Chloe en España

France, again

Today we went to the Spanish/French Pyrenees (I don't know how to spell that, and the spell checker isn't working now, so forgive me) mountains; they were so gorgeous. We thought that we were going to go see the pilgrims who walk the Path of Saint James (Camino de Santiago) start on their adventure, but we were mistaken. Instead, we just went to one of the places where they start. Ana told us that the weather was much too bad for walking in, so we didn't see any. We went up a really windy, stretchy mountain road to get to the mountains, then back down to go over the French border, which is just a tiny wooden bridge. I got pretty car sick on the way there, but I never got to the point of throwing up, so that was a plus. We walked around a little French town for about 15 minutes, then went on our way back home. In the Chamber of Commerce in that town we met another American family from Chicago that was renting a house in the mountains for New Year's. That would be a fun way to spend the new year. But I guess spending it in Pamplona isn't too shabby, either. I realized today how amazing it is that I'm living in Spain right now, and we can just whiz on over to France for the day and come back like it was nothing. That's so strange.

Tomorrow is New Year's eve. I'm pretty excited to go out and everything. The plan so far is that me and Anna (other American), are meeting up with around 15 girls from my school all dressed up in costumes (me and Anna as cowgirls), and we're going to the old part of town to have fun. I'm a little concerned that I will be completely exhausted, because we're meeting everyone at 1:30 or 2:00 a.m. We'll see how everything goes. I hope it's fun. I'm sure it will be. If nothing else, how many times will I be in Spain for New Year's?

Happy New Year's to everyone who reads this!!

Christmas!!

It's Christmas and I'm in Spain. How crazy is that? Very crazy, if you ask me. This morning I woke up around 10 and went into Abby's room and woke her up. I could tell she wasn't ready to wake up, so I went and ate breakfast, and then at around 10:45 she woke up. We weren't quite sure how to do the present opening, because we weren't sure if we should do it in the living room, or in our bedrooms, or where. We figured, after not hearing even a "Feliz Navidad" from our host parents, that they wouldn't mind if we opened everything in my room. So we got all the presents together, turned on the Christmas music, and started unwrapping. It was so fun and I got a whole bunch of really cool stuff from my mom and grandma (thank you!). At 11:30 we left for Peralta again, and when we got there we went to mass. It was really pretty, and they sang a lot of songs, so it was fun. After mass we went out to a little bar with some friends that we had made earlier this year when we went to the Peralta festival. Then we went to the grandparent's apartment and ate. After we ate a lot, somebody walked in and sat down with us. He was the cousin of the grandma. He was, I think, the nicest man I have ever met. Like Abby said, just when he walked in his personality brightened up the room. Not only was he a really nice man, but he was a monk who lived in a monastery near Peralta. He was wearing the black robe and everything, it was so cool. He had been to America 7 or 8 times to preach to the Hispanics, so he knew about America and some English. We talked to him for about an hour and half, then we all left to go see the monastery. He toured us around it and jokingly invited us back to come eat lunch with them some day. Abby was so enamored with him that we took our picture with him inside. There was a library there that had 500,000 books. Everyone was all very proud about that fact. After that we went to Caparroso, where my host mom's family lives, and we sat and talked with them for a while, then we left for home. I got home, called my mom and friends, and then Abby and I watched Oliver, the DVD that her mom sent her. Now we're going to bed. It was a very nice Christmas, one that I will definitely never, ever forget.

Christmas Eve

Today is Christmas Eve! That means tomorrow is Christmas! Today the weather was so beautiful, the sky was clear, no clouds, and it was actually pretty warm. Abby and I went for a walk outside, just to get out of the house, and we ended up video taping our walk to school so people at home can see. It's really quite boring, but who knows who might be interested. It was so nice out, and we had half an hour before we had to be home to eat, so we went to the park and sat on a park bench and talked. It was so relaxing. Then we finally had to get up and go eat, so we did. At around 5:30, we left for Peralta, where our host grandparents live. We ate a lot of food, lot of turrónes, which are Spanish Christmas candy, and then at around 11:30 they handed out all the presents and then we played bingo. Abby and I both got pretty much the same things. From our host aunt we got Don Quixote, which, if you don't know, is a really famous Spanish book published in 1605. Next year will be the 400th anniversary of its publication, hence the reason she bought it for us. Then, from our host parents, we each got a scarf, gloves, earrings, and "to remember Pamplona forever" our host mom got us figurines of the Gigantes, which parade around during festivals. I really wasn't expecting to get anything from our host parents; presents aren't a very big deal over here. It was really nice of them to get us all that stuff. After the presents and everything, like I said, we played bingo. The prize was at first about 5 euros. Then they all got cheap and everyone put in a whole 10 cents, so that ended up being a total of €1.10. Me and the host cousin both won on that round, so we got to split it, making 55 cents. I'm super tired right now, so I'm going to go to bed and wait for Santa to come!

Ouch

I think that my Wisdom teeth are coming in. The whole side of my face hurts, and my mouth hurts, too. When I went to the dentist here, he said that they would be coming in soon.

B-day Party

Yesterday was Abby's birthday and the other three Americans living in Pamplona came over. It was really fun. We just ate, talked, and played card games. It was really nice just talking about our experiences here, and just having more than one person to talk to in English. I learned a lot about my next host family from Kat, who is living there now. She said that they have DSL internet (YES!), and they have a son who is 20 and lives at home. I think we're moving host families on the 7th, or somewhere around there. Anyways, we had fun and we really enjoyed ourselves. I think that we're going to join an advanced aerobics class in January. I really need to do something, I don't want to be fat when I get back.

Qué bien

It is so nice not having anything to do. I love this.

Letter home

I just got the e-mail of my grades that my school is sending to my parents. They said that all my teachers are happy with me, I'm showing good effort, blah blah. They said that I need to participate in class a little more, though, to "dominate the language." I would, if I could express myself, and if I didn't sound like such a retard when I spoke Spanish. I get embarrassed because my accent is so icky sounding to me, and I always get confused and end up saying things wrong. I guess if I participated more this wouldn't happen as much though. My accent isn't going to go away, and I'm going to make mistakes, so I guess I better get over it.

Vacaciones

Today's a good day. It's the last day of school for winter break, it's Abby's birthday, and also only 3 more days until Christmas! My mom's package finally arrived yesterday. She paid extra money to have it delivered in 3-5 days, and it came in 7, but I don't care because it's here before Christmas. Our host dad doesn't understand why it's so important that the presents come before Christmas, because we'll be here for 5 more months, and we'll have lots of time for presents. I'm sorry Sir, but Christmas is Christmas, and I'm not going to open my Christmas presents in March. He also doesn't see the need to buy presents, and thinks it's all superfluous. We're really different, me and him.

For Abby's birthday (19 years), the other American girls are coming over for dinner, and we might go rent a movie or go and see Ocean's 12. I really want to see it, but I think it may be pointless seeing it in Spanish, because I want to understand it.

On Monday my class and another class in my grade went to the Public University of Navarra gym all day to use their facilities. It was pretty fun, we played soccer, basketball, tennis, ping-pong, golf, and some other things that I can't remember. I scored around 7 goals in soccer, which is probably more than I have ever done in my whole life. It was 4 on 4, but still I was happy. I was a little sad the next day because I was so sore. I could barely change my shirt because my shoulders were so sore from tennis. It makes me sad how out of shape I am. We canceled our gym memberships for December because we didn't want to pay for another month. Maybe that was a bad idea.

I'm really tired right now and I don't know why. But, that's okay, because I have 18 days to sleep in!

Squid

My dad loves to go squid jigging at home. He would come home each night with buckets of them, then our freezer would be full of frozen googly eyes that stared at you whenever you opened it. I would never try them, ever, they just looked and smelled too disgusting. Well, I just ate squid chunks cooked in their black ink. Aren't you proud of me, Daddy?

A Francia

We just got back about an hour ago from Francia!! It was so cool! It was really similar to Spain, but everything was in French and the people were a little different. We looked at a cathedral, walked around town, and that was pretty much it. When we were walking around there was a little Christmas farmers-market type thing. We were just walking around, looking at the stuff, and Abby saw some really cool things that she really liked. She asked me if I would come with her while she attempted to ask them in the little French that she knows if they spoke English or Spanish. Luckily, the prices were set out, but then we realized that the plug-ins wouldn't work in America, so we were discussing that. Then all of a sudden the guy at the stand comes in and says, in perfect English "well, actually they will work because I bought them in Thailand and they have the same plug-ins as America." We were in shock for a few seconds, then I said "Oh! you speak English!" And he was like duh, just like everyone else here. Then we were talking to him, and he starting talking perfect Spanish to Ana, and he's also fluent in Thai. That man is my new role model.

After we ate and everything, we went to this tiny town on the coast, just to see the ocean. It was extremely windy, misty, and freezing cold. There was a dock type thing, but it was just part of the land, just extended out over the ocean. It was so gorgeous there and I filled up my memory card there. Anyways, the waves were crashing against the rocks really hard, and sometimes we would get splashed by some sea mist. Ana, our host mom, said "Come on! Lets go to the end of the dock!" So we did, but it was really hard because the wind was so strong that you could barely walk. It was kind of hard to see, too, because of the wind. All of a sudden Vicente started running and telling us to run, too. One second later a humongous wave came up and splashed us all, getting us soaking, dripping wet. We were all laughing really hard, even Ana, but it made for a miserable car ride home.

I also got a real French croissant, and it was the most delicious thing that I have ever eaten.

Now I have to go get ready for school tomorrow.