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