Books and Bags

I believe I may just have a serious problem on my hands.

Have you ever experienced what happens after you spend a significant amount of time living in one place? At some point in your life, have you ever stepped back and realized that, even though you never planned or wanted to, you have managed to accumulate an unsightly level of random items in the form of memorabilia, souvenirs, clothing, shoes, or (in my case)...books.

I know some of you know what I'm talking about.

It's not that I find shelves overflowing with books as unsightly. Just the opposite. Put me in Barnes & Noble and my face lights up like a five year old at Christmas as I go from shelf to shelf picking up titles that catch my eye and flipping through the pages to experience a wonderful burst of that "new paper smell". Unfortunately, this love is the source of my problem.

As much as I don't want to admit it, I only have two months left of exchange, and that breaks my heart. Of course, the end of exchange means that I have to eventually try and cram all of my worldly possessions back into suitcases in order to be allowed to bring them with me on an airplane. This has become an evident issue because, though I did collect many souvenirs and memorabilia throughout my year, I have also collected several (you guessed it) books!

Some of these books I wanted in order to read (El Hobbit, Divergente), but others just seemed to appear. I got story books as gifts from my host families, travel and tourism books from my Rotary Club, and even some complimentary books in a gift bag from an art museum my class went to in Madrid.

Why don't I just leave some books behind, you ask?

I. physically. can't!

I can't bare the thought of leaving a single one of these books behind, even the random museum ones that I will probably never read. It actually pains me thinking that I might have to leave some of them behind just so that I can fit my sneakers and black heels into my suitcase with all my other souvenirs.

Fortunately, I believe I have come up with the perfect solution. Leave behind half of my wardrobe! Good bye winter jacket that is too short in the sleeves and no longer warm. So long jeans that are now way too tight with the addition of my exchange weight. Adios sweater with the tear in it and the sneakers that no longer have any tread.

......As you can see, I have my priorities straight.

In other news, we had last Thursday and Friday off because of Workers Day. Technically, Workers Day was Thursday, but we still didn't have school on Friday. Because of this, we went to Jaca to see a festival they were holding that celebrates when the Muslims were pushed out of the town during the Crusades.

I climbed a small cathedral wall to get these photos. I hope you enjoy them!

Here you can see the horses and the lovely Medieval outfits some people were wearing. 

And here we can see poles adorned with fake heads of "Muslims". 

Of course, there were drummers. 

I did ask about the significance of the flower hats shown above, but I never got an explanation. 

That was an interesting experience. Of course, going to this meant that I was thinking about Medieval Era and fantasy stories involving dragons all weekend, so when we went to see one of the most well-preserved castles in Spain, all I could think was "where are the dragons" and "Knights of Camelot!" Sorry, I didn't take any pictures of the castle.

This Friday, I have to leave school two classes early in order to go to a Rotary Conference in Victoria. 20 of us exchange students from my district are coming (one of them being me). I'll make sure to bring my camera this time!

Pictures and Processions

 On Sunday we went to Zaragoza, but Santi and I went a little further, Teruel to be specific. There were motorcycle races at the track there, and I figured, why not?

 It was actually pretty cool, and a little different from watching race cars.

Yesterday, Grace's and my host families took us to Jaca to see the procesion there. That was an amazing cultural experience. Though I found the masks to be a bit intimidating, it was nothing compared to the noise. The sounds of the drums were deafening!

 If you look carefully, you can see all of the people playing drums. Even those kids are part of the procession; playing drums, too.

 I cannot tell you how amazing these floats are, and they are all carried by people. The ones in Jaca are small compared to the ones in larger cities, and each one of these "small" floats takes 24 people to lift!

 The previous float was of Jesus carrying his cross. This one is of the Virgin Mary.

Just to demonstrate how heavy these floats actually are, here's a little video...

Another great thing about this time of year is the candy shops! This carousel is absolutely amazing, and entirely chocolate!!!

I even got to try one of the chocolate eggs! Totally worth the exchange weight.

Easter Updates

Dear Readers,

Yes, I haven't made a post in a while, I am well aware. Truthfully, I cannot blame my laziness on any particular thing, but on many little (or big) things that have kept distracting me from writing. For the moment, let's just call this conglomeration of things "Life".

Fortunately, now that it's Semana Santa and I am officially on vacation until the 23rd, I figured there was no better time to catch you all back up.

First of all, I have gotten extremely lazy when it comes to taking pictures, so I'm working on fixing that habit. Sorry guys, distance has made me forget how much you all love seeing pictures about my life, even the things that have become every day for me.

I will have many opportunities to take some hopefully amazing pictures this weekend. Santi is taking me to see a motor bike race in Zaragoza on Sunday. Also, one of the biggest of the processiones is in Zaragoza, so I'm hoping to get to see that, too. The processions are those things like parades, but with large floats telling the story of the Crucifixion. Some of you know what I'm talking about, but I'll just have to post some pictures for the rest of you.

I'm not sure if we have any other plans for vacation. More news to come as the story develops.

Yesterday was fun because everyone at school was in a fantastic mood since it was the last day of class before break. Santi also took us to see an ice hockey game. The second division final match between Spain and New Zealand. Originally, Santi had bought tickets for himself and the three of us exchange students, but Alex had other plans. Her actual mom came to see for break, so by the time I had woken up yesterday, Alex was already on a bus to Barcelona. If I'm not mistaken, they are currently in Mallorca. Anyways, since Alex was busy, I invited Maria. Remember Maria? She's my neighbor who is in theater group with me. We all went to see Paranormal Activity way back when. I invited her, which was cool because she had never been to see an ice hockey game before. It was even better that Spain crushed New Zealand 6-2! "Campeones!!!" ...(champions)....

Not to be a downer, but there are some rather big things that I have to announce about my future. As some of you may remember, I had planned to double major in Music Theater and Spanish in college. In order to study Music Theater I had to audition to get into the music program. Well...I wasn't accepted. I suppose that's the root of my late depression. I don't mean it like how you think. I've accepted the fact that I didn't get in, but the hardest part is trying to rebuild my future plans. It wasn't until I found out this news that I realized that all of my future career plans had been counting on me getting into this program. To top it off, it also hit me the other day that after Semana Santa I have a month more of school (I get out early because of the University placement exams). After that I have Eurotour, and then about a week to pack before I leave. Honestly, I really don't want to leave.

To sum it all up, I don't want to leave Spain, and I am now only majoring in Spainsh, and I'm still figuring out what I want to do with that. I've ruled out being a teacher, for the most part. Not that I don't think teaching is a great career, it's that I've tried it. I taught Sunday School at my church for three years, and an hour and a half once a week was often too much for me. Babysitting is different from teaching. That's a whole other breed of child care. Still, if I can barely stand reading aloud a bible lesson and trying to stop six screaming kids from throwing crayons for an hour, I have no idea how kindergarten teachers can do that for seven hours five days a week with even more kids. As much as I don't want to be just like my mom, I don't think she realizes how much I actually admire her, especially for her patience. I honestly don't know how she does it.

Speaking of my mom, we had the most wonderful conversation the other day. For the first time since we found out the news about the music program, we talked about everything but my majors. After we were done talking, my mom passed me on to Ana, the exchange student living in my place. Ana's wonderful, and we have a special understanding of each other. I think it has to do with the fact that we are both exchange students. All of the things that my mom doesn't understand (like how much money we spend on food) are never lost on Ana. It's the sort of relationship that's like, "You're an exchange student. I'm an exchange student. I get you!" Other than that, Ana is naturally nice and funny and understanding.

Back on topic, my mom handed me over to Ana and made us have a conversation in Spanish. She's tried to get me to speak Spanish to her, but I find that difficult because my mom speaks absolutely no Spanish. Even if I start speaking, the conversation never lasts long because she can't understand a word of what I'm saying, let alone reply. I guess that's the point of her getting Ana to speak to me in Spanish; to actually hear me speak it, even thought my mom doesn't understand a word. Anyways, Ana and I talked about school, food, friends, and the fact that neither one of us want to go back to our own countries. I'd be really cool with her living in my room for another year if I could figure out a way to stay here.

After our talk, my non-Spanish speaking sisters stepped in. We mostly talked about television shows. They are both really into Supernatural, which I am in the slow process of actually watching. I've only seen a few episodes, and I genuinely like it, a lot, but I have nine seasons to catch up on, and no netflix to help me.

I should also mention my cousin, Xia. She, like many people, lives just down the street from me. She likes to come over a lot and play. I love having an overly energetic, cartoon addict, 10 year old to do crazy things with, like talk in weird voices, or dance around the kitchen. She's a lot of fun, but it's a good thing I have a lot of energy, too. I received a package in the mail recently from my parents full of my favorite Easter candies! I'm definitely planning on sharing some with her, just not too much.

On a slightly duller note, the weather has been absolutely perfect and Spring-like for the past week. I hope it stays that way for break. I need to invest in some sunscreen soon, or the skin might slowly burn off my face. I love the sun...but my skin doesn't!

200 Trees

I played iPod roulette today on the bus ride back from Zaragoza. "iPod roulette" is a game that I made up where you put all of the songs on your iPod on shuffle and see what you get. It's interesting for me because I haven't gotten rid of any of the songs I put on my iPod, ever. I still have CD's that I downloaded in 6th grade that I don't even like anymore. Occasionally I run into a song that I forgot I had downloaded and I end up really liking it.

Anyways, the reason why I was in Zaragoza this weekend was because Rotary Zaragoza invited us to another event. This week we planted 200 trees on a nature reserve. Our planting crew consisted of Alex, Grace, Jen, Cheyenne, Sergio (who is Cheyenne's host brother), Cheyenne's host parents, Alex's host parents, and three Rotarians. I teamed up with Sergio to tackle a designated tree-planting row. I actually ended up doing more of the physical labor because, no offense to Sergio, but he's twelve years old and not exactly muscular. Since I have had past experience with wielding large gardening tools, I found digging holes in the ground easier than Sergio found it, since he has never planted a vegetable garden. Honestly, at the end of the day, despite having a splinter in my palm that refused to come out, I was quite content to plant things and get my hands dirty. Besides, Sergio was an entertaining partner as he kept defending his inability to dig a hole in the ground because it was "village work", dancing like a chicken, and naming the trees that we planted. Sergio knows a lot of random words in English so a few of the names that he chose were Steve, Dick, and Condom.\

After laboring in the gorgeous spring-like weather that had persisted for the entirety of this week, we all ate at a nice restaurant and headed back to Zaragoza. Originally, us Sabi exchange students were supposed to split up and sleep at separate Rotarian's houses. However, after a bit of convincing by Cheyenne's host mom, we were given permission to all stay at her house. This plan worked out better for us because it gave us a chance to hang out around the city that night.

Since my host parents were in Zaragoza this weekend with Carmen's parents again, I had to spend Friday night away from home as well. We had a sleepover at Alex's place.

I have also had a head cold since Thursday, and I had a test in Philosophy on Friday. I am not looking forward to getting that test back.

Also, on Friday I had the pleasure of meeting Grace's actual parents. They had been in Monaco for a week for business purposes, but came to Sabi on Friday to check out the town. We all had lunch at what is now Grace's house, which was a very traditional Spanish meal (gazpacho, paella, etc.). Honestly, the whole thing was a bit bizarre because us exchange students had to keep translating for our parents and host parents. The thing is, we could understand what everyone was saying, but we kept forgetting that not everyone else could.

Jumping to this afternoon, Disney's Frozen was finally playing at the movie theater here, so Grace and I, because we absolutely adore Frozen, went to see it. I was so glad to finally see the movie in Spanish since I had only ever watched it in English. Now I am in the process of memorizing "Let it Go" in my second language.

Now that I'm finally back home, I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. Unfortunately, tomorrow is Monday, which means that I have to wake up early and face that Philosophy grade.

Semana Blanca

You, my lovely, observant readers may have realized that I did not post anything for last week. Truthfully, it wasn't that I didn't have the time, it was just that I was too lazy to write last week. I hope this post makes up for that.

Starting with last week, Alex's counselor from Rotary was visiting the city of Pamplona for her vacation. She kindly invited us to come visit her so she could show us around the city. On Wednesday, us exchange students hopped on a bus and did just that. We spent the entirety of Wednesday walking around Pamplona, slept in the apartment Alex's counselor was staying in, and explored a bit more Thursday morning before getting back on the bus after lunch.

This picture below is the gateway of the original Roman walls into Pamplona. Cool!

This was probably the coolest bridge ever, as lame as that sounds. You can see how it zig-zags in the background.

Wednesday night we had some time to hit the shopping center in Pamplona. Normally, I get sick of shopping faster than most, but once I discovered that the shopping center had a pet shop, I didn't want to leave. I didn't realize how much I missed visiting pet stores until we walked past the window display where little fish were swimming in a tank. My reaction was basically, "OMG! FISHIES!" and the next thing I remember is having my nose pressed up against the glass like a five-year-old while everyone else snickered at me. Anyways, the pet shop was really cool. They had a bunch of baby hamsters and several colorful birds for sale. There was also an amazing bearded dragon which I was very tempted to hold, but I restrained myself. I suppose I'm not usually this crazy in pet shops, but in my defense, I haven't been to one all year.

Another highlight of going shopping was that I finally found a pair of (drum-roll, please) pink sunglasses! That's right, I finally have a replacement for my favorite pink sunglasses that broke ages ago during orientation!

That same weekend, Rotary invited us to go to a nature reserve and see some lovely cranes during migration season. A lot of the birds from northern Europe migrate to the Iberian Peninsula for winter, and this lake is one of the few nature reserves in existence for these migrating flocks.

Unfortunately, we couldn't get very close to the birds, so I could only take pictures of the beautiful views.

There were also some neat castle ruins that we got to play on.

This week is "Semana Blanca" which means "White Week". Basically, because we live so close to the ski resorts in the mountains, our school takes off for a week and travels to the resorts for a ski trip. You are not obliged to go, and I didn't sign up for the trip, so I stayed home while Alex, Grace, and our Spanish friend, Maria, went north to learn how to snowboard. I suppose it was better for me, anyways, because I don't actually know how to ski, and I think my balance problems would make for a painful downhill experience. Because of this, I spent a majority of this week singing show-tunes and painting a large barrel that Santiago had in the garage. He asked me if I wanted to paint it, and I decided that I had enough free time this week to give it a shot. This (as of Friday morning) is what I have so far.

I tried to paint symbols or things that symbolized this year as well as my personality. For anyone who can't read the quote, it says "Some people live more in 20 years than others do in 80. It's not the time that matters, it's the person". It may just be my most favorite quote ever. As of right now, I still have a ways to go, but a majority of it is painted.

As much as I would love to have the barrel almost entirely painted by the end of this weekend, I cannot. We are heading to Zaragoza tonight because Carmen's (my host mom) dad had a heart attack. Carmen has been in Zaragoza all week, and Santi and I are driving down to see everyone today. He seems to be doing better, though, because he is back at home now. Unfortunately, from how Santi put it, my host grandparents don't have wifi, so I have decided to post this before we leave, just in case I don't have the time in Zaragoza.

Have a wonderful weekend!