Mi Casita!

Instead of packing, I'm doing this blog post for y'all, so I hope you like it. Tomorrow I'm changing host families, but I know some of you have been wanting to see where I've been living for the past (almost) four months. Here is a video tour of my house -- enjoy!

 

Well, I just handed over my house keys to Paola. It was kind of deja vu of when I handed my mom my house keys the day before my departure from Iowa. Something about handing over the keys makes it so real for me: Hey, you really are going. It's strange, thinking about leaving here. I know I'm going to miss it! Thank you so much Paola, Abuelo, and David for taking me into your home! I'm definitely going to be visiting over the coming months. :)

No matter where you are, Mondays are always hard.

Hello everyone.

I don't really know what to tell you guys as far as an update on my life in Spain. I mean, yeah, I'm in Spain, but still -- I have a routine. Life is still life. A typical weekday goes like this: Wake up, get ready for school, catch the schoolbus, do school from 8:30 to 3:00, go home, eat lunch, homework/chill/write/run/etc., have a light dinner and go to bed (not too different than my routine in Iowa). On the weekends, I usually hang out with friends on Friday and Saturday night, then Sunday is basically a day to relax/prepare to do it all over again. What I'm trying to get across is that just because I'm living in a foreign county, it doesn't mean that my life is always bursting with excitement. It really bothers me when people refer to my exchange as a vacation, because I'm NOT on some holiday in Spain. I have a life here. Don't get me wrong -- I love Spain to death, but I truly began to fall in love with Spain when things felt normal. Those moments when I don't feel like that complete foreigner; those moments when I know that Spain is truly another home -- those are the moments that I love. 

This Friday I'm actually changing host families, so that will be interesting. I'll be living with my Rotary counselor, Juan, and his wife. They don't have any kids, but they have a lovely German Shepherd! I'm a little nervous about switching houses because I'm already used to how things are here in my current house -- I know my expectations and such, but I know I'll survive. I made it the first time around in October, I can do it again. I'll try to post a video or a photo tour of my current house sometime in the coming week. 

I'm not sure what else to tell you, so here are some differences between life here and life in the US that I've been brainstorming lately.

1. Spanish people are small.

I don't know how, but everyone here seems to be so tiny, both height and weight wise, guys and girls. I'm thinking it just has to be something in their genes. In the US, I'm considered to be a bit short. Here, I am actually a bit taller than average. I have small feet compared to my friends in the US -- about a size 8 -- but here, I've actually been turned away from stores because they don't carry a big enough shoe size. I find this sad, especially when stores have super cute shoes.

2. It's normal to have someone come to clean your house here.

Having a cleaning lady or someone come to your house a few times a week here isn't considered a luxury, it's normal. At my house now, someone comes two times a week and she does laundry, dishes, vacuuming, mopping/sweeping, etc. It seems like a lot of my friends actually have someone come to their house everyday! This is something I'm probably going to miss when I go back to Iowa. 

3. There is such a stinking ton of English here.

Okay, so in the US, yeah, my friends and I say random Spanish things to each other. It's fun and a little silly, but whatever, we do it. Here it's like that, but so much more. My friends here will say random things to each other in English (like we do in the US with Spanish), but their English is actually pretty good. They listen to English music, absorb American media . . . English is easily part of their daily lives. Dang, if I had as much Spanish influence as the kids here have English influence, my Spanish would be so much better! Grr.

I'm pretty sure I had some more differences to tell you, but I can't think of them at the moment. I'll try to brainstorm some more soon. In the mean time, I would highly recommend checking out my friend Hannah's blog! She is currently living in Malaga City (an hour east of me), and is from Oregon. So many times I read her blog and think, "This is exactly what I'm feeling... Ohmygoodness, we're like the same person." So yeah, it's at http://www.englishtospanishdictionary.blogspot.com/. It's really good stuff. 

That's it. Check out my Spain Playlist on Spotify if you haven't yet. Woop woop.

Byebyebyebyebyebye

My life in a Playlist

Wasup my lovely readers? I hope you don't mind, but today I have more for you to listen to than to actually read. (Did that make sense? My English is starting to really sinkkk sometimes.)Yesterday I put together a Spotify playlist full of my favorite songs here, the most popular songs here, as well as some songs that I feel have become "mine" over the past few months. To check out the playlist, follow the link here ----> http://open.spotify.com/user/119131570/playlist/6bFvrusanTqReuq6aB3Qpv  It's quite a collection of songs, but definitely worth listening to. Put it on while you're working, "studying", ehem, scanning Facebook (and Tuenti if you're in Spain).

Below I have posted a few of my favorites from the playlist, as well as a track that Spotify doesn't have! So what are you doing? Click that triangle play button; be in Spain for a little while.


Titanium by David Guetta



Entre La Playa, Ella y Yo by Big Yamo
(Spotify doesn't have this one -- make sure to listen to it here!)

Rabiosa by Shakira

Que sueño tengo!

I'm not sure how I managed to forget this in my recent posts, but a very important milestone of my exchange occurred last week. I believe it was the night of January 1 that I had my first Spanish dream! I hardly realized it until the morning of January 2nd as I was thinking to myself: "Hmm I actually dreamed last night. I hardly ever dream! Now what was it that happened? I remember that I was sitting in -- OH MY GOODNESS WE WERE TALKING IN SPANISH!! Okay Spanish and English, but still. . ."

If I remember right, I was talking with my English neighbor friends about popular music. I remember it was strange because they were talking in Spanish, even though they're from England and don't know any Spanish! We also spoke some random English, so I guess you could say that it was a Spanglish dream. People say that once you start dreaming in your host language, you know that you're fully submerged in the language and you're close to being fluent. I think I still have quite a ways to being fluent, but I'm still very pleased with my dream.

Dulces Sueños!
Josie

Catching Up

So I told you guys about Christmas break and Molly's departure from Spain, but for the sake of time I left out the past week so I could get to bed last night! So, here it is.

School was a bit difficult on Monday. My internal clock was still on vacation time, so I was very tired all day. I wasn't alone though - it seemed that everyone was fighting to stay awake that first day back to school! It was nice seeing all of my classmates again though. I didn't go back to school for long though because on Thursday, Molly and I went to Granada! If you're gonna skip school, do it for a good city. ;D Molly and I had planned on going to Sierra Nevada to play in the snow. In the end however, we ended up exploring Granada together because the buses for Sierra Nevada left at times impossible to coordinate with. So, after the 3-hour bus ride from Marbella to Granada, we browsed the rebajas (awesome sales that last for a month or so at all the clothing stores), ate kebabs, saw The Lion King at the theater, bought matching sweatshirts, and walked the incredible streets. How I love that city.

I had to take a picture with this magical street. Doesn't it look like something from a storybook?

Seeing The Lion King and eating kebabs almost made up for not being able to see the snow, but Molly and I definitely want to go to Sierra Nevada in the future -- and Iowa as well! -- for some snow!! Molly has only seen snow one time before! We had a great day in Granada, nevertheless.

On Wednesday it was back to school. That evening I went out to eat with Molly and her family since it was her last night in Spain. Saying goodbye was so strange, so unreal. :( Yesterday, I finally met my host dad, David!! He's in the Navy, so he has been at sea the whole time I've been here. David is actually English, and only speaks a bit of Spanish. As a result, he just talks in English. David is really nice, but it's so strange speaking so much English. I don't want to hinder my learning Spanish anymore than I need to with English, but at the same time, I need to talk with my host dad. Also, the other day, I got an email about choosing a return date to the US. How is that possible?? I don't even want to think about having to leave yet.

This past week at school has been a bit exhausting. It makes me realize why I love vacation so much. School wears me out; it often frustrates me. Not for the reasons it usually would such as exams and homework, but because it is so mentally challenging to process everything for 6 1/2 hours. I can't wait for summer vacation -- everyone says that it's the best time of the year and that you just hang out with friends everyday. I like the sound of that. If it's as good as Christmas break, I'll be pleased.

Mogli

This blog post is dedicated to Molly, my lovely Australian amiga. I have been friends with her since day one of my exchange, and today, Molly began her venture back to Australia. (Southern hemisphere kids often do January-January exchanges because that's how their school year is.) I knew that Molly had to leave in January, but it seems so unreal that she's going back today. It still hasn't completely hit me yet. In just three months, we have become such good friends, and now I'm not really sure what to do. How is this really happening? I know that I definitely want to go to Australia one day and visit her.

Here's to Feria, to the Estepona zoo and to the Fuengirola zoo, to Granada and Tarifa and Gibraltar, to those Wednesdays at Montaditos and Mogli, to all those times we went shopping, to the days exploring Marbella, to gofres and Coca-Cola, and to the many, many other memories that we made in Spain. Te quiero, chica!!! Hasta pronto!!

Vacaciones: Christmas Break

I love my life. I just love it, so much. I've heard so many times that Christmas is the lowest part of an exchanger's year, but for me, that was not so at all. In fact, I'd have to say that Christmas vacation is the best part of my exchange so far. I got to hang out with my "cousin" Rafa, I went out with friends a bunch, and I'm pretty sure my Spanish skills doubled or something like that.

New Years Eve was a blast. It was the first time I went to a New Years party after midnight. Here, you celebrate actual New Years (at midnight) with your family, and then everyone goes out. So, I went to my Aunt Lola's house for dinner with my family, a family friend, and another family. Here in Spain, it's traditional to eat 12 grapes, one at each gong of a clock, at midnight for good luck. Please imagine this. Yeah... it's hilarious watching people do this. Everyone's mouths are full of grapes and the clock is going and it's just great. I have no idea how, but I actually did all 12 grapes to the gongs of the clock! That means I'll have good luck all year! As you can see below, everyone had a fun time.

Me, Rafa, and Adri (a family friend)

My "Marroqui Uncle", Abuelo, and Adri's Dad

Everyone except for my Marroqui Uncle

After dinner and grapes at Lola's, I went to a New Year's Eve party with a bunch of friends from school. We rented this big room in San Pedro with a split level, and danced the night away, literally -- the party started at 1 a.m. and I got home at 8:00 in the morning! So at 1 am Iowa time I was still going, even with the time difference! I find this humorous. Man do I wish I could experience New Years again! Such a fun night. No one from my class was at the party; it was mainly people from the other two classes of Primero Bachillerato (equal to 11th grade) at my school, but I love these guys. They make up most of my closest friends here. I feel like I have finally reached the point where I have friends. Like, friends friends who I can really see myself becoming close to throughout the year.

Spain celebrates El Dia de los Reyes, or The of the Kings. This holiday takes place on January 6th and from what I've gathered, it's basically a separate day from Christmas to give gifts, that way you can focus on Christ's birth on actual Christmas day. However, many people (especially families with little kids) open presents anyways on Christmas day. On El Dia de los Reyes, the Reyes -- Kings -- "bring you gifts" if you've been good for the year. I got a little dog charm to put on a necklace or bracelet to remember our dog, Reina! Other than that, I didn't really do much else. My family and I, as well as probably every other Spanish family, ate this delicious cake called Rosca de Reyes. Inside the cake are two "surprises" (little toys) that supposedly give good luck to the people who find them! My piece of cake had one of the surprises. I think it's a bean of some sort, but I'm not really sure... Paola found the other surprise, some kind of little bulldog magnet, and let me keep it!

Rosca de Reyes

We get quite the Christmas vacation here because of The Day of the Kings! Break was from December 23rd (that's including the day that everyone in Bachillerato skips) to January 8th! Please enjoy these random photos that fill in some few gaps I've left out.

Celebrating Niki's 16th birthday at the bowling alley!

Hannah, me, and Molly spending a day in Marbella!

Ice skating in Marbella with friends from school! 

I think the only main photos I'm missing are from a day with Molly, Matthew, and an exchange student from Canada living in Madrd, Olivia, who was vacationing in Marbella with her host family. We had quite a fun day that included Olivia and I doubling up on a bike so we could get to the beach! I don't think I have any of all of us together :( Also, I hung out with Rafa and his friends a few times, but I don't have any pictures. Oops.

Christmas break was exactly what I needed. It not only was a break from school, but a chance to get out, and really experience Spain more.