September 20, 2011
Today in class someone made a joke and everyone laughed. For the first time ever I understood the joke and laughed at the same time as everyone else! Usually I am either sitting there watching everyone else laugh wondering what is so funny or a friend explains it to me in English and then I am laughing two minutes later when everyone else is silent. It's silly because it's such a small thing but this small thing just made my day.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Meeting the Family
September 17, 2011
Today was the baptism of the new baby in the family so we all went to Jaca, a city 15 minutes away from Sabi, to go to the baptism in a famous and gorgeous cathedral. The baptism was cool, very short which I liked but it was the family that was the best part. This is my host fathers side of the family and he has 7 siblings, all of which have their own families so we were like a small village. There were so many new names and faces but it was all so great. I think that I only heard one thing the whole day which wasn't sarcasm, a very fun and crazy family. Before and after the baptism we went to 3 bars for beer and appetizers (a very common thing to do) and then we went for a huge lunch, all of us sitting at the same table. It felt like the people at the other end of the table were most likely in France. All in all it was a great day. It was very cool for me to feel apart of such a big family, as mine is much smaller.
Today was the baptism of the new baby in the family so we all went to Jaca, a city 15 minutes away from Sabi, to go to the baptism in a famous and gorgeous cathedral. The baptism was cool, very short which I liked but it was the family that was the best part. This is my host fathers side of the family and he has 7 siblings, all of which have their own families so we were like a small village. There were so many new names and faces but it was all so great. I think that I only heard one thing the whole day which wasn't sarcasm, a very fun and crazy family. Before and after the baptism we went to 3 bars for beer and appetizers (a very common thing to do) and then we went for a huge lunch, all of us sitting at the same table. It felt like the people at the other end of the table were most likely in France. All in all it was a great day. It was very cool for me to feel apart of such a big family, as mine is much smaller.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
First Day of School, Really
September 12, 2011
Wow. My brain is very sore. So I met a bunch of friends in the Consti and then we walked up to school together. When we got there we went right to class. History first. Turns out that this will probably be my hardest class. For the fist part of class the teacher talked, very fast I might add, and I understood very little. The second part we all took a mini test. We had to math a bunch of events with their century and then read a passage about 9/11 and answer questions. It was great because I know about 9/11 so I could understand the passage but my responses were awful and I couldn't say what I wanted too. Also I never got a chance to finish because it took me so long to read the passage because it was Spanish. In between classes we have 5 minutes which is really nice because you don't have to rush anywhere, and the classes are very close. Next class was Economy which is my least favorite class. The way that the professor talks is very hard for me to understand because her thoughts are very jumbled up so as soon as I start to catch onto what she is saying she changes the subject. This got me very down since I had no clue what was going on, but it turns out that the rest of the class didn't either so I am not alone. Every two classes (there are 6 in a day) we have a 15 or 20 minute break. Everyone brings sandwiches to school to hold them over until lunch, the biggest meal of the day, at 2:30 when we get out of school. There is only a bar (like with coffee and sandwiches) no cafeteria because you eat at home after school. Today everyone went outside but in the winter I'm assuming that won't happen. When I returned I went to math. The teacher was very nice and understood that I couldn't understand anything. Also numbers are the same in every language so this class was easier than the ones before. Next was philosophy. The professor is very cool, definitely looks like he should be teaching philosophy. Although I didn't understand a lot it turns out for the first lesson we will be doing Plato's Allegory of the Cave which I did last year so I am very excited about that because I will actually know what is going on. And it will be interesting to get another person's perspective on it. Another break after that and then to Informatica, which is like computers. Very energetic professor and I think this will be a break class because computers are the same in every language, or it will be easy to figure out by looking around. On Mondays it turns out that I get to go home one block early because only the kids taking religion stay for the last block. My head is very tired but overall it was a very good day. It's very deceiving not understanding what is going on but at the end of the day I have to step back and realize even though it may not seem like it, I have already learned so much that I can understand as much as I did. I'm not going to say I'm excited to wake up at the crack of dawn tomorrow but for school it isn't bad at all, or at least not yet, no homework on the first day.
Wow. My brain is very sore. So I met a bunch of friends in the Consti and then we walked up to school together. When we got there we went right to class. History first. Turns out that this will probably be my hardest class. For the fist part of class the teacher talked, very fast I might add, and I understood very little. The second part we all took a mini test. We had to math a bunch of events with their century and then read a passage about 9/11 and answer questions. It was great because I know about 9/11 so I could understand the passage but my responses were awful and I couldn't say what I wanted too. Also I never got a chance to finish because it took me so long to read the passage because it was Spanish. In between classes we have 5 minutes which is really nice because you don't have to rush anywhere, and the classes are very close. Next class was Economy which is my least favorite class. The way that the professor talks is very hard for me to understand because her thoughts are very jumbled up so as soon as I start to catch onto what she is saying she changes the subject. This got me very down since I had no clue what was going on, but it turns out that the rest of the class didn't either so I am not alone. Every two classes (there are 6 in a day) we have a 15 or 20 minute break. Everyone brings sandwiches to school to hold them over until lunch, the biggest meal of the day, at 2:30 when we get out of school. There is only a bar (like with coffee and sandwiches) no cafeteria because you eat at home after school. Today everyone went outside but in the winter I'm assuming that won't happen. When I returned I went to math. The teacher was very nice and understood that I couldn't understand anything. Also numbers are the same in every language so this class was easier than the ones before. Next was philosophy. The professor is very cool, definitely looks like he should be teaching philosophy. Although I didn't understand a lot it turns out for the first lesson we will be doing Plato's Allegory of the Cave which I did last year so I am very excited about that because I will actually know what is going on. And it will be interesting to get another person's perspective on it. Another break after that and then to Informatica, which is like computers. Very energetic professor and I think this will be a break class because computers are the same in every language, or it will be easy to figure out by looking around. On Mondays it turns out that I get to go home one block early because only the kids taking religion stay for the last block. My head is very tired but overall it was a very good day. It's very deceiving not understanding what is going on but at the end of the day I have to step back and realize even though it may not seem like it, I have already learned so much that I can understand as much as I did. I'm not going to say I'm excited to wake up at the crack of dawn tomorrow but for school it isn't bad at all, or at least not yet, no homework on the first day.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Missing Ingredients
September 9, 2011
I have learned that there are a lot of ingredients that seem so normal to us that the rest of the world has never heard of. The other day I was trying to bake chocolate cookies because the ones I brought were long gone. It turns out that it is absolutely impossible to find vanilla, in fact they had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. To me it seems like a kitchen staple like sugar that everyone has in their house. So I went online and it turns out maple syrup is the perfect substitute for it. Great news for me since I had just given my family maple syrup and they had no clue what to do with it. Then another thing I had not thought of, measurement conversions. I was guessing on every amount of the ingredients or rounding based on what I thought looked right. Haha, not exactly the science of baking. They ended up turning out MUCH different but they still tasted great. Today I cooked my host family lunch. I made a cabbage salad and arugula pesto pasta. They loved it. They had never had a pesto kind of thing before so it was very special for them and my simple cooking look great. The end product was great but from prior experience with the cookies I went to the market with ingredients for about 8 dishes, just in case I couldn't find one of the ingredients. Next weekend when my host brother is home I will make a more American meal, not a Vermont one.
I have learned that there are a lot of ingredients that seem so normal to us that the rest of the world has never heard of. The other day I was trying to bake chocolate cookies because the ones I brought were long gone. It turns out that it is absolutely impossible to find vanilla, in fact they had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. To me it seems like a kitchen staple like sugar that everyone has in their house. So I went online and it turns out maple syrup is the perfect substitute for it. Great news for me since I had just given my family maple syrup and they had no clue what to do with it. Then another thing I had not thought of, measurement conversions. I was guessing on every amount of the ingredients or rounding based on what I thought looked right. Haha, not exactly the science of baking. They ended up turning out MUCH different but they still tasted great. Today I cooked my host family lunch. I made a cabbage salad and arugula pesto pasta. They loved it. They had never had a pesto kind of thing before so it was very special for them and my simple cooking look great. The end product was great but from prior experience with the cookies I went to the market with ingredients for about 8 dishes, just in case I couldn't find one of the ingredients. Next weekend when my host brother is home I will make a more American meal, not a Vermont one.
First Day of School, but Not Really
September 8, 2011
Today I went to school, but only for an hour. The school is a very nice building, much more pleasant to look at and be in than Harwood. It goes up in height instead of long. The classrooms and very clean and nice, no cement bricks or grey fabric covered bulletin boards. I went in at 10:30 for the presentation. I met some friends at la Consti (the square in town that everyone hangs out at) and we walked to school from there. In the presentation they cover schedules, school rules and things like that. There was another girl from Lithuania that also couldn't speak a lot of Spanish so I will not be alone in understanding nothing for the first month or so. The teacher who was giving our class our presentation was my Lengua Castellano y Literatura teacher, or Spanish Literature. This was very relieving for me because I think this will be my hardest class, seeing that I can't even do English literature and grammar and she talked very slow so that I could understand a lot more than usual. Also a lot of the people I have already met are in my class so it wasn't all new faces. I start real school on Monday and am very excited, at least for the meeting people part. It released a lot of nervousness knowing how understanding and willing to help the teachers are. I don't think this will be so hard after all, but maybe I am just cursing myself by saying that.
Today I went to school, but only for an hour. The school is a very nice building, much more pleasant to look at and be in than Harwood. It goes up in height instead of long. The classrooms and very clean and nice, no cement bricks or grey fabric covered bulletin boards. I went in at 10:30 for the presentation. I met some friends at la Consti (the square in town that everyone hangs out at) and we walked to school from there. In the presentation they cover schedules, school rules and things like that. There was another girl from Lithuania that also couldn't speak a lot of Spanish so I will not be alone in understanding nothing for the first month or so. The teacher who was giving our class our presentation was my Lengua Castellano y Literatura teacher, or Spanish Literature. This was very relieving for me because I think this will be my hardest class, seeing that I can't even do English literature and grammar and she talked very slow so that I could understand a lot more than usual. Also a lot of the people I have already met are in my class so it wasn't all new faces. I start real school on Monday and am very excited, at least for the meeting people part. It released a lot of nervousness knowing how understanding and willing to help the teachers are. I don't think this will be so hard after all, but maybe I am just cursing myself by saying that.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
New Places, New Faces
September 5, 2011
Today I went to the school to buy all of my books. It was very exciting. I got to see a lot of the other students. One of Merche's friends has a daughter who is in my class. I went with her and her friend, Claudia and Bea. They are so nice. After we bought all the books, which are much lighter than our textbooks because they are soft cover but they are still very heavy, I went out around the town with Claudia and Bea. They introduced me to some of there other friends. Everyone is very welcoming and it was very cool to hear their point of view about the city and the people. After a nice lunch outside, I went out for coffee and tea with Marta and another one of her friends. It was very nice, we sat in the square. After that I met up with Claudia and Vea again. We went to the Sports Building where a lot more of their friends were playing soccer. I met so many new people my brain hurts a little. I am excited for the presentation at school on Thursday to meet even more people in my class.
Today I went to the school to buy all of my books. It was very exciting. I got to see a lot of the other students. One of Merche's friends has a daughter who is in my class. I went with her and her friend, Claudia and Bea. They are so nice. After we bought all the books, which are much lighter than our textbooks because they are soft cover but they are still very heavy, I went out around the town with Claudia and Bea. They introduced me to some of there other friends. Everyone is very welcoming and it was very cool to hear their point of view about the city and the people. After a nice lunch outside, I went out for coffee and tea with Marta and another one of her friends. It was very nice, we sat in the square. After that I met up with Claudia and Vea again. We went to the Sports Building where a lot more of their friends were playing soccer. I met so many new people my brain hurts a little. I am excited for the presentation at school on Thursday to meet even more people in my class.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Daily Life in Sabi
September 3 - September 4, 2011
In the morning Julio and I went for a walk around the town. We went to the meat store and the bakery and the fish store to buy food for lunch and then to the bike shop to pick up my bike! Then we walked up to my school which is about a 5 minute walk from my house (this is great news for me because those extra minutes of sleeping are precious). Next to the school is the public fields and facilities where there is a soccer field, tennis courts and paddle courts. Julio and many of the other friends LOVE paddle. IT is like tennis but the walls are glass so you can play the ball off the walls. Then we came back to the house for a nice lunch with more friends. I love it because there are always people around. On the back porch you can hop over a fence to our neighbors porch so there is always a little party or gathering happening very close. After lunch a bunch of the women all play cards. It is a very fun game that is kind of like a mix between gin and rummicube. One game consists of many rounds. In the beginning or the game everybody puts in 1 euro and then the winner gets the money at the end. I won one of the games!!! I now have 6 euros. (The banks are closed on the weekends so I only have American dollars right now). One girl, Marta, speaks completely fluent English. She is in university in Barcelona, 21 years old. At night I went with her to one of her friends houses. It is called a caseta, a little house, becuase it is only one room with a fireplace and sink and table. You have a caseta for the piece of land it is on if you want a bigger garden. All of her friends were incredibly nice. They were also playing cards but a more traditional game that right now is very confusing to me but I will learn. Everything is going so good and all of the people are incredibly nice.
In the morning Julio and I went for a walk around the town. We went to the meat store and the bakery and the fish store to buy food for lunch and then to the bike shop to pick up my bike! Then we walked up to my school which is about a 5 minute walk from my house (this is great news for me because those extra minutes of sleeping are precious). Next to the school is the public fields and facilities where there is a soccer field, tennis courts and paddle courts. Julio and many of the other friends LOVE paddle. IT is like tennis but the walls are glass so you can play the ball off the walls. Then we came back to the house for a nice lunch with more friends. I love it because there are always people around. On the back porch you can hop over a fence to our neighbors porch so there is always a little party or gathering happening very close. After lunch a bunch of the women all play cards. It is a very fun game that is kind of like a mix between gin and rummicube. One game consists of many rounds. In the beginning or the game everybody puts in 1 euro and then the winner gets the money at the end. I won one of the games!!! I now have 6 euros. (The banks are closed on the weekends so I only have American dollars right now). One girl, Marta, speaks completely fluent English. She is in university in Barcelona, 21 years old. At night I went with her to one of her friends houses. It is called a caseta, a little house, becuase it is only one room with a fireplace and sink and table. You have a caseta for the piece of land it is on if you want a bigger garden. All of her friends were incredibly nice. They were also playing cards but a more traditional game that right now is very confusing to me but I will learn. Everything is going so good and all of the people are incredibly nice.
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