Traditions; Yours, Mine, and Ours

One morning, I woke up and found myself in a country without my favorite holiday...Halloween.
Forget ghost stories, now THAT is scary!

This past Saturday, AFS had a booth at a fair in Madrid for different youth organizations. All of the exchange students in my Madrid chapter were required to work together with the students of their home countries, and put together a poster and typical meal from their place. The objective was for all of us to share our culture while experiencing this new one. Comming here, you're reminded that not only are you learning something new, but your host family, and everyone around you is gaining something from you, and your culture, as well.

 The only students from the US in my chapter are Mariah, Simon, and I. It was quickly decided that Mariah and I would get together and do everything because Simon lives in a far away mountain village. Being the well organized people that we are, Mariah and I planned everything out really well and efficiently. Except for us that means we threw everything together the day of. I made the poster, Mariah the macaroni, and we took turns showering while screaming Spanish translations of basic US facts downstairs to eachother.

We eventually made it to the fair, all after getting lost and carrying around a huge pan of baked macaroni and a poster. The fair itself was pretty cool, there was pretty good live music, which was mostly reggae and and tribal-ish drums. Note: AFS students love to dance, play limbo, and eat macaroni with their hands. Some of us went out afterwards, then as usual, I spent the weekend at Mariah's house.

Leave it to Mariah and I to be the one's still celebrating our own holidays while living in Spain. On Sunday, we both carved a small pumpkin that Mariah had bought a few days before. She had to hide it in her room to be sure that her host parents wouldn't turn it into soup. Vegetable cream soup is one of the most common meals here, and can be made from almost anything. We also plan on getting out host families together and making them Thanksgiving dinner. Some may call us ambitious, we call it hungry.

Happy Halloween!

Love, Chloe and Mariah

As anticipated, I am failing every class in school. That is, every class except for educacion fisica (PE). As I mentioned before, PE in Spain is scarily similar to what I imagine boot camp would be like. So, of course, instead of running the one mile like most schools, we run two! All you track and cross country people, stop scoffing, it doesn't come as easily for most of us. However, I did finish first out of all the girls in my class! Except that today a girl who was sick and needed to re-do it beat my time, but that's ok. Unfortunately, I can't even transfer my PE credit here back to the US because I already fulfilled all of them. Ironically, I completed my PE credit early  last year because I dropped out of Spanish 2, which was probably not a good decision on my part given the current circumstances.

Yesterday, Monday, was my host brother's 14th birthday. We all ate dinner together, which was nice because that is not very common here. In my host family, usually just the kids eat together, and the parents eat later. I finally learned how to sing "Happy Birthday" in Spanish! It is actually almost simpler than in English, if that's even possible considering it is only a 3 word phrase sung over and over with a "Dear ___" thrown in.

Afterwards, I was getting ready to go to bed when my host dad called us downstairs. There is a show called Madrileños X el Mundo. A Madrileño is some one who is from Madrid, and the show is about Madrileños who have moved around the world. This partiular episode was all about people in....San Diego! It was so cool because they followed the featured people around all of these places that have been my home for my entire life (The SD Zoo, Balboa Park, Coronado, Old Town, etc.) and it was a great way to share it with my host family.

Love,
Chloe

Chloe's First Winter!

It has started getting REALLY cold here...but let us keep in mind that this is "really cold" in California standards, which means that anything under 60 degrees is scary. It never really occured to me that I will be spending a full cold season here! I have never been in winter for more than 2 weeks. This should be funny.

Spain really is not that different from the U.S. For one, girls still avoid those big puffy winter coats at all costs, and will come to school wearing a couple long-sleeved shirts, tights, and pretend not to be freezing. Needless to say, I have been doing the same thing, but that's because I actually don't have any warm clothes! One suitcase of clothing doesn't really cut it when the country has 4 seasons.

Rocking my host brother's puffy jacket

This past weekend I went to a youth hostel in Segovia for an AFS camp. It was a lot of fun seeing all the students in the general Madrid area, even though I see some of them pretty often. Segovia is a BEAUTIFUL mountain town with lotof old buildings and a nice village feel. Almost all of Saturday was taken up by activities covering the usual stuff; culture, communication, be nice to your host families, don't do drugs, etc. We were outside most of the time, and since we were in the mountains the air was super cold, but the Spanish sun was REALLY hot. Our solution was to keep moving the chairs and benches into the sun once shadow had passed over where we were. Afterwards, We managed to find a small bar to sip hot chocolate in.

The feeling of spending time with a group of kids from all different countries is impossible to describe. When questions stop being "what is your school like" and become "I've never heard Flemish before, what does it sound like?" conversations are much more interesting. I never thought the world could be so different! A HUGE part of this experience has been becomming friends with people from so many other countries, and that is something I never even expected when comming here.

On Sunday I went back to Madrid with Mariah and Fiona (a girl from France). I spent the rest of the day relaxing, and talking with one of the neighbor girls. My Spanish is deffinitly improving in leaps and bounds, but sometimes I have those days where everything just comes out all wrong. I think that probably happens to most people living in foreign countries. I learned a new tactic of getting attention though! Today between classes, my group of friends were all speaking very quickly about something apparently really important and quickly walking somewhere. I kept asking over and over in Spanish what had happened, but either they didn't here me, or they were really engaged in what was going on, but no one was answering. Finally, frustrated, in English I yelled out "Ok can someone PLEASE tell me what is going on because I can't understand any of you right now!" They all stopped, turned around, and asked "Que?" When asking in a way they understand doesn't work, try something they don't understand. People are curious, and what they don't know is more interesting. than what they do.

Today my cell phone and Ipod were stolen out of my backpack sometime between my first and third class at school. I'm pretty upset, but my host family and friends and helping me out, and we will figure out something. Who steals from the shy new kid who worked really hard to come learn about your culture?! Thanks to whoever stole my stuff for teaching me a lesson about Spanish culture.

Love,

Chloe

Don't Panic!

Every single night after dinner, Cristinita asks if we have these little cups of chocolate mousse. This is slightly a ridiculous question because we NEVER have them, EVER! So today, Cristina finally went out and bought a few. After dinner, Antonio grabbed one for himself and one for Cristinita, who in turn, looked at it for a minute, then proceeded to say that she didn't feel like eating one anymore. I then snorted water out my nose laughing.

The two of us, Cristinita and I, have been given a unique bonding opportunity. Seeing as we now both have Grip A (Swine Flu), we get to stay home all day, everyday, with eachother. This would be great if we weren't both sleeping all afternoon! Everyone needs to stop worrying! I am living with a pediatrician! Infact, I am getting better medical attention here than I would be getting at home, and I am feeling better every day. No one needs to fly out here! Have you looked at ticket prices to Spain these days?!...However, if you want to mail me soup, crackers, or whatever sick people like, I won't complain.

Love,
Chloe

A Weekend in A Coruña

I am sorry I have not updated this blog as often as I should, but I would like to point out that my weekdays are just as boring, predictable, and monotonous as everyone else's.

This weekend, I went with my host family to A Coruña, a city in north-eastern corner of Galicia. I had no idea what to expect; what it looked like, where we were staying (or with whom), what we would do there, etc.

We arrived at around 2 am because what should have been a 4 hr drive turned into 7. Murphy's law really stuck it to us this time. First, we were stuck in traffic for 2 hours because a car, to put it simply, EXPLODED on the freeway. Once we made it out of the traffic, we heard a large bang/pop/boom...which turned out to be what a popping tire sounds like. Our tire, to be more specific.
The sunset was pretty at the time though!

Eventually we did make it to A Coruña, however, things just kept getting weirder and crazier from there!

The entire weekend was something out of a crack-fairytale that I would probably write. I woke up to find myself on the 5th floor of an 102 yr old house, located in the middle of the city, but a block away from the beach. What everyone failed to tell me was that apparently Demetrio's family was not short on cash. His Great-grandfather built the house, which is 5 stories, and years later connected it to the house next-door as well. Demetrio's entire family was born, lived, and in many cases, died, in that house. Now however, his family rents out all but the 3rd and 5th floors. The house itself is all worn hard-wood floors, incredibly high ceilings, long hallways, and and huge shuttered windows without screens.

The view out of my window

My favorite inanimate objects are doors. I have always found them intriguing, as do the rest of the human population with any sense of curiosity. The hallways in the house looked like something out of those Scooby-Doo scenes, where everyone is running into doors, and comming out of ones on the opposite side. Despite its initial small appearance, I found myself lost multiple times. Twice, I could not even find the front door! However, I did find a room with a toilet, and a porcelelain bust on top of it.

Its not about where you are, but who you're with. In this case, who I was with and where I was fit perfectly hand-in-hand. The only people still living in the house are two of Demetrio's siblings, Maria and Tonita, as well as his aunt, Carmina, a woman named Lola, the maid Jaqueline, and her daughter Cintia.

Maria is a sweet, VERY talkative woman, who has spent her entire life in the house taking care of various family members. No matter how many times I mentioned where I lived in the US, the only places that seemed to register were Canada or New York. Talking to her was great, I understood her very well. In 3 days, I never saw her wearing anything other than a blue robe and slippers.

Tonito is Demetrio's older, mentally challenged, brother, who is also a sweetheart. He collects postcards and puzzles, and explained to me who the people in all the pictures were.

I was slightly shocked when I first met Carmina. She is 84, but could easily pass as 100, and appears as if she jumped straight out of one of the many 19th century pictures that lined the walls of the hallways.  She immediatly took a liking to me, and everytime she saw me, she commented on how beautiful she thought my eyes were. She then took my hand, and showed me around the house. From what I could tell, she is a little bit on the batty side, but in the nicest of ways.

While giving me another tour of the house, Maria asked if I had met Lola yet. I told her I had not. She proceeded to recount to me how her mother had had many children, and hired Lola to help raise them. She said that Lola had always been "mom" to her, and now it was Maria's turn to take care of her. I was a little thrown back when I first entered the room, and my initial thought was that Lola was dead. However, the 94 yr old is still alive, but unable to move or speak. Maria stroked her face with unbridled affection, while Lola simply gazed at me through unblinking eyes. She may have been a stone-toss away from the white light, but mentally, she's there, and her eyes said everything she couldn't.

We all ate lunch together everyday (which is the main meal here) and then went off to do our own things. I had been feeling pretty sick, but I decided to go for a walk on the beach. I was suprised and how mild the weather was, I was fully prepared for it to be freezing. The beach was different from the one's I am used to in California. The grains of sand are almost big enough to be pebbles, and walking in it was like walking through snow; Your feet sink in really deep leaving perfect footprints. I found tons of beautiful stones, as well as three blind dead jellyfish (its a camp-song reference).

For the next few days, I slept a lot because I started to feel really sick. I woke up one afternoon after a nap and found Cristina waiting with hot chocolate and churros for me. She is so amazing! Hot chocolate here is not a drink, it is literally a small teacup of melted chocolate, in which you dip your churros, then eat with a spoon.

Hot Chocolate

On both Saturday and Sunday night we went out to dinner with family friends. Galicia is known for its seafood, mainly octopus and squid. It was all delicious! I learned that waffles in Spanish are "gofres." If you ever want a really funny situation, try to explain to people in Spain how to prounounce the word "waffles." We settled on "Wah-fel-ehys."
Continuing with the theme of explosion and bad luck, the last night I went to go brush my teeth, anda pipe burst and started flooding the bathroom. I ran to my host parent's room and banged on the door frantically. While Demetrio went to go see what I was pointing at the bathroom and freaking out about, Cristina tried to calm me down saying there was nothing wrong. All I could say was "SI! HAY UNA PROBLEMA!"

Bottom line; My host family thinks I am a curse.

Did I mention that this is the second time I have been in a Eurpoean city while it was anounced that the Olympics would NOT be held there? Paris in 2005, and now Madrid.

However, during the trip back to Madrid, I managed to elevate myself to "God" status in the eyes of Cristinita because I know how to make a goblin face out of my hands, and have commited to memory the process of making an oragami paper crane. The downside to this was that for the remainder of the trip, I was forced to turn every scrap of paper available in the car into a paper crane.

As of now, I am incredibly sick. Despite the fever, hallucinations, dizzyness, full-body pain, and non-stop sleeping, the worste symptom by far is that I can't taste anything. I love food too much for this.

Love,
Chloe

Mission Nocturno

The longer I am here, the more I am starting to like it. The weekdays are still unbearably boring, but the weekends are making up for it.

Now that I understand the public transit system, the possibilities are endless.On Saturday night, Mariah and I took on the greatest challeng that the public transport system of Madrid has to offer; Nocturno Bus.
It is a super complicated mess of busses which only run on Friday and Saturday night to get the party people home. The charts condradict themselves, and are made to confound even the most sober person. As a personal test, Mariah and I got on the train from her house at 9:30 into the city, knowing fully well there was no way we were going to catch the last train home at 11:30.

Mariah found an ourtdoor churro cafe straight out of everyones' Spanish dreams. It was conveniantly hidden on a tiny, cobblestone, side-street, with soft glowing lights and a feeling that makes you want to start singing in Italian...except we're in Spain.

Since we had no pre-arranged plans, we decided to just walk around Madrid and enjoy the nightlife. We passed the giant Tio Pepe, and spent an hour or so sitting on the ground in Plaza Mayor listening to possibly hundreds of Spaniards singing one of the commonly known drinking songs. I think it may have been an engagement party, because one of the guys started stripping on the table, and from what I have heard, the engagement parties here go something like that.

We eventually planned to take the Nocturno bus from Montcloa (another part of the city, which is also botellon central) at 12:45 am.

Word of the Day:

Botellon [bow-tay-own] Noun/Verb- 1. A drinking party in the street or park. 2. The act of drinking in the street or park.

However, everything is in 24 hour time here, and we confused 0:45 for 1:45, and read the wrong chart for the wrong bus. After many more mistakes, we missed our correct bus. Lucky for us, there was another one...at 2:45. It was fine though, we walked around the city, watched someone drunkenly crash into a parked car, saw 2 guys dancing in the middle of the street, and listened to a couple girls throw up. I love Madrid!

We did eventually make it home around 4am, happy, and proud that we have found our way back all by ourselves. Oh, and did I mention that neither Mariah nor I had any money on our phones? So we had no way of contacting anyone if we actually did need help, and that did put a little bit of pressure on us to figure things out. We did though, and it was good.

Love,

Chloe