Vars

Well, it has been nearly a month since my last post, and I am sorry. I have been thinking about posting for the past 2.5 weeks, but every time I think about it I say to myself "you know, I don't feel like writing today; I guess I'll just do it tomorrow." Well, I still don't feel like writing, so instead of writing about my ski trip, I'll just post some pictures and write about it in a later post when I feel like writing again.

 

View out the window of the apartment we stayed in.

 Looking down from the lift on the way to my first run of the season.

 My cousin, Augusto

 Dani

 

The view from the top of the chair that we started each day on. This is looking from the far edge of the Vars side out towards the rest of the Vars area. Over the other side of the mountain featured in the picture is a bowl area and another mountain. On the other side of the second mountain is the Risoul part of the ski resort.

 My cousin on one of the tow lifts at the resort. Surface lifts are much more common here in Europe than they are in the USA

 

 Dani jumping

 

Augusto stopping after a jump

 A picture taken from behind my goggle lens. I got a bit bored on one of the chairs.

Well, if I ever regain the willingness to write, I'll post again about whatever is new, so, until then.

Catch-up / New Years

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.

Christmas Eve/Christmas

So, as you might expect the holidays are celebrated in different ways than they are in the States. So here is how I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my Spanish family:

Christmas Eve:
I got up around 9 this morning, and at 10 we got into the car and drove down to Madrid. We went in order to see an exhibition about Leonardo Da Vinci. The exhibition started at 11 and it started out with a short 10 minute 3d video about the exhibition. We then went into the adjacent to view the exhibit at our own pace, and it was quite incredible. We spent 4 hours there, which was basically from the time it opened until the time it closed. The exhibit started out with models of some of the inventions Da Vinci drew in his various notebooks. This was probably where I spent the most time looking around. Some of his inventions are incredibly advanced for the age, and it was quite cool seeing all of the models that were built. The next area consisted of a large amount of space given to analyzing the Mona Lisa, but it didn't interest me a lot, so I didn't spend a lot of time there. There were other areas in the exhibition dedicated to Da Vinci's study and his notebooks, and another area with paintings of his disciples, but I didn't spend a lot of time looking at these either. The two other parts that really interested me were the areas dedicated to The Last Supper and the Vitruvian Man. Although the Last Supper area was interesting, my favorite bit was definitely the Vitruvian Man. The exhibit went into great depth about the mathematical elements of it, and that fascinated me. Because the exhibition was temporary, there wasn't pretty much everything was reproductions of the original works, but there was one tiny bit where they had some original drawings by Da Vinci, so that was quite cool. Anyway, I really enjoyed the exhibit.
After the exhibit we returned home to relax a bit and eat lunch. Then at 8 we left to go to the house of cousins on Lorenzo's side. All of his family was there to celebrate Christmas Eve. We ate some normal Spanish appetizers to start. Then, we had salad, followed by big shrimp. After that we had a juicy and tender meat that was quite tasty. For desert we had traditional Spanish holiday treats, such as turrón and polvorón, both of which are extremely tasty. After dinner we played cards for a little while before doing presents. Here, it is not common for a bunch of presents to be opened on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but because the family was all together, we did a small presents thing. Anyway, about 20 presents were lain out randomly on the table. We then all picked random numbers out of the bag. The person who had number 1 then got to pick a gift, but they could only look at the presents, meaning they couldn't pick it up to feel its weight or poke it to see if it is hard or soft. After the first person picked and opened their gift, the second person did the same. The second person then had the opportunity to trade gifts with everyone who picked before them. This went on until all sixteen of us picked gifts. I ended up picking seventh and ended up with a funky candle. After we finished that we watched a small performance that one of Lorenzo's brothers and his wife had arranged. It was quite odd. And I don't really have the capacity to describe it in words. All I can tell you was that it was quite funny but also quite weird. After that we played cards for awhile more before we left to return home around 2:30.

Christmas Day:
I woke up around 1:00, which was by far the latest I have woken up on Christmas (my brother usually wakes me up around 7:00). I ate breakfast, relaxed, ate lunch, and then we did a small gift exchange. Most people here in Spain exchange gifts on January 6th, but because we will be in France then, we did a small gift exchange on Christmas. The rest of the day was calm. I talked with my parents, with my grandma, and with my aunt and cousins on Skype. Other than that I just relaxed. Christmas Day really isn't a big holiday here, and so as a result we didn't really do anything special, just another rather normal day.

Anyway, there you have my Christmas and Christmas Eve days here in Spain. A lot of stuff has been happening in the past week or two, and I started a post before Christmas Eve, so the start of that one might sound a bit off. Anyway, I will try to publish that one on the 30th or 31st, so until then.

León and the Surrounding Area

I don't want to write very much, so here are some pictures from my two-day trip up to León and the surrounding region:

 The huge cathedral in Leon. Its construction began in 1205 and its highest point is 78 meters. It is the cathedral with the second greatest amount of stained glass in Europe, and it has the most stained glass per square meter of any cathedral.

 Cathedral

 Cathedral

 Basilica of San Isidoro. They were doing some construction/restoration of it, so the main entrance was fenced off.

 Convent of San Marcos. Today, the building is occupied by a luxury hotel.

 Convent of San Marcos

 Convent of San Marcos

 

A church in León

  

Sign marking the Camino de Santiago in Villafranca del Bierzo, which is one of the towns the trail goes through.

 The castle

 A balloon that we found in the street and played with for about an hour while walking around the town.

 Some guys building. It seemed like everywhere we went there was a fair amount of construction or restoration going on.

 A church

 Clouds. It was cloudy the whole trip, and all of the clouds were very close to the ground, making them more fog than cloud.

 Otherside of the church

 Another old building

 

A different old building

This was an old house. Unfortunately I can't remember what this type of house is called, but they used to be very common in north-western Spain. Anyway, I found it to be a lot bigger on the inside than it appeared from the outside, which I found interesting. Also, hidden inside this one was a bar and restaurant where we ended up eating lunch, which for me consisted of crepes filled with fried spinach and pine nuts as a first course and pigs cheeks as a second course. Overall, quite tasty.

These would be found next to the houses. They were used to store grain in the winter.

Chestnut trees covered in lichen.

One of the trees close up.

Mushrooms sprouting up from between old leaves and chestnuts

Path covered in fallen leaves and chestnuts

View from the top of a hill above Balboa.

View looking the other direction

View of the whole town from above. As you can see, the town was quite small

The other house.

A chair and chicken inside a museum in town. The whole upper floor consisted of somewhat abstract art made out of wood cut down from around town. It was incredibly intricate and cool.

 

A church in the last town we stopped in. Unfortunately it was dark so we only spent about 5 minutes there and this was the only building that was really lighted on the outside.

Well, that is all. Goodbye