Last couple of days...

Hello,

I am writing on the first snow day in the history of my life. Congratulations Minnesota for having such crap-tastic weather. I've been spending this wonderful day trying to think of things to make myself feel better that i'm not getting to experience my first snow day, and this is what i've come up with. Y'all are probably going to get sick. Apparently only good things follow me around (like, for example, the weather). I am still able to walk outside in a t-shirt. My boogers don't freeze. No one's dying in snow related accidents. I don't have to wear boots to school (that's a really good thing because i keep forgetting to get a locker). I can see living things such as plants and people on the street. Things like that.

Well i'm writing today because, as some of you know, i'm deathly ill once again. Here's what happened:

Thursday, i came home from school feeling a little tired and disoriented, so i took MY FIRST SIESTA (look how spanish i am) and then after that i stayed up until 12 or so trying to complete the ungodly amount of homework i had, which included a 6 page written opinion paper about a book for philosophy (yes, i did that) 2 thorough explanations of graphs for geography, and to study for a biology test on friday. You can imagine that i was a little stressed out, so i didnt listen to my body (as cousin karen would say) and ended up getting sick. Friday was awful. I got up for school, and actually went even though i felt like crap, because i had my biology test. But i couldn't even manage doing that, because somewhere between question 3 about cells mutations and question 4 about mitosis, i fell asleep. After about 15 minutes, i woke up and went home. And slept. Today is monday, and i am still feeling a bit down, so i don't know how long this one's going to last. Curse you european viruses.

BUT while i was at home all weekend, sleeping and doing other exciting things like that, i figured out that i understand spanish movies now. I was at my neighbors house yesterday watching movies with her mother. We bonded over a corny christmas film, tea and nail polish. It was weirdly fun. The only thing of substance i've really eaten this weekend is crackers and soup, and ive also managed to loose some of the massive ton of weight i gained here, so really his weekend hasn't been bad at all. It could definitely have been worse.

Let me just talk here for a second, more in detail, about what i said about not having a lot of time left. Yes, everyone, i KNOW i still have 7 months, but just listen. This weekend, im going to alecante to have 'christmas' with my spanish grandparents. The weekend after that is REAL christmas which is where im going to the mountains. The weekend after that is New years which i will be spending with friends and family, The weekend after that is the 3 kings holiday (the epiphany?), Somewhere in january i will be going to both madrid and barcelona. February i have italian people in my house (i think)... This like that. Between march and july, i don't know EXACTLY what im doing, but i'm going to italy (hopefully france too) Las fallas, my sisters coming, finals, camino de santiago, and then a week of summer. See how jam pack i'm talking here? I know it's going to go so fast, and i'm kind of sad.

Having said that, the spaniards are not seeming any more normal to me. I'm am not fully accustomed to their ways or anything like that, that does not mean i don't like their way of life, i just don't understand it real well. They surprise me everyday, for example(s): They always wear shoes in the house... soon i'm going to start sleeping in my shoes. They always dress nicely. They are not fat. They clean a lot. They study all day, everyday. The new broadcast people seem very friendly (more about that later). I haven't met anyone who dries their clothes in a dryer, they all have hang racks. but the thing that most surprised me about them is that no one knows how Helen Keller is. I was fascinated. We have jokes and books and plays and everything, but here, no one knows her. It's so weird!!!

Just a little side comment about the new broadcast people. They start every section saying hello and asking each other how they are and talking about their day and all that, like it's a normal conversation. At first i thought it was cute and friendly, but now i'm just like, really... no one really cares if you've had a fantastic day or not because we're just here to see what happened in the world today. So please, just give me the news report. That might just be me, but it's fine.

Other than that nothing much has happened. I'm starting to pass random things in school that i didn't think i would pass (like that 6 pages philosophy paper i wrote... i passed it) and other random assignments. Its a good feeling. Expect for the fact that i had an English test today, and i think someone forgot to teach me grammar because i had a fairly hard time deciding what teh Present simple, past simple, present blah blah blah is. i hope it's what i put because it would be really embarrassing if it isnt.

On the contrary, I would like to say that one of my rather proud moments of this week would be that i finally learned the words to La Bamba. :]

Sorry i don't have any pictures to put up, but i would like to share this.

I watch this show every single night.

El Intermedio

I don't actually know if i've seen this one before, but i just searched it on youtube, and it's the first one that came up. So yeah.

Soo long!

Jane

:]

I just have one thing to say.

I PASSED A SPANISH ESSAY TEST TODAY!

5.75/10

(me=kitteh)

And then i got sick because i studied too much. oops.

3 months??

hellllloo children!

I've been lazy (if lazy means not updating you on my whereabouts and feelings).

Well here it is: my whereabout still remain in Godella, valencia, spain. That much has not changed. My feelings are aplenty. Sometimes i feel like a pregnant woman with the amount of feelings i have. What i'm trying to say is foreign exchange is an emotional roller coaster. And if you don't understand that, i just have a lot of feelings. For example, today i was, for some reason or another, unable to speak spanish so i had a nice day playing dumb and avoiding homework. Twas quite pleasant. And the day before that i was frustrated because i had a spanish test. And tomorrow, ill probably be a little stressed out because i have to study a lot for other tests in which i will probably fail. What i am TRYING to say is both my whereabouts and feelings are more or less exactly the same.

so um.... happy three month anniversary to jane and spain! Now i feel like such a loser because my last blog was at 2 months. I guess i've been a little busy.... not a bad thing right? NOVEMBER WAS GREAT! actually it was EXACTLY the same as october, but with a few more language skills. I still have those stupid moments where i weirdly don't understand anything. I'm not sure exactly why i get them, but i THINK its because i zone out a lot easier here. FOr example, the other day i straightened my hair for school, and so when i got there, my friend was like "has planchado el pelo?" (did you straighten your hair) and i was like "whats pelo?" and he just gave this look like "are you serious???" of course i figured it out right away, but you cant help but feel stupid. but whatever.

What did i do these psat 30 days you ask? well.... i'll tell you.

at the beginning of the month, i studied. Then in the middle, i studied again. Then at the end, i was still studying. IT'S SUPER FUN!

thats an exaggeration. although i do study a lot, i've begun to cut it down because it's getting out of control. I feel bad for my teachers because if i don't do something, i seem uninterested, but in reality, i just don't have the time, and also because i'm more or less uninterested.... i guess their right. But it's not my fault. it's norma to want to have free time when you're in europe. What i actually DID do is the following....

One weekend i went to this island type thing called peñiscola. It was amazing. It was quite literally a city within the walls of a castle. It was exactly like what you see in all those european love story movies when the couples are running through the streets of an old city. a few examples being all of the mary kate and ashley movies, just to halp you out with an image. But it was really cool! A few family friends are architects and were helping to renew the walls of the castle so it would be livable. We got a tour and everything, PLUS food like always. Here are visuals.

The first picture is a night scene of where i was.

The second picture is an aerial view of the little castle village.

The third is a picture of my host dad with fried minnows. thats right, they EAT THEM. i was surprised

the fourth picture is the staircase in which an old priest escaped form the castle. :]

I'm not sure if this next thing happened before or after the peñiscola visit, but i went to FLAMENCO! it was awesome. My classmates don't like it at all, it's more of a middle aged woman thing, but i really liked it. They move their legs faster than anything i've ever seen, but at the same time, their heads don't move AT ALL. its extremely impressive.

It takes a seriously secure man to the things i saw him do.

Thanksgiving was interesting. I will admit that i got a little homesick, but HEY, they don't have turkey or the christmas music station, so it's only normal that i would miss home a little. The actually thanksgiving day was a little rough. i had 2 finals the next day so i studied almost the entire day. It wasnt really fun or anything, but whatever. later that night i went and got my cousin (quinn) from the airport. it was fun to see someone blood related. Friday we all went out, and quinn got to meet all my 15 and 16 year old friends. What a joke... sorry quinn. Saturday was interesting, we had a thanksgiving Paella. it was GREAT, and after we went and had starbucks, and watched sex in the city the movie IN spanish. How cultured we are.

But the bad thing is ambra went back to her house in italy. I think i might have needed to cry or something because i cried for a good solid 10 minutes. And not the loser fake crying, the heartfelt shake cry where you got liquids coming out of your entire face... tears, snot, drool, everything. Disgusting and sweet at the same time. I was rather proud of my gift though. i wrote an amazing spanish poem and drew a few pictures. i was proud of it.

heres the poem, i hope she wont mind:

Te vas a Italia el sábado, que pena (You're going back to italy on saturday, what a shame)

No se que voy a hacer cuando tengamos una cena (I don't know what i'm going to do when we have a dinner party)

por eso estoy aquí porque quiero decir (therefore i'm here because i want to say)

sin ti en mi vida, no puedo vivir. (without you in my life, i can't live)

te acuerdes los dias que fuimos a pasear (Remember those days when we went for walks)

y siempre después de beber, tenemos que mear (and after we drink (water) we always have to pee)

no lo se, todavía, lo que voy a hacer (i still don't know what i'm going to do)

porque cuando estoy contigo, es un placer (because when i'm with you, it's a real pleasure)

que risa los primeros días en Godella (the first days in godella were really funny)

y que bueno es el sabor de la paella (and paella tastes really good)

espero que hayas aprendido a cocinarla (i hope you've learned to cook it)

porque no creo que hagan en Italia (because i don't think they make it in italy)

Estoy contenta de haberte conocido (I'm happy that i got to know you)

seguro que dentro de dos año, a Italia he ido (for sure within 2 years i will go to italy)

no puedo creer que te vayas ya (i can't believe that you're leaving already)

porque voy a echarte de menos mas y mas. (because i'm going to miss you more and more)

Thats it. if you want to know what i means, ill put up the translation later.

TIME IS GOING TOO FAST!

i cant believe it. The first trimester is already over. Soon itll be christmas, and after that i have new years, and then it's JANUARY. Then i have las fallas, and after that i'll be going to Italy. And then sometime after that i might be going to france as well. Then we're already in may when i think nora (sister) is coming, and then i have finals, end of year school trip, and then what? home? wooooooooooooooowwwwwwwww.

SO MUCH TO DO, SO LITTLE TIME!

I'm stressin'.

Fun fact:

I was listening to this song called "5 years time" by Noah and the whale (Dad you should download it because its a ukelele song and you would like it) and it got me to thinking where i'm going to be in 5 years. And then i decided that i'll probably be in some university or something, and that got me to thinking about impressing colleges, which got we to thinking that my grades here somewhat matter (not really) which got me to thinking that i WILL pass geography AND castellano. it's my goal. I'm not going home until i do. (don't worry mom, i'm still enjoying myself)

happy december

Jane

TWOMONTHS

Elloder.

Mom and dad this one is for you because I got the feeling that you miss hearing from me because I recently received a lot of emails. and I don't feel like responding to them.

So these past few weeks were a semi success. Well actually they were great successes, with a few downfalls. The downfalls all have to do with school, so they're not really that interesting, just normal. All that happened was I failed my chemistry test (along with my other classmates) and failed a group project. (emphasis on the group) so nothing is really just me being stupid. The chemistry test was the most difficult thing in the whole world, and I couldn't have done it in English either. The geography group project was a group project so it wasn't entirely my fault. Other than that, school is going super good. I've managed to make a few more friends that i believe to be actual friends, or something of the sort.

enough of that.

Two weekends ago, I had to go to an AFS orientation thing again. This time it was actually fun... We stayed in a hostel in the middle of Valencia and got to explore the city a lot. It was run by 3 20 year old men, so it was rather disorganized. One of the main problems was that we didn't complete all the games that we had to, so we ended up doing them until really late in the night which lead to not getting much sleep (I think I got 9 hours throughout the whole weekend). We were all very tired by the end. One of the days I FINALLY got to visit the really cool museums that are in valencia.

The first picture is the coolest thing ever. It might look really lame, but I got quite the kick out of it. This is what you do. One person stands on one side, and another person stands on the other (you're like 100 feet away or something. Maybe more, my guessing is a little off) and you can hear each other perfectly even if you're talking in a normal voice. It's amazing. Yeah, that guy that looks like he's kissing the wall.... he's not, he's talking to his kid on the other side. Other than that, the AFS weekend was more of the same.

The next weekend was halloween.

I had quite the weekend..... Saturday night, I went to a Ska concert for 5 hours. Yes 5 hours. I said that. That means 5 hours of jumping around and having people jump on you and getting pushed around. I know I said something about a concert earlier, like a month ago or something, but this was different. This was WAY more intense. I was actually in pain by the end of the night. By pain, I mean real pain. I soaked my feet when I got home. The way that people dance... you would think they're trynna kill you or something. People literally just run full speed straight at you, push you into the middle of a bunch of people,and proceed to step all over you, push you around, punch you, whatever. Everything goes. It was brutal.

Halloween...... I was Wednesday from the Addams family, but the in the pictures I don't look the part. No one really looked like what they wanted to except these people:

We went to the city where all the people go for halloween. It's called 'Barrio Carmen" I think, although I'm not completely sure. Halloween was really fun, but it was also a little weird for me. Usually halloween is a little more homey. By that I mean you carve pumpkins and rake leaves and dress up with friends and get free candy. The only thing I got to do here was dress up with friends. Otherwise it was all foreign territory for me. The subway ride was by far the best thing ever though. Everyone wanted to get to the city, so everyone had to get on the same subway. So first of all were all waiting at the station, everyones all dressed up and talking and all. Then all of the sudden everyone sees the train, and they just FREAK. Everyone starts running all over the place and yelling a hollering. So when the doors open, everyone get stuffed into the subways. There were people on every side of me, and there was no room to move. SO we're all waiting to get going, but some stupid idiot broke the subway door, so we had to wait for them to fix it. After we FINALLY started going, everyone freaks again, cheering and all that. Every once in a while the train would stop really quick, and everyone would scream and a few people would fall and things like that. Most entertaining 20 minutes of my life.

Then the week happened. I don't know what happened exactly, but I suddenly just got LOGGED with homework. I had like 18 essays to write and like 4 tests and I just wanted to cry every single day. It's so hard. Most of my teachers and me get along pretty well, but we have our issues. As of right now, me and my spanish teacher are getting on pretty well. I understand her sometimes, and she makes an effort to ask me questions and stuff like that. Plus she told me the other day that when she hears me speak spanish with my friends in the hall that I speak "perfectamente". In the end, she redeemed herself big time. Other than that, my chemistry teacher thinks I'm funny because it's honestly the only class that we can goof off in. He doesn't care if my classmates and I say something stupid or whatever, and when we do, he usually just laughs. For example, we were taking notes today in class, and theres this chemist guy named J.J. Thomson, so when I was writing it all down, the only thing I spelled wrong was "thomson". He thought that was pretty funny because it's my last name. Also, apparently I'm always singing in that class. That's what they tell me, but I never notice. huh. Biology is fine. It's a lot of work because it's one of the only classes that I definitely need to pass, so I work a little harder at it. Plus that teacher still thinks I'm stupid, so I got that going too. I like biology, but I don't at the same time. Math is fine. Math is math. I like my teacher. She's edgy. Theory of knowledge is a piece of crap. I don't understand anything in the class because they're always using huge scientific words and it requires a lot of thinking and analyzing things in spanish, and I'm just not there yet. Plus the teacher is exactly what you would think a philosophy teacher would be like. She's fascinated by all things boring like contemplating myths, philosophy blogs, and the other day she proclaimed that hamlet and the "exploration of human fate and destiny" was one of the most interesting things that she can think of. Plus she sort of half got mad at me the other day in class because I wasn't able to reply sufficiently to her question. I'm like, HELLO GIVE ME A BREAK. I'm mean I'm sorry I can't give you a deeply personal, thoughtful response to a random myth that means something that I don't understand in spanish yet. Madre mia..... Geography is a different story completely. Geography is the worst of them all. The class is run in a way that I can't understand. Right now I have to face more than 100 pages of information (in spanish) with graphs, dates, people countries etc... that I need to memorize for an essay test that I have in 2 weeks. There are so many things wrong with that..... first of all, it's in spanish. second of all its an essay test. It takes me like 2 hours to write 1 page of good spanish. I have one hour to write 3 or 4 pages and answer other multiple choice questions. It would be fine if the teacher wasn't so stubborn. She doesn't give me a break AT ALL, and I know that that can be a good thing sometimes, but really..... a little break wouldn't hurt anyone. For example, she docked off points on my essay the other day because i had a bunch of grammar mistakes. What a bunch of crapola is that? Of course I'm going to have grammar mistakes. SPANISH IS MY SECOND LANGUAGE. The AFS people told me to ask my teachers if the tests for the first trimester could be a little easier, so I did, and all of them agreed (somewhat) except for her. Which is dumb because I actually need help in that class. When I asked her about it she just goes "no because you have the same brain capacity as the others. You don't need help. All the information is written down." And I'm like I know, and that is exactly the problem. I tried to explain to her that yes she is right that I'm capable, but it's the fact that I can't write as much or as well as the other students, AND to study 100 pages of spanish gibberish and understand it all in 2 weeks is more or less impossible. Just mark me down as fail already. There is absolutely no hope. ZERO.

Enough complaining.

I could attempt to describe my friends, but honestly I'm scared that they'll read it one day or something and be freaked out. I will say these things. Ambra, the Italian girl is the best. She's definitely my "best friend" here, but the crap part is she goes back to Italy in 2 weeks. I'm so sad! I have no idea what I'm going to do! She's like my buffer. If I don't want to do homework or something, I just say I'm going to Ambra's house, or if I want to talk, I just go talk. It's so easy!

I do have another friend that I like a lot. She's the red head in all my pictures, and she's really funny. She's usually really goofy all the time and tries to speak english (as a joke) and is ALWAYS playing little tricks on me, like tripping me in the hallway, or doing that "oh what's that on you're shirt??" trick. (the one where you look down, and then they flick your face or something) Shes really good at it. I think it's funny.

Then wednesday. I think all things bad happen on wednesday. I just don't like wednesdays.

Anyway, I got sick again. but this time really sick. I got some seriously painful tonsil/ear/head/stomach virus that was just awful. Wednesday was fine-ish. I felt it coming on, but I thought it would go away. I went to bed early that night, but woke up in a lot of pain. Thursday night was horrible because I was tired and my throat had lymph nodes the size of gumballs or somethings, but I had to study because I had a biology test the next day. That sucked. Friday was possibly the hardest day here so far. I was SUPER sick and had to go to school because I had a test, and I couldn't go home afterwards because my host parents weren't home. It was awful. Everyone was like "you look so sick... blah blah" and I was like I KNOW. So guess what happened? My math teacher, out of the kindness of her heart took me out of class and bought me tea and bread and talked with me for a while. It was so nice. I like her a lot. She will be receiving a nice gift at the end of the year. Unlike another teacher I have.....

Anyway, friday when I got home from school, I was so tired and sick that I decided to take a nap. SO I did, and I didn't wake up until 630 PM, which is when I decided to go to the doctor. So I took my first trip to the doctor. It was extremely different. There is one doctor for the whole town, and everyone in the waiting room knows each other and are chatting and laughing..... I thought it was ironic because it was a sick people waiting room but it was so lively. I don't know.... stuck me as weird. I was behind a bunch of spanish old ladies in line so I waiting an entire 2 hours to be seen by the doctor, and all he did was give me a prescription for antibiotics. Now, I'm doing just fine.

Sunday, I went on a practice hike for "camino de santiago" that my school is doing at the end of the year. We hiked more than 20 km, and my legs hurt, mostly because I was with my friend marta a lot, she was just tripping me the whole time like she always does. I managed to not fall, but there were a few close calls. It was fun, but it was a lot of work. I got up at 730 AM on a sunday, and didn't get home until 8PM. so that was kind of a drag. PICTURES. Oh how the spanish love the siesta.... even on rocks.

Ive had quite a few bug pictures.... sorry.

And now for

IM SURVIVING.

Not always good, but never really bad either.

This month (almost a month and a half...) has gone pretty ok. Now all I need to do is find something to do. I was thinking about enrolling myself in some painting classes, but I have to figure out when and where they are. If y'all have any other ideas of cool things I could do, tell me because I'm having a hard time deciding what I want to do. So yeah.

Yes I still like spain, but I think my list of things I miss/dont miss have changed. Funny how that works. Also, I miss more things than I don't miss, but I think thats normal.

Here we go.

Things I miss:

1. coldness

2. my cats

3. the bandshell

4. grandmas house

5. Honey bunches of oats

6. my sister. (awww) (and the rest of the family)

7. understanding school

8. Guitar hero

9. Driving

10. Yes nora P. You too.... (and my other friends)

Things I don't miss:

1. The dentist.

2. feeling like i have to exercise all the time.

3. having to get good grades

4. American food

5. shaving. :]

Thats it. I cant think of anything more.

But really. the only thing thats giving me a hard time is my classes. And seeing that I don't really have to do super good in my classes, it doesn't really matter. I'm just not used to being able to fail so I work myself really hard. But I'm learning to relax. So with time, all will be well.

I'm just going to publish this one. I know I forgot stuff, but I'll write another one at some point. Have a nice day! :]

Jane

PLAN-LESS

Hello.

I don't have a plan for this entry. I plan on simply talking because nothing too dramatic has happened. An 'update' would be a fitting term.

Over all, I'm am doing well. I sort of just take everyday as it comes. I am completely aware that that is SUPER vague and corny, but just deal with it. Here, I'll even give you an example or two.

Today was what I now call a 'mixed' day. At one point at school today, I got really frustrated, but an hour or so after that I was joking around with my friends. This is what happened:

I went to school. The first two hours of wednesdays are biology. I have taken a dislike to biology recently because it is more than obvious that the teacher thinks I'm dumb. She talks directly to the other kids in my class, and then after, she summarizes what she just said, but looks right at me and talks slower and louder. Then after that she loudly says "Do you understand me? No, no you don't understand do you? Did you understand what I just said?" "No you didn't. I'll explain again." And then I have to try to explain to her that I in fact DO understand what she says most of the time, and when I don't understand, I will ask her to repeat herself. We have some serious communication problems. Half of me is extremely annoyed with this because I feel like a 3 year old child in her class, and half of me is fine with it because I can cut myself a little slack in that class. I just wish I could say, "Hi, my hearing is just fine. It's the fact that I don't understand the words that are coming out of your mouth. The volume level is perfect. Thank you." But I think that would be a little bit too much of a complex sentence. And a little sassy. Anyway, after that debacle I had quite a nice little day. I figured out how to make jokes in spanish, and was the only one in my chemistry class that did the homework so I got to explain it to my classmates on the whiteboard. I felt smart. Plus (and this is the best part) every wednesday and friday I have the last hour free, so I usually go to this little cafe really close to my school, and today when I got there, the lady goes "cafe con leche, no?" I'M A REGULAR! Well, I guess it's not so difficult to remember my face because I look different than everyone else, BUT STILL. How cool is that? I had such a hard time hiding my pure happiness. Anyway, when I finally went home at 5 PM, I waited until there was no one in the house, and prepared myself a nice little treat as a reward for a long day:

No, it is not a cup of whipped cream. Well, just about, but there's some coffee under there somewhere. It was fantastic by the way. It was exactly what I needed to lift my spirits. That and the video of Stephan Colbert dancing which I watch every single day. I'd suggest that you do the same, because it's healthy to laugh everyday. And also because this video will change your life. I'll post a link later.

School is going pretty ok I think. It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my whole life ever, but it's something I like to call character building. Southwest is about to be SO EASY next year. I'll be like. "What?? The homework isn't in spanish? I don't have to take really neat notes all the time? I don't have to translate me homework? what??" Speaking of which, everyone is so neat here. My classmates take notes that just blow my mind. They color code everything. For example, the title of the section will be in green marker. The writing will be in black pen. The activities will be in pencil. The diagrams and pictures will be in red pen with blue captions. That's just an example, but it actually is like that. I'm like, I have one color of pen, and a pencil. I can't compare. But all is well because I wrote my first essay in spanish! So proud of myself!

Before:

After:

Las Consecuencias

Todos sufren de las consecuencias del cambio climático. En cada región, hay consecuencias diferentes. Algunas de las consecuencias ya son visibles.

Un impacto grave del cambio climático son las tormentas muy fuertes. Los países de América Central, América del Sur, Asia Sudoriental y Gran Bretaña sufren de los desastres naturales. América Central es vulnerable a los huracanes porque la humedad es muy alta en el Golfo de México. La más grave fue el Huracán Mitch de 1998. Porque la región ha seguida tener condiciones climáticas extremas, no se puede recuperar. En América del Sur, especialmente en Venezuela, las lluvias torrenciales disminuyen mucho de la zona turística y el litoral central. En las tierras bajas de Asia Sudoriental y Gran Bretaña están expuestas a inundaciones causadas de una serie de tormentas.

Otra consecuencia es la sequía. La sequía afecta principalmente a los países de África. La región de norte de África es la región más seca del mundo. Aquí es donde la disponibilidad de agua per cápita se reduce a la mitad. Esta zona no tiene muchas opciones para aumentar el almacenamiento de agua. En África al sur del Sahara, la economía depende fuertemente de los recursos naturales. La agricultura da empleo al 70% de la población, Sin agua, la mayoría de la población estaría sin trabajo. La seguía provoca otros desastres también como los incendios forestales en el sur de Europa.

El cambio climático ha causado cambios dramáticos en los océanos. Greenpeace predice que la gran barrera de coral en Australia se morirá dentro de 30 años debido a la contaminación del agua. Está ocurriendo algo muy parecido en América Central. Con el calentamiento y contaminación del mar, es posible que los arrecifes de coral en el Caribe se mueran también. Los arrecifes de coral son muy importantes porque proporcionan protección natural, comida y dinero. En la Antártida y el Ártico las temperaturas han aumentado cinco veces en los últimos 50 años. Según el IPCC, los hielos de la región Ártica prácticamente desaparecerán a finales de siglo. Debido a esto, el nivel del mar aumentará hasta 4-6 metros. Por esto, las costas y países como Holanda y Bangladesh van a desaparecer. Por último, según el IPCC, la emisión de carbono antropológico desde 1750 está acidificando el océano. En este siglo, predicen una reducción del pH del océano entre 0´14 y 0´35. Esto tendrá efectos negativos sobre los organismos marinos.

Finalmente, el cambio climático afecta el hombre directamente. Las enfermedades aumentaran. Especialmente en los países del África. La gente no tendrá comida no trabajo debido a las lluvias torrenciales o las sequías. En conclusión, cambio climático nos afectaría todos.

You don't actually have to read that. And just to add, I had help from a classmate of mine who edited it a little. But otherwise it's all my own work. YES! LEARNING IS FUN! Too bad today my fun was ruined when I was told it was supposed to be more like 4 pages long. It's fine. I'm proud of what I did so I shall turn it in with pride. Speaking of learning, I have recently become inspired by language. I want to learn all the languages ever. Actually this year I AM going to learn spanish AND valenciano (catalan), but I also strive to learn a little bit of italian and french as well since I will be visiting (hopefully) both said countries. It's a long shot, but I just don't care. I WILL LEARNN! I WILLLL!

I would like to take some time to talk about this (awesome) celebration I attended the other day (saturday). It was a parade type thing or "demonstration" of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. It was super amounts of fun. It was mostly about the elimination of poverty, so everyone was chanting either "Cero, cero, cero. Pobreza cero." or "No nos mires. Unete!" (Don't just look. Unite). My group of friends likes to dance a lot, so we hung out by the drum band the entire time. We were dancing and walking for like 3 hours or something. BUT IT WAS SO FUN. I even talked to one of the band members briefly. He told me I speak quite well. I have pictures:

I have come to learn that when you aren't living in the comfort of your own home, you have to do a lot of things for yourself. If you want something, YOU have to do it. For example. If Ineeded shoes, I can't just say, "Hey host mom! Go buy me some shoes!" I have to physically get on a train and go find a shoe store and buy myself some shoes. Also if I'm hungry or something and it's not meal time, I can't just order someone to get me a snack. I have to get my own snack. Another example is I'd been craving a hearty american breakfast the last few weeks, so I had to organize a morning where I could cook. It was awesome by the way because I cooked pancakes for 6 people and they all liked them. YES! PICTURE!

Ok. After this, I'm done talking. I'm going to seriously talk here about spain. This is Jane's mind uncensored. Spain, thus far is going pretty good. I have yet to encounter something that goes smoothly for me, but that was only to be expected. Even english class is hard because it's physically and mentally straining to force myself to pay attention. It's THAT boring. Today we talked about what sports are popular is each country. I had to talk about what I like and don't like about american football. No one understood me. But anyway. Yes, school is hard. Yes, talking is hard. Yes, I'm tired a lot. No, I'm not happy every single second of every single day. Yes, I get frustrated and annoyed. Yes, I feel dumb a lot. But yes, I really like it here. It's all part of the experience and I know that so I've been learning how to give myself a hugnormous break. I figure if I get stressed out over things in the U.S that happen to all be in english, than it should be more than normal to be frustrated with things over here. It's not like I'm on a vacation, (well I sort of am) I'm supposed to try to live normally, only in a different country, and with living normally comes a little bit of every single mood. Most of you know that I am NOT happy all the time in the states, and so that carries on over here as well. I have no idea if you understand what I'm trying to say, but whatever. I warned you, you are reading what is going on in my head right now. Now that we have that straightened out, I would like to talk about customs. I am living in an upside down world. What I mean to say is that everything is new for me. EVERYTHING HERE IS CLEAN! Mom, you are going to be so happy with me when I come back because my room here is never dirty AND I eat everything with a fork and knife. Including fruit and salad. Other than that, my host family says everyday when we sit down to eat "You're going to taste yet ANOTHER food today. We're having duck!" Or anchovies, or blue cheese and apples, or pumpkin soup! It's crazy! One thing that has seriously messed with my head is the metric system. I can't do anything! The first few days everyone was asking me how many meters I am. I had no idea how many meters I am. And also 1.100 is One thousand, one hundred. 1,100 is one point one (1.1). Trying to grasp that concept and listen to my math teacher explain things at the same time SERIOUSLY screwed me over. Also the whole km thing, but that was less difficult to figure out. One other thing is that I am both extremely annoyed and fascinated by the time schedule. It was hard to change my eating habits to fit their schedule, and I have found that I need more sleep than I am able to get. I hope ill adapt to that soon because I'm sick of being tired. There there you have it. You can go right ahead and be jealous if you want, but you should not it's not ALWAYS a good time, although it's usually pretty fun.

I honestly don't have much else to say. I have yet ANOTHER AFS orientation this weekend, so if we do anything super cool I'll be sure the say something. I sorta of really doubt it though. Minus the fact that everyone has to make something from their country. I'm making cookies!

Just one more thing. I can't tell you how many friends I've made just because I have a cousin named "Peter Griffin" So thanks Sarah and Greg for that.

Alright thats all.

Here is the best Youtube movie ever made. So long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXGhjOwvnNQ&feature=related

Jane

(Griffin)

Kaixo!

Kaixo!

That's Hello in Basque... I'm glad I don't have to learn that language. Here's a few other phrases in Basque:

Eskerrik Asko- Thank You

Ez Dut Ulertzen- I don't understand

Bi Garagardo Mesedez- Two beers please

Ingelesez hitz Eligen Al Duzu- Do you speak English?

Aizu- Excuse Me

Aio- Goodbye

Thought I'd Blog since I just got home from a WONDERFUL weekend up north in the Basque country (speaking of basque). I went to 'La Rioja' and stayed in a very (VERY) modest little hostel type thing. I was there for 4 days hiking and taking pictures and talking doing the whole tourist thing. When people asked me where I was from, and I said I was 'from Valencia'. I don't really know why, but I decided it would be fun to try out. I have come to the conclusion that the whole foreign exchange thing is a better conversation starter. These are my two conversation options:

CONVERSATION ONE:

"Hi, I'm blah, Whats your name?" "Hi Blah, I'm Jane. Where are you from?" "I'm from Blah, Where are you from?" "I'm from Valencia." "Oh, Cool." "Yeah." "Ok, well I have a prior commitment I have to attend. Have a nice Day Jane!" "Thanks Blah. See you later!" END OF CONVERSATION OPTION ONE.

CONVERSATION TWO:

"Hi I'm Blah. What's your name?" "Hi, I'm Jane. Where are you from?" "I'm from Blah, Where are you from?" "I'm from the United States. I'm a foreign Exchange student in Valencia." "Oh my god! That's so cool! Have you ever been to New york?" "Oh yeah!!! It's Great! I met a whole bunch of famous people!" "Oh my god that's amazing! Like who?" "Oh you know, the usssee. Zac Efron, Brittany Spears, Lady Gaga, Tom Cruise. My dad has an apartment in Manhattan!" "Oh my god! Were gonna be best friends so I can come visit you in the United States!" "That's wonderful! So, do you want to go to a nice cafe and discuss movies and music with me?" "Of course, Lets Go!" JUST THE BEGINNING OF CONVERSATION TWO!

Those are just example. I didn't actually tell people I knew famous people. I want to try it though because it would be good spanish practice and it would be fun to be famous for a little. Plus they really like Zac Efron over here so maybe I would win a few popularity points. I decided that I would use conversation one if I was in a hurry or feeling a little quiet or something, and conversation two if lets say a talldark'nhandsome type approached. or something of the sort. I don't know.

Anyway, back to La Rioja. The actual place was wonderful. The driving, on the other hand, was tremendously uncomfortable. The whole way there I felt like I was gonna puke. It was the most uncomfortable situation ever. Listen. 5 person car, 5 people, 6 hours, mountains (high altitude), Stick shift, smelly food in car, iPod low battery. Holy crap could not have been worse. My ears were dying, I couldn't sleep, and I felt like I was on a roller coaster that smelled like ham and cheese. (Mom, I know you know what i mean.)

But it was all worth it when I got there. GORGEOUS! It was like the movies, you know? Small little pueblos that are all old and close together which cool things like castles and old churches. It was even better because it was raining so it was REALLY like a movie. I was speechless.

I'm not entirely sure why we went up there, i think it was just to see old churches and cities and things like that. I know we stayed in a pueblo called Soto and a pueblo called Matute, but the other names have slipped my mind. That keeps happening.

That's pretty much what everything looked like. I'm almost jealous of myself..... I want to live in a small pueblo in the mountains!!

One cool little fact, I visited this cool little town, and I was informed that in the olden days, they would close the doors to the city at night so no one could leave or get in. How crazy is that!! I thought that didn't really exist the whole 'closing the doors to the city' thing. Here's a picture: Above the door, there's a picture of Jesus. How old and religious is that?

Also while I was there, a few weird things happened. #1 I whipped out my sketch book while we were there because my friend wanted to to draw her, so I did, but at the end of the trip my other friend (who also wanted me to draw her, but I didn't have time) was looking through my other pictures and saying which ones she liked etc. etc. When she cam across my newest one which was a picture of myself and my friend Maria. Then she said something that I understood to be "I really like this one, Will you draw me like that?" So of course i said "of course!" So then she gets all happy and stuff, and tears out the picture from my book! I quickly realized that she had asked me if she could have the drawing, whch is a little sucky because I really liked it myself. But I got over it quickly because now my art is worldwide. YES!

#2 At the spanish chinese buffet I went to, I went all amercian on everyone without thinking. You know how we sometimes eat french fries with milkshakes? Well, I ate my icecream with my leftover fries. I got so many weird looks.... In my head I was like "There are frog legs on your plate, and you think I'M weird...." OH YEAH!!! There were frog legs. Gross.

SCHOOL!

UGH!

SO HARD!

So guess what I did? I got out of 3 classes of English AND Dibujo Tecnico to have free hours to do homework. How awesome is that? Really really awesome is the answer.

Well I should wrap it up because I have to read "Invitacion A La Filosofia", but before I go I promised to make a few shout outs:

AMBRA is my friend from Italy who lives next door. It's actually worked out really well because I always have a friend, and her family has a cat so sometimes I like to go visit it. I'm making her an american breakfast on Saturday. I'm secretly super excited.

NORA PEDERSON is #11 on my list of things I miss.

Ok that's all.

OH WAIT! Dad, look at this cool teeter totter I saw! I know you like teeter totters so I thought of you when I saw it.

OK that's really all. Hope all is well. Here's a cool Museum AND some popular spanish music:

Eskerrik Asko

Aio!

Jane

Four most heard songs on the radio.

They all suck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3S4dBk4E1g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moD5UE1wtf0&feature=fvst

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPpmbhOK3xQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE9IchvpOPk

Short n' Sweet

Hello errbody.

Today didn't go so well, so I'm blogging instead of doing homework. It's a little treat to myself. I'm going to do a little debrief of the day though.... y'all might find it entertaining.

Sorry for any mistakes..... apparently I can't speak any language today.....

Well first off, I got sick on sunday. Those dang spanish diseases.... my poor american cells got confused or something. Anyways, I got a really bad cold really fast. So today, I'm at school all sick like and blowing my nose every 10 minutes or so (not joking) you know, doing my own thing. By 6th hour I'm just miserable. I'm tired and annoyed with my flem and I just want to go home. BUT NO. My day managed to get worse when I suddenly burst out in an insane cough attack in the middle of geografia. The first few coughs were fine, but after a little, my classmates started to take notice. So of course everyone is watching me suffer while I'm hacking up a storm (tears and snorting and everything. You know what I mean). After about 30 seconds of pure death, I get offered about 4 water bottles and 3 packs of kleenex while my friend Carlos fanned me with his papers and everyone else is laughing and saying 'jane TRANQUILA!". (I would have been laughing too if it was possible) After that finally ended, I calmed down and just kinda sat there for the rest of the day.

That makes school sound bad. School is actually fun. I like school. Its really different (I keep saying that) but it's true. The other day, I got 2 free hours in the middle of the day because my chemistry teacher didnt show up. Thats right. There's no such thing as substitutes. If a teacher doesn't show, you don't have class.

One thing I DON'T like about school is this: you can go ahead and feel bad for me. Only for this though because everything else is fantastic.

One other thing about school. In biology the other day, we examined blood. But guess what, IT WAS OUR OWN BLOOD! Thats right, I cut myself in school. How weird is that. In the middle of class, the teacher just hands me a needle and was like "look at your own blood cells." I just sat there in awe. But I did. and it was really interesting. Ok my life is not ALL school.

Last saturday I went to my first spanish concert! It was so cool. It was very spanish too. It was a rock concert in the middle of a street. DANCING IS SO FUNNY! Everyone just purposely runs into everyone else. Basically its just a lot of people bouncing off of each other. It gets pretty crazy too. A bunch of people fell and stuff. Its some pretty serious stuff.

Next order of business. I understood my first movie the other day. The entire movie. I was so proud.

El Niño con el pijama de rayas.

I highly recommend it. Im serious. It was so good. And in spanish. I didn't know movies in spanish could be good, BUT IT WAS. BECAUSE I UNDERSTOOD! Good day. Good day.

I don't really have much else to say. This is going to be a short blog. I will tell you that with a little luck and really good conversational skills, I will be going to Italy with my school for 10 days in march for only 150 Euros. (180$) If you can ever go to Italy for that much money, I will die of shock. Also my host dad wants to take me to france. How freaking cool is that. I WILL TRAVEL THE WORLD!

Cheers!

Jane

one miggety-month

SO brace yourselves for a serious blog here.

IT'S BEEN ONE MONTH!!!!!! Can you believe it? I def-Mc-def can't. But more of that excitement later.

I HAVE STORIES!

Oldest to newest here...

LAST WEEKEND I went hiking in las montañas with a few fam-friends of my neighbors. I have come to the conclusion that I really like mountains. We don't have mountains in Minnesota. Remember when I commented on the driving around here..... just imagine that on mountainous roads. I'm talking unpaved, rocky and skinny, steep 'roads'. More like death traps that people are somehow allowed to drive on. Anyway I felt kind of goofy the whole time because I think I saw more of the ground than anything else. I found it difficult to climb up a steep hill while looking at the scenery and taking pictures and not falling. I tripped a few more times than I'd care to admit, and encountered a few unfriendly spanish plants, but overall I DID enjoy hiking. And I made a friend!

Funny thing about hiking though.... If you don't pee right before you leave, you are screwed. I found that out the hard way. The group started walking around 11 AM, I had to pee around 130 PM. Normally I would just go pee in the woods somewhere, but too bad I only know how to say "i have to pee" in the little kid way: "Yo necesito hacer un pipi." which loosely translates to "I need to make a tinkle." I hope you all can see why I didn't want to announce that to the group of (mostly) adults. This debacle basically led to me not peeing until I got home at 7 PM. This is how I was walking the entire time:

SUPER FUN!

But really though, I did enjoy myself. I really like dem mountains.

They're pretty airy. Good for the mind.

One thing that is awesome about my school is my chemistry class. It's so weird because I hate chemistry, but it's definitely my favorite class here. Ok just listen here. This is my chemistry teacher: close your eyes. CLOSE YOUR EYES! Imagine a spanish version of my dad's face. Now add aunty Karen's hairdo. THAT IS MY CHEMISTRY TEACHER. It's actually so freaky... A lot of my teachers remind me of someone else I know. Examples: My math teacher is a lot like neighbor Eileen. Geography teacher is Mary Ford. Theory of Knowledge teacher is exactly like my mom's friend Melanie (sorry if I butchered your name). My neighbor here, Lola, is the twin of neighbor Toni. That kinda freaked me out a little.....

Anyway back to chemistry. It's so fun because I only have 3 people in my class so we can joke around a little. For example, I was teaching my classmates how to swear in english, and my teacher over heard. So, guess what he did? He stopped teaching so he could learn too. AWESOME! I taught my teacher how to swear. Also, one time he was trying to explain the Mole, so he goes "how many atoms are in a Mole of Carbon?" (The answer is 6.022 x 10 to the 23 power. Which is 602,200,000,000,000,000,000,000) And just to further our grasp on the concept, he goes "How many Jane's are there in a Mole of Jane's?" And I go, "6.022 x 10 to the 23 power Jane's." And he goes, "Yes. Let's hope that never happens." AWESOME!

A few other cool things have occurred.

Last night I went to this really intense spanish dance theater performance thing. The dancing was really good, but I understood absolutely nothing. That includes the language AND the 'deeper meaning' (you know how dances always have a deeper meaning.) Nevertheless, I liked it a lot. FRONT ROW BABY! I saw all the funny facial expressions up close. Also after we went to this vegetarian restaurant where some people in my group drank tomato juice. I have come to the conclusion that vegetables should never been ingested in that manner. It's disgusting.

Also, I have finally started to notice that my spanish is getting better. I don't necessarily think in spanish yet, but sometimes I do catch myself thinking of possible sentences that I could say. Good spanish conversation starters. Planning ahead is key.

Also nora, this one's for you. I conformed and joined a basketball team. I am the tallest one. If tall girls don't exist on a basketball team, they are nowhere.

Ok. This next section is something I like to call:

This section will be written once a month, every month to give my overall monthly experience.

Ok. 'The verdict' #1:

Top 10 Things I Miss. (No specific order)

1. My cats.

2. Being Barefoot. I have to wear shoes all the time because it's considered rude or something to not wear shoes in the house. I don't like this because my shoes are starting to smell.

3. Television. Actually just Friends. Friends in spanish just isn't the same.

4. The Zumbro. Actually breakfast in general.

5. Linden Hills. What a great neighborhood. One of the best I'd say.

6. The Fam. Gotta say it.

7. Driving.

8. Peanut butter and jelly sandwichs.

9. Fall. There's no fall here. Or winter. I miss seasons.

10. Southwest High School.

PHYCH!!!! I actually don't miss that.

10 for real. My swing.

Top 10 Things I Don't Miss: (Again, no specific order)

1. Those dogs behind my house.

2. Airplane noise.

3. Speaking English. HAA! I bet you thought I'd miss that, and up until recently I did miss it, but now I like speaking spanish. It's fun sometimes to see if you can make a good sentence. Although it virtually never happens.

4. My chemistry class back home. My class here is SO MUCH COOLER!

5. School dances. Unnecessary drama.

6. Crappy american films. I get to watch them in spanish over here. Which just means I get to make up what the characters say in my head. So much more fun.

7. The food. Food here is fantabulous.

8. Being bored. I've always got something to do. And if I don't have something to do, I get to translate the endless amount to homework I have. yay.

9. My phone. I have a phone here, but I never use it. I like it that way.

10. Having to share a bathroom. I get my own here.

Moment of truth: I like Spain. This first month was extremely difficult for a while, but recently, and I mean RECENTLY (last 3 days) i've been talking more, which leads to more friends, which leads to more fun etc. etc. It's been quite the month, I tells ya.

One of my friends started calling me Griffin. I wonder how long it's going to take for that to spread. I hope soon because I secretly really like it. It's got a nice ring to it. Here's a few picture from the hood.

Castle!

My road

Cool Door

Cool graffiti

Spain's Skinniest apartment.

SO thats about it. I hope everything is going well with all of you.

Watch these things. Its how I learn spanish:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox1euwLB_rY&list=QL&playnext=3

Jane

stuff I forgot because I was tired.

I knew I forgot to add a whole bunch of stuff to my last post. That was because, as the title subjects, I was really tired. For those that don't already know, translating a history lecture from spanish to english for 2 straight hours is NOT easy and NOT fun. Just imagine everyday life, but in spanish. Doesn't seem too bad when you say it, but you have to dig deeper. Watching TV is no longer relaxing. Answering the phone is the scariest thing ever. Lunch break is stressful. I can't get or give directions. I could go on, but I don't want to stress you out. And that's why I forgot stuff. MOVING ON.

I'd like to comment on driving. No one is normal when it comes to operating a vehicle. Either they go really really really really really slow all the time while they talk and point various things out. Or they go really really really really fast which usually entail almost hitting things like parked cars or pedestrians. Both scare the crap out of me. My host dad drives really slow because he likes to talk and tell me random things that happened at random places that I'll never remember because names of things suck. My host neighbor also. Once he's stopped at a stop light, he starts talking about something and doesn't go until someone honks at him to go. SO basically the light could be green for a while before we start moving again. Those that know me know that that would bug me. On the other hand, my friends dad drives like a maniac. He cuts in front of cars and people and runs stop signs and all that good stuff. It's like a roller coaster because all the cars here are stick shift so theres a lot of movement. Usually I feel like I'm going to throw up every single time I get out of a car.

COOKING/FOOD. This is for the Griffin family. Food here is wonderful. But It's a lot. Way to much. Here, I eat "poco". But in reality I eat more here that ever in my whole life ever. My host mom was concerned that I didn't eat enough, but I'm sitting there eating like 4 large meals a day. I ate almost an entire roll of french bread today. And two fajitas. And after that when I'm about to barf, I get fruit and yogurt and ice cream thrown in front of me so of course going to nibble on that. If I could eat more, I would because it's amazing food. There are like..... 17 different kinds of ham (on of which is on my kitchen table.... in the form of a leg.... with a hoof. Pleasnt huh?) and 17 different kinds of cheese and bread and sandwich and coffee and salad and potatoes, all of which have different names, all of which I don't remember. So there. Food section done.

Teenage fashion is more or less the same. They wear a lot of baggy things, and jean shorts. Also it's a trend to show your underwear. Yes, girls sag their pants. For all of you that have ever met me, you know that this was not a hard trend for me to pick up on since my underwear is virtually always showing. They have that whole "I don't look like a care, but I really do" look going on. It's rather interesting. And you wear your shoes everywhere. Even in the house. It's rude to not wear shoes in the house. Don't know why, but I can tell you that I learned the hard way.

SERIOUSNESS. Dad, you wanted to know what I observed concerning female/male roles in the family. Well, I asked and observed, and found out this: a traditional family has the obvious male working female at home thing going on, but the more modern families have started to break away from the trend. Personally I think, since I've been here, that I still see a little bit of a distinction. At least in my house, my host mom does all the cooking and cleaning and laundry etc. etc. while my host dad works and helps out a bit, but not nearly as much at my host mom. That being said, theres a huge possibility that thats just the circumstances in this house. My host mom doesn't seem to mind AT ALL, and usually refuses any type of help that I offer. She secretly remakes my bed every single day while I'm at school, and mops my floor as well. I don't know. They told me they were very modern in the way they do things so I don't know what to think. I guess it doesn't really matter. I don't ever have to do laundry so I'm fine.

SCHOOL. Mother Teresa. I had 9 hours of school today. It was awful. On wednesdays after my normal classes I have to go to IB graduation requirements which is pretty much just working on an extended essay and doing community service I think. I'm not actually positive on that, but I guess I'll find out next week. School is actually getting easier, except today I had the challenge of trying to figure out which was the girls bathroom. The sign was in Valenciano, and I have no idea how to read that. Its was something like Xastais and Xais. I actually just made those up, but they both started with and 'X'. I ended up picking the right one by the way.

Other than that I have nothing.

Sowwwy!

Jane