"Ella es muy maja"

So the last couple days have been eventful. Friday, I got to ride home on the vespa(always fun). Then, later, I got introduced to some of my host sister's friends (the sister thats in Florida and is my age, not the younger one). They were really nice, we just wondered around the city for a couple hours...that seems to be all I've done since in Spain. But it's enjoyable to just walk and talk and go to the candy shop, because we are always doing that here. It was once I got home that my family pulled

out their favorite saying..."Ella es muy maja!" or "Ellas son muy maja!" Which mean She, or they are really nice and friendly. These people where very nice but the funny thing is they seem to tell me this about everyone.

Saturday we went to a reunion of some sort. It was Fernando's friends from childhood. It was in Vitoria, which is beautiful city. The food at the resturant was horrible though, Concha is a much better cook!. After we ate I went with Patricia and some of the other girls who were around 15 into the city. We walked around the city for a couple hours (refer to above comment about that being all I've done in Spain).It was freezing but the city was great. Vitoria has a lot nicer stores than Miranda de Ebro. It is also a lot bigger, maybe 4 times the size of Miranda. We went into the candy store, everyone go sunflower seedss( they are very popular here) You buy them at the candy store and eat them while you walk around, spitting the shells onto the ground. After about 3 hours outisde we began to freeze. And it started raining. Fernando and Concha came to get us. Now it's around 9 pm, I am under the impression were going home and I can take a warm shower and hope I don't catch a cold after standing in the 40 degree weather while it rained. But no, then we went bar hopping. Well the adults did(Fernando, Concha, and Mancho, cause everyone else had left at this point). Patricia, one of Macho's daughters(also named Cristina) and his son(don't remember his name), Rodrigo, and I just hung out in the back by the mens room and told guys "No that's for women" so they would go into the wrong bathroom. It was immensely amussing Finally after going to three bars we went home. On the way home of course I was asked "Ellas son muy maja, no?"

Sunday. Oh Sunday! Finally, finally, finally I felt like I was with family! We went to Fernando's father's town, Villarcayo, which is a little over an hour away. I was introduced to my host aunts and cousins. I then met Ana, my host cousin who did the short term rotary exchange this summer...now here a story...........

>>Ana went to East Orange this summer, which is ten minutes away from where I live in New Jersey. She stayed with Zahra, who I met at the orientation for out bound students in April. When Zahra went to Spain with Ana for a month they even spent time at my host family's house. No one even thought to connect the dots that this six degrees of seperation thing was going on, but oh well!

Well, small world. So the family was very nice!! Majisimo (very maja). Before the meal, instead of praying grace, we sang it. My host grandpa LOVES TO SING in a loud opera voice...hmm sounds like someone....oh wait, i know, Grandpa Roy, oh how I missed my grampa's singing. Well then we had a delicous meal of peppers stuffed with shredded chicken and cheese, then octupus in this black sauce with rice. Plain white rice, Filipino style (oh how Ive missed my Filipino neighbors>

Today I went shopping, bought some great stuff for really cheap...got a little lost on the walk home though cause I wanted to take the scenic way =) Tommorow I think I'll go to church(nona you'd be proud). And wednesday I am tutoring Alba(a ten year old girl down the street) in English...she speaks English better than I speak Spanish. Just trying to keep myself occupied!

xoxo Ciao.

Madrid and School

First, Madrid. Well more like the outskirts of Madrid. This past weekend I went to an orientation with all the other inbound students in Spain. There were also a couple of students who had gone to the United States or Canada last year. We stayed at a university a couple miles outside of Madrid. Mostly everyone there was from the U.S. or Canada and there were a couple of Germans as well, so we spoke English the whole weekend weekend consisted of rotary speaking to us for 3 hours and then leaving us to just relax the rest of the time. The reason we didn't go in and see the city of Madrid was because last year some students lost their passports and themselves and such. It was nice to meet other exchange students, ecspecially if we go on the portugal trip in March we will know people already.

School. Today in Lengua(which is like literature) we had an assigment where we had to read a passage and then answer questions. Though I understood the jist of the passage I had no idea what the questions were asking. So instead of answering them I wrote about a page of everything I knew how to say in Spanish and handed that in(so the teacher knew I was trying). That's my plan, to show the teachers that I am putting forth my best effort.

I am in the arts track at my school, because in Spain when you are 16 you get to choose which track you want. I may be switching out of it. Though the classes are easy because there is not as much of a language barrier, I don't know if art is really my calling. So now I have to choose if I want to stay in that or take Math and Psycology. It's a very hard decision, and I completely don't know what to do.

Other than that school seems to pass pretty quickly. We start at 8:30 and have two classes(an hour each) then we get a break. It is a ten minute break where people smoke and have snacks...I drink chocolate milk during this time. Then two more classes(an hour each) and another break...same as the one before. Then one more class and the day is over. It isn't long or tedious at all. Also, from what I hear another a student is coming to the school from Australia in October, which could be cool.

Observations

I have now been in spain for 11 days. Though I don't think that is enough time to judge Spain as a country or the Spaniards as a group of people, I do think I can make some observations on at least the area I'm in.

First, we eat a lot of meat here. Every meal besides breakfast. Now this might seem like my brother Alex's dream, but me...not so much. Always meat, meat, meat...oh and of course on the rare occasion...meat!

Everyone is always out in the streets. Since Miranda is a little town, there is a town center where most people know at least half the other people. Whenever we walk somewhere my host family runs into at least 20 other people they know.

Like expected, there is a lot of smoking here. During the snack breaks we get in school(not lunch, we eat that at 3 once at home) everyone is smoking right on the school steps. This isn't something I was shocked at after going to Montclair High where everyone smoked across the street from the school( though at the Mount I never saw one person smoking on campus(ahhh to many schoools to keep track of!!)) Anyway Ive seen teens smoking in the street while they stop and give Aunts and little cousins of theirs hugs...with a cigarette in their hand.

Fashion wise, for the people my age. Across the body bags are very big, which I anticipated and luckily brought one. Everyone wears converse( my host sister owns a pair in almost every color). Most people wear straight leg or skinny jeans. Nothing real different from the U.S. Very casual. I haven't seen to many kids at school decked out in expensive label brands or anything.

Other than that I am going to Madrid this weekend with all the other exchange students for a rotary meeting. Then comes my second week of school. Once I get through that I'll do another blog about how school is going, ya know with the whole me not really understanding the language everything is thought in thing...

xoxo

Finally in Spain

So finally I am in Spain, have been for three days. I got here on Sunday, my host parents met me at the airport. They had a sign that said Welcome Cristina, so it was no trouble finding them. They showed me a little bit of Madrid, but it was so so hot that we did not stay long. On our way to Miranda deEbro, we stopped at a castle. there was a little cafe that was meant to look old. That is where I learned the difference between old and antique in Spanish. Unfortunatey I left my camera there, so at the moment I have no pictures to upload, but I have to pick it up one day this week, then I will upload pics of my house and family. The house is beautiful and ver spacious. From my bedroom I have a nice view of the mountains!

On Monday Concha(host mother), Patricia(host sister), Rodrigo(host brother) and I went into the center of the town, because they live in a townhouse on the outskirts. It was a five minute drive. We stopped to say hello to Fernando(host father) at his work, he is an optometrist. Then we stopped in a cafe where I met one of Concha´s friends, and her friends son, who goes to the school I am going to. After we went food shopping and then went back to the hosue. Patricias friends came over a little later and we watched The Lovley Bones (in spanish of course). Then we went into town again, except this time we walked. It took around 20 minutes to get there, the we just hung out on a bench in the center of town. There were a bunch of people just hanging out outside, kicking a soccer ball around the sidewalks. We got home lat and ate dinner....at 11, 30 pm!!!!!

Over here we eat lunch at 2 or 3...lunch is their biggest meal. Then a light dinner usually around 10. I have tried a lot of different things I never ate. Sardines in salad, pigs intestants(unbelievably delicous!!!) and today for Fernando´s birthday we had rabbit, which was also very good.

That´s about it for now. So far everything is going well. The language is a little difficult, but they speak slow for me and use hand gestures. The only problem so far is the stairs. The problem

isn´t walking up the stairs, it´s walking down. So far I have fallen three times, because I always forget tha their is another step at the bottom. When it´s dark and I ca´t see it is hard to navigate. Other than that everything is great!!

Hasta Luego

....someones cell phones just rang downstairs and they have the same rigtone as my cell in new jersey did...I am getting a little teary eyed. lol

THREE DAYS!!!!!

So as August ends and September starts my time in the United States dwindles down. This Saturday, only three days away, I will be boarding a plane and leaving for Spain. It's crazy to think it's come so quickly, but it also cant come quick enough.

Today I finished most of my preperations for Spain. I went shopping for clothes, but now I must pack. I have most of my stuff laying out, now it must make it's way into my suitcases. I went to my salon got my hair trimmed and highlighted. I also bought my host family presents today. I got them books with pictures of my town and state in them, and I also got them some polo shirts and scarves. A family friend whose husband is from Spain advised me on what to get them =) My last stop of the day was at bestbuy where I got a new mac book!! My parents didn't want me to take my old laptop because....well I'm not really sure why, but I'm not complaining! So I'd say I'm pretty prepared to leave for my year long trip!

I guess the next post I write will be when I'm in Spain, so until then...

xoxo