Muchas Cosas

Hey! So like the beginning of lots of posts, Sorry it's been so long! I've been sick a lot, and just not feeling up to posting.

So Christmas here was COMPLETELY different from what I'm used to. Everyone only got one or two presents, and rather than sitting around together and opening them, they would just open them whenever. Every year on Christmas Eve, I go to church with my family. It helps me feel more like it's Christmas, and I enjoy the services. Well, my host family doesn't really go to church, but I figured they might know around what time the services were anyway (all the churches being Catholic, and most Catholic Churches having the same service times.) So I asked my host dad if he knew what time church was on Christmas eve, and he told me that all the services are at midnight. Ok, no problem, I always go to the midnight service at my church back home, too. Sonia, my host mom's niece offered to drive me to the church I really wanted to go to -- this big one called ¨San Francisco¨. When we got there, everything was dark, and there were no people in sight. We went up to the front door to read this big sign posted with the Christmas service times. The last Christmas eve service was at 10 pm. We drove around a bit longer, looking for other churches that might be open. We went to one that is right next to my host family's house, but it's service was at 7:30 pm. So, for the first time in my entire life, I didn't go to church on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Day was pretty much the same as Christmas Eve. We went to My host Mom's sister's house around 1 and were there until about 8. We just ate and watched TV, like any other Sunday. So I suppose Christmas really IS a lot different in every country.

Los Arboles son enfermos

Hi. So, it's been almost a month and, really, not a lot has happened. On the weekdays, my friends study from the time they get home until they go to bed, so we can only hang out on the weekend. To be completely honest, this can be pretty boring for me -- seeing as I don't really have much to do. So, since the math here is really pretty different things (maybe it's more advanced? not sure) I've asked my mom to send me some math workbooks, so I don't forget the math I will need for the SATs when I get back.

Last night I went with a big group of my friends to go see New Moon (Luna Nueva.) When I told my host mom we were going to see new moon, she thought I meant we were literally going to go outside and watch the moon! Apparently she didn't know anything about the movie. :) I was able to understand WAAAAY more of the movie than I thought I would -- in fact I only had to ask my friend about 4 times what someone had said, and then she would translate it into English for me. (Have I mentioned how helpful it is to have about 6 friends that speak close-to-fluent english?) I LOVED the movie! It was great to see it in Spanish, because Robert Pattinson's voice really bugged me in Twilight, and here since it was dubbed, I got to listen to a different voice -- that talked faster than "hello.....bella.....I'm....edward." (you get the point.)

This week I'm planning on making a thanksgiving dinner for my friends. I've been planning it for weeks, and everything was working out great...But I just found out last week that my host mom doesn't want me to have more than about 6 or 7 friends over at a time. ! Apparently one time her daughter (the one that's in Colorado) had her birthday party here, with about 12 people, and they all were loud and disruptive, and now my host mom says "no more." Well, when I had asked her if I could have the thanksgiving dinner at our house, she had forgotten to tell me this. So I've already invited my friends. Well, one of my other friends has offered her house for us to use, which is awesome, since it's a great house with a big dining table. But, I have two groups of friends that I'd invited. And since this friend doesn't know my other friends, her mother's not comfortable with them going over -- which is totally understandable, but now I have to figure out what I'm going to do. The other group of friends is really excited for the dinner (they've never had thanksgiving food -- 2 of the 3 have never had turkey!). I can tell that group of friends what happened, and that I'm really sorry, but it's not going to work (which I would HATE to have to do.), I could just make it for them, and tell my OTHER group of friends that I'm sorry it's not going to work out, I could ask everyone if they're sure they can make it -- I already know of one person who might not be able to come. If enough people can't come, I could have both groups of friends at my house, or I could make thanksgiving dinner twice. Which would be a LOT of work, but I think in the end it would probably be worth it. whew. Hope you kept up with that.

It's so weird to have trees that actually CHANGE COLORS in the fall. What a concept. They are gorgeous, with all the orange and yellow and red. There were about 12 trees that I would pass everyday on my way to school that were Fiery red, but I didn't have the charger for my camera so I couldn't take pictures, and now the trees are bare. But I did get my charger in time to take some other pictures of the other trees, before their leaves fell (last night during a really strong wind)
Well, that's all. Hope it makes up for almost a month of silence
Besos!
~Gwen

en realidad, nada

So, I know it's been a long time since I wrote...Sorry! Truth is, since I'm settling in, there's really not a lot to write about. The weekdays here are actually a tad boring, since all my friends have to study for tests. Here tests are 100% of your grade, and there are a lot of tests, so everyday after 7 hours of school, they go home, eat, and study, before going to bed and repeating the same thing the next day.

However, the weekends are so fun that it kind of evens out. Every Friday and Saturday, I hang out with Andrea and Claudia (who, by the way have pretty much become my best friends), Iñaki, and Josémi. We go to the movies, go out to eat, or just play karaoke in Clau's INSANELY nice house (I'm talking chandeliers in every room. and the coolest bathroom sink I've ever seen!!) Last night we went to see the move "Orphan" (aka la huerfana), and it was soooo fun! Whenever I watch a scary movie, I am compelled to laugh. So the entire time I was laughing, while everyone else was screaming, or jumping in their seats. An hour-plus of laughing = a good time.

I am starting to really miss home. The animals, and the food are at the top of the list, although my family has started to figure out what I like, and the food is pretty good now. It's so weird to not have a pet in the house (unless you count the two fish Lidia has...how am I supposed to pet those?) All my life there has been at least 1 cat in the house, and to have to pet-able pets is pretty different. Especially since right now at home I have a HUUUUGE cat named Mollie (really fat, like 17 lbs!) who always felt the need to sleep on my feet, so that I couldn't move them when I slept, or to sit on my chest so I couldn't breathe, and then lick my nose right as I fall asleep. Lets just say she definitely made her presence known. So to go to bed everynight able to breathe and move my legs, one would think that it would be a relief. But it's not, I just miss my kitty.


Well, there's really not much else to say. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them. It's always fun to see who is reading.

Lots of love

and many Besos!

~Gwen

Estoy Viviendo

Hi all! I know my posts are getting sporadic, but I'm really trying to "immerse" myself in the language and culture here, hence not going on the computer very much. This also means that I will be posting even less. Sorry! I will try to do at least one post every two weeks, sometimes more if something really interesting happens. I know this isn't very much, but now that school's started, there's really not a whole lot to say.

Friday Night a bunch of friends and I went to downtown pamplona to hang out. It was really cold so we went to this little cafeto warm up, and I had the best tea ever. Then we just walked around Pamplona, chatting away in my now-perfected Spanglish. ;) I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but quite a few of my friends have done exchanges in the US or Canada for some period of time, so they all speak english quite well. (quite a few being: Teresa, Monica, Laura, Angela, and I think Yoli, too) So anyway, we walked around Pamplona (which, if I haven't mentioned it already is like the cutest city ever. It's sooo stereotypical europe, which I LOVE) and as we walked down the street, I smelled something really good. I asked Angela what it was, and she said "Oh, Chestnuts! Do you like them?"
So I actually got to try chestnuts -- roasted over a fire!! aah. it made me want christmas sooo bad.
The first few were pretty good, but after awhile I tired of them, I think it's one of those foods that you only really need 3 or 4 of, and then you're fine.

School is still school. I'm understanding a little bit more, but I'm already insanely bored with my classes. It's not like in the US where you have some core classes, but almost always have some fun class, like choir or something. Plus, here, they don't do activities in class, it's mostly just note-taking (yes, so that means we don't get to draw in literature while we're read to. dang it!)
Speaking of literature, right now we're dissecting an epic poem -- in Spanish. Sounds pretty epic to me. We have yet to read any books, but I think that might be a good thing for me, as I would probably have to ask if I could do an alternate assignment...like reading Dr. Seuss in Spanish, or something.

But, as I mentioned, my Spanish is getting better, poco a poco. I just have to work on learning the verb forms that I hadn't yet learned in Spanish class. (which, if you didn't know, is a LOT. There are way more verb forms in Spanish than in English. I'm really beginning to appreciate English.)

oh, and by the way, by the time you read this, I will probably have added more photos to the album.
:)

Besos!
~Gwen

Caballos y...cerdos?

So, I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. I just didn't feel like it, happens sometimes.
Anyway, a LOT has happened, so I'm going to try to just sum things up into a main point.


Monday night I went to my first Rotary club meeting. We met at a really fancy hotel just about a 10 minute drive from my apartment. Isabel accomanied me, which was fine by me. When we got to the hotel, we were met by a few Rotary members, who welcomed me to Spain. We stood in the hotel lobby for about 15 minutes, exchanging small-talk. I was trying to figure out what we were waiting for when we finally took an elevator down one floor, and went toward one of the hotel's several conference rooms. I inhaled, ready too see all the people that I would surely be introduced to, and walked into -- a tiny, empty little room. It turned out we had been waiting in the lobby for the other Rotary member, and we'd all taken the elevator down together. Isabel, Me, and the 5 Rotary members. I couldn't believe how small the club here is. I'm used to Eugene, which has several clubs, and mine, the Delta Rotary, has about 30 or 40 members, maybe more. We talked about some rotary business for quite awhile, and then we had dinner. Dinner consisted of a ton of things I'd never had before. Nothing looked fishy, so I went for it. The first thing I tried was really good -- some sort of ham-and-cheese thing (nooo, ham and cheese in Spain? never) Next was this interesting-looking thing that looked like fried meat of some sort. I took a bite, and after pondering the strange flavor, I remembered that Kaitlyn Heater, who went to Spain 2 years ago, told me the strangest thing she had tried was fried chicken's blood. I asked one of the Rotary members what it was, and they all laughed.
"Oh, it's...uh, it's Pork." he told me.
"Just try one."Isabel said.
"Oh I already did. It was very...different."
"It's fried pig's blood." one of the other rotary members spoke up.
so, there you have it. I ate fried pigs blood. Needless to say, my appetite really wasn't all that good after that. :)

Saturday I FINALLY got to ride. I went to el Club Hipico Anezcar, (In English it would be Anezcar Riding Club), which I found online in the US. So I took a lesson there Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and it was great! Obviously it's no Equispirit (my barn back home, for those of you that don't know..), but it will certainly do for my time here. I rode a horse named Morito, and he was great. (Caution, horse-speak ahead) He may not have had the best conformation, but he was totally sound, and had that great jumper-canter, super easy to sit. I only got to jump about 2 feet, because I was in the lower-level jumping class so that the trainer could assess my riding skills. no biggie. While I was there, I saw these HUUGE (and I mean HUUUUUGE) muscley, but somehow still fat, high-level dressage horses. One was definetly a lippizan, not sure what the other was. They were having a dressage lesson in one of the (who knows how many?!) other arenas. Also, toward the end of my lesson, a guy came in riding this really impressive chestnut gelding. Well, Monday morning there was an article about Anezcar, accompanied with an impressive picture...of the Chestnut gelding. (see picture) So, I'm going to have weekly lessons at anezcar, starting Saturday. yay!

I'll leave you with a picture that will be greatly appreciated by my aunt and uncle. This is a picture of three adorable dogs that were playing on the hill behind our apartment. A dalmation puppy, an Old English Sheepdog puppy, and what I think was a boxer.

Besos!
~Gwen

Random-o

So today in school I wrote down thoughts and things that I was going to put on my blog in my notebook...

My notebook is safely inside my desk, at school, so rather than try to use my brain (which is very tired from a lack of sleep) and remember what I wrote, I'm going to share some things that I've noticed are very different from the US, things I think need to be said, or just random little blurbs that really don't fit into their own post.

1. Today I actually understood Econ (!!) and was even able to answer a few questions -- correctly!

2. I absolutely ADORE my Religion/Philosophy teacher, Natalia. She takes the time to make sure I understand, and sometimes there are mini English lessons in the middle of class if I don't know what a word in Spanish is, and she prompts the class to try and think of it in English, or she explains it in Spanish, and I tell the class the word in English. It's soooo nice to have a teacher that really takes care of me, and makes sure I'm following.

3. I have to acknowledge the girl that sits next to me in class, Andrea. She always helps me in class, and is very good at understanding me, and doing her best to explain difficult concepts (hello, philosophy!). She actually says that I speak Spanish very well, which is nice to hear. I'm starting to think that I actually speak Spanish better than I understand it, because when it's a conversation that I know the vocabulary needed, I can say pretty much exactly what I want to say, and be understood very well, whereas I cannot always understand what is being said by others.

4. People here drive like maaad. Even if it weren't a rotary rule, I would be beyond terrified to drive here. The roads are really curvy, and they go really fast in their tiny little cars. Not so great for my motion sickness. :S As crazy as it sounds, I actually think you have to have a lot of skill to be able to drive so badly on a regular basis and not be in a number of crashes (per day)

5. A follow-up on my post yesterday -- I'm actually not a picky person, I'm quite the opposite. Just ask my Aunt! :) It just so happens that the one type of food that I absolutely cannot stand (the smell of it actually makes me nauseous, and sometimes get a headache) is what they seem to eat an awful lot of here -- Seafood. I will try almost anything, but I decided to stop trying seafood ever since one time in a restaurant I tried some sushi and, well, really couldn't keep it down. I think it's much better to politely turn down seafood than to have to "sea" it again. ;) (I know, really bad pun. Give me a break, It's 10:40 and I slept for 5 1/2 hrs last night)

6. I had the most ah-maaazing pastry at lunch today. I have no idea what it's called, but it was fresh out of the oven, and was a warm and flaky pastry-type bread on the outside with chocolate cream in the inside. ooooh my goodness, it was good. I couldn't find a picture of it online, so instead i'm going to put a picture of the store I got it at.

well, I better start my lovely routine of trying to sleep.

Besos!
~Gwen

Comida

So today we went to Isabel's sister's house to eat lunch (which is a very big affair on sundays.) And the first course (of like hours and hours of eating) was pretty much all seafood. I wasn't aware that there was going to be more food later, so I kinda sat there trying to figure out if there was anything that I could eat. There was this thing in front of me that looked like a funny vegetable. Everyone told me I should try it, so I took a chunk and put it on my plate. Well, after examining it more closely, I realized it had little suction cups. Yes, it was chunks of octopus. :S I couldn't bring myself to eat it, and they all laughed and said that was ok. Other foods included shrimp kebabs, whole shrimp (eyes and legs included. sheesh!), and fried eggs and ham and cheese. Needless to say, nothing very appetizing to a non-seafood person. I tried some of the fried stuff, but I really did not like it.

Later I found out there was yet more food. I figured maybe it was dessert or something, since everyone had already eaten so much. But, to my surprise, they brought out tuna salad, and a huge plate of steak!! Now, in the US I don't eat red meat, but here I've been eating it, just because I don't want to be a burden. So I managed to eat a small steak (on which they put a TON of salt..?) and helped myself to the salad. Here, rather than putting a portion of salad on your plate and eating it that way, they just eat it straight from the bowl. For those of you who don't know, I'm a tiiiiny bit of a germaphobe, so I made sure to get enough salad on my plate before they started sticking their (used) forks in it. no biggie.

After that came the desserts. And man, do spaniards know how to do dessert! There was cake, 3 types of Ice cream, an assortment of shortbread-type cookies, and pineapple. It was delicious.

And, after that (I know, right?!) we had coffee and these yummy cookie things.

All in all, lunch lasted about 2 1/2 hours, but we stayed at the table talking for a good 4 hrs. After awhile, all the Spanish really started to make me sleepy, and give me a headache, so I excused myself and went to chill on the couch. One of the good things about having a family that has a daughter in the US, is that they understand that being around a new language all the time seriously has some side affects, and that sometimes I just need to have some down time, to give my brain a rest.

So, during the meal, I was asked what typical food in America is like. And to be completely honest, I really don't know. Our food tastes are so diverse, and we have the food of so many different cultures, that I decided to ask you guys. So, if you have time, please post as a comment what some of your favorite foods are, or what you eat in your house on a regular basis, so that next time I'm asked, I will really have some solid answers.

Besos!
~Gwen