addiepaddey's blog

April

The reason that I find it so difficult to complete my account of these last months is that I am stuck on April.  And the reason that I am stuck on April is that I had one of the most incredible experiences of my life, and describing it, why it was what it was, isn’t easy. But as I won’t be able to move on until I recount this event, I will do my best, in a brief way, so I can move on.

April 3^rd was the day we left for Sarria. I had my bag on my back, filled with a sleeping bag, sleeping pad, flashlight, anti-blister band aids, chocolate, and two pairs of clothes for the next five days. I met with my fellow exchange friends of Santiago for some Turkish Kepab, all with our gear, and we enjoyed our food at one of our favorite places to eat in Santiago.

What we were headed to do was a piece of El Camino de Santiago, a famous pilgrimage which traditionally starts near France in Pyrenees Mountains and continues across the entire Iberian Peninsula to Santiago de Compostela, my second home town. It is a religious pilgrimage, or was, but now I believe most of the people that set out along its paths do so for the experience, not because of a strong Catholic faith. People from all parts of the world come to Spain to do the Camino. The city is filled with pilgrims all year round, although in summer the numbers rise so that there are more pilgrims in the city than locals. The tourist shops are filled with souvenirs for El Camino, and some places offer free breakfasts for newly arriving pilgrims. It is the biggest tourist industry of Santiago, the reason that it is famous, and one of my features of the city. You can recognize a pilgrim easily by his comfy and worn clothes, by his muddy bicycle, or by the fact that he’s wearing sandals to give his feat some comfort after their tiring journey. Sandals are not as commonly worn in Spain as they are in the US, so it is a pretty reliable signal of their pilgrim status. You can have the most interesting conversation with a pilgrim; meet someone from a place you’ve only dreamed of going to.

If you began the Camino from the Pyrenees, you will be walking for one to two months before you reach Santiago. Every day you will probably walk between 20 and 30 kilometers, sometimes more, sometimes less. There are stretches of the Camino that you are required to walk much more before you reach the next hostel.

The stretch we would be doing would be about 125 kilometers, and we would do so in five days. This was an optional AFS activity, lead my monitors hired by AFS to accompany us. Even though it was optional, all but one of the 30 exchange students in Galicia was going. He would have liked to have gone also, but he had a family trip already planned.

So we were a group of forty. Thirty of us from Galicia, and another ten AFS students from other regions of Spain, as well as a couple host brothers and sisters. We were from all over the world, a group of people united by strange circumstances, acquaintances and close friends, heaped into one to embark on what we all knew would be a strenuous and deeply rewarding adventure.

 So much for making this brief. I know I could write for hours about the Camino, and this is what has been stopping me. I want to do the experience justice with my description, but I think I had better get to the point otherwise be lost in an endless  recount unable to ever finish.

We walked for four days, waking at six and leaving before darkness had faded. We saw the sunrise every morning. We stayed in hostels of three Euros a night. We ate breakfast hurriedly and set off after stuffing our sleeping bags and pulling on our dirty wet clothes.

We saw Galicia in its true and natural state, the mist-shrouded rolling green hills adorned by flowers of only purple and yellow color. The light rain in the morning usually gave way to a pleasant afternoon sun under which we would rest and sleep in the grass that we found by our hostel. We had all seen Galicia before, most of us lived there, but we had never really seen it. We had never really appreciated its beauty and its mystery until we had walked through it, looked at the place where we lived and understood it.

We were in pain. Some worse than others, but all of us felt it. Some so bad that their feet rejected every step and they hobbled and bled and cried but where determined to keep going. The hurt of giving up and getting a ride in that safe, warm, and comfortable taxi to the next hostel was much worse than any of the physical effects of the walk. So we all kept going, and we didn’t really know why. There was one day in particular that was bad. It was the longest. Our halfway meeting point was at the same distance that we would normally have ended the day and reached our hostel. We all felt it, even those in the best of shape with minimal blisters. At the last stretch, we were forced to ask ourselves what it was that kept us going, why we were doing this, and the answer for everyone was different. It did become a religious experience, not one necessarily related to god, but one more spiritual that looked inward at ourselves and our values. It changed every single one of us, had an effect that was unexplainable and plain to see.  

When we did reach the hostel on that fourth day, one of us was fading in and out of consciousness and an ambulance had to be called. She had been carried part way by our dear friend and monitor, but could not give up even though she could not walk because of the blisters that had torn her feet to tatters. That night we worried and ate the dinner that one of the students had bought with his own money for us all, and then spent much time and talent to prepare. I and a few others met a pilgrim travelling with his guitar. We sang together until we were told the noise wasn’t allowing others to go to sleep.

Morning came and we were only left with five kilometers to reach the center of the city. Our friend had returned the last night with bandages and the same determination. She had to be forced to take a taxi.

The last kilometers were joyful. We were chatting, in good spirits with the sun shining down on us. We had had time to sleep in with such a small distance remaining.

When we were near to the end of the walk, we met our friend. She would do the final half kilometer with us, even though she needed the support of two people under her arms to walk. The son of our volunteer also joined us there. He had brought along his bagpipe. We stood around him and applauded his concert, then he started to walk and we followed. The last half kilometer of the Camino, we walked behind our bagpiper, with our injured friend in our arms, drawing recognition and congratulatory looks from passersby. It was like a victory march.  At this point we were both somber and gleeful, celebrating our triumph and mourning the end of the journey. When we reached the Cathedral, after following the gold shells which marked the way through the ancient streets, we had reached the end. There were many hugs, most between people who five days ago had been mere acquaintances and had now bonded in a way so deep that I believe may be impossible to find anywhere else. There were also many tears, although joyful ones.

I had never been so moved by anything in my life. And I think that many of the other AFS students can say the same.

We shared the Camino and our exchange and we will never forget that or be able to break the ties that were built. Several people I talked to said that the week that we spent on the Camino was the best week of their lives.

So we have talked about getting together in the coming years and doing it again, this time in its entirety.  

    

MARCH

Where did it go??

The month of March began with great weather. For the first time I went to the creek that is near our house, and discovered that there are running trails. Right next to me and I hadn’t noticed.

March began mildly warm and sunny, hinting that spring was arriving. During this time, my family and I went to the beach for the first time. We went to Murros, a small beach town that has been protected fairly well from tourists. My host mom used to spend her summers in Murros with her family and has many stories and memories about the place. We went on a spontaneous hike which lead us atop Monte Lorro to a beautiful view of the beaches, but left us with many scratches as we had had to make our own path. After we went to the beach where we watched to surfers, played a type of beach badminton, and swam. The water was FREEZING, but me and my little sister went in anyway. We were the only ones in the water that weren’t wearing wetsuits. Two days later I was in bed with a fever BUT I firmly deny that this had anything to do with it. We walked through the town and ate a lunch of calamari and ice cream. It was another family excursion. A few times it’s happened that I have had daytrips with friends planned, and that my family wants to go on an excursion this weekend. Whenever possible I stay with my family, ask if the trip with friends can be changed or just tell them I can’t go. It’s come to surprise me that I do this because I prefer it, not because I feel obligated--the time that we spend on these excursions is time that I count as incredibly valuable.

March did not stay sunny. She came with the promise of warm weather, teasing us with days of sun and actual heat, with the official turn of the season into spring…and then she hit with rain, cold, and more rain. I had gotten so hopeful that the bad weather had ended. Again came the storms and the breaking of umbrellas. I heard that a few decades back the umbrellas were made very strong and sturdy, and that there were stores dedicated to umbrella repair. In Galicia this makes perfect sense, and it’s a shame they’ve disappeared. I can’t count the number of broken umbrellas I have seen lying by the side of the road.

Early in the month my host uncle’s art exhibit opened in Santiago. We went to the grand opening, and were served drinks and sophisticated tapas while we admired the pieces. The opening wasn’t for the public; it was mainly for friends and family of the painter. It was very interesting. I felt very lucky to be there and I am secretly proud of the ingenuity of my host uncle, although I have spent very little time with him. When friends came to visit Santiago I would take them to the gallery as part of the tour.

For the second time I had pistachio ice cream and I am in love. Madi from Canada came down to Santiago from A Corunha, and her and us Santiago kids went out for ice cream, sat in one of the most beautiful terraces of Santiago, and went to see my uncle’s paintings.

February

February was the half way mark. Halfway through the exchange. I hate that this experience will end so fast. In the beginning when I was first interested in AFS, I thought I would only go for a semester. There were a lot of things that made me decide to do a year, one of the main ones was that Spain only offers a year program, and I really wanted to go to Spain. Basically it made much more sense to go for a year. But I was thinking, if I had chosen the semester, I would be going home right now. And I am so, so thankful that I have more time here.

 I have another trip to tell about =) I am very happy that I am getting to travel. One of the biggest problems with AFS for me is that it’s very hard to travel, unless it is with your host family. I am very, very lucky.

At the end of February we had a break for “carnavales”. The Friday before the break, there was a competition in between the class for the best costumes and presentation. Each class dressed up with a theme, and did a presentation of the theme. One class dressed up like the characters of “Recess”, which turned out great. They were the winners, and won a prize well deserved. Another class did a theme of marionettes, and in the presentation they danced the dance from the music video of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. There were two classes that turned their classroom into the Cave of Plato. One class dressed up as the characters from “Grease,” others were the Mafia, and one class acted out a battle between cockroaches and butterflies. In the end of this skit the butterflies ripped off the legs of the cockroaches and then danced to “la cucaracha”. The words to “la cucaracha” say “la cucaracha, la cucaracha, ya no puede caminar” which means “the cockroach, the cockroach, now can’t walk”. Before I came I’d heard that song but I had no idea that’s what the lyrics said. I thought it was pretty funny. My class was a bit more serious. We did the financial crisis. We had people that were businessmen, and we had a market with people dressed up as vegetables that we sold for a very high price. Two people from my class dressed as if they were from the future, and in our presentation, they used some sort of time machine to see what was happening. I was a businessman trying to sign up for unemployment. It was really fun to see all the classrooms transformed into sets, and I was amazed at how serious the kids took it and how hard they worked.  It was really fun and I took a lot of pictures.

Right after school we left for Madrid. It’s a six hour drive from Santiago to Madrid, which isn’t bad. I loved Madrid. It is a great city. It is big, but it isn’t ugly or dirty like I expect most big cities to be. It was clean and beautiful. There were tons of people there, most of them tourists. You walk down the street and hear a variety of different languages, and people speaking Spanish with foreign accents.  You have the feeling there that there is nothing you can’t do. You have every opportunity. The buildings are huge and old and striking. The amount of people was unbelievable. The only other time I have seen so many people in one street was in a peace march in San Francisco. I saw my first Starbucks in Spain. I was like “Wow a Starbucks!” We kept walking and I counted 7 more before I stopped counting. I didn’t like to see so many Starbucks, Burger Kings, and McDonald’s, but I have to admit that I couldn’t resist entering a Starbucks and having a mocha.

We went to the Prado museum. I hear that if people find out I went to Madrid, the first thing they will ask me is if I went to the Prado. Yes I did and it was GREAT. I was surprised by the metal detectors at the entrance, and disappointed that it was prohibited to take pictures. We spent almost the entire day in the museum, and I could have stayed longer. I loved it. My host father is well educated in the world of arts and had a lot of interesting commentary about the paintings and the artists, which was very cool and almost like having a personal guide to the museum. I would like to go back again and see what we weren’t able to. But I would like to take an art history class first because although there were many famous painting there, but few that I recognized, and one of the most interesting parts of going to a museum like the Prado is to be able to see first-hand paintings that you have studied. Even though I knew very few of the paintings, I really enjoyed it and was amazed by the talent and the beauty.

We stayed in the house of my host mom’s sister, Antonia, in a suburb outside of the city. We would take the train to the city in the morning and take the train back at night. We went to an open air market and I got a tour of the most famous squares, the palace with its gardens, and the most famous fountains, statues, and streets. We walked a lot through the city, stopping in some stores if they looked particularly interesting, just getting a view and a feeling of the capitol. I liked it very much. We went and ate dinner in a great restaurant. We arrived five minutes after it opened, which was lucky because fifteen minutes after we arrived, the place was completely packed and it was impossible to find a table or even a place at the bar. A group of people arrived in costumes for carvavales that I found funny. Most of them were dressed as bulls, but one had to be the bullfighter to complete the theme.

We spent two days in the city of Madrid, and the third we went to Toledo, which is a very famous historic town about an hour from the big city. Curious it the best word I have to describe it. It was beautiful, surrounded by an ancient wall, and built on a hill so that when you enter the city all the streets lead upward. You continue walking and find the main squares of the city on level ground with a view downward of the stores and the houses and the rest of the town through which you passed. The souvenir shops had the theme of knights and swords. Swords are a specialty of Toledo, and I heard that those from “The Lord of the Rings” movies were made there. Toledo also has a unique type of engraving in its swords, jewelry, and other metal work called Damasquinado which is usually done with gold. There we visited a monastery which was very impressive, and a synagogue from the 12th century. The synagogue was very interesting because it also had both Arabic and Christian features. It had been converted into a Christian church at one point but was restored to its original form, with remains of its Christian use. One of the last places in Toledo we visited was a museum of torture devices. This was the kids’ idea. I think my description of “curious” comes largely from this museum. I was disturbed by the instruments, which were mainly used during the Inquisition, and their detailed descriptions of usage. I left with a strange feeling, and while I liked Toledo, which like most the places I have seen in Spain is incredibly old and beautiful, and rich with culture and history, I think my opinion would have been so much better if only I had skipped that museum.

That pretty much sums up the trip. We returned to Madrid and left the next day after lunch. That morning we went to an outlet of name brand clothing called the Rozas, then ate lunch and headed for home.

Right now we are having what to me is strange whether, but is normal for Galicia in the spring. We will have a few days of sun, a few days of rain, and a few days that change between the two in seconds. Last Wednesday the students went on strike, and there will be another this Thursday. The reason is the plan Bolonia which is a reform of the universities throughout Europe. The plan is to equalize the curriculum so that the degrees achieved in any country of the European Union would be earned by the same standards, making it easy to work in any country of the EU regardless of where you studied. This plan is not being taken well by the students for many reasons, one of them that it will make studying more expensive.

Next week we have another small break and it’s possible I will get to go to Portugal with my family. Everything is going good. When we have a few days of sun the restaurants in Santiago set up chairs and tables outside and there are many people enjoying coffee and sun. The parks are starting to be filled with groups of people lying on the grass, studying, talking, and absorbing the mild heat.

Spain is beautiful.

January

January

The first day of the New Year we went hiking through Ordesa. It was incredibly beautiful. In the end there was a view of the mountains that reminded me so much of the Swiss Miss hot chocolate box that I developed a powerful craving for hot chocolate. The Pyrenees are incredible. From the top of one of the ski stations there was a view of them that I found so impressive that instead of snowboarding down the mountain I sat for a good amount of time just taking in the scenery. You could see rows of these mountains followed by more rows, without any end.  It was very unfortunate that I didn’t have a camera with me. But the ski stations came later. The next day we entered France and spent the night in a town called Loudonvielle, and skied there the following day.  It was the biggest ski station I had been to, and I was impressed, although the snow wasn’t very good quality. I didn’t know that this station was much smaller than the next one we would visit. After one day of skiing in Loudenvielle we went to San Lary where we rented an apartment for the next four days. The town of San Lary I would describe as cute, quaint, and French. There were many bakeries, with fresh bread, all kinds of pastries, and blueberry muffins! I hadn’t seen a blueberry muffin for ages. The architecture is very different then the Spanish style.  The buildings are smaller and narrower, and when you look down on the town you notice it’s organized differently. In the town there were creperies, cheese stores, chocolate shops, a store with a collection of strange items that I liked very much, many ski rentals, a very small amusement park with bounce houses, and a very beautiful fountain. It was so cold that the fountain was covered in ice in the shape that the water would normally run.

The station of San Lary is the best ski station that I have ever been to. It was huge. You need days to be able to ski every part of the station, while at the station I usually go to,you’ve seen everything in a couple hours. It was from this station that I saw the most impressive view of the Pyrenees. It was here that I had my first encounter with the "remontes." I don’t know what they are called in English because I had never seen them before. They are an alternative the ski chair, a metal pole with a small circle at the bottom like a seat. You place the pole between your legs and let it pull you up the hill. I had my first uphill snowboarding experience. It is tiring because you can’t relax. You are standing, navigating, and working. At first I had many problems. It’s pretty easy to fall, and when you do, you have to try and crawl out of the way of the person behind you before you are run over. I started to dislike the "remontes" ,(you mean I have to work to go up the hill?) but I eventually got the hang of it and started to like them. I hope that someday I will go back and bring American friends and family and enjoy watching them try to master these strange devices.

I had a great time. I like to snowboard very much, and it was really great. I spent time skiing with my family and also I had the chance to go alone, and it was nice to be able to do both. I am very lucky that my family likes to travel and likes to ski=) My Spanish improved a lot during this trip. And I got to go to France! It was great to be able to see a little bit of another European country.  I loved it all.

Right after I got back, I left for the Pyranees again, this time for a ski trip with my school. It was fun, but nothing compared to the one with the family. I had hoped to get closer to some of my classmates but I was the only snowboarder and everyone else had ski classes so I didn’t spend much time with them. I did get to meet some new people on the lifts which was very cool. I made friends with three Spanish snowboarders and a younger skier that goes to my school. We stayed for a week in Jaca skiing, and returned to Santiago to start school again.

And so passed January.   

DECEMBER

I'm sorry for being so behind with these posts.
Well, December came and went quickly, same with, January, and now it is happening with February. Too fast, so little time!
December was my birthday, and the holidays. I spent a great birthday, celebrating with friends three consecutive days.  The holidays were interesting. I spent a lot of time with my family, and it was nice. Christmas eve we ate dinner at my host mother's mom's house with her family. She is one of seven siblings, and although not everyone came, we were a huge group. I met my host aunts and uncle and their spouses and they are all interseting and very fun people. We ate a huge meal, which consisted if several courses. Baby pig, fish, empanadas, crab, were just a part of the meal. I was introduced to the stangest looking seafood i have ever eaten called perceves, which i was hesitant to try but liked them and started eating them like pistacios. The dinner began at ten and ended after midnight. After eating, we opened presents. With our presents we had dessert, one of the items being a irish pudding brought by our irish guest, the boyfriend of Velen, my host aunt, who lives in Dublin. Traditionally the pudding is covered in alcohol and lit on fire, but our attempt wasn't as spectacular as it should be, none of us being experts at this procedure. After dessert, the iphones and the ipods were taken out and hooked up to speakers, and people began to dance. I was one of earlier bed-goers, and i retired at 3 AM. I had a lot of fun that night. The people are great.
Christmas day, we had lunch with the other side of the family, the mother and siblings of Sergio, my host dad. The difference between the two families was incredible. The lunch was very calm and very serious. And with very few people in comparison with the 16 we were the night before.
After Christmas eve and Christmas day, we had a few days to rest before we left for San Lary, a French village where we went to ski. We left on the 30th of December, so most of that trip was technically January. It was a GREAT trip. We drove across the peninsula, stopping in Burgos for the first night. The second night, New year's eve, we spent in a place called Torla, a small mountain village in the Spanish side of the Pyrannes near the border of France. That night we had a huge dinner in our hotel, and afterwards all of the guests went to the lounge to watch the TV and the clock strike twleve. We were all given a bag of twelve grapes for the turn-over, a Spanish tradition that i like very much. We went to watch the TV broadcast the clock in the main square of Madrid strike twelve, something that we knew the rest of the country was doing at exaclty the same time. When the clock striked, on every one of the twelve strikes, we ate a grape. It is good luck if you do it successfully, which we did. Before the trip the entire family bought red underwear, and on New Years we all wore our new red underwear, another tradition i like.
The holidays, according to AFS, is the hardest period of the exchange. I did get a litte sad on Christmas eve, but it wasnt bad. It was strange to be away during this time, but it was great to be with my host family and their traditions and their humor. I think I could have had an unhappy time if i had been with a different family, but i fit well with mine and i feel very lucky to be with such great people. 

NOVEMBER

Well,
The month of November was an interesting one. Three events happened in the US that i was able to observe over here, the first a huge event, and the others so normal its strange i am trying to speak of them as a group. The largest event was one i think you could guess: the election in the US and the victory of Barrack Obama. The whole election was watched very closely here. Every day in the newspaper there would be something about the election; maybe a nasty comment made by Sarah Palin or more polls and speculations. 
         November 4th was a strange day for me because i knew i wouldn't find out until the next morning the results of the elections. Because of the time difference, when in the US people were gathered around the TV watching the votes come in, everyone in Spain, including me, was fast asleep. I was disappointed that i wasnt able to watch the process like i would have back home. It was a strange experience to wake up in the morning and see it would be about 10pm back home and that the results would probably in. I woke up and asked google what had become of this historic election, and then went to school. I think the strangest thing was not having anyone to celebrate with. That day, after school i went to town with my computer to use the highspeed internet and watched the speeches and called home and in my own way was able to have the election experience. That day was great for me.
  I think it was the Thursday after the election that the newspapers wrote about the event. I remember that on the covers of all the newspapers at school there were huge pictures of Obama, Obama and Michelle, or Obama standing in front of a thousand of people. The headlines said things like "Change has come to the US" and "History has been made in the US". I read them and i was smiling the rest of the day.
Everyone i had talked to about the election in Spain had been in favor of Obama. I didnt speak to a single person who thought differently. After the election i was congradulated. But curiously since the election I havent had any conversations about American politics.
   
    The other two American events i have witnessed here can't begin to be compared to the previous. They were holidays: Halloween and Thanksgiving, both of which aren't celebrated here.
    Even though halloween isnt officially celebrated, there were a few people in the streets in costumes, me and my group being some of them=) While we werent alone, we did get some strange looks. The kids in my family dressed up and went to a halloween party at their friends' house, but from what i hear thats not very normal. There wasnt any trick or treating, so we bought candy in the supermarkets and ate a ton. We wanted to see a scary movie in the theatre to get in halloween spirit but there werent any playing, so we rented  Saw and watched it at home.
    Thanksgiving was really great. My host mom and I decided we would try to make a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner to share the cultural experience. Neither of us knew how to cook a Thanksgiving dinner, so it had the potential for disaster. We were surprised we were able to find a turkey because its something almost no one prepares, but we were lucky and we did. Despite all the odds, everything turned out incredible. It was great to share a holiday with my host family that is normal for me but that they had never experienced. I would call it my best Thanksgiving.
     
   Life is going good. School is difficult. We are having the exams for the end of the trimester, so much of my time right now is spent studying. Luckily they are almost over, and then starts Chirstmas break! I am very excited to see what the holidays are like over here. We are going to spend Christmas with the repective families of my host parents. I think one for Christmas Eve and one for Christmas Day. After Christmas we will leave to go skiing on the French side of the Pyrenees. It will be INCREDIBLE. We'll spend New Year's Eve travelling, and i think we will come back on the 7th of January. The 6th of January is the Three Magic Kings' day, which is like a second Christmas. The kids open presents on both Christmas and the day of the Magic Kings. So i am interested to see what thats like. I love that the holiday season is much longer here because it has both of these days. I think it will be great to get to know the families of my host parents. My host mom is one of seven children, so the meal at her house will be quite crazy and i think very fun. I have met her mother and one of her sisters but i know the family of my host father much less. 
Right now time is passing so fast. And things are incredibly buisy. This coming week is my birthday, so next weekend i hope to have good celebration. The weekend after that is the beggining of the vacations, and i have a camp with AFS and all of the other exchange students in Galicia. I am looking forward to talking to everyone and seeing how their exchange is going. The last AFS camp was really fun, and all of the exchange students got to know each other and become friends. I am excited to go to the camp but i also know it means a big piece of my exchange has already passed and that thought is a little depressing.
  In the month of November I did some great things. I went to a Magosto, which is a party in the villages where they roast and eat the chestnuts. Where i live, Vilarino, i would call a village. It has no stores, but it has a church, a cemetary and a building for parties for the neigborhood. I believe the nucleous of the village and the socializiion is the church. The Magosto was held in the building for the neighborhood. i dont know what to call it exactly. People brought chestnuts, pork, and wine. I think most of the pork was pork that they had raised and killed themselves, and the wine was also made at home. It was a strange thing to see. I saw people who live near me but that i have never talked with before. They were people that i have seen driving tractors to town, working in their small cornfields, and cutting their grass with scythes. I wasnt able to participate much in the party, but i was able to observe it and i really loved this experience that is so unique to the place that i am living.  
        We had a holiday some weeks ago that was only for the schools in Teo, but not for those in the city. I found out that those of us that live in the country had this holdiay because it was the day to kill the pig. The city kids dont have pigs to kill so they dont get this day off. I loved that something like this is common enough that the schools recognize it as a holiday. The things that are so different from what i am used to are the things here that i love the most

Well i have been sitting at the computer for way too long. I hope things are going well. Happy Holidays!

-addie 

       

Wednesday October 22, 2008

I have been in Spain for about a month and a half now. I have started to have a routine now. I wake up every morning at 7 and eat breakfast and then go to school. Things are strangely normal. For the most part, the awe and the wonder has worn off and I see things as normal instead of so strange and different than what I am used to. This in itself is very strange. I see things that at first I thought were strange and now i don't even notice them.
School...where to begin. It is not so different than other schools. But the school I go to has student from the age of 11 to 18 instead of 14 to 18. I am taking ten classes, but only six per day. I think that the schools here are much harder than in the US. I am used to teachers assigning activities and handouts to do to practice the material, but here the students are expected to know all the material by themselves and practice it on their own. Its much more responsibility and much more work. In the classes that I do understand, I am daunted by that amount of time I will have to spend studying to know the material.
A very good thing about school is I have met people my age. I can only have simple conversations with them but it is still nice. Here i find the people a little closed. I have heard that in Galicia this is common, and in other parts of Spain they are more open. I hear that it is hard to become good friends with them, but that once you do they are very loyal and great friends. The Galicians are very proud of their culture, and I think they should be. There is even a movement for Galicia to become its own country, which is a bad idea because it would not be able to survive as a country, but it really shows how proud they are.
It is so great to walk down he streets and see bagpippers playing for money. I really love seeing the Celtic infuence here.
Sometimes I see old farmers driving their tractors down the street, I think because they never got around to buying a car. There is an older generation that seems to be living in the past, and I really love to see them. There are people who never gave up the traditions from the past, like making a homemade liquor out of the wine grapes.
One thing I have noticed is that there is a method to everything here. With coffee we eat something sweet like bisquits or churros. Depending on the meal, there is a different wine to compliment the food. The carrots are always peeled. My host dad eats the wine grapes without the skin and without chewing them because the inside of the grape is bitter but the outside is sweet. Complimenting foods are very appreciated, the same as complimenting outfits are appreciated. People consider their appearence very much before leaving the house, especially women. I think that seeing someone dressed poorly is along the same lines as tasting something that isn't very pleasant.
November is the time for killing the pork. There is a party for this event. The preparing of the pig for freezing takes several days because every part of the pig is used for something. 
Farmers haven been protesting the low price of milk. Milk was poored in the streets in protest of the prices.
The election in the US is big news here. I didnt get to watch the debates and I wish i had. I heard before coming that many Europeans know more about events and politics in the US than Americans, and it can be true. Everyday in the newspaper there is something about the US. It's a strange time to be here with the election and with the financial crisis because right now everyone is watching the US.
If i had come last year, it think it would have been very different.
One funny thing is that everyone knows California from TV. Several times, people have been like "ohh California" and then started to sing the themesong from the OC.
Well, that's all for now.
I hope everythings good!
-addie
 

  
 

Galician Grain Storehouse

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My mother and my little brother in In-n-Out hats

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Santiago, in the old part of town (my favorite part)

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