Weekend windup

Well hello there, everybody that I love! Happy Saturday!

This week was, well, long. Haha. But now it's over, so all is well!! :)

The biggest thing that happened this week: I am officially (I think?) an Alicantina!! :) At least temporarily. I had the lovely pleasure of going early two mornings in a row to basically ensure that I'm here legally (ha), dealing with the police and other government agencies, waiting in line unnecessarily for 3 hours, applying for my "I'm a foreigner staying here in Spain for a year" ID card, and all that good stuff. It was sort of a pain, and I missed a little bit of class for it, but at least now it's done. And I wasn't alone, I always had at least a couple other students and sometimes even Pepa, our program director. Even though we sort of felt like we were fed to the sharks a little bit, I am so thankful for the help that Pepa and Marisa give us. There are some people that we've met here that are just here, on their own, with no help, no program, just going to school. I cannot IMAGINE. Things are so confusing as it is half of the time!!


On Thursday, when I worked with Paula, she gave me a bracelet. And we put chalk on our faces and we were "payaso indios" ...yes, Indian Clowns. We paraded around the house chanting "I am an Indian! I am and Indian!" She is the funniest little thing I have ever met. I just adore her. I have the best job ever. AND, the mom of one of her friends called me and wants me to tutor her daughters, ages 4 and 7, in English too. I'm not sure how I'm going to make it fit into my schedule, but I absolutely LOVE working with Paula so I'm sure it'll be the same! Plus...can't complain about getting paid to do basically nothing. :P

Me with my new bracelet from Paula! All the colorful stars :)

Then on Friday, DUN-DUN-DUN...my FINAL EXAM for my grammar class! Haha, which I (of course) did not study for until midnight on Thursday night, would anybody expect anything different than that? Of course not. :) But it went alright, I didn't feel bad about it overall, and now that class is over and I'm excited to have something new in October! PLUS! Good news: I was supposed to have class at 8am but it turns out that my class isn't until noon, which conflicted with another class, but I have enough credits that I could drop that class without any problem! So my schedule in October is lighter now, and later. I'm so glad I can still sleep in.

Speaking of October, I've been here for a month. When did that happen?!

After my exam yesterday, I took a nap. Haha. And then my host brother and sister took me out to a tea place, but they were celebrating a year anniversary or something, so everything was free (nice!) and it was CROWDED (not nice) and HOT. It was damp and hot and sweaty. However, Zoe and I had a good time anyway. :) Then, after trying to figure out more Morocco stuff (haha, story of our lives), my hostsiblings took us out to a Chinese restaurant! It was...weird, and the portions were HUGE, but it was good! It's sort of funny to me that they like Chinese food here, but whatever. :)

OH! It RAINED yesterday! Like, rain-rained. It never rains here. I even used an umbrella (guys, don't judge me, it was really the only way.) I was one happy little Oregonian. :)

Today, I had my first foods class, we went to el mercado central (the central market) and just sort of looked around. It's not exactly like a store in the states...see look:

Rabbits. Quite ugly without hair.

Pig heads! Pig skin! Pig face!

Pig skin. Pig balls (yum?). Pig hooves. Pig liver. Pig heart. Pig tongue. 

OFFER! Pig kidneys: 3 kilograms for 4 euros! Yum. Just try to ignore those little pig heads lookin' at us there.

This, my friends, is horse meat. See that up there on the right in the bag trying to hide behind the glare? Horse brain. That strange, darker meat hiding in that same corner? Horse liver. Cool.

Mmmm, lovely, huh? Don't worry, there are some normal things at the market, too! Like this:

Pretty flowers!

Fruit and ... dried peppers maybe?

Oranges. I had my first orange today. It was delicious.
Also, these oranges are .60 euro (roughly a dollar) for a kilogram...which  is like 2.2 pounds.  And they are delicious.

LA FRUTA!

Hahaha, sorry, I kind of went picture overload there. This post is getting long. I should be writing two a week. Oops. :)

Anyway, after we went to el mercado central, we trekked our way to a flea market-esque market, which was really cool! And I had a really yummy orange that cost me 30 euro cents and was SO WORTH IT.

Anyway, the rest of this weekend should be pretty chill. Weekends are always fun to catch up with you guys back in the states! :) This weekend shall henceforth be named "The Weekend of Planning" also, because I feel like that's all that's been on my mind -- planning my trip to Morocco, trying to plan a trip to Paris, planning my December trip with Tyler, planning a day in Sevilla, looking up cheap flights to ANYWHERE and everywhere, figuring out the cheapest way to get places, and basically just trying to stretch what little money I have here as far as it'll go! Any suggestions or places I just CAN'T miss? Let me know!

Also! I found a church pretty close that I think I'm going to check out tomorrow. Wish me luck ;)

And, because I'm so excited that I figured out how to post pictures, here's one of Zoe and I from today:

Ignore the fact that my head is huge.

Love and miss everyone!! <3

Paula, Paula, Paula.

I feel like there are so many Paula's in my life. The first (and most important) of course, being my mother. Shout out to you, Paula! You're the best!

This week I was seriously tired all week...trying to recuperate from being out so late on Saturday I think! Haha! I'm not cut out for the Spanish party life! 

This week I started my job "teaching" Paula English. Let me tell you, she is THE CUTEST THING EVER. She's 7 years old and just the sweetest thing. She wears glasses and likes to dance and sing and I have decided that I am going to steal her and bring her home. On Tuesday, I was trying to figure out what she already knows (I bet you could all guess what she knows. Numbers, colors, animals, and "Hello, my name is Paula." Hahahaha) and I ended up teaching her "I'm a Little Teapot" and explaining what it means to her. Her dad, Nacho, and her mom, Monica (I think that's her name...), are learning English too. So, the second hour that I'm there we just talk, basically! Tuesday we played "I Spy" with the whole family, which was fun. Then on Thursday after somehow miraculously finding my way to their house without any help, Paula and I sang the teapot song some more, learned The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and learned about "Up" and "Down". Along with, "Paula, how are you?" "I am well!" Hahahaha. Little by little, I guess. :) PLUS, I got my first paycheck. 30 euros richer! I think I'll buy a bag so Borja will stop making fun of my huge backpack. :P He told me "You look like you could be a Spaniard...but with that backpack? Absolutely not. American." Hahahahahaha

This week I finally skyped with a bunch of people I love! That was fun! I can't believe finals for my first class (which only lasts a month, haha) are next week! I've almost been here a month?! Where did September go???

Last night, we went out with Kenta, a Japanese guy from our class. It was me, Zoe, Kenta, Andrew, Matteo, and Gracie. I like going out with people from our class because usually they don't know English so it forces us all to talk in Spanish...and we're all learning and don't know how to say things so there's no pressure. Or, at least not as much when you're with Spaniards! Although Borja is cool about helping with my Spanish...it's just so easy to revert to English since he understands it most of the time.

Anyway, today Paula (my host sister!) and Robert (host brother) took me out to tea to this really cute place called Tres Cucharas or something of the sort. We were going to go to this other tea place that they said was really good, but we ended up here...which was fine by me, because they had these raspberry cupcakes that were TO DIE FOR. It was like eating a little slice of heaven, I swear. AND! I found out that Paula and Robert both love to make cupcakes!!! HELLO, I was so put with the right family. I'm hoping we can bake some time. They both have these books of gorgeous looking cupcakes...and we all know how much I love baking. Two things that will always put me in a good mood: baking and painting my nails. One of those was covered by my amazing boyfriend and his mom with the package they sent me (thanks again!!!!!!) and the other I've still been craving. Maybe I need to break out the cookie mix I brought and make some peanut butter cookies...oh man, my mouth is watering.

Random fact of the week: It's a lot easier for Spaniards to say "Kieki" than it is for them to say "Kiersten."

All in all, another successful week in Spain. I love it here. Missing everyone at home more this week, finally starting to sink in that I'm here all year. However, as much as that makes me miss everyone, it also makes me excited because I can't wait for the exciting things that God is going to do in me and through me here!!! :D

<3

El Fin De Semana

Ahhh, I feel like this was my first real weekend here, although I guess it was my second (third if you count the fact that I got here on a Friday).

We finished off the school week, and my brain decided it was just about time to shut off the Spanish and relax. But first...I went and met a family who wanted an English tutor for their little girl Paula. So...guess who now has a job for the next nine months! THIS GIRL! I'm pumped. The family is really nice and I literally am just going to go over there and talk in English with this little girl and sing songs with her and stuff, and then spend an hour speaking only in English with the family. And I get paid 7 euro an hour to do this. Hello, spending money.

On a completely unrelated note, there is a cat meowing REALLY loudly outside my window right now. There are so many cats in this city. So many.

Anyway. Friday night Zoe and I went out with a bunch of couch surfers (Zoe had met a girl on the bus and they chatted for a while and we ended up going out with her, haha) and had a really chill night sitting around and talking and sippin on some drinks. It was so much fun, definitely my kind of relaxed night out. And couch surfers are seriously cool people. I think we only stayed out until 2 or something, not too late. And sheesh, that was just the warmup round.

On Saturday, Zoe and I took the tram thingy (that I can never remember the name of) to a really pretty beach...our goal was Playa de San Juan but I'm pretty sure we ended up en Campello...either way, it's sand, the Mediterranean Sea, and a questionable amount of topless women. Then that night, Borja invited us to go out with him and some friends. So Zoe, Shannon, and I hit the town about midnight to go out...basically we ended up hitting up a couple bars and meandering our way to a club at about 3 am (that's when it opened, I'm not kidding) and danced until about 5. Then Zoe and I hit a wall...haha. I'm so glad I have her. Anyway, we ended up getting home around 5:30. It was a lot of fun! And, cultural tidbit so you don't all think I'm a freak, that's very common here -- my host mom expected it, which is sort of bizarre. Usually Spaniards go out around midnight or oneish, drink for a while, hit up a club, dance the night away, and end up back home at 6, 7, or even 8 am. This is completely absurd to me and my American way of thinking, but sheesh, do these Spaniards know how to party! Haha!

Today I slept in until almost 12 (which really isn't THAT much sleep considering I got home at 5:30), went to the beach with Zoe for a little while, and have just been chilling. Aka recuperating from last night. Hahahaha. And, of course, saving my homework for the very last minute. Some things really do never change. :)

Intercambios

OOF, what a week this has been!

This week, classes at the university started. Let me break down my classes for you, shall I?


This month I am taking a grammar class that's 3 hours a day (in a row, yes), 5 days a week. Then next month, I will take another grammar class of the same format. Then I will be done with grammar at the end of October. Win.

During October and November, I will also be taking a required class, Social and Cultural Realities of Spain, and a cooking class, and a cinema class.

I am taking one class at the university, and it's my only class that starts now and goes until the end of December. It's "Modern" History of España, quotations my doing. We're focusing on the sixteenth century in that class...so modern. Lovely. Anyway, this class is only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Yes, all of that means that my schedule is really weird. Right now I'm taking two classes, in October I'll be taking five, in November four, and in December only one. Basically December is going to be awesome. (Sidenote: I also get to see my MOTHER!, my GRANDPARENTS!, my ITALIAN FAMILY!, and my BOYFRIEND! in December, therefore December is a very good month indeed. Oh, and we celebrate Jesus' birth then too, which is kind of a little (read: lot) bit more important than any of that other stuff! Yay!)



Well, that was nice and boring. This week we haven't really done much other than school. I might have the opportunity to be a tutor/teacher for a Spanish family and their young child, though! That would be exciting! Details to come ;)

Today we met our intercambios. That's basically a program here where we (Americans learning Spanish) get paired up with Spanish students who are learning English, so that we can learn some and teach some and just talk and have fun! Apparently, it's also a good way to figure out where all of the good bars are and learn all of the cuss words. Oh, the things university students talk about. Anyway, my intercambio's name is Borja (you pronounce the j like a heavy, throaty "h" sound. Seriously, I struggle. He laughs at me. And we move on.) and he's so rad! We already have plans to go out this weekend with Zoe and Shannon and who knows who else. :) I'm secretly trying to hook him up with Zoe, but don't tell anyone. :P

We're going out tonight as a way of saying farewell to Zoe's roomate, Vanessa. I'm going to be a zombie tomorrow. Thank GOD for siestas.

Missing you all and hoping life is good back in the good ol' U-S-of-A... things are just lovely here in Spain :)

Week One: Check!

Wow, I cannot believe I've been here for a week. It seems like I was just getting on the plane, heading off to the biggest adventure of my life. But at the same time, it feels like I've been here for months! It's crazy!

Friday night Zoe, Andrew, Vanessa (a Brazilian girl living with Zoe), and I went out and had some sangria. After one drink Zoe and I were already giggly so decided not to have any more...but hey, at least being a lightweight means you don't have to pay so much, right?

On Saturday we had a day trip to Valencia. Valencia is either the third largest city in Spain or the third most important city in Spain...I'm not exactly sure what David (our tourguide) was talking about. Regardless, we had a great day of walking around, hearing a LOT of history in Spanish that was interesting at the time but ultimately very easy to forget, and taking a lot of pictures until my camera died. I was very sad that my camera died, because I saw the CUTEST little Spanish boy that I have ever seen in my life and I was about to take a picture of him and then, bam, dead camera. Maybe it was a sign that I shouldn't be a creeper, but either way, I wanted to adopt that precious little thing. The dark skin, the curly hair, the big eyes. I just couldn't take it.

In Valencia we visited a gorgeous cathedral, a museum that used to be a house (I can't think of the word for a really fancy, really big house for really rich people, but it was one of those. With a ballroom and a bunch of rooms and patios and whatnot. Like a palace?), and a huuuuuuge -- and do I mean HUGE -- open market. Our tourguide told us that there were about a thousand little booth thingies (puestos), it was crazy! It was mostly food -- fruits, veggies, meat (so much ham), fish, shrimp, etc. Anyway, we walked around a lot (of course I was with Zoe) and just enjoyed ourselves. I was SO TIRED...I slept on the way there, and on the way back, and then I slept in until 11 today! Good gracious!

Today was a very relaxed day. Meals, of course, and spending time at the beach with Vanessa, Zoe, and Andrew. The beach is gorrrgeous and of course I adore the people. I don't know what's wrong with me, I'm pretty sure I fell asleep on the beach, but whatever. And I swam in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time today! Hahaha, my host family was apalled: "But it's so cold!" Um, no, it's really not. You should come to Oregon. You would die. Hahahaha.

Classes at the university start tomorrow and I'm a bit nervous about finding a class that will work and fill the requirements that I need to fill, But whatever. We're all a team and this is going to be quite the challenge to find classes that work and won't kill us. Que Dios nos bendiga...

FRIDAYYYY

Thank God that it is Friday. It's 9:30 and I am hungry and would like it to be dinner time, please. Oh well, soon and very soon my hostmother will be coming in, telling me it's time for dinner. Let's gooo, cena!

My first day of class, overall, went well!! I'm not doing perfectly with speaking Spanish outside of class and home, but for my first week I think I'm doing alright. We talked about classes today and I basically figured out that I'm going to be taking 2 classes this month, 3 or 4 classes in October, 2 again in November, and only one in December! (One class goes the whole time...the other ones are mostly one or two month classes. Yes, it is weird.)

Today, I met my hostmom's younger brother and his (rather attractive) son, who lives (apparently) on the floor above us now. Naturally, the first somewhat attractive person I meet here is like 18 years old. Whatever, I'm a cougar. (Don't worry, miel, he's got nothing on you :P) Anyway, they were SUPER funny, asked if I knew of any places in the US called Springfield (...from the Simpsons) and when I informed them that I lived close to a Springfield and it was the one that the Simpsons live in (close enough, it was based off of it, right?) they were just dying. They loved it. Ha! They are both super funny (although the uncle is super hard to understand) and I hope they'll be around more because they talk a lot and ask me questions and force me to talk and stuff. :)

Today Zoe and I walked around the city more, found the BEST helado place ever (our new mission is to try every single heladeria in Alicante), and talked about life. I really like her. :) Tonight we're gonna go out for the first time (if my family ever has dinner...I don't want to be out too late) and tomorrow we're road trippin to Valencia with the whole group!

I hope everything is well in the states. :) I only have been gone a week and I feel like I have been gone for SO long! I miss everybody, but everything here is so new and exciting that it's hard to think about it for too long, because there's always something to do or some new adventure to be had! I think about a lot of you, though, when I see different things or hear funny conversations. Hope life is just peachy for all of you! <3

La playa!

Well, let's see. I can't remember when I last posted, and my host mom's...something. (su sobrino, pienso. I think her nephew), Pablo, just walked in and he's like the CUTEST thing I have ever seen in my life (he's like 12) and the kiss on the cheek thing just kills me every time and I just love it here. AAAAANYWAY.

The good: 1) The food! Like I've said before, my host mom is seriously the best cook ever. To recap my last few meals: bocadillos (sandwiches, usually with jamon serrano y queso), fish (that had eyes and looked at me before I ate them), shrimp (again with the eyes), some meatball type things that were super good, lots of bread, tomatoes, patatas, loootttsss of fruit (it's like dessert after every meal), and OH the helado (ice cream). Come visit me and we'll go get helado. There are seriously heladarias por todos lados.
2) LA PLAYA! I went for the first time today and it's seriously gorgeous! Enough tourists to make me want to gouge my eyes out, but also a lot of Alicantinos and other Spaniards. This city is seriously gorgeous.
3) My Spanish class. I really like it. And I love my professor, Raquel.
4) Actually having legit conversations with my host family for the first time last night. Poco a poco! I'm finally starting to not be so tired and sluggish...seriously, I didn't think jetlag was going to hit me. I'm just tired and weary all the time...but I'm getting better!! And I didn't wake up at 5:30 this morning, I actually slept until my alarm at 8:00! Woohoo!
5) Our walk up to the castle. (Well, this is mostly good. See below.) We had a rad tour guide, David, who took us around the city (which I still really need to learn) and up to the castle, telling us history and whatnot about the city and the castle. Seriously, super interesting (although somewhere in the middle of 3 1/2 hours, my brain was threatening to shut off), and it was in Spanish and I understood it all! (Well, 90%, but let me round up, okay?) The city is seriously beautiful, especially from the top of the castle.
The bad: Some of the people in my group, especially during the climb up to the top of the castle. I want to stuff Spanish into their brains, along with some culture and respect, please. Also bad: smelly, hot buses. But they get me from A to B and they're cheap-ish, so I can't complain.

The ugly: Most of the speedo-clad men and topless women at the beach today. (Don't worry, I wasn't one of them...yet.)

El Primer Dia de Clases!

I feel like my blogging time is awkward because I tend to (haha, it's been one day and I already think I have tendencies?) blog during siesta, which is smack dab in the middle of the day. But whatever. Last night, I decided that my host mom Isabel is theee best cook in the entire world, in case estabais preguntando. We had dinner at 8:30 ("earlier than usual because we figured you'd be hungry!" Umm...yes.) and we sat around chatting until 9:30 or 10:00 but seriously by then I was SO tired that I had absolutely no idea what was going on and I'm pretty sure I would have been struggling in English, let alone Spanish. Strug city. Pero no pasa nada.

Today was our first day of classes! I successfully managed the bus (well, to be honest, Roberto took me to the bus stop on the way there and I got a TINY bit lost on the way home, but I made it, no pasa nada). Then we had a tour (after I tried to figure out when I'm going to get a phone...still not sure) and bought our bonobus cards. That basically just means I can ride the bus without having to worry about bills and coins and whatnot...handy.

Then we had an awkward hourish from 10:45-11:45 where we ate lunch...because lunch here is at 2 or 2:30, but my class goes from 12:00 to 3:00! Such an awkward time when I'm not really hungry yet...but I sort of need to eat. But if I eat all of my food then, I'll be STARVING by the time 8:30 dinner rolls around. I definitely didn't think eating times were going to be much of an adjustment, but I was wrong. Oh well. Life goes on. :)

THEN the much anticipated moment of our first class! I adoooore my professor, Raquel. She is just lovely. So bouncy and funny. Zoe was sick today :/ but I made a couple of new friends in my class, Shannon and Marial. And we have one girl from somewhere that I need to look up the Spanish word for because I'm not sure where she's from, two girls from Japan (weird Spanish accents.), and two people from Russia, along with six or seven of us Americans. There were like ten-ish people not there, probably, so I'm sure there'll be more tomorrow. Raquel told us that we Americans were "fresca como lechuga" in regards to Spanish (fresh as lettuce...?), and it sort of showed because I was able to follow and do fine in class. My speaking needs some practice but, hey, I've been in Spain for two days, give me a break. ;)

Now some people are going to la playaaa (the beach!) but I'm not really sure I want to today. I didn't sleep awesome last night -- jet lag catching up with me, gross. Being awake at weird times...it's strange. So I might take advantage of la hora de siesta. I may regret it later, but I think it's a great idea now. :P

Miss you all!
<3

La Familia

I made it!

These last two days have been SO LONG. Travelling was...long. And I was so, so tired when we got in to Alicante at about 1:00 pm...which meant I had been travelling for over 24 hours and I now faced the daunting task of staying awake until bed time...and dinner was at 8:30, with a walk around town at 9:30. Lovely.

But really, it is lovely! On our way into town, we passed the GORGEOUS beach, and the city is so awesome, too! I moved in with my family today. I live with Isabel and Daniel, and their 21 year old daughter Paola. Their 29 year old son, Roberto, lives downstairs. (And the apartments on the 3rd and 5th floor are also relatives...nobody lives on the fourth floor and those are the only floors in the building. Family party!) Everything is VERY nice, they are very hospitable, and they tell me my Spanish is really good even though sometimes I think they're lying.

Basically, I'm having a great time. I miss everybody at home, but I am excited for what is ahead! Tomorrow is our first day of school and I am super nerviosa, but it's going to be good. :) Thank you all for the support and stuff...it means a lot to me to know I have so many people that love me waiting at home.

<3