Also below... Rastro and Sam, Jesse, Emma and I.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Hello everyone,
Sorry it has been awhile. Halloween was great, I went to a small house party with some of my sister's friends. I was really surprised to see that everyone was dressed up, and the whole house was decorated. Since then I have just kinda been settleing in. Going to school (kinda) and hanging with friends. I hang out a lot with a girl named Emma, she is also an exchange student from Fort Collins, Colorado. And then also a boy named Jesse who is from upstate New York and a girl named Sam who is from Minneapolis. It is really fun to get togher with them and speak english, but at the same time I sometimes feel guilty for speaking too much english.
The weekend after Halloween was Jesse's birthday, so Emma and I took the bus about 30 mins out of the center of Madird to a town called Majadahonda, where Jesse and Sam live. We baked him brownies from to box-brownies that Emma's Mom sent her and bought him silly gifts. We even put 17 candles on a tiny brownie for him! We went out to a great Italian restaurant for dinner and the Emma and I went back into Madrid.
The weekend after that I went to a street market here in Madrid called El Rastro with Sam and Emma, it is every Sunday in the center of Madrid. It was the second time I had been. After we met up with my host Dad at the oldest bar in Madrid for a delicious lunch and after we went to a theatre that also has a cafe in it and got hot chocolate (which by the way is more like hot pudding here). It was a great day in the city.
This past weekend I went to Jerez to visit my host Mom again with Nerea. Before we left I found out that my host brother (Nerea's brother, Fernando) was most likely coming back to Spain, because he got in a little trouble with Rotary in the US. That whole weekend, my host Mom and Dad tried really hard to find ways to get Fernando to stay in Minneoplis, but in the end he had to come home. In the midst of all the confusion I had a great weekend, I went to my fist discoteca, and it blew my mind. There was a guy on stilts dancing on stage. I also watched a bunch of movies with Nerea and relaxed.
Fernando is in Madrid for the week, and then he will be moving to Jerez to live with my host Mom and attend high school. So thanks to him moving, I dont have to move families, I am very fortunate.
Other than that I have just been living like a Spaniard, learning lots of spanish still, and trying my hardest to speak it.
Just some funny thoughts:
1. They don't have bagels here, and it is quite depressing.
2. The weather is still very warm here for the middle of November.
3. They don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, but Rotary has put together a dinner for all the exchange students.
4. I don't have school from Dec 23- Jan 10, and will most likely be spending Christmas here in Madrid, which will most likely be beautiful because I have seen the lights they are putting up in the city.. I don't know about New Years.
5. Spain is very power conservative, almost all houses hang dry all the laundry.
6. Still reading Harry Potter in Spanish and I am learning lots of Wizard vocabulary.
I will be visiting two former exchange students, Julien and Victoria in Paris France from Feb 20-28 and I couldnt be more excited.
Hope all is well, all good thoughts*
Sorry it has been awhile. Halloween was great, I went to a small house party with some of my sister's friends. I was really surprised to see that everyone was dressed up, and the whole house was decorated. Since then I have just kinda been settleing in. Going to school (kinda) and hanging with friends. I hang out a lot with a girl named Emma, she is also an exchange student from Fort Collins, Colorado. And then also a boy named Jesse who is from upstate New York and a girl named Sam who is from Minneapolis. It is really fun to get togher with them and speak english, but at the same time I sometimes feel guilty for speaking too much english.
The weekend after Halloween was Jesse's birthday, so Emma and I took the bus about 30 mins out of the center of Madird to a town called Majadahonda, where Jesse and Sam live. We baked him brownies from to box-brownies that Emma's Mom sent her and bought him silly gifts. We even put 17 candles on a tiny brownie for him! We went out to a great Italian restaurant for dinner and the Emma and I went back into Madrid.
The weekend after that I went to a street market here in Madrid called El Rastro with Sam and Emma, it is every Sunday in the center of Madrid. It was the second time I had been. After we met up with my host Dad at the oldest bar in Madrid for a delicious lunch and after we went to a theatre that also has a cafe in it and got hot chocolate (which by the way is more like hot pudding here). It was a great day in the city.
This past weekend I went to Jerez to visit my host Mom again with Nerea. Before we left I found out that my host brother (Nerea's brother, Fernando) was most likely coming back to Spain, because he got in a little trouble with Rotary in the US. That whole weekend, my host Mom and Dad tried really hard to find ways to get Fernando to stay in Minneoplis, but in the end he had to come home. In the midst of all the confusion I had a great weekend, I went to my fist discoteca, and it blew my mind. There was a guy on stilts dancing on stage. I also watched a bunch of movies with Nerea and relaxed.
Fernando is in Madrid for the week, and then he will be moving to Jerez to live with my host Mom and attend high school. So thanks to him moving, I dont have to move families, I am very fortunate.
Other than that I have just been living like a Spaniard, learning lots of spanish still, and trying my hardest to speak it.
Just some funny thoughts:
1. They don't have bagels here, and it is quite depressing.
2. The weather is still very warm here for the middle of November.
3. They don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, but Rotary has put together a dinner for all the exchange students.
4. I don't have school from Dec 23- Jan 10, and will most likely be spending Christmas here in Madrid, which will most likely be beautiful because I have seen the lights they are putting up in the city.. I don't know about New Years.
5. Spain is very power conservative, almost all houses hang dry all the laundry.
6. Still reading Harry Potter in Spanish and I am learning lots of Wizard vocabulary.
I will be visiting two former exchange students, Julien and Victoria in Paris France from Feb 20-28 and I couldnt be more excited.
Hope all is well, all good thoughts*
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