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

cockroahces

HELLO!

So these past few days have been weird. I don't really know where to start honestly. I always think that everything is normal until I have a second to think which is when I realize that my life here is so weird and crazy. There are really no words for my life. All I know is it's not normal. At all.

Okay I'll start here. This weekend I had my first spanish AFS orientation. For all of you that are unfamiliar with this, all you do, really, is play stupid (yet strangely fun) team bonding games that always seem to have a deeper meaning. Although I did really enjoy the games, my favorite part of the whole weekend was this really super cool coffee machine they had. It was so great. I think I had six throughout the entire 40 hours I was there. It was so tasty. Anyway, there were only 10 students there; five from the states, one from Italy, one from Slovakia, one from Belgium, one from Iceland and one from Germany. I felt really bad because the kids from the States just spoke English the entire time (not me!), so the others didn't really understand. The volunteers got kind of pissed as well, and I understand why. Having said that, I did speak a lot of english, but only to translate for people. I FELT SO SMART. I mean, I definitely got a permanent headache from it, but it was fun to try to go back and forth.

MY FIRST REALLY EMBARRASSING WORD MIX UP HAPPENED ON SUNDAY!!!

There was an AFS volunteer there named Herman that spent a year in the United States a few years back. I always ask the foreign exchange students if they like peanut butter, because virtually no one from outside the US likes it. So, I go up to Herman and go "HERMAN! Te gusta mantequilla de cucarchas??" And he just looks at me. And then I suddenly realize that I just asked him if he liked cockroach butter. Embarrassing right? Just for the record, Peanut Butter= mantequilla de cacahuetes. Who'd a thunk?

Can I just take a sec to complain. Just a sec. You have no idea the h-e- double hockey sticks I have gone through today and whenever I have school. Today, I did school related things for 10 hours. IT WAS SO FUN. First of all, my schedule got changed. Now I have biology instead of physics, which is great. And also my chemistry class is only 3 people. How awesome is that? And i have one spanish class on friday with little kids. I'm secretly excited. The only classes I don't like are spanish and english. English its too slow, and I don't think the teacher likes me very much because I have an american accent. She might possibly feel a little insecure about speaking in front of me as well. My english homework today was sweet though. I wrote a really good half page essay about good qualities and bad qualities involving all the words they had in the little box of words on the homework sheet. It was great.

Spanish class is way to fast. Today we had to find the deeper meaning of a poem by a dude named Lorca. The kids in my class didnt understand it, so I have no idea why this lady thought I could understand. Here's the Poem:

Romance de la luna, luna

La luna vino a la fragua
con su polisón de nardos.
El niño la mira, mira.
El niño la está mirando.

En el aire conmovido
mueve la luna sus brazos
y enseña, lúbrica y pura,
sus senos de duro estaño.

Huye luna, luna, luna.
Si vinieran los gitanos,
harían con tu corazón
collares y anillos blancos.

Niño, déjame que baile.
Cuando vengan los gitanos,
te encontrarán sobre el yunque
con los ojillos cerrados.

Huye luna, luna, luna,
que ya siento sus caballos.

Niño, déjame, no pises
mi blancor almidonado.

El jinete se acercaba tocando el tambor del llano. Dentro de la fragua el niño, tiene los ojos cerrados.

Por el olivar ven'an, bronce y sueño, los gitanos. Las cabezas levantadas y los ojos entornados.

Cómo canta la zumaya,
¡ay, cómo canta en el árbol!
Por el cielo va la luna
con un niño de la mano.

Dentro de la fragua lloran,
dando gritos, los gitanos.
El aire la vela, vela.
El aire la está velando.

Lorca

It's really pretty sounding, but in my brain it means 'blah'. If you can tell me what it means, that would be great. Really great. Other than that, school is going pretty OK. I fell the other day.... I had to happen at some point. Good thing it was only in front of around 50 people and I managed to make only a semi-weird noise.

Here's a curious thing for you: I can't speak any language with ease any more. I mean... English is fine, but It's a little different for me now. It's not as easy anymore, and although I still think in english, I find myself questioning it more. I dont know.... if you dont understand me thats fine because I don't really understand myself. My host family/friends are always asking how you say certain things in english, and I can't remember a lot of words. Its probably because my brain is really mad at me all the time.

ON THAT NOTE..

g'night.

Jane

Umm.

No tengo ni idea which lingua I am trying to speak. Mi cerebro is really confused and no quiere to work any longer, pero it has to. As of ahora, I do not think puedo hablar either language very bien. Este es a sign of improvement? I think SI!

Ok enough of that crap. The weird thing is that sometimes (thats a really big sometimes) I actually think like that. It's a little trippy. And confusing. And AWESOME.

I was waiting to blog again until school started so that I could entertain y'all with that, but BEFORE I do so, I would like to share a few stories that I had forgotten about or occurred recently. Story number one:

A few days before school started my family took me to Valencia to see the city (the old part with cool churches and stuff). While we were walking around, we saw this little spanish campaign parade thing in support of Fidel Castro. It was only a few people, but I thought that was a little weird because not many people like Fidel Castro because of the whole communist thing. Their main argument was something regarding the imprisonment of 5 cubans in the United States for possible terrorist plans, but I don't know the full story. I just wanted to share because I thought it was interesting. Also, please dont associate that little fact with all of Spain, because I asked my host family about it, and they didn't agree with the campaign. I'm assuming it's a very small portion of people, and a weird coincidence that I happened to be there when it happened. Lesson learned: Spanish campaigns have really good music.

On a slightly lighter note, I have a new found cultural difference for you. The spanish do a lot of waiting around. Here, it's a pass time. In the United States, it's a bad habit. During the few days before school started, I went out a lot with my friends. I would leave my house around 7, walk somewhere to meet people. Then we'd all wait around at random destination waiting around for someone else to come. Then we'd all get up and walk somewhere else, and wait for more people. Then we'd do it again and again and by 10 or so, we'd have the whole group in one place. Then we'd get up and go somewhere else to finally sit around and do nothing again. I'm probably so annoying because I'll be walking along with them, constantly asking 'where are we going?' The answer is ALWAYS either, 'I don't know', 'to get someone else', or 'to go eat'. Lesson learned: Go with the flow.

I am sorry in advance, men and boys, for this next story. I just think its funny so I'm going to tell it. The first few days I was here my host parents were explaining a few household things, and one of them was that my host mom did all the laundry, so all I needed to do was put my dirty clothes in the 'laundry' room (it's really more like an all purpose room). So about 5 days later, I finally gained the courage to put my dirty clothes in the laundry room, even though I knew my host parents would then see my underwear, which is something I'm still not comfortable with. Anyway, the next day, I went into the 'laundry' room to look for an easy spanish book to read (they have a small library in the 'laundry' room) and all I see is a wrack in the middle of the room full of my underwear. I'm talking like 8 or 9 pairs. I just had to laugh because this room has a library, a liquor cabinet and a punching bag for my host brother, among other things, which means everyone in the family had gone in there. Which means they've all seen my underwear. Lesson learned: only put 2 or 3 pairs of underwear in the wash at a time.

Ok i can't think of anything else to say.....

Goodbye!!!!

JUST KIDDING.

Okay here's the school story:

SCHOOL IS SO DIFFERENT IT'S CRAZY. This is 'School Day in the Life of Jane: The short version'. My Spanish (and Italian) friends and I got to school a bit early, so we had to stand around and wait before class started for about 15 minutes (something, as I have already explained above, they are very good at). I, however, am not good at that, so I got really antsy and nervous before it all started. When we were allowed to enter, I was all by myself because my Spanish friends are in the other program of IB students. (They have a technology program and a humanities program) (I'm in technology because I like math and there's not as much reading). Anyway, all my teachers talk really fast, and I didn't understand much. I think if I did understand I would like it, which is comforting. Also, theres only 10 kids in my whole class so thats probably good for learning purposes.

Ok, now this is 'A School Day in the life of Jane: The Long Version'. (You can stop reading now if you've had enough. I'd understand). Here's a little knowledge you may want to know about the school before I begin. School is from 8AM to 3PM. My schedule is as follows.

MONDAYS: 1. Technical Drawing. I have NO idea what that is. 2. Theory of knowledge. (philosophy) 3. Castellano (spanish). 4. Chemistry. 5. Math. 6. English. 7. English. (Double english! Mondays are the bomb.)

TUESDAYS: 1. English. 2. Physics. 3. Counseling (you just get to go ask teachers questions). 4. Math. 5. Math. 6. Chemistry. 7. Castellano.

WEDNESDAYS: 1. Physics. 2. Physics (bad day....) 3. Castellano. 4. English. 5. Math. 6. Geography 7. Free hour. Then I get a half hour break, and from 330-530 I have to do graduation requirements (sports, community service, art....) Wednesdays kind of suck....

THURSDAYS: 1. Physics. 2. English. 3. Theory of knowledge. 4. Chemistry 5. Castellano 6. Geography. 7. Technical Drawing

FRIDAYS: 1. Physics. 2. Chemistry. 3. Geography. 4. Free hour. 5. Math. 6. Theory of knowledge. 7. Free hour. (Double free hour! Fridays are the bomb.)

Anyway.... school today was somewhat interesting. It started off on a rather strange note as well. My host brother Luis and I were at home alone last night because my host dad had to get surgery on his knee (he's fine now), so when I woke up for school, there was no one awake. When I was ready, I tried to leave but couldn't because I was locked in. It was like a movie because I was in a hurry, and trying to find the right key amongst about 20. After about 6 or 7 I gave up and went out the side door which you can unlock from the inside with out a key. Once I was out, I quickly realized that I needed a key to get out the gate door, which I obviously did not have. Since I am a problem solver, (and have extreme height working for me, not to mention pure super strength) I figured out a way to climb over the gate door, which, might I add, is taller that me. Also, basically my whole block saw me do it, so sorry Minnesotans because the Spaniards probably think we're all crazy now... climbing over stuff. My host family had quite the laugh when I told them that. Lesson learned: I don't actually need keys.

I'm not exactly sure what I think about school yet. It's really different. First off, I only have 10 kids in my class, and it's the same 10 kids every single subject, every single day. Second off, you go outside to eat lunch and for breaks. Third off, the teachers are so different. The kids actually like and respect them. It's a more friendly relationship.... not so teachery.

As today was thursday, I got to experience all my subjects/teachers with the exception of math, which I will see tomorrow. First hour was BY FAR the most frustrating, which is totally understandable. I didn't know ANYONE, and I didn't understand ANYTHING. The teacher talked really really fast, and now I'm just hoping I didn't miss a homework assignment or something. Also, it was a little frustrating because the teacher made me talk, and that gave away my foreignness (well actually my name gives away my foreignness. They pronounce it Yane), which lead the whole class to watch me the rest of the day. I felt like I had something on my face, or something sticking to my butt or something.

English class was fine. If I don't pass that, I'm quitting life.

I actually understood some of my Philosophy class, which I was surprised by. I think it has something to do with the teachers accent, but it might also be because I've been watching spanish TV. And listening to my host family talk to their dog which, believe it or not, has helped me learn a ton. More than anything else I'd say.

Chemistry was great. I never thought I would ever say that ever in my whole life ever, but I REALLY like my teacher. He's really 'cool' (relaxed, long hair, hippy type) and he helped me a lot. Also, he was the first teacher to offer to talk slower for me, so that was nice. He was very encouraging.

Castellano......... umm. Well. For lack of better words, it sucks. My teacher is a little difficult to work with. She did acknowledge the fact that I don't speak spanish very well, but apparently she doesn't care. I'm not actually sure what she said to me because she was speaking really fast when she said it, but I'm PRETTY sure she said something along the lines of, "I know you don't understand much unless I talk slower, but I need to talk normally for the other students. So I'm sorry if you don't understand, but i'm sure you'll learn to keep up." Again... don't hold me to that. I didn't understand anything she said that whole day, so I really can't tell you much. Except that we're reading Hamlet at some point. And I also made a friend. She said she could help me with physics/Castellano if I needed it. I was surprised because she didn't make a very good first impression... she seemed very exclusive. But she's not. Lesson learned: don't judge a book by it's cover.

Geography was funny. My teacher reminds me so much of Mary Ford. (If you're reading this, thats a complement!) She's very enthusiastic, and uses her hands a lot when she talks. And laughs at everything. Also, when I told her I lived in Minnesota, she knew about the Twin Cities, which is awesome. Also, I answered my first question in that class: "El mundo tiene problemas?" I said "Si." And then she said, "Que problemas?" and I said, "La Guerra y el medio ambiente." GO JANE!

Technical Drawing was really weird. I cant decide if it's a math class or an art class. I don't really care which one because I like both, but I sort of feel like I should know what the classes I'm taking are. The teacher in that class is superb. And nice. Plus I made a good impression when I had the right type of pencil for the class (2H) AND an eraser.

Other than that, I think I might be OK this year. What I understand is that the classes are in spanish, but the text books are in english since it's an international school. I'm not actually sure about that, but wouldn't it be great to not fail my classes? YES. Dare to dream, right??

So that's pretty much the whole story. Sorry about the length.

My host family got me peanut butter, so I'm pretty content over here.

I'll try put a few pictures on from my 'hood' soon.

Jane

B-Day

Hello everyone!

OK! so as it WAS my birthday yesterday, and people have been asking how it was. Heres the story. Also, I think birthdays everywhere are somewhat the same, so I'm going to play up this birthday story just a tad. (everything is true, im just planning on elaborating A LOT)

On the morning of my birthday, my host mom wanted me to wake up a little earlier than I had been just to make sure I was adjusting to the time change. So, I wake up around 10 (rather than 11 or 12) shower, and walk out of my room to say good morning, but no ones there. So, since I'm new here, I was like.... what am I supposed to do now? So I go to the kitchen, and see a huge thing of pancakes (small, but still pancakes) with a note that said, in essence, 'I'm shopping, Ill be back soon'. So, I sit down and start eating the pancakes. After having eaten two pancakes, Sara, my host mom, walks in the door, so I stop and greet her. After we were done talking, I sit back down, and take two more pancakes, thinking she didn't know that I had already had two. After finishing those in record time, I took one more when she had her back turned, thinking she wouldnt necessarily notice. Although I wanted more, I left 3 just to be sly. About an hour later, my two friends Ambra and Maria come to my house to give me presents (a card and a rose) and finish the remaining 3 pancakes. They sat down and each only had one, and so my host mom was like 'Are you sure you dont want more? Jane ate 5 this morning.' I was so embarrassed because I thought she didnt notice.

Anyway, at lunch, I got some presents- a really cool bracelet, a shirt and some perfume and chapstick stuff. They made some really good food at lunch that was sorta semi-american- a lot of fried things. Then, after that I watched an american movie in spanish with my host mom. My host mom, by the way, LOVES american movies I think. And american coffee.

Then, my host mom and neighbor had planned a little surprise birthday dinner for me at my house. That was fun, but those big events kind of scare me a little because I have to do a lot of pretending I understand. In a big group of people, its really difficult because the person to your right will be talking about something, and the person on your left will be talking about something else. After about 20 minutes of that, my head feels like its going to implode, but I've become accustomed to that feeling. And you should know that it gets a little easier each time.

But anyway, at this dinner a few friends brought presents, which is something I wasnt expecting at all. It was funny because I got chocolate from this kid named Pepe that I didnt know at all, and in my mind I was like 'well what am I supposed to do now..... I can't thank him because I don't remember his name, and it would be awkward to give him a hug... etc. etc...' (speaking of names..... THEY ARE SO HARD TO REMEMBER!)

Anyway, after dinner, some friends and I went out to eat more (yes, more) and talk etc. etc. which was fun because it was only five people, and I understood around 80% of all conversation which is awesome for me. But when I came back, my host parents were having a dinner party, so I sat with them for a while. That part was really frustrating because they were all asking my questions and talking at the same time, and I couldn't understand or answer so I think they either got the impression that I was dumb or impolite for not answering. It's a possibility that this impression is all in my head, but still it's a little frustrating. Especially because I felt both dumb and impolite.

Having said this, dont worry, family and friends, because all is well here in Spain. Frustration and annoyance, as I have been warned, is extremely normal during transition time. Quite frankly, it would be weird if one did not experience either at all.

So my journey continues as I begin week #2 as of right about now.

Adios!!!

Jane

The first days

HEEELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I'm finally in spain..... (Valencia to be exact. Well actually Godella to be exact exact)
Thus far, I've met a bunch of my neighbors friends, and all are very nice. Well I dont know if they're nice for sure because I can't understand half the things they say, but for now.... I like them all very much. They're all very fasinated with my height. Thanks, mom and dad, for that.
The language is extremely difficult for me. I knew that I sucked at languages before I came here, but I somehow had this stupid idea in my head that it would still be easy for me to communitcate. Its not. Thus far I've been nodding my head and saying things like `si´or `no entiendo´. Things like that... It's really frustrating sometimes because I can understand things, but won't be able to say what I'm thinking. And also becasue sometimes people have to explain things to me 4 or 5 times before I get it. It's a very humbling experience. Also, I've found that the spanish like to talk all at once. It's really loud and hard to follow one conversation, but I like it. It's really entertaining and fun.
The first day I was here (september 4th) I was SO tired, I fell asleep like 4 different times during the day which is something I never do. I'm pretty sure I slept standing at some point. Since then, I've been getting a lot of headaches and I'm tired ALL THE TIME because I have to translate everything that everyone says super fast in my head, and then actually say something. Which is often really embarrassing because my accent is crap.
Everything is different here. One major thing though is the food. I have yet to feel any sort of hunger. I eat a little when I get up (toast or cereal) and then 4 or 5 hours later you eat your weight in various meats and grains. Then in 5 more hours you eat a whole bunch again. Lunch is HUGE. Two days ago, we had lunch with our neighbors, and they were eating and drinking wine and playing the guitar and singing while trying to teach me how to flamenco. It was super amounts of fun, and nothing like lunch in the good ol' USA. Theyre always so surprised when I say all I ever have for lunch is a sandwich. One other thing is the night life. Im not sure about the rest of spain, but here, the young people stay out really late, but don't do much more than sit around and talk. I like it. Also, I'm going to be really fat when I come home.
A few other things that I've run into:
They eat everything with a fork and knife. This has been particularily difficult for me because I never eat anything with a knife. Or fork for that matter.
People here listen to a lot of american music. I dont know why that surprised me, but it did.
Everyone is really happy all the time. I dont know if it's because they sleep more or what, but somethings working out really well for them.
I'm not quite sure what else to say other than I really like it here thus far. My house is really pretty and european. You can walk everywhere. People are nice and patient. My family is fantastic etc. etc.
Alright. Thats all for now.
Jane