answer will be no in english and no in spanish :D.

So... I think I forgot to mention that I have joined a hip'hop-funky dance class. It´s pretty fun. I´ve only gone once to the trial class, the real classes don´t start til like next week I think. Anyway... I enjoy it and it´s a good way to get some exercise.

It snowed all night and it´s freezing today. I was actually planning on running tonight but if there´s water everywhere it kinda ruins your motivation.

My mom and Derek told me that the ski trip was a good one. I heard the plumbing was down in the big cabin! Fun!! They told me about watching Napolean Dynamite together too. That´s pretty funny. I can only imagine Jason King´s imitations :D Wish I coulda been there for that one.
Alright well it´s Tuesday so I´m off to school again for the afternoon. Then Chloe and I are going to the bus station to change the time on our bus ticket for on the way back because Rotary emailed us and told us that we needed to stay in Madrid until 6 in the evening. I have no idea why, but anyway... until next time

ONE WEEK TIL THE TRIP!!

2005-02-20T18:56:00.000+01:00

Ahh... I´m so excited! It´s gonna be so great. I get to miss final exams this trimester too! It´s perfect timing. Last time they were pretty stressful, the exams. School is sooo much more difficult over here. They study so much.
Right now I´m translating a paper over the Roman Theories on Law for a friend. I have 6 pages to translate by Tuesday! It´s probably not going to happen. He has the other 6. It´s difficult though. It´s a crazy assignment. It´s hard for me to understand it and it´s in English! I don´t know what this teacher is smokin, but it´s way to hard for this guy to translate in a week. ¡Qué barbaridad! As we say here. (How barbarious!)

I´ve been working on that all day. And thinking about how my parents and half the church is in Colorado skiing! How lucky. I wish I could be with you all! Hope you´re having great weather and lots of fun!

Last night Chloe and I went out to eat with 2 of the other american girls. We ate chinese again, my choice. It´s SOO good. I think I´ve had my fill of it though now. I ate so much. Then Chloe and I went back to her house and watched Matrix. IT was pretty late though and I kept falling asleep. Anyway... I had to catch the night bus at 1 in the morning to come back to Zizur and I was kinda freaked out when this lil mexican dude came by while I was waiting at the bus stop and was like ¨hola señorita how often does the bus come by here... and more details about the bus. Then he was like ¨ how about we go to a lil bar over here to get out of the rain and wait on the bus¨ I was like no thanks. And he was like ok I´m inviting you but I guess you just don´t want to. I was like I have to wait for the bus and it´s coming any second.

Anyway I was really relieved when he started walking away and didn´t come back. It was a lil freaky though. He was a lil guy though, I coulda taken him if I had to :D

I´m sitting here listening to some good ol songs from a while back. They bring back so many memories. Ever since I have been here I´ve been like a flashback freak. Everything brings back a good memory, especially songs. It´s pretty cool though.

Tomorrow it´s back to school... and i still haven´t gotten that report written. I have the header on the final draft and that´s about it! Ahh.. I´m never gonna get it done.

oh homesickness

2005-02-16T18:50:00.000+01:00

Here lately I´ve been a little more homesick. I don´t know why. I think it´s because I´ve been focusing too much on when my parents come and thinking about how I only have 2 months left. Then also the trip to the south I´ve been waiting around for, so I can´t motivate myself to do anything at school, and it´s always at school when I get homesick. Everybody has their lil group of friends and it can be a lil sad at times to be the outsider.

I¨m also really ansy for my sister´s wedding. I really miss her! Even though we didn´t see each other much, we always had so much fun together. Nat I miss you! I can´t wait to see you again! I miss your laugh. You always laugh at my jokes whether they are funny or not. Thanks:D I appreciate it.

I´ve been thinking about how little time I have left and how I should start cramming the Spanish now! I haven´t learned enough! Although I understand pretty much everthing as long as they don´t talk to fast or about complicated things. I don´t understand my economy teacher still. And I don´t follow the TV very well still. But they talk pretty fast. I´ve come a long way, but there is just sooo much to learn in a language!

I always structure the sentences in my head before I talk, at least all the times that I have time to do it. I really need to get past this stage! And I always write reports in English first, then in Spanish. I should get rid of that habit too.

Oh well, I suppose I shouldn´t worry about it. I plan on taking spanish classes in college, and hopefully get a minor in it.

It´s amazing how time flies. Although in the beginning I wouldn´t have told you that. The first few months are fairly long, but after that it really starts to speed up. December and January I swear didn´t even happen!

Wow, I can´t believe I´m here sometimes. I´m an exchange student. It´s so wierd. I´ve always been on the other side meeting exchange students that come to my school. To be the exchange student is something else.

Christmas conversation

2005-02-16T18:33:00.000+01:00

The other night Montse (my host mom... her name is french... it comes from Montserrat) and I had a lil conversation about Christmas. We started out talking about Valentine´s Day and how they don´t celebrate it much over here. It´s really only popular among girlfriend-boyfriends. I told her in the States usuallyI would buy gifts for all my friends, and you don´t necessarily have to have a boyfriend to get a gift.

I explained to her that everybody send the gifts to the school and the cafeteria is super full with over 100 gifts. They seemed pretty indifferent. Then she said that that was a huge difference that she´s noticed between the American culture and the rest of the world. We are so excessive in how many material gifts that we give for Christmas, for birthdays, for Valentine´s day etc. She said that here during Christmas they focus on the poor and it´s a time when a lot of people take the poor into their homes to eat a good meal. And they get together with family to sing songs together (she plays the guitar a little) and find other ways of having fun without spending so much money. Igor (who thinks he knows everything, and reminds us of it almost daily) explains how it´s a gobernmental scam... they advertise so big to help the economy, which I´m sure is true.

Anyway... they only give 1 gift, and they don´t buy for relatives. Like this Christmas Igor got a tiny little memory card for Christmas. When Igor and his sister were younger they wrote not to bring a gift on the invitations so that the kids woudn´t have to worry their mothers about getting a gift. ANd Montse was talking about how you collect so many things that just sit around the house, which is definitely true. But... on the other hand they don´t lack anything around here. Igor has his own computer, I have my own computer, they have Canal Plus TV and a lot of nice things, but then they don´t have a bunch of junk everywhere. In truth they don´t have run for things like that like we do in America. Their little apartments don´t hold quite the capacity as our american homes.

I really like this culturalism. We really do overdo the presents thing in America, although I enjoy it, at times it is kind of a dread to get things you don´t want, and then the guilt factor too that you´re getting so much and the name you pulled off the ¨Angel tree¨ at school will be glad to have a box of crayons. And we take the focus off the purpose of Christmas.

Montse was right. There wasn´t much I could say except that she was right. Looking at America from the outside really makes me realize how materialistic we are!

Welp... until next time

The Basque People

2005-02-14T16:25:00.000+01:00

The Basque people are a small sector of people that live here in the north of Spain. They actually have their own province called País Vasco (Basque country literally). They have their own language, they own culture, a crooked sense of humor, and a different look about them in comparison with the spaniards. They also claim to be one of the oldest societies that´s still around today(my dad did a little research on them and told me that they claim that their people were around since the neanderthal days) and one of the oldest languages too. The language is nothing like Spanish... it´s really wierd.

Because of their deep roots, they claim that all of Spain´s territory actually belongs to them, and because of this they continue to fight for their own country apart from Spain.

They have many protests, both peaceful and violent. I´ve seen a few down in the old part. Usually they are holding signs up of family members that have been detained for their acts of protest. Then there are the radicalist Basque groups like ETA, I think it´s called, that was suspected as the cause for the train bombings last year. They have had many violent protests in the past, and even since I´ve been here there has been one that I know of, actually just a couple days after I was in the little town, Santillana del Mar, where it took place.

Anyway... there is definitely a lot of tension, so much actually that it´s not safe to wear shirts with the Spanish flag on them. At the beginning, Chloe and I really wanted some of those shirts and we were told that we would have to go down to the South to get them.

Most of the basque people seem to be pretty intregrated into the Spanish society though. Just like Chloe´s new host dad, he is Basque, but her mom is Spanish. And Anna´s old host parents that live in Mutilva are Basque but speak both languages and get along well with both cultures.

There is a Basque store called Kuxkuxmuxu. It´s really popular here in Spain. It´s Basque. And this is how I know they have a wierd sense of humor. They sell some of the wildest things, most of which has a satirical sexual connotation. You´d just have to see them. I sent my parents a Kuxkuxmuxu postcard. It´s a cow with a skirt on, standing on it´s hind legs over a vent imitating the famous Marilyn Monroe pose. It´s about the only clean one I could find.

From just the look of it, it kind of seems like a little kids store. All of the items are bright colors with cartoon like figures on them, but the actual message is definitely for adults.

Anyway... that´s about all I have on that topic.

Another beloved Monday

2005-02-14T16:06:00.000+01:00

Monday is always a bit of a drag. I just think about how many times I´ll have language class this week, and how I need to get this book report done for my teacher! She had me read a fairly well-known piece of spanish literature called ¨Réquiem por un campesino español.¨ (in spanish they never capitalize all the letters in a header or title, only the first word) Ya... that´s right, I´m past the 7-8 year old books. But... I didn´t quite understand the whole thing. So now I´m dreading writing the report, I may have totally misunderstood it. Hopefully it´ll come out better than I think.

Anyway... the soccer game was pretty entertaining last night. I really enjoyed it. The crowd was absolutely wild though! They are some hardcore fans over here. My host family had warned me before going that the people were pretty agressive, but it was pretty wild to see it in person.

First I sat down in the very front row. It was an excellent seat. It´s normally Igor´s but he let me have it this one time. I sat by a dude that I think was half drunk or something, and he kept a cigarrette in his mouth the whole time. When I got my video camera out and started recording I was talking in English. He looked at me and was like ¨huh?¨ So I had to explain to him that I was American. He was pretty amazed for some reason.

But anyway... every other word out of his mouth was ¨puta¨ ¨joder¨ ¨no me jodas¨ or ¨maricón,¨you all don´t need the exact translations for those, but their the worst ones in the book. It wasn´t just these guys... oh no... later I went up where my host dad was at and sat by an older woman probably in her 50´s, and an older guy that had to keep apologizing to me for his language! It was pretty crazy. They had all their little chants too. They were super rowdy. Worse than I´ve ever seen.

In spite of the wild atmosphere I would like to go to another one. Soccer seems to be growing on me the longer I´m here. It´s so popular here. Oh... and I got David Beckham on video. I decided my favorite player was N. Morales, his number is 18, he´s black, and plays for Osasuna. The team here in Pamplona. Osasuna actually means ¨the health¨in Basque.

Basque... that´s a whole other topic.

Real Madrid Soccer Game

2005-02-13T15:05:00.000+01:00

I´m going to watch a Real Madrid soccer game today!!! How exciting. I´ll get to see Beckham and all the famous soccer guys. I´ve never been to a professional soccer game. It will be an experience. I´m gonna take my video camera.

Yesterday Chloe and I went out to eat with all of Laura´s friends. They are so super sweet. We had chinese food. It was so good! Even better than the Chinese food in American that I´ve had. Mom, dad, grandma... we are going there to eat one time while you all are here! I think you´ll really like it. It was really reasonable priced and fast service too.

2 weeks from today til the Rotary trip to the South!!!

The 5 day weekend

2005-02-10T21:03:00.000+01:00

This weekend was pretty busy and pretty fun. We didn´t have school last Friday, Monday or Tuesday. Friday I went skiing in the Pyrenees!!! It was awesome. I went with 2 of my host dad´s brothers (he has 8 I think). A little different from the church youth group, but they are a lot of fun. Eduardo, my host dad´s younger brother, is the one that drove me there and provided me with skis and all the equipment. I didn´t have to rent anything. I just had to pay for the lift ticket. It cost me 29 euros. Not bad.
Eduardo is a fireman, and he has a really great schedule. He works for about a week a month. He goes and stays all night at the fire station for a few days at a time. But right now he´s on break. He had all last month off and all this one too I believe. It seems like a pretty great job. He must get paid pretty well too. He has two houses, one in the moutains and one here in Zizur. Also, we meet every Monday to have a conversation in English. He is in his 3rd year of learning English and is trying really hard to get it down.
Since he´s a fireman I´ve told him all about my cousin Josh and showed him the lil magazine that my mom sent me on the fire department where my cousin works. It was funny because there were a bunch of fat guys in there. Here it´s a whole other story. Eduardo runs everyday for an hour, he works out a lot and stays in tip top shape as do the rest of the firemen here. Anyway...
His other brother that I went with works in Law. I´m not sure exactly what he does, but Montse told me that he is on the TV some and pretty important. He was a really nice guy. He has a daughter that knows English perfectly and went to the Olympic games as a translator.

So, the place where we went was called Candanchú. One thing that I noticed in comparison with the Colorado Mountains, is that the Pyrenees (at least where we skiied) where really rocky and had little plant life. They were absolutely gorgeous though. I think they were prettier than the one in Colorado, or maybe just different. I´m not sure.
I told Jose Carlos (the other brother that I went with) that we ski every year in Colorado, and he told me that the slopes in Colorado are supposed to be the best in the world. Just a lil facto for ya.

There was an accident while we were there. A guy was trying to be risky and skiied right straight into the rocks. He hit his head and was unconcious for at least 5 minutes. He was bleeding from the head and screaming bloody murder when I saw him. But I think he´s alright now.
Anyway... then Sunday Chloe and I got together with all the other american girls here in Pamplona and watched the Superbowl from midnight until 5 in the morning. It was pretty fun. Monday night we went Chloe, Kalin, Kat, and I went out. Not for long though because apparently Monday isn´t exactly the happened day to go out! :D We walked through the old part of town. THere was absolutely nobody! It was kinda cool to see it that way because it´s always so full of people.

WE went back to school Wednesday, and I had a test that I wasn´t exactly expecting. I forgot (or never realized, which seems to happen often because the language barrior) that we were having a math test. I always space out and starting thinking about something else in English of course, and I totally lose what they are talking about. It´s so hard to stay focused, because you have to focus so hard to catch everything they say. I´ve kinda picked the classes that I listen in according to which teachers are most interesting and talk the slowest!

Today I had a philosophy test. I got smart and asked my friends when the next philosophy test was. Good thing because it was the next day.
I think I did alright. It was on Descartes. I studied a lot about his ¨Method¨theory and not enough on the other stuff, but oh well. I still really enjoy that class.

Alright, I´m out for now. Hasta Luego

Trip to the South

2005-02-10T20:36:00.000+01:00

Ahh!! I´m starting to get excited for the Rotary trip to the South!! I think I already mentioned it in my last entry. The Rotary in Madrid (there are only 2 Rotary clubs in Spain) has organized a trip for all of the exchange students here in Spain.

On February 28th we are going to Trujillo by bus and visiting Cáceres

The 1st Cáceres and Mérida
The 2nd Mérida and Córdoba
The 3rd Córdoba and Sevilla!! (Sevilla is supposed to be one of the prettiest places in Spain)
The 4th Sevilla
The 5th Sevilla and Ronda-Pueblos Blancos and Costa del Sol
The 6th Granada (Where the Alhombra is at that Ernest Hemingway wrote a book about)
The 7th Granada
THe 8th Granada and Ubeda and back to Madrid

Just 17 days away and we´ll be off!!

I also got the trip planned for when my parents come. Ana Lacalla has been helping me get it all planned out. We went to the travel agency here in Pamplona Tuesday and then again today. Tomorrow I´m going back to lay down the money!
We decided to spend 4 nights here in Pamplona to start with. Then we plan on going to Madrid for a few days and flying from Madrid to Paris. We´ll stay a few days in Paris, see the sights, then fly to Rome for a couple of days. We´re flying back to Madrid and going down to Sevilla by train. Then back to Pamplona. I´m pretty pumped about it. It´s a really good deal too, because the Paris and Rome package is through a company that organizes trips through Europe. They are providing many activities for us and all the transportation. It´s gonna be great.

So much for the writing more!

2005-02-09T20:12:00.000+01:00

Sorry for my long silence! I suppose I´ve been busy.

Everything is still going really well. Right now I´m studying for a philosophy test over Descartes. It´s interesting and all, but a lil hard to get motivated to study anything right now. I´m am just so excited for the next couple months!! It should be great.

In 17 days we are going to the South!! I cannot wait. It´s a trip that Rotary has organized for all the exchange students here in Spain. We´ll be gone from Feb. 27th (also my mom´s birthday, super important too:D) until March 8th. The best part is that we´ll be missing all that school! And it´s gonna be so gorgeous down there. We´ll get to see Granada, Sevilla, Caceras, and more. Almost all the exchange students are going too.

Then we´ll get back and a couple weeks later we have a break for Semana Santa that lasts until April. Then April 18th my parents and grandma are coming. We are in the process of planning our trip. First they are flying into Pamplona, and we´ll spend 4 days here, and one of those days we´ll pry go to San Sebastian, then to Madrid. We´d like to go to Paris and Rome too while we´re here in Europe. It´s a lil complicated though because trains don´t pass borders. We´re getting it all figured out though. It´ll be awesome.

Then I´ll be coming home before I know it. I´m going to go ahead and just fly back with my parents on May 6th or 7th. I can´t remember. I have mixed feelings about that, of course. I´m ready to be back with my family and christians, honestly. But I´m growing attached to ol Spain. It´s a pretty great place I do believe.

I think I´ll look back at this year and just be in awe, for the rest of my life. First of all that I brought myself over here! Still can´t believe that I didn´t back out. Then just at how amazing it was to be living in a different country, learning spanish, the culture, the people, the city life. I´ve become so much more independent. I know that for a fact. I´ve become a lot better with dirrections too. I know this city fairly well for a small'town kansan.

I don´t know what I¨m going to do when I get back. I´d like to get a job where I can use my spanish a lot. That shouldn´t be too tough since half the population in Ulysses is hispanic. The spanish will be slightly different and I will have to learn how to use Usted and Ustedes more.

I´m still planning on going to ACU. I´m pretty much sold on it from all the good things that I have heard about it from Shasta, Jessica, Lexi, Barry, and whoever else. I want to follow in the path of some of the people that I admire most. It has to be a good school to draw in such great people.

I don´t know what I want to study at this point. Although, I seem to always go back to my dream of working with abandoned babies in like an abandoned baby shelter in a foreign country. That, to me, would be the most rewarding thing I could do in my life. For that reason I want to be a nurse or something in medicine. Even if one of my least favorite subjects is chemistry.

Anyway... we´ll see! I should sign off for now, and try to focus on Descartes. Such fun. Adiós por ahora amigos míos.

Changing Families

2005-01-09T16:27:00.000+01:00

Thursday we spent most of the day changing houses. It was a lil sad at the time, leaving Chloe and everything I was used to. It kind of reminded me of my last day in the states too (never a real settling memory, it was a tough day). But I´m really glad that we´ve done it.

Things are going really great. My new family is awesome. They are so sweet and warm. I have a brother too, for the first time in my life. It´s a little different I suppose. He speaks decent English too I think. He hasn´t said much in English, but once when I didn´t understand the question he helped me out by trying to explain it in English.

I´ve understood mostly everything that they have said. They all speak really clearly and fairly slow too, which a relief. The dad is a physical therapist for handicapped people. Pretty cool job. He travels a lot too. He´s seen about the whole world. He went to the olympics in Athens to work I believe. He´s been to the US, and everywhere else you can think of. He told me he liked them all, but some that he talks about more are Ireland, and the beauty of Argentina.

He´s also tried the foods of every different country. He says the absolute worst is the English, in England. I guess their main meal is breakfast. They eat a ton for breakfast, and then for lunch one of the favorites is a cucumber sandwich! How tasteless! Also they have pastels that may look absolutely delicious with strawberries on top, but then on the inside they´ll have fish or something wild. Anyway... then he deemed American food as the second worse! I hear what he´s saying though. We just have a bit of everything. That´s our style. I think it´s good.

He believes some of best are the french and the japanese. I´m excited though because Montse, my new host mom, and Igor, my new host brother, really like Mexican food!! They are excited for me to make Mexican food for them.

I really like the meals we´ve had so far. Montse is a good cook. She´s really sweet too. She gave me a great idea for a wedding gift for my sister. I can´t tell you all though because my sister reads this too!

So... they have a daughter living in Arizona right now. She´s just 16. I guess it was pretty tough at first, but things are going well for her now. Montse told he she had gained a lot of weight too, like every foreigner that goes to America.

Probably one of the best things about this house is that I have my own computer in my room!! And it has DSL. Tomás, my new host dad, and I set up my webcam, and last night I was able to talk to my parents are MSN and see them too!!

I can´t think of anything else at the moment. I´ll probably be writing a bit more now with this easy access to the internet, but I´m not guaranteeing anything.

Cars

2005-01-03T22:29:00.000+01:00

Well, last night over supper Vicente, Ana, Chloe, and I had a good lil conversation over cars. We started out talking about how Laura was wanting her mom to send her a swimsuit, and her mom was saying how it would be so much cheaper for her just to buy one over there. So they were asking me where she could get one. I said probably not in Ulysses, but in Garden City. I told them it was about an hour away, but a lot of people go there to shop.
Vicente asked how she could get there: ¨Are there regular buses that run there? Is there a train?¨ He absolutely could not believe that you had to have your own car to get there. I told him that pretty much everyone has a car. He didn´t believe me. He was like ¨Not everyone has a car! For one, Laura doesn´t have a car.¨ I told him that your parents take you then, but most kids my age drive. I guess here they have buses that run regularly from Pamplona to the little towns that surround it, Peralta, Caparroso, and places like that.
Then Chloe told him that her family has 6 cars, and I told him that we have quite a few too. He was flabbergasted. He said... ¨That is not possible. There´s not enough space to park them all. If everybody has that many cars.¨He refused to believe this because here it is not possible. There are not gi-normous parking lots here like we have in America, and most families only have one car. There´s honestly just not parking space. And... get this... It costs 2,000 Euros to get a driver´s license. UNBELIEVABLE for me, AND, you can´t drive until you´re 18, but most 18 year olds don´t have that kind of money, so they have to work for a couple years just to be able to afford a driver´s license!
Anyway... so he continued with asking me how older people got around. I said.. .well they drive a car. Both he and Ana couldn´t believe that older people drove, because none of the older people here drive. They didn´t grow up with cars even, probably. They said that all of the older people are fearful of driving. Both of their moms are scared of driving, and it´s really just not necessary.They were surprised that my grandma drove. Then I thought about that, and maybe they do have a point. No... I´m just joking with you grandma! Because everything is crunched together here, and there is so much public transportation, it´s alright to be without a car. I went on to tell him that only in the cities is there more public transportation.
Then I asked him about Taxis here. They are not used near as much as in the cities in the US. I Then I said that it´s customary to tip them too, as well as in restaurants. I guess here tipping is not customary.
Here sooo many people live in the city. About every building is a tall apartment building. And they all live in fairly small apartments, so the norm is to only have one car, because there are simply too many people living in the city, there is not enough space for everyone to own a car. It was an interesting conversation, quite fun actually. It was funny, Vicente thinks it´s so stupid that we don´t have buses. I told him he should move over there and start up a business.

To my church family

2004-12-30T22:57:00.000+01:00

Dear church family,
Thank you sooo much for all of your Christmas greetings on the video that Sarah made for me for Christmas. It was awesome!!! I loved it so much. It was so much fun to see all of your smiling faces! It really made my Christmas here special. It will be a tape that I will cherish for many years... whether you like it or not David Higgins. Thanks for bom chica bom bom. It was quite entertaining. And you Ma and Pa Steele... don´t worry I´ll be home soon. Just hang in there. And to you all, thank you for taking the time to do that. I really appreciate it. Can´t wait to see you all in person!!
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

La Navidad

2004-12-26T20:52:00.000+01:00

Navidad means Christmas...

Well, it´s been a little different Christmas here in ol España, but it´s been good. We got out of school my birthday, the 22nd, and we have until January 10th. We have quite a few days. It´s nice. Although I have a lot of tests the week I go back.
The big holidays here are Nochebuena (Christmas Eve), Christmas day, and the Day of the Kings or Magi which is celebrated on January 6th. For Nochebuena we went to Peralta and made the rounds. We went by all of Vicente´s relative´s houses in Peralta, and wished them a Merry Christmas. This is a custom here, to make visits to your relatives.
Then we went to Vicente´s parents house. They are sooo sweet. Her name is Angela and his name is Vicente too. Vicente´s brother was there, as well as his sister and her family. They´re definitely the small side of the family. There are a lot more people on Ana´s side of the family.

We basically just ate supper. We had shrimp, fritos (cheese and ham fried together), then fish, then sopa de navidad (it´s like cinammon pie), and turrones (chocolates). Then we sat around the table until about 11pm just talking. Then we exchanged gifts, around the table, not around the Christmas tree. They each got about 1 gift each, but Chloe and I got a lot because our host mom bought us a lot of gifts. Gifts are not as big here as in the states. Laura and Alicia couldn´t believe all the gifts they received.

Then we played some bingo and headed home about 1:15, to be in bed at 2, then we went back the next morning to go to mass in Peralta and eat together again. Mass was pretty. I really enjoyed the Spanish Christmas Carols. They´re different from ours. We stopped by Caparroso, where all of Ana´s family was gathered. We just sat in the living room and talked. They like to talk.

Chloe and I had our little celebration on Christmas morn. We put on the Christmas tunes sat on our beds and opened all the gifts from our family in the states. It was a lot of fun. Thank you family for everything!

Probably the coolest thing that happened during Christmas was meeting a Friar. For me that was super exciting. Vicente´s mom, Angela´s cousin is a friar. His name was Antonio. He came in dressed in his black uniform, and he just lit up the room. He was such a cool person. He talked to Chloe and I a lot. He had been to the US 7 or 8 times, once to Kansas City. So we talked about Kansas and American foods and things like that. Then we went with him to the monastery and he gave us a tour of the place. It was really really cool. I thought. There were some 40 friars that lived there, and they had quite a few students studying there to become priests. It was really pretty. They had a library of literally half a million books. He was a very inteligent man I could tell.
Anyway... it started to snow a little bit last night! That was exciting. There´s not usually snow on Christmas here. And it snowed some more today. We didn´t do much. We just relaxed, then we went to Andrea´s house for a little while. There were a ton of people there from my grade. She´s a friend of mine, and I´m going out with her on new year´s eve. It´s a custom here in Pamplona to wear a costume and got out all night on New Year´s just walking the streets. I guess there are a ton of people that do it. So we are making our costumes. We are going to be snails! Pretty original. They are looking pretty cute. It´ll be fun to go out together. It´ll be really cold though, and all night will be tough for me. I love my sleep. There´s about 7 of us that are going as snails. It´ll be fun.

France

2004-12-22T18:52:00.000+01:00

Last sunday we went to France! Wow that sounds so cool. I can´t believe that I went to France. IT was really cool to hear constant French. It´s such a pretty language. That was definitely the main difference. We went to a place called Bayonne. It´s on the Cantabrican coast, real close to Spain. So, the landscape didn´t change much. The buildings were mostly the same. They had a little French touches to them in the windows and shudders.
We went to Galleries Lafayette, which is like El Corte Englés here in Spain. They are the closest things to a big American store like Dillards. We went into a pretty cathedral. They were having mass. It was cool, all in French. The French are mostly Catholic too, just like the Spanish.
I bought a couple things there. They are going to be gifts, but I haven´t decided for who yet! It´ll be really cool to be able to say ¨Ya it´s from France!¨ Anyway... I´m not meaning to sound like I´m bragging!
We went to the coast. It was super-pretty. There were a lot of big rocks on the shore, but then there were sand shores too. There was a dude bathing in the water too! It was freezing outside, I can´t imagine what it was like in the water... well actually I can. We went out on a bridge thing and watched the waves come in. The water was pretty active. I didn´t realize that it was splashing so high. Well, as we were walking away from the farthest point on the bridge the water just soaked the back of us. Chloe, Ana, and I were soaked. It was so stinking cold. It was pretty funny though. Our trip was basically finished after that. We had to bear wet clothes all the way home.
It was about an hour and a half, only an hour to the border. The border is nothing. There was a 2 euro toll and nothing more. We just drove right through.
I really wanted to buy some things there, but at the beginning I was really nervous about it. I didn´t know any French. I took a half a year in high school, but that doesn´t get you very far. So anyway I was just checking out prices talking to Chloe in English. The guy was like ¨I can talk to you in English.¨I was so excited! I hadn´t gotten to talk English with anybody other than Chloe for a long time. I asked if he spoke Spanish too, and he said yes. So we spoke a little of that too! He also spoke Thai, because he lived in Thailand for a while. He was like my role-model!
Chloe had a real French croissant. She said it was delicious. I wasn´t hungry, so I passed. We brought food from home, so we didn´t eat an French cuisine. I think my host parents wanted to avoid the French barrier. They don´t have that problem when they´re daughters are home. Both Laura and Alicia know French, because our school specializes in teaching French. I think I already wrote about that. The lady who is teaching me Spanish is French. It´s kind of ironic. But it´s fun. Anytime I have questions about France I can ask her. She grew up there. Sometimes she forgets what she´s teaching Chloe and I, and she´ll just start rattling off French.
Anyway... it was a really cool trip. Now I can say I´ve been to France! Hopefully I´ll get to go back before I return to the US.

Feliz Cumpleaños a mí!!

2004-12-22T18:00:00.000+01:00

Today is my birthday!! 19 years old! I can´t believe it. And most of my friends will be turning 20 in a few months! We are getting so old!
Anyway... it´s been a really good day so far, and the party hasn´t even begun. First I was woken up by my mom on the phone. She sang Happy Birthday to me. It was a great way to start the day. Thank you mom... and congratulations, you were the first one to wish me a Happy Birthday at 7:15 this morning.
On the walk to school I was a thinking about how I hadn´t told anyone that it was my birthday, so it was probably going to be just like any other day. Then I was thinkin about at home how all my friends would know it was my birttle did I know that Marta had remembered, from a long time ago, when I told her that it was my birthday, and she told the whole class. So when I got to class everybody yelled ¨Felicidades!¨ Then they all came up to me and gave me kisses on both cheeks, the custom here. There were probably 15 right in a row that gave me kisses. I was just like ¨gracias, gracias, gracias.¨ It was great. It really made my day.
Then later we did have geography class because our teacher, Mary Cruz, didn´t show up. It was nice. I had some good conversations with people, and four girls from my class gave me some chocolates that they got from Germany with a really sweet letter just telling me that they were glad I am here. It really meant a lot to me.
We got out an hour early since it was the last day of school before Christmas vacation. Now we have 18 days!!! I am so happy. For lunch we ate my favorite dishes, ensaladilla Rusa (Russian salad) and San Jacobo (Fried meat with cheese in it). We lit candles, which is a custom here as well, she put 9 on there for 19! That´s when you know you´re getting old. It was not like a real American cake, although it was good. It was just a tart with chocolate on top.
After that I opened up the gift my host mom got for me. She did really good. It was really nice. It was a turtleneck sweater, blue and off-white, then a silver bracelet, and a siver ring with a white marble stone.
Sarah called and wished me a Happy Birthday. Thank you Sarah. Then my sister like 2 minutes later, thank you Natalie. Then my mom and dad like 2 seconds after that. Thank you all very much! My parents were in Amarillo fighting the icy roads. Laura got on a plane there today to go to Washington to celebrate Christmas with he sister at Chloe´s house. How exciting she must be!

Anyway... now I am just waiting around til 7. All the American exchange students here in Pamplona are coming over. We´re just going to eat, open some presents, and see a movie. I am looking forward to it.
Oh ya, and i received a lot of really nice emails too. Thank you for remembering me Mel!! It was great to hear from you. And thank you Hay for the letter the other day! It was a great surprise! I will get you written back here soon.
Thanks Dees for the Christmas greeting! And Shirley, you are such a sweetheard.
the letter the other day! It was a great surprise! I will get you written back here soon.
Thanks Dees for the Christmas greeting! And Shirley, you are such a sweetheard.

Hoy es mi Cumpleaños!!

2004-12-22T16:59:00.000+01:00

Wow... I can´t believe I´m 19! I am so old. It´s so crazy that some many of my friends will be turning 20 in a few months! We are getting so old!
Well it´s been a good one so far. There have been a lot of good surprises. First my mom woke me up and sang me Happy Birthday. Congratulations mom, you were the first one at 7:15 this morning. Then Chloe told me Happy Birthday. I was thinking on the walk to school how it would be sad going into that school and not seeing my friends who know it´s my birthday. I hadn´t told hardly anyone, so I figured it would be just like any other day. I was so wrong! My friend Marta remembered from when I told her like a month ago (pry because it´s her brother´s birthday too). And another girl, Andrea, who just got back from Germany on an exchange had remembered from like the first day of school when I told her.

Fast Facts

2004-12-17T19:58:00.000+01:00

First time Santa Claus made an appearance in Spain, 1970´s (Not to bring gifts, but as a symbol of Christmas)

The girls my age wear less makeup and the girls 15 and under don´t wear makeup at all usually

Scarves are more common on guys

Lots of people take walks or job in the evening... I mean LOTS of people

You never leave the house without looking ready to face the world. Most everybody stays up on the fashion. They don´t wear comfy sweatshirts or T-shirts. But at home you´re always comfy. Right when my host parents get home they change clothes, then when they´re about to go out again they change back into their nice clothes.

Fur coats are extremely popular here. Every woman over 30 seems to have one.

Women wear their wedding ring on the right hand ring finger instead of the left.

Women do not take their husband´s name when they get married, but the kids do. The kids often take both names, often dropping the mom´s.

Lots of the older men wear boinas (painter hats) and women too

All my teachers wear a white doctor-like coat over their regular clothes

They have many Americanisms... franchises like McDonald´s, KFC, Pizza Hut, Burger King (although not near as popular as in the US), I´ve seen one Footlocker, Tommy Hilfiger, Billabong, Polo, all our Hollywood productions, lots of our music, MTV España, Fresh Prince of Belaire, The Flintstones, The Simpsons... of course all in Spanish.

People wear lots of shirts with American writing on them.

They write ¨stop¨on their stopsigns

You see Fords and Chryslers

They have different models of Toyota, and then they don´t have a lot of the models that we have in the US. And they have a lot of dealerships that we don´t have in America.

Scarves around the neck are very popular

Sports in college is incomprehensible to Spaniards. My host mom couldn´t believe we had sports in universities... universities are for studying.

¨Guau¨is how they pronounce and spell ¨Wow¨

They say ¨super¨a lot for emphasis... like super cool, super nice etc.

I hear Estados Unidos (United States) a lot at school and in general--- we are a very powerful and influential country

Spaniards DO NOT know how to make desserts... their desserts are horrible. American KNOW how to make desserts. This my friends is the reason we are known as the obese country.

Although we are powerful and influential... nobody seems to have a whole lot of respect for us because they interpret the US according to our media, cuz that is what they see. And they don´t really like how we took all their property from them... most recent, Cuba.

Mexican Food

2004-12-12T13:34:00.000+01:00

As you Ulyssians know, Mexican food is a big part of our lives. Ever since I arrived here I have been craving Alejandros and Chito. Many people don´t actually know the difference between Spain and Mexico. I think some people think that Spain is situated right below Mexico or something. But let me tell you, they are NOT THE SAME, especially the food. The Mexicans like lots of fat, grease, and taste. The Spaniards like vegetables, fish, and wine. There´s quite a difference here.
So yesterday Chloe and I went to the mall that just opened last month. It was actually like a real American mall. It was great. I didn´t get anything but groceries though, at the English Court. I bought avocados, lemon juice, hot sauce, chips, an Old El Paso kit, and well, cereal, of course. Right when we got home I went to work. I peeled and mashed the avocados, by hand I might add. It was a little tough. I cut them in small pieces with a knife, then continued mashing with a fork. Chloe then came in after about 20 minutes of my hard laboring and pulled out something like a blender. I didn´t know what the thing was. Anyway... I´ll be sure to use that next time. All the hard work was worth it though. I got to eat guacamole and chips and hot sauce!! It was delicious. Although I don´t think my measurements were all right. It still tasted good to me. I think Ana and Vicente are scared to try it.
Alright we´re going to Peralta today to celebrate Vicente´s brother´s birthday so I have to jet.
Have a Holly Jolly Christmas Season!!

Thanksgiving

2004-12-12T13:21:00.000+01:00

Por fin! (Finally)
This is the 3rd time that I have tried to write this blog this morning. This computer keeps shutting down on me. Anyway... I´ve finally gotten around to writing about Thanksgiving. As you probably should know the Spaniards do not celebrate the Pilgrims eating with the Indians. It´s American. But, Chloe and I got lucky. One of the other exchange students, Anna, that we hang out with some is living with a family that lived in the US for several months. They have all the good ol American recipes, and they invited us over to celebrate with them.
It wasn´t quite like the Thanksgivings that I´m used to, but it was a lot of fun. The food was really good. Anna made sweet patatoe casserole... that stuff was really good. Then we had turkey, patatoes, salad (no salad dressing just olive oil) bread and stuffing. We still did things in 3 courses, as is the Spanish way. We had primero, segundo, and postre. For postre, dessert, we had pumpkin pie! Oh man it was soo good.
Anna´s host family is really nice. They are big into golf, so that´s basically all they talked to me about. He was telling me all about some tournament. I didn´t really understand everything he was saying. The whole family speaks English really well though, and Basque, and, of course, Spanish. Except for the great aunt. She is 80 some years old. She is crazy. She cracks me up though. She´s not quite all there, and she likes to complain a lot. She was fun though. Anna has been teaching her English words like milk and water, it´s pretty funny seeing her try to pronounce the er on water and the k on milk.
Afterwards we all loaded up in their big green van and went to the Bolera, Bowling Alley. By the way I won. I didn´t have much competition, but I won.
It was kinda hard being away from my family. I have to admit that I cried over the phone. I was sucking them back on the phone with my mom, but when my grandma got on with her sweet lil grandma voice, I broke. I felt really bad cuz she broke down too. I finally got it together though and was able to talk. It´s so amazing to be here, and it´s so worth the tough moments. I am truly grateful for this opportunity, and I´m sure I will forever count it as an incredible blessing. It´s so neat be learning another culture, weighing the positives and negatives of both worlds, and seeing the different perspectives.
Anyway... that´s all for now.

Pictures

2004-12-07T19:30:00.000+01:00

Donna, Chloe´s mom, has been following our lil adventure on her website, including picture albums. I have written some of you and I gave you the wrong address! Her website address is www.emelton.com and then you click on ¨A whole year?¨ then there are photo albums in the right hand margin. So if you´re interested in some pictures check it out. She also has a lot of other nifty things on there too.

Filosofía... Philosophy

2004-11-19T13:01:00.000+01:00

Well, philosophy is about the only thing that has been on my mind for the past couple of days. I hope you all don´t read the title and shy away from reading this entry. Don´t worry, I will try not to get too deep. :D Today is a finals day. Everybody in Primero and Segundo (similar to 11th and 12th graders) has to take two tests today, except me:) I took my philosophy test this morning from 9:30 to 11:00. It went well. I did as well as I could. I had been studying a lot a lot all this morning, yesterday, and the day before that. The test covered Plato, Aristotles, and Saint Augustine. I hope I wrote those right in English. I haven´t written them in English for a while. I wish we studied Philosophy in American high schools. It´s sooo interesting, and has been to me for a while. I would study it on my own some, but it´s so much better to study in a structured class.

Anyway... The reason I don´t have to take the second one which started at 12:40 is because it´s history, and well, history here is not like history in America. They really do have history here. It´s terribly difficult for me. We study all the kings that have the same name, just with different roman numerals after them. It´s way boring. I have an agreement with that teacher, so it was fine that I´m not taking it. Chloe is at school right now taking her Language test. It´s gonna be really nice to have the afternoon off.

So... philosophy, philosophy, philosophy... On my walk home from school I saw flowers and thought of a Platonic theory, I saw an old man with crazy hair and thought ¨ an aspiring Einstein¨ It´s has been like that nonstop the last couple days. I knew the units really well, but unfortunately I can´t express all my thoughts, because I have to write in Spanish. So, I didn´t do as well as I could have in English, but I think my teacher will be happy with me.

The units were really interesting. On the test I had to contrast the differences between Plato, Aristotles, and Saint Augustine on their theories of knowledge, how we obtain knowledge. Plato theorized that our souls already contain all the knowledge that we will ever know, like imprints that only need to be awakened. Is essence he says that to know is to remember. He made this theory off of Socrates who drew a square and showed it to a slave, the slave had never been taught math, and Socrates asked him if he could make more squares out of the one. He could, and then he could continue to divide the squares into triangles etc. He then clarafies that with on a little guidance the slave could perform math, because really he already had this knowledge, it was just a matter of reviving the knowledge.

Aristotles on the other hand says that our souls are like a blank slate when we are born and we will obtain everything we know by our senses, surroundings, and others. While Saint Augustine has a cristian view. He believed that we have an inborn desire to know God, a yearning passion for absolute Truth, found in God. He also emphasized the inseparability of reason and faith. He said understand to believe, believe to understand.

Anyway... kinda interesting. There is much more to it than that, but I think i just really felt the need to write my thoughts down in English instead of Spanish. It was a lot easier to express myself!

We continue to have finals on Monday and Tuesday. I have Math and Geography Monday, then Economy, Language, and Spanish on Tuesday. I´ll be doing a lot of studying this weekend. Even though I don´t have to pass, I still feel pressure. I really don´t want to disappoint my teachers, and I also kinda want to prove that I´m not an idiot, like most of them think I am probably. We never have homework, so I can´t show them that I understand, and I don´t talk much at all, so they really have no idea all the progress I´ve made. This is my opportunity to prove myself.

Chloe wants to do a little Christmas shopping later on today. I can´t believe it´s already that time of the year. I am so glad though. Hopefully Becca Kreie will get to come for Christmas. She is in Denmark right now doing a study abroad, and since Laura Lacalle lived with her familiy, my host family, the Lacalle´s, invited her to come to Spain and spend Christmas with us. I am excited about that. I hope it works out.

I´ll be moving to my next host family in January. I don´t know much about them, except that they have a son a few years younger than me, and they live in the outskirts of Pamplona, in a town called Zizur. I´ll have to take the buses a lot more probably, but that´s alright.

Ok, well hope I didn´t go into too much depth on the philosophy stuff. :D Didn´t mean to bore you!

Random

2004-11-14T14:53:00.000+01:00

hello everybody. I´m trying to think of something interesting to talk about. I can´t think of a good subject. This was about the first weekend that my host family didn´t take us somewhere. Last night Anna, another American here in Pamplona through Rotary, stayed the night at our house. It was fun. Chloe attempted to make a cake. It was a little crazy though. First of all we had to convert all the measurements her mom had given her into metric, because they don´t use standard like we do in America. Then we didn´t have the right size of bowl that the recipe called for, so we had to cut everything in half. Chloe took it out when she thought it was done, but it turned out that the edges were done, but not the middle, and she completely messed up the frosting. It´s mostly butter. It was fun though.

We watched Mean Girls with Spanish subtitles. It´s a dumb movie, but entertaining. I always learn a lot from the subtitles too. We ate Pizza Hut. It was sooo good. That was about it. I´ve been doing math on and off all morning, just having a nice, lazy Sunday. I don´t usually go to church with them anymore. It´s really boring. They don´t sing, or have fellowship with each other much, or any of the things that I enjoy about church. I should probably still go, just to get focused every week, but anyway. I´ve been reading my English Spanish Bible. Aside from the Gospels, I´ve gotten through most of the New Testament since I´ve been here.

This weekend my sister and mom are wedding dress shopping. I wish I could be there with them. They have moved the wedding more toward the end of May or beginning of June, so I won´t get to fly home for it in April like I was hoping, but it´ll probably be better this way. My parents are probably going to be coming to Spain in April, so I´m continuing to count the days down to April. That is my target month to make it to. So far it´s gone really fast. The first part of the months seem to go by really fast, but the second half slower. I think it´s because I think how fast the month is going and it´ll soon be the next one, that the second part drags.

Midterms are coming up, either the end of this week or the beginning of the next. I´m not sure. I´m not too worried about them though, I´ve decided just to flunk them all, except math. I won´t take the history one. There is no way. This last week I got a 6.6 on my philosophy test, and a 6.7 on my math test, which was pretty good for me. Everything is out of 10 here, instead of 100% in America, but a 6.6 is not like a 66%. It´s a lot better than that. Anyway... the grading scale is different.

I didn´t ever mention Halloween. Halloween here is not near as big of a deal as in America. I saw one person dressed up. I went to Tonya´s house for the little party though, with just a few girls, so I wasn´t out much to see anyone dressed up. Anna, the other American, told us that she had tricker treaters at her house, but she lives outside of the city, in a nice neighborhood. There aren´t tricker treaters in the city, but in the outskirts there are more. The little party I went to was alright. I wasn´t feeling real well, so that kind of ruined it for me, but the girls are all really nice. They are Laura´s friends, the daughter of my host parents who is in Ulysses as an exchange student. We watched Bone Collector in Spanish with English subtitles and played Twister, Light as a Feather Stiff as a Board, and some other games. We ate pizza and the little fried balls of cheese and ham. They are so grose, but they´re so popular here. I can´t remember what they´re called. Ham is super popular here too. They have another kind of ham that is Navarran. It´s so grose. It´s redder and has a very strong taste.

Laura is moving into my house today. She opted for the guest room. I was kind of happy to hear that. It would have been sad thinking about how someone else was enjoying my room at home. Although we are using her room here. My mom had to do some major cleaning out in the guest room. She told me that she took a trunk full to Goodwill. My parents have also been cleaning out our bar in the basement. They are getting rid of it, so we can have a large open living space in the basement. It´ll be better, but so much different! When I come home it´ll be so crazy for that to be gone.

I can´t remember if I mention Leyre Monastery in another blog, but in case I didn´t. The other weekend we went to the monastery of Leyre. It was built in the 1200s. It was so gorgeous. It was about 40 minutes away up in the mountains, in a secluded place. We got a tour with a tour guide and all. I wish I could have understood everything she was saying. I am still making progress, but it´s a slow process. I advise anyone who does a foreign exchange to learn as much of the language as possible before coming. Not knowing the language is the only thing that makes an exchange really tough, I think. Being away from home is difficult at times, but a lot easier than I thought it would be. It´s mostly just the language barrier that has been frustrating and discouraging for me. Anyway... back to Leyre. There are still some 25 monks that live there. I got to see one. The ashes of some of the Navarran kings where there too.

Alright, well I can´t think of anything else to say for now. Adios por ahora

San Sebastian

2004-11-09T22:44:00.000+01:00

This past weekend we took an excursion to San Sebastian. It was absolutely gorgeous. It´s a city about 40 minutes from Pamplona on the north coast. We got to see the sea, or ocean, or sea that become the ocean, whatever it is! It was so beautiful. There were 3 beaches with the most amazing coast line of buildings behind them. The city has been around for a long long time. I can´t remember the date now, but before 1100. It had some awesome buildings, like the Santa María church, and the ayuntamiento (town hall) as always was beautiful. As in Madrid there were many people in the streets, musicians, singers, performers, trying to make a little money. It makes the atmosphere that much more inviting and pleasant. The musicians are usually very talented, and I really enjoyed the music. In one of the plazas there was a carousel for kids. It was so cool kind of like a magical world with the rest of the breathtaking surroundings.
We basically just walked around the city, ate some good food, a hamburger! That´s what I´m talkin´about! I can´t pass up American food when I see it. It was good weather too. We saw ¨la peina del viento¨ meaning the brush of the wind, or the wind brush. They are artistic peices mounted on some rocks in the sea near the coast. They are big metal sculptures kind of resembling claws, and since the wind blows a lot by the coast, they are kind of like brushes... brushes of the wind. It´s really a poetic name. It sounds even better in Spanish. Anyway...
San Sebastian is now my favorite city that I have been to in Spain. So beautiful.

The Elections from a Spanish View

2004-11-09T22:16:00.000+01:00

The Elections.
It´s so cool that I´ve gotten to be in another country in an election year. I´ve seen first hand how fascinated and interested the rest of the world is in the American elections, and in America in general.
In America we never follow the elections of other countries, or care, which I think makes us a bit narrow. We forget that there is so much more in the world than just the United States. Anyway... over here the news kept tabs on the race. Every night they were reporting on the latest news. I was able to follow the elections that way, but it was a little difficult since everything was in Spanish. They would show the debates and I wished so much they would stop translating, as I tried to listen through the Spanish. Anyway...
when I told my host mom that I found it interesting that everyone had such an preoccupation with the elections, she told me ¨claro¨which mean ¨clearly¨ or ¨sure¨ as in of course. She said the whole world keeps an eye on America. It´s because we are the most powerful country in the world and everything we do affects the rest of the world. She also referred to us as imperialists, which is actually true. Living here I see how the American culture is slowing seeping in and taking over so much of the Spanish traditions. With the new generation especially. They listen to our music, watch our movies, and TV shows, like the OC is really popular here. Also, in my lengua (language) textbook my teacher had me read an excerpt in front of the whole class that said something to this effect. The different languages, customs, and cultures are very valuable and should be guarded, we cannot let the American culture continue to take over the different cultures of the world. I was so focused on pronouncing things correctly that I didn´t even realize what I was reading. While the whole class laughed I reread the passage, and couldn´t help but smile, cuz it´s true.
Anyway... everybody here seems to hate Bush. I didn´t talk to anybody who wanted him reelected. But then again most of them didn´t really care for Kerry all that much either, but out of the 2 they preferred Kerry. All my friends were for Kerry, and they were shocked to hear that I was for Bush. The few teachers I talked to told me they didn´t like Bush either. One said out of the 2 she preferred Bush, but really didn´t like either of them. I talked to my philosophy teacher about it, the teacher whom I adore. I was a lil disappointed to hear she preferred Kerry. She explained to me that she just didn´t like the wars and the way Bush is so military minded. She said some other things, but I didn´t catch it all.
I bought the November 3rd paper. It has a lot of coverage of the 2 candidates, as did all the recent papers. The articles I read were over how the Amish were for Bush, and that with this new group of voters Bush may have more of a chance to win. The other was saying that since Bush got it we will continue to see more religiosity in the white house and some other negatives like that. It was definitely interested.
I talked to Mel Kreie and Brad Anderson on Nov. 3rd. It was such an encouragement to talk to some Republicans! It seemed like everywhere I went I was the minority. I was actually surprised to hear that Bush had won. I had heard so many negatives on him, both here and before I left, that I figured he´d lose to any candidate that ran. Of course, I didn´t want that, not to spite all the democrats that read this. I really have no idea if the motives for going to war were pure or if Bush is doing a good job with the situation in Iraq. But I can say that I am proud of my country for removing a tyrant like Saddam Hussein and his despicable regime. We may have put Iraq in chaos, but only for a while. I believe that life for the Iraqi people will be much more at peace. And I stand behind Bush because of his view on abortion and gay marriage. These issues are very important to me, and I don´t know how things would have been with the appointed Supreme Court judges and things like that if Kerry were elected. Anyway... enough about politics.

October is nearly gone!

2004-10-30T10:42:00.000+02:00

Well, it´s been a while. I decided I needed to write again. My mom told me that they put the web address to my blog in the church bulletin so more people would be reading it, a little hint from her. Oh church, I miss our church so much. It will be such a joy to go back to.

Lots of things have gone on this month, both here and at home in the US. My cousin Rachelle got married, and I had to miss the wedding. It was kinda sad, but I knew I would have to miss it when I decided to come to Spain. My parents had their 26th anniversary. They got the box that I sent them in the mail the day before it too, so that was cool. Made for a good gift. I sent home some 2 video tapes, lots of pictures, digital and not, two plates, one that says Pamplona on it, and the other for my grandma, it has Navarra on it. I sent a couple shirts and then just a few lil extras. It was so exciting when they got it!

This sunday, for Halloween Chloe and I are going a party at a friend´s house. We are looking forward to it. This is my only friend that lives in a house, instead of an apartment. They don´t celebrate Halloween like we do. It´s more just a holy day for them, All Saints´ Day.

Spanish is still a slow progress. Sometimes it´s really frustrating because even though I´m learning so much it´s not enough, there´s so much more to learn! I´ve learned to be patient with myself though. I need to talk more. Speaking is the hardest, then understanding, then writing, then reading. Reading is not too tough. I´m reading a book for 7 year olds right now! I feel like such an idiot. In my language class at school they are reading a novel that is pretty hard for me to understand, so she is having me read this children´s book instead! So in class while their reading their novel discussing profound things, I´m over there with my little (translated roughly) ¨The Broken Washing Machine¨book. I´ve almost finished with it, it actually wasn´t bad, and i learned how to say a lot of good things in Spanish from it. I hope to get my report written over it this week.

School here is much different. I dread it most days because it´s just difficult and frustrating not to understand. I understand much more, but they speak so fast there´s no way I can catch everything. I just hope I come back knowing Spanish enough to where I can speak to people! I´ll be able to read about everything, but I don´t know how great that is. My grade is called Segundo, and it´s the oldest grade in our lil private Catholic school. The kids are only 17 though, so a lil younger than when we graduate in the US. I feel so old! I can´t believe I´m going to be 19 in December! My grade is the only grade in the school that doesn´t have to wear uniforms! I lucked out on that one. Chloe has to wear the same thing everyday. Anyway, my grade is studying for the big tests at the end of the year called the Selectividad. It´s similar to the ACT or SAT testing we do in America, only much harder, and you can only take it once I believe. So they are all pretty self-motivated, all pretty intelligent too, probably because it´s a good private school. The school specializes in French, so all the kids start learning french when the´re 3 years old. I wish we had more programs like that in the US.

I walk to school every morning with Chloe. It´s about a 10 min. walk. It´s not bad, it´s starting to get pretty cold though. Class starts at 8:30 and lasts til 2:30, which is shorter than what I was used to in the US. But, on Tuesdays we have to go back to school from 4:25 to 6:20pm. So, Tuesday is the day that I really don´t like. These are my classes:

Philosophy... my teacher is awesome! I really like this class. I wish I could understand!

Spanish tutoring.... my teacher is French, she teaches french at the school, and she´s teaching me Spanish, lil ironic.

Geography... a little boring. We are learning way more than I care to know about Spain´s landforms, different climates etc. But some things are kinda interesting.

Language... that´s the one I´m reading the 7 year old´s book in.

Math... I´ve never enjoyed math class more than I do here. It´s probably my favorite class because I get a break from words, words, and more spanish words.

Economy... I like my teacher. He´s the only male teacher that i have. He´s nice to me. I understand fairly well in this class.

Art... we look at pictures everyday... I like it. Same teacher as in Economy. I don´t understand anything they talk about though, because there is a lot of Art vocabulary that I haven´t take then time to translate. I am constantly looking up words, in Art, I just take a break.

English... I just study during this hour. It´s fun to be in there though, and hear what their learning. They learn British English, so it´s a little different, and they are going for that British accent. It´s funny.

French... I just study in this class. I understand nothing!

History... the teacher just lectures the entire time, so this is the class where i really work on my listening comprehension. I don´t take the tests in this class. It´s pretty difficult.

At 11:15 every day we have a break time for about 30 minutes. My grade is the only grade that gets to leave the school. Usually I go with some Spanish friends to a lil restaurant bar and we eat a little something, or we just walk around. I love eating tortilla with cheese and ham. It´s so good. A tortilla here is not a flour tortilla or corn tortilla as they mexicans use it. A tortilla here is an egg. So it´s basically egg, patatoes, cheese, and ham together. It´s really good.

Last night we went to a classical music concert. It was really cool. The orchestra was excellent. There was a violin soloist too. He was very impressive. They were all professionals and played some really neat music. It was in a big auditorium with a stage. We sat in the balcony. Ana and Vicente didn´t go with us, they just had us meet the daughter of some of their friends there. It was 2 hours, a little long, but really cool.
Well, I´m out for now.

MADRID

2004-10-17T15:44:00.000+02:00

Last weekend our host family took us on an excursion to Madrid, since we didn´t have school Monday or Tuesday for the ¨holy days¨. It was so cool. Madrid is about 4 hours from Pamplona, driving the way my host dad does, so probably more like 4 hrs. and 45 minutes. It cracks me up because he puts a clothes pin at the base of his seatbelt so it won´t be too tight across his chest. They listen to this nice classical music while he drives 90 mph.
Anyway... the trip was nice, pretty scenic. They have those big white wind turbines too like we have in Kansas. It was exciting to see those, reminded me of KS. In Madrid we stayed at Ana´s sister´s family´s apartment, because her sister´s family was out of town. It was really nice. There were so many apartment buildings in Madrid, that was practically all you could see from the highway, apartment after apartment.
Ana´s sister has 2 younger kids, one boy around 12, and one girl around 5. I got to stay in the little girl´s room. It was like reliving my childhood. I had baby dolls, puzzles, disney books, polly pocket, and even a play kitchen in case I got hungry! Chloe and I read children´s books one night, in Spanish of course, and we could actually understand them! We were so proud. Then we watched 101 dalmatitos (101 Dalmations) it was great.
Both days that we were there we went to art museums. The first day to Del Prado and the next day Reino Sofia. Del Prado was all classical art of Goya, Valazquez, Murillo etc. The other was modern art, and I didn´t like it as much. I think I coulda made half the stuff in there, but whatever. The modern art included Picasso´s works and Dali´s works, so those were neat to see. It was all the originals too. I really enjoyed them. Then we walked around the city, went to all the plazas, so beautiful! There were a bunch of tourist shops too, which was fun for Chloe and I. In the streets there were lots of performers. One girl was dressed all in white, and from what I could tell she was like supposed to be an angel blessing people. She was standing on a box and people were all around her. The little kids would go up to her, she would take their hand and do this little spell kind of thing with her hands. It was different.
Then there was a dude dressed all in red, just standing on a box being as still as possible, in the middle of the walking street. He was kinda freakin me out. He didn´t move like at all, but it was a real man. Then there was a dude all in silver with a gun doing some kind of performance. And also we ran into some younger guys doing a dance. They were pretty talented, doing flips and hip hop type moves.
In the plaza there were lots of artists and caricaturists displaying their pictures for sell. There was a guy playing a harpsicord in the plaza too. There were a lot of interesting things there!
Also they have what is called the Corte Ingles, which translates as the English Court. It was basically an American mall. They don´t have malls here like we have in America, but this one was so American! It was fun going in there, I felt like i was in America for a few minutes, then snapped back to reality.
We came home monday evening, did homework on Tuesday, then had a short week of school. I love holidays! Next week is a full one though. I just wish I knew the language! It´s such a slow process. Well, until the next entry...

Main Differences Between America and Spain

2004-10-14T20:18:00.000+02:00

1 Plugins (sorry my English has gone bad from all this Spanish... if that even how you spell plugins?) anyway... they are different, and I don´t recommend using convertors! It´s such a pain, and the voltage is not right. I can never keep my computer charged because it charges super-slow with the voltage convertor, but then it will get fried if I do it without the voltage convertor.

2 La comida (food) doesn´t have as much taste, and it´s much leaner. Things are much more natural, and they don´t eat near as much of the processed stuff that we eat.

3 Bread- it´s like Panera bread, long and white, with a hard shell, and reall soft inside. It´s good, little taste, and they never use butter. What bugs me though is they wrap it in the newspaper when they get it! It´s so disgusting! Then they set it on the table on top of the newpaper, so you taste newpaper when you eat it.

4 Beautiful, breathtaking buildings from 1200s, 1300s! Medieval castles, cathedrals etc.

5 Never have soap in the bathrooms at school, or in many public places.

6 The old part of towns... it´s so awesome, not like anything we have in America.

7 Everything is compact, no building is independent. It is always connected to apartments or other stores. Like in America we have McDonalds, it´s a building on it´s own etc.

8 Everything is smaller here: cars, ovens, refigerators, houses, spoons

9 Not as patriotic as we are in America... especially in the northern part of Spain where I am, because the Basque people... I will explain that in detail someday, but you never see shirts that have the Spanish flag on them, and you hardly ever see the Spanish flag.

10 No censorship on magazines, beaches, anywhere

11 Lunch is the big meal and supper is the small meal... usually the other way around in America.

12 Pretty much everybody here is full-blood Spanish, not near as many immigrants. It´s a lot different. I think it makes people more closed-minded though.

13 At school they lock the bathrooms at all times except during our break at 11:15

14 People are generally skinnier, not near as many overweight people

15 More customs, and more festivals

16 Don´t like how the American culture is taking over, yet they listen to our music, watch our movies, and always stay up on American news

17 Less divorce, less teen pregnancy and teen sexuality

18 Kiss on both cheeks, instead of shaking hands, when you meet someone and sometimes when you leave.

19 3 courses at lunch, in restaurants too. Always some kind of dish like pasta, vegetables first. Then some kind of meat. Then fruit, yogurt, or a pastry for dessert.

20 Coffee with milk is very popular, everybody drinks it.

21 Tons of history everywhere and everything!

22 The country is much smaller. Driving from North to South might be 14 hours.

23 The milk is wierd. I don´t like it!

24 Not as sanitary here.

25 EVERYBODY smokes... little 12 year olds light up right when they get out of school,along with everybody else, and I go to a private catholic school too! It´s just the culture.

26 All Catholic

27 Walk much more. People´s legs are usually skinny.

28 Don´t capitalize months, days, all the words in headings, names of groups... it´s hard to get out of the habit.

29 Foreign languages are emphasized much more. Probably because they´re so close to France, Italy etc. And many many people speak English. My whole school can speak pretty descent English and they are all fluent in French. This isn´t average though, my school specializes in that.

30 another thing about the school system. It´s the same it all parts of Spain. You learn the exact same things. You choose sciences, social sciences, or like language science, then have those classes. Not near as many electives.

32 In the school extracurricular activities and sports are not as important.

33 The police drive mercedes vans! It´s funny.

34 It´s normal for kids my age to stay out until 3 or 4 in the morning, or 6 or 7 during festivals, on the weekends.

35 people drink wine more often

36 Siesta (nap in the afternoon) from 2:30 to 4. All shops close up.

37 Teeth aren´t as nice here.

38 Really wide-legged pants are the style for girls my age, then a lil tigher pants for guys. People are pretty fashionable, in general.

39 Never see people in T-shirts or sweats outside of their house. This is very different from America.

40 People are more touchy, but not in a bad way though. They don´t consider everything ¨gay¨like we do in America.

PERALTA

2004-10-07T16:08:00.000+02:00

Well... school is done for the day, and we just finished eating lunch. I really want to get caught up to date with this blog, but I have so much to recatch.
The first full weekend I was here in Pamplona my family took me to Peralta, an nearby village where my host father, Vicente, grew up. He calls it ¨la mejor ciudad en el mundo¨meaning ¨the best city in the world.¨He´s a funny one. He likes to make jokes, but we never get them because our Spanish isn´t that great yet, (we, referring to Chloe and I). We miss the big ¨San Fermin¨festival that happens every July here in Pamplona with the running of the bulls etc. But in Peralta they have a big festival annually too. It´s much smaller and not many outsiders come, Chloe and I were most likely the other Americans in the city. But anyway, it was a big festival and we got to see the bulls run down the streets. It was so cool. At first there was only one bull though and I was crackin up like ¨this is it?¨There were quite a few brave souls out there with them taunting them, then heading for the gates to jump over to the other side. The streets were lined with gates and people behind the gates. The bulls didn´t just run either, they stood around for a while, then chased some guys back and forth. It wasn´t like in the movies where the men were just running in front and the bulls were charging full speed ahead, at least not in Peralta, possibly during San Fermin I suppose. There was even an old lady taunting a bull from outside the gate. She was waving her little hankerchief in it´s face, then it charged at the gate! She about fell over. It was very entertaining.
We had a great view of all of this, because Vicente´s parents have an apartment there on like the 3rd floor with 2 good-sized windows to peek out of. Vicente´s whole family was there. His parents, sister and her husband and 2 kids, and his brother who is single.
After the bulls in the street, we walked down to the bull ring. This is probably the best experience I´ve had here so far. It was so ¨Spanish¨and so entertaining! It´s a big ring just like you´ve seen in pictures or in movies, with the red walls surrounding the ring, and people sitting all around. Straight accross from where we were sitting was the high school section. The festival seemed to really focus around them. Because to my surprise a bunch of high school age girls in cooks´hats and aprons come walking out into the ring, with tables, chairs, and big cardboard boxes. They set up their little kitchen scene in the middle of the ring, then huddled behind the cardboard boxes. Then they let the bull lose.
They bull was of medium size, it´s horns were just mongo, but they were a decent size. He came out with vigor. The girls would run around making noises getting the bull wriled up. Then they would head for the cardboard or for the red fencing and jump over. One of the girls was really brave and was always getting the bull´s attention then sprinting full speed for the wall. She got ran over 3 times too! It was so crazy. I kept telling my host parents that this was dangerous, but they were like ¨oh no, no¨. So anyway, she had to have a few bumps and bruises to show off. She was a lot of fun to watch. The girls finished by walking around the arena as the audience applaused their performance.
Next little 5th or 6th grade looking boys came out. They were really boring. The bull was all small and the boys were not risk takers. But after them came the big boys. They were high school age and they were skilled. They had little tricks and stunts to show off. Two would go to the middle of the ring, stand side-by-side and yell at the bull to come get them. The bull would spring towards them, and just before he got to close they would separate heading different directions as the bull ran between them. One dude would even get the bull to sprint at him then when he got close enough he would actually jump over the bull. It was so awesome.
During the festivals it is normal for everybody from the very young to the very old to stay out until 5,6,7, 8 in the morning. It´s very different from what I´m used to. So after the bull ring Chloe and I went with Vicente´s niece, Cristina, and all her friends. The whole high school section had come from the bull ring together and were parading down the streets. They all dress up in creative costumes, and looked like they were having a great time. The band was playing, and they were dancing.
So when Cristina´s friends motioned for her we just followed behind her. She was super sweet, a little shy, but very nice, as were all her friends. The girls of Peralta were ¨muy simpaticas¨. So we danced down the streets with them, feeling a little stupid cuz we didn´t know how to Spanish dance. It´s a little different from in America!
We then went to a garage and ate sandwiches together. By this time it´s already like 11:00pm and I´m like ready to go to bed. We ended up staying out til 3 in the morning, dancing, walking around, and talking to the Peralta girls. It was fun, but man I was ready to go back! We dragged Cristina out of the club and went home. There was so much cigarrette smoke! My eyes were burning. I swear just about EVERYBODY smokes here in Spain. It´s my least favorite thing about the culture thus far. It´s aweful. Even some of the high schooler´s in costumes were dressed up as cigarrettes! Anyway, I don´t even know if I spell cigarrettes right, I don´t spell that word very often.
Anyway, the next night we stayed out til 6am! It was crazy. We slept in until like 1 though. Then we ate lunch with Vicente´s family. That was our first weekend, very eventful, and very SPANISH! It was great though.

The city of Pamplona

2004-10-06T22:02:00.000+02:00

Pamplona!
Pamplona is a wonderful city by just about every standard. It is situated within a valley, surrounded by mountains. From a nearby village you can even see the tops of the Pirinees. I don´t even remember how to spell Pirenees, Pirinees... anyway in Español Pireneos. Pamplona is in the very nothern part of Spain, just an hour from France, at least if you drive like my host dad does. Vicente is crazy behind the wheel. It cracks me up. He goes about 140km per hour which is about 90mph, and this is on average. We pass every car on the road, no lie. We get places too quickly. I like to be in a car, because I sleep well in them. Anyway... I haven´t seen one cop on the highway, so maybe it´s just normal for these crazy Europeans to drive that fast. No lo sé.
Pamplona is in the province of Navarra. A province is equivalent to a state in the US. Pamplona is the largest city in Navarra, with about 180,000 people. Second in size is Tudela in the very southern tip of Navarra. Vicente (my host dad) has a sister who lives there, and we have been to her house. We have traveled to many others cities here Navarra, as my host parents have many relatives that live in Navarra.
I live in an apartment, as do most of the people in Pamplona. Houses are not common in the city. Just about everybody I know lives in a ¨Piso¨. I only have one Spanish friend who lives outside the city in a house.
Everything is very compact. All the shops and apartments are side by side, so that everything you need is within walking distance. My family owns one car (which is the norm), but a very nice one, a BMW 500 series. We only use it to go to other cities or clear across town. Generally speaking though, we walk about everywhere. That is part of Pamplona life. I really like it too. It´s nice. In America we drive EVERYWHERE, even to school if it´s just a block away (that´s me)! They don´t get their driver´s liscense until they are 18 here, and when I told them I´ve had one since I was 15 they gasped! The cars are smaller here, and you never see trucks. There are some kinds that I´ve never heard of, but most of them I am familiar with. There are fewer SUVs.
The food here is scrumptious! It is very natural too. They use olive oil for everything. I haven´t seen one stick of butter. They have few spices, no salad dressing, but they are creative or something, because it´s still great! They are not like the Mexicans! I´m so tired of people telling me to ¨ bring them back a taco ¨or that I´m gonna fill up on burritos! Wrong culture. Everybody seems to think that Spain is situated next to Mexico or something. They are nothing like the Mexicans, at least not that I´ve noticed. The times that we eat at are very different. We eat at 8am, which is not unusual, then we have a bocadillo at 11:15, something like a small sandwich or fruit, then the main mean is after we get out of school at about 3:30pm, this is considered lunch, then at 9pm. This was the about the only real ¨culture shock¨that took me a while to get used to.
I have vowed to learn how to cook Spanish food, and when I return I´ll cook for anyone who wants to give it a try. Fast food is not near as popular here as in the US, although there is a KFC at the base of our apartment, a Pizza Hut across the street, and a Burger King down the road. Those are the only franchises that I have seen though. We ate Pizza Hut one night with Bea, a Spanish friend, and to my surprise it tasted exactly like in America. It was kinda nice for a change. Every once in a while I get American food withdraw. I miss Alejandros and El Ranchito the most.
Pamplona has 4 different parts. There is the old part, the new part, the lower part, and the higher part. The river Arga runs through it dividing the upper and lower regions. My favorite part is the Old part (la Parte Vieja) It´s so GORGEOUS! It´s exactly what you think of when you think of Europe. Those tight little streets with different colors of apartments on both sides. Everything is about 700 years old! The cathedrals are breathtaking. The shops are unique, and there is so much history there.

October 6th... and I´ve finally gotten around to writing!

2004-10-06T21:40:00.000+02:00

Well, where do I even begin! So much has happened, and I haven´t been staying up on everything like Chloe has. Chloe, there we go, we´ll start with her. Chloe (16 yrs old) is the American girl that I am living with. We totally lucked out on getting to live together. Getting to live with another American on a Rotary exchange is next to never. It just so happens that our host family has 2 daughters who went to the United States for this year, therefore they are keeping 2. Alicia(14 yrs.), their younger daughter, is in Seattle, WA. staying with Chloe´s family, while Laura (16 yrs.) is in Ulysses staying with the Kreie´s for the first 3 months, then moving to my house from the end of November to probably the beginning of March.
I wish that Chloe and I could live together the entire year, but we aren´t this is where our luck ends. In the end of November we will be going to live with separate families, because in a Rotary exchange they like the students to live with 3 different families for 3 months each in order to experience different ways of life.
Chloe is only 16 and therefore she has to study a lot to keep her grades up. It takes a lot to get your grades to transfer and to keep them high enough, to where you want them to transfer. I do not recommend going until after you have graduated, because it´s difficult, unless you are a pro at the language.
I don´t have to stress about grades or fry my brain studying. I can enjoy myself here and take it easy. Although I would probably have a lil more motivation to learn Spanish quicker if I were being pressed by grades. But, I think it´s better to soak in the experience and enjoy it, rather than be stressed out and ruin your great experience of being in another country!
It´s so awesome to be here. I have to keep reminding myself that I am here. This so cannot be real. I´m in Spain! I am so thankful for such a great opportunity. Foreign exchanges are such wonderful programs. I will always recommend this experience to anyone who has the interest.
When I was tossing the idea around, of being an exchange student, I was so scared and so uncertain about it all. I had no idea what to expect, how hard it would be, if I could handle being away for 9 months, etc. All I had were questions. None of it became a reality to me until I left, and even now it´s so unreal.
Now that I´m here I see that I stressed about it too much before I left. There were nights when I would cry just thinking about not getting to hug my mom goodnight for a year! It´s not as hard as I was expecting. Maybe I was just expecting the worst so that I wouldn´t be disappointed. And I also realize that when you have set in your mind that you will not be going home for 9 months and your are 1000´s of mile away from home, and the possibility of going home is not there, you put the desire and yearning to go home out of mind, then you really don´t get homesick. So for your curiousity, Sarah Sullivan or Kim Heil, or anybody else interested in going on an exchange, it´s not as hard as you might imagine.
Then again my experience has a major twist to it since I´m living with another American. She also keeps me from getting homesick, because we always do things together and I always have someone to talk to. She is great! We get along so well. I´m so so glad that she is here. She makes everything a lil easier.
Anyway... moving on. Pamplona...