Question

Today, I tripped trying to walk up the down escalator.

Can this be blamed on the language barrier?

So...

Well, as you can probably tell, that last post wasn't on time. I'm tech challenged and didn't realize that it didn't go through... Oops. I have only one week left, so I probably won't spend too much time blogging from now on. But I'll try my best to keep it updated.

A warning before I start... this weekend I read Bridget Jones's Diary. I will attempt to refrain from using words like posh, writing v. instead of very, and writing everysentence without using I. After reading it, felt like everthing wrote needed to be v. posh. Can't believe just wrote that. Will erase later.

So now on to this weekend. Most of my weekend was spent on the bus. But the parts that weren't were AMAZING. I went to Sevillla and Granada. AKA the real Spain. It was gorgeous. Sevilla is probably my favorite city. Even though it was beautiful, it was tiring. I was worn out every day from walking and seeing everything. Goodness. Luckily I had an air conditioned hotel room. PTL for air conditioning. I feel like I can't really describe what all we saw. You'll just have to wait for the pictures. No lie, they speak for themselves.

Obviously the really exciting thing that happened this weekend was the World Cup. It was madness. At first, I wasn't sure I would be back in time and was kind of freaking out. Thankfully I got to my house the exact minute the game started and miraculously found Christine even though my phone wouldn't work. Miracles happen! Christine and I ended up doing our ritual of eating Chinese food and sitting on a bench with these two men outside of a TV shop. Okay, writing it down makes it sound super lame, but it was so much fun.

The people in Spain are all going crazy right now. It's INSANE. Last night, there were thousands of people all out on the streets blowing horns, playing music, dancing, pouring beer on themselves, and crying. You'll have to see the pictures of that too. All of the men wanted Christine and I to take pictures of them and everyone was just so happy. It was such an amazing experience to be able to be here when they won their first World Cup. Ah!

So overall, v. good weekend. So much left to do in one week. But am excited to come home in one week. Yee! See you all soon!

XOXO

I´m back from outer space.

Hello again old friends!



Well, I know it´s been awhile since I updated, but time is going by so quickly here! (And there´s no air conditioning at the place with free internet...) So this one will be quick.



So I´m back from England and have to say that I really missed Spain. I did some exciting things like walking to Blackpool and being locked in a old jail cell (check off the bucket list) and watching Spain kick butt at the world cup. Mostly though, I just relaxed. Where we stayed, there was a beach five minutes walk away. It was wonderful just to sit, read, and relax.



Now that I am back in Spain, I realize there were a few things I really missed:



Walking everywhere. I feel like I gained ten pounds from not walking everywhere. I´m out of shape now. Supplies!



Being called gringa. Don´t judge. It´s niced to be noticed, even if it´s for your ridiculously pale skin.



Speaking spanish. Even though it was nice to speak English, it felt nice to be back where I had to speak it.



My house mom. Oh my word. I missed her. And she missed me!! BFFs. For real.



Food. Even though we had some stellar food in England like real Fish and Chips (another check off the list) I miss my nightly pudding. It´s chocolate and delicious.





Well, there´s one more small thing that happened since I got back... Spain is in the finals for the World Cup!! I watched the game in the main plaza, and it was MADNESS. People were screaming and dancing and freaking out. There were also a couple hundred people right outside my window shooting off fireworks until the middle of the night. No lie. If Spain wins, I won´t be able to sleep the rest of the time I´m here. Yay!



That´s about it. I´m going to Andalucia this weekend to Sevilla and Granada. I´m really really excited because everyone has said it´s their favorite place. So I´m sure there will be a lot to catch up on.



¡Nos vemos!

Las Piernas

Oh, hello!

Well, as promised I´m writing one more post before I head on my vacation from my vacation. Here´s what´s happened lately...

Guess who finished their first book in Spanish?!? A girl in my class did... I still have 70 pages to go. But it´s progress! I read it in public the other day and felt a strange combination of expanding knowledge and being a kid. Interesting...

So the title of this post actually has a meaning! (Don´t get too used to it. I´m not very creative.) Here´s the story: The other day I was walking home in the afternoon and I walked past a couple of kids who were probably 14 or 15. Out of nowhere they started yelling at me. Of course, I thought that they were trying steal my money or something so I started walking faster and was holding my alarm.But then I actually heard what they were saying: ¨¡mira las piernas! ¡las piernas! ¡qué larga!¨ This roughly translates to: ¨look at the legs! the legs! so long!¨ Since I was taller than all of them, I didn´t know whether to take it as a complement or feel like Godzilla. I´ll take the complement.

Another funny thing that happened to me last week involved my ¨favorite¨ thing: dogs!! Before PETA calls, I´ll explain myself a little. I don´t hate dogs. I love my dog. Because he is small. And cannot eat me. Big dogs are kind of terrifying. But I digress... I was shopping for my brother´s present at some souvenier shops when I stopped inside one with a rather large dog. As soon as he saw me he started going crazy. While the owner was holding the dog back, she said, ¨It´s okay, he hates gringas¨ (aka white people, aka me). Since my strength is minimal, I decided to let Kujo guard his turf and went far away from that store.

I´m not going to lie. Since I finished my last final, school has been dragging. All I can think about is going to England and probably meeting Robert Pattinson. Miracles happen.

This weekend, Christine and I went shopping at the rostro, which is basically a huge outdoor market where you can buy all sorts of things. I was expecting them to be handmade things that were super fly. Unfortunately, I was wrong. It was kind of like a huge garage sale of stuff you could probably buy cheaper in the US. Oh well. That night, though, I stumbled upon some gitanos (gypsies) selling stellar handmade jewelry. I bought more than I should. But I´m in Spain. I just can´t help myself.

AH! I can´t believe I almost forgot what was probably the most fun this weekend. On Friday Spain played against Chile in the Mundial. Since there were TV´s set up all around the Plaza Mayor, Christine and I thought it would be fun to have a sort of picnic during the game. (By the way, you should google a picture of the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca. It´s beautiful.) Anyway, we bought some Chinese food and watched the game with a couple hundred other people. It was so crazy but amazing! Everyone was cheering and screaming. I was really glad that Spain won, but the people here were almost immediately all drunk. They honked the horns on their cars for about three hours after the game.

I was finally able to watch a few movies at my house this weekend. I watched Big Fish (which still makes me cry every time) and Pride and Prejudice. My house mom and I fought over who was better looking, Darcy or Bingley. She likes Bingley even though he´s such a gringo. Psh.

Well, that´s all for today. Please keep me and Christine in your prayers as we fly out tomorrow. I´ll try my best to update from England if time allows. If I can´t, I´ll be back on July 5 (¡mi cumpleaños!). ¡Adios!

Exams

¡Hola!

Well, this week is exams week. WOO! The best part is that I´m almost done. One more test to go. (I´ve been repeating this today in my attempts to actually study). I don´t have a ton of time to write today, but I know my mom is anxiously awaiting another post. So, this one´s for you mom!

First, I have some very exciting news. I´M GOING TO ENGLAND! I AM SO EXCITED THAT I WANT TO WRITE THIS ENTIRE ENTRY IN ALL CAPS!! But I´ll spare you. So here´s the story: My friend Christine has an aunt that lives in Blackpool (which is really close to Liverpool. LIVERPOOL!). She didn´t really want to travel alone, so I graciously volunteered to be her bodyguard. We leave this coming Tuesday and will stay until Sunday. I´ll hopefully be able to update when I get there.

Since I don´t have much time, I thought I could give you guys a run down of what my everyday life in Spain looks like...

7:45 I try to wake up, and stumble to the VERY cold bathroom to get ready.

8:15 I eat breakfast. They´re not too fond of breakfast here, so it´s always just toast and a muffin. The muffins here are SO GOOD. Ñam ñam.

8:40 I finish reading my Bible and walk the 15 minutes to school with Angela. Almost everything is still closed here at that time. Only a few restaurants are open.

9:00 I start my 5 hour school day. It´s really not that bad because my classes are fun. The only bad part is that I am constantly hungry. I´ve also learned that my stomach growls louder than everyone elses. I think I should be embarrassed, but at that point I´m too hungry to care.

2:30 I get back home and eat whatever I asked for that morning. My favorite is patatas y huevos fritos con jamon (potatoes, a fried egg, and ham). I think I´ve had it twice a week since I´ve been here. During lunch we always watch Corazon, which is entertainment news.

3:30 I take a siesta. One of my favorite parts of the day. I miss Kindergarten.

5:00 I wander outside and find something entertaining to do with my friends. Most of the time it involves ice cream.

9:00 I come back for dinner and watch Desperate Housewives. We´ve been eating a lot of frozen pizza lately. I don´t mind. The best part, though, is the chocolate pudding. Since I´m the only girl left in the house I get one every night. ¡Fiesta!

10:00 I shower (not daily, but more than once a week) and do my homework. Then I usually read some more Harry, pray, and sleep.

2:00 I usually am woken up by someone chanting something about Spain or futbol or about a pretty lady.


Unfortunately, I´m out of time. I´m sure I´ll post at least once more before I leave for England. Until then, peace.

Already?

Hello!

Well, it seems like it´s been a really really long time since I last updated, even though it´s only been two days. Since then I´ve been able to do a few fun things to just relax and enjoy my time here.

So I started reading Harry in spanish. SUPER FLY. I know it´s a kid´s book, but I feel so smart when I read it. And I´m learning really useful vocabulary like owl and wand. Look out!

Sunday Christine and I tried to find this evangelical church that´s supposedly in Salamanca. After walking thirty minutes and looking for thirty more, we found it. Apparently, not all churches have services on Sunday morning. This one started at 7:30 at night! Well, since it was 11:00 in the morning, we decided to pass and went to a Catholic mass instead. It was my first Catholic service to go to, and it was totally different that what I´m used to. First off, it was almost all old people. (My culture teacher told me that since Franco died, people don´t even pretend to be true Catholics anymore.) Also, there was a group of hippies playing right outside the church door. So while they were taking communion, everyone could hear them playing the jazz flute. The service was pretty short, and I didn´t understand much of it because the priest was old. There was, however, one thing that he said that kind of shocked me. He said that we all serve the same God, no matter what denomination, so we should all just get along. Deep.

Since I´ve come to Spain, almost every person who knows English speaks it to me. They don´t even try Spanish most of the time. I wondered why for a while, but now I realize: I´m the physical opposite of everyone here. I´m tall, pale, and I wear Chacos. To them, I´m practically an albino dwarf with a flashing neon sign on its head. Oh well. Life goes on.

Today in class we learned how to say All You Need is Love in spanish. BOOM.

So probably the best part of my weekend was going to see a movie. The movie theater here is actually in the train station, but it is SO much better than either in Hot Springs. I know you´re shocked. Anyway, since there are basically NO spainsh movies made (and if they are, they´re terrible), I decided to see The Prince of Persia. It was... so cool. I understood most of the dialogue and seeing Jake Gyllenhaal was like being in the US for a few hours. If only my sister had been there to scream at the screen, all would have been well.

That´s about it! Please keep me in your prayers as I have finals this week. I´m getting close to halfway through my trip and it´s bittersweet for sure.

TTYL! LYLAS!

Laundry...

So today Im finally doing laundry. I survived over two weeks, and I honestly feel like thats an accomplishment. So I have a little bit of time to talk more about these last couple of days! Woo! *also, sorry if I repeat anything that Ive already talked about. I forget sometimes. Yes, I too, am flawed.

One thing Ive been meaning to talk about is the art festival in Salamanca. The last two weeks there were concerts, street performances, and all sorts of things. What none of realized though is that there was kind of undercover art. One of the coolest things that I didnt realize was art was something I passed by every day. I go to school in the really old part of town, so everything is pretty antique. The only thing that wasnt was basically a huge section of one of the plazas that said there was construction going on for a brand new hotel. Honestly, I never thought anything of it, but some people in the town were really upset that they would mess up the antiquity of the city. As it turns out, it was all for the art festival. Theyre not actually building a hotel but just wanted people to appreciate the beauty of the old city. I think its a stellar idea.

Well, as most of you know, I LOVE to read. My dream is to live in a library. Well, I never really thought that I would be reading that much here, but since I dont party at night, thats what I do. When I got to Salamanca I was almost done with the books I brought so I bought another. Books in english are kind of pricey here and there are no second hand bookstores. SO I had a fabulous idea. I bought two books today. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in english, and Harry Potter y La Piedra Filosofal. BOOM. I know, I know, these ideas just come to me. Its a gift, really. I figured this would be a good way to read for fun AND to read to learn spanish better. Plus, the spanish Harry was like 7 euros. What what!

Im growing more and more appreciative for everything that I have back home. Family, friends, food. Everything, really. But Ive realized that I needed to come to Spain and be away from basically everything familiar to really be introspective. Having truly alone time with no TV, music, friends, or chores has made me really face myself for the first time in awhile. I have to say though that I am grateful for the path God has put me on. So many people my age here have no sense of or desire for a purpose. I cannot imagine living my life any other way.

And now for something a little less serious. I have been thinking about a special someone a lot these days. Yes. Its true. His name is David Bisbal. I cant help but laugh while I write this because I have NO IDEA why I like him. Usually, I really dont like that much popular music. But I have been into several CD stores looking for his CD. Secretly, of course.

This is something else that Ive been meaning to write for a while. Spaniards cannot pronounce my name. Its really awful. But also amusing. They say it like LAOWREEN. Ive also been called gringo a lot here. They must think I dont know Im white. I do forget sometimes...

Well, friends, thats all for today. Hasta luego!