NOTE: As you will soon see, I have been a tad busy over the past few weeks, which is why this post is coming a bit late.
Well, to put it simply, a lot of stuff has happened since my last post. So, as a result, this post has the potential to end up a tad long. In other words, unless you are prepared to suffer through multiple paragraphs of my shitty writing, now would be a good time to leave.
Anyway, for those of you that are still reading, I will go ahead and start with the first thing that happened since my last post. So, here goes:
Two Fridays ago (the 16th), we had an optional AFS event in Madrid. Although it was optional, I decided to go because I thought it would be nice to hang out with my AFS friends. Also, there wasn't really anything going on in Soto, so I wasn't missing anything. Anyway this event was one of those Free Hugs things. The AFS Madrid chapter organized it in part because it would be fun, but also so that they could distribute some fliers and raise awareness about AFS in order to recruit more host families. Not many of us went (just 6 of us that are here for the year, but there were also some Spanish kids who just got back from other countries who came). Anyway, we all had cardboard signs that had written "Abrazos Gratis" or "Free Hugs" on them. We started out giving out hugs in the Puerta Del Sol in Madrid, but at one point we wandered over to Plaza Mayor for a little while before returning to Sol. We ended up giving out hugs for about two hours, and for the most part it went as you would expect. While some people came to get hugs, the majority gave weird looks and muttered things along the lines of "Free hugs? Yeah right". Anyway, most of the people I hugged were rather normal, except for a couple. One was dressed in a gorilla costume, which is always weird if it is not Halloween. Another asked for a kiss, and then proceeded to open his mouth to show me the two-inch long barbell piercing his tongue. As one might expect, I declined and slowly took a few steps backwards. After giving out hugs, we went to the "Museum of Ham", which is a bar known for their ham sandwiches, and I ordered and ate a ham sandwich, which was quite tasty. After eating, we hung out for awhile before we all returned to our respective homes.
On Saturday (the 17th), I went to see a choir performance. There were three choirs that performed, and my Spanish mom was in one of them. For the most part, the music and singing was quite good. While I recognized some of the songs, there were other Spanish ones that I hadn't heard before but that were quite nice. All three of the choirs were very good, and they all performed the songs to near perfection, although the second was missing a fair number of people, so a couple of their songs came out a bit odd. Overall though, I quite enjoyed the experience and the music was quite pleasant.
The following Sunday (the 18th), we had and AFS reunion with our host families. Unfortunately, my family couldn't come because they were celebrating my sister's birthday for the second time, so I went with the family of Hanna. Hanna is a Finnish girl who is also in Soto, and her brother and I had met and hung out before. Anyway, for the reunion we all had to bring some kind of food that is commonly eaten around Christmas time. I attempted to make "pigs in a blanket", but due to lack of proper ingredients, they didn't turn out incredibly pretty, but they still tasted decent. The reunion was fun for the most part, and it was nice seeing some of my AFS friends and meeting some of there families. And the food was quite tasty (many people brought cookies or some kind of desert, so I was happy).
On Thursday (the 22nd), I had my last day of school for the trimester. Everyone arrived at school around 10:30, we received our grades, my class ate breakfast together, and then we left at 11:00. My grades are as follows (from highest to lowest):
- Lengua Extranjera I (Inglés) 9
- Matemáticas I 8
- Física y Química 7
- Educación Física 7
- Dibujo Técnico I 7
- Tecnología Industrial I 7
- Ciencias Para El Mundo Contemporáneo 3
- Lengua Castellana y Literatura I 0
- Filosofía y Ciudadania -
The philosophy teacher originally didn't want to give me a grade (I think she ended up putting a 0), so I ended up with a dash. Anyway, after getting out of school, a bunch of us all went to a bar to hang out before going to the park. We ended up hanging out until around 10 at night, so it was much more fun than a normal school day.
Christmas and Christmas Eve are in another post, so I am not going to bother repeating.
On Monday (the 26th), my host brother and I went to Madrid. We arrived in Madrid around 11, where we met up with my Spanish grandparents and a couple of cousins to see a Belén, or nativity scene. It was extremely intricate and quite interesting. The whole time we were walking around it, my abuela was explaining to me all of the different parts of the nativity scene, so by the end of it, I was more or less an expert on nativity scenes. (My cousin has some photos, so when I get them, I will try to remember to post them). After viewing the scene, we went to the house of my abuelos to eat. After lunch, we walked to a building at which we met my sister in order to watch Cirque du Soleil. It was incredible. If you haven't been to Cirque du Soleil before, you have to go. If you have, well you already know you want to go again. Although there were a few mistakes during the show, overall it was amazingly well done. Some of the stunts that they do are just crazy difficult, but they still manage to execute them without mistakes. My favorite stunt was probably one during which included a man, a woman, and a pair of ladders. To start, the woman climbed onto the man's head. The man then climbed an unsupported ladder until we was standing on the penultimate rung. He was then handed another ladder which he held above his head. The woman then climbed that one until she was balancing on one hand on the top rung of the second ladder. It simply blew my mind. The amount of balance you need to be able to do that is just incredible. Anyway, after the circus ended, we returned back home and hung out with friends.
On Wednesday (the 28th), my host brother and I once again took the bus to Madrid. This time though, we went to Santiago Bernabeu, the stadium of Real Madrid. We met my other abuelo there, and we went to do the stadium tour. I had done it before, but I didn't really remember much and it was much better doing it with my abuelo as a guide (he knows a lot about Real Madrid). I have a few pictures, so I will include those in the next post with a tad bit more information. After the tour, we went to eat at the apartment of my abuelos, and after that we returned to Soto. Again, we spent the night hanging out with friends.
I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything special on Thursday and Friday, but am not positive. I think that all I really did was hang out with friends and set up for New Years at my friends house.
New Years Eve / New Years:
We left the house on the 31st around 10:00. My host family, minus my sister (like always), drove to Madrid and went to the Prado, the big and well-known museum in Madrid. We didn't spend nearly as much time as you could there, but we saw all of the more famous stuff. It was quite incredible the amount of artwork there - one could easily spend a day looking around. It is interesting because my appreciation for art and that kind of stuff has grown a fair bit over the past four months (already four months!). Before coming here, I just wasn't really into that stuff. After the museum, we had lunch, where I had my second real hamburger in Spain. It left me full but happy. After lunch we walked to Sol because my Spanish parents had to go to El Corte Ingles. I was extremely happy because it gave my time to do something I have been wanting to do since I learned I was placed close to Madrid - go to FNAC. I realize that to most of you that doesn't seem very exciting. Some of you probably don't know what FNAC is, so you will probably go look it up on google right about now. Then you will probably decide that it isn't really that exciting. I mean, you could say that it is just another big store that sells electronics and books, and you would be right. But, I really like that store, and, just like the Prado, it would be easy to spend a day looking around inside. Anyway, after we were done shopping, we went to my Spanish uncle's house to celebrate New Years with my host mom's family. It was quite fun. For dinner we had a stuffed turkey that was delicious (my abuela is a master cook). Then, around 11:50, we switched on the TV. In Spain, the tradition is as follows:
- 11:50 ish - turn on the TV
- 12:00 - watch the ball drop in Sol in Madrid. After the chimes for the quarter hours, the chimes for the hour start. Every time the clock chimes, you eat a grape (12 grapes in total for you that are bad at math or just not very smart).
- 12:01 - start yelling and hugging and kissing everybody because it is the New Year
And so that is what we all did. We stayed at my Spanish uncle's house listening to music and dancing and singing until 2:30, when we returned to Soto. My brother and I were then dropped off at my friend's house. We had set up his basement with lights and speakers and all. Anyway, we ended up partying there until around 9:00 in the morning, when my brother and I returned home and went to sleep. I was woken up by my Spanish dad around 4:00. We then all had lunch together, and I am now here writing this.
So there you have my holidays in Spain so far as well as an outline of what happened for New Years. I am leaving for the French Alps in 2 and a half hours, so I will post once I return. Anyway, it is now time for me to sit back, pull out my beef jerky, and listen to the Jets game on my computer, so until next time.
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