So I am finally able to blog again, getting internet is so difficult here because most people don't have wireless (pronounced wee-fee) in their homes. We're just so spoiled in the states, huh?
Thanks for the comments by the way - no I will not use dilly bar, haha. And no, I'll have to work on my name with a G maybe. I talked about it with my friends & they decided to start calling me Hill, haha. And I very very roughly translated Jack & Jill for my host mom and she thought it was just hilarious. I'm going to have my spanish teacher do it.
And Brenda - what are some of the questions? I'm glad I'm helping her, haha!
So, Thursday was the 2nd day of class. We have a solid 8 people so it's pretty fun. We all know each other or are getting to know each other and it's much better for learning. It's all review right now though so not too bad. After class Thursday Kelly & I sat in a cafeteria at school to use the internet. But I had so many people talking to me on either skype or facebook that I couldn't blog. But I did get to talk to my parents - we still need to work on the cameras though. But I came back to the apartment, ate dinner, did some homework and went to bed. I definitely have not gotten used to the Spanish way - staying up really late. And I guess Thursday night is popular for people around my age to go out. I was probably going to bed when alot of them were going out, ha. My friends in upper spanish don't have Friday classes so they were out late.
Friday we got to talk about food and family in class so I really enjoyed it. Also, Kelly and I walked to class which ended up taking like 45 minutes and we cannot do that every day! But it was a really nice day so we walked there & took the bus out. We also found information on renting bikes, finding a gym, the bus schedule and alot more. It was a pretty successful afternoon. Then we had class until 6ish and rode the bus home. We were exhausted so we just rested for awhile - we don't eat dinner until around 9 so we had time. Kelly, our other friend Maria that lives with Kelly, and I ended up going to our friends' apartment (Angela, Peter & Megan) for dinner. It was so cute. Angela (and Megan) is Italian so she can cook really well. So we had tortellini, salad & bread. It was sooo good. Instead of dressing we had like salt, vinegar & oil. But delicious! It was fun just to hang out. Then we went out. We went to the "popular" place for people our age so that was fun. We saw a couple people from our program and had a pretty fun night.
Today I got up around 10 - my host mom was shocked! She couldn't believe I wasn't sleeping later cause most of my friends probably are sleeping until 2, haha. But I met up with Kelly and Maria around noon to find bikes. Maria is from Norway but is also fluent in spanish and english so she basically did all the talking and just translated for us, haha. So we couldn't find a good deal on renting bikes so we're going to buy these ones from a secondhand store (segundo mano) called Bici Rent. The bikes will cost like $60, but the guy is fixing them up right now and we'll probably have them Tuesday. And if we ever have problems he'll help us so we figured that's a good deal so we can ride them to school and around every day. It's worth it.
Then I ate lunch with my host mom - I'm starting to understand more and more and she's trying to teach me. We pretty much just talk about school, my family and friends back home (I showed her all my pictures I have here), her family (I've met two of her daughters) and my friends here. Oh, and about how I can't understand her. It's pretty funny. She always asks if I know what she just told me - and I can finally understand that that's what she is always asking me, haha. But she was really happy that I wrote her a note to say I wasn't eating dinner at home and she said I wrote very well in Spanish - I don't think it was good but whatever. But then I met up with my group (the 6 of us) and we just wandered around. We walked around El Centro and around the three beaches (Zurriola in Gros where I live, La Playa de la Concha - the main beach & Ondarreta). It was a beautiful day - perfect for our walk! Then we sat and drank coffee in a little bakery. The weather has been wonderful but I guess it's supposed to rain for the next week or so. But then I just came home and read a little and now I'm at Maria & Kelly's apartment lying on the floor next to the window to get some internet - but it's still super slow. And we're about to eat dinner - they made something they got from the mercado.
The big thing that is happening here is the Festival for San Sebastian (the patron saint or whatever). And so starting Monday at midnight, I think, they start playing drums and play them for 24 hours til midnight Tuesday. People are everywhere in the streets and all over til all hours of the night - no one sleeps Monday night & there are no classes or anything on Tuesday - everything is closed. It's going to be crazy but it's a huge deal so I'm excited to get to see it. If you want to know more it's called La Tamborrada. And I'm going to meet up with the guy from here that studied in Tulsa last semester so that's exciting!
Hope all is well back home - everyone should come visit here because I'm having much better weather. I'm going to try and upload pictures or e-mail pictures when I have better internet - so probably tomorrow or Monday.
Miss you all!
You can e-mail me anytime - I'd love to hear what's going on!
Love, Jill
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Sounds like you are doing great. Your host mom sounds fun. I'm jealous for the weather, although it was sunny and a little warmer here today. Jayhawk men won vs. Colorado. Women were at home tonight and were terrible vs. Texas Tech. Lost by 8, but were behind 15 most of the game. Saw Ottawa boys last night - lost. Girls won vs. Gardner-Edgerton. Keep studying and having fun. Look forward to your next installment. Mom has Skype on her computer, so you can chat. I'll work on a microphone.
ReplyDeleteAre you going to go to church - that would be interesting. Mostly catholic, I would imagine.
Enjoy your Sunday. Love Dad
Ok...I will come over and teach them how to say "j"....or not I wish. Just pick a name you always wanted to have...when I was in high school I picked Kristina cause I always wanted the name Chris. I told Braden and Reilly to look at your blog but hopefully they are talking to you through facebook. Reilly is in the middle of changing room mates so somewhat stressed. Braden is very loudly pounding on his drums on a daily basis so thought he should come over and play with the festival He has had band practice here for the past 2 days also....oh my...I am losing my hearing. Anyhow, wish you could help him with Spanish. He has a another semester to go. I think it would be fantastic to be fluent. You know the saying..."what do you call someone who speaks 3 languages....trilingual....what do you call someone who speaks 2 languages....bilingual...what do you call someone who speaks 1 language....American. Is great that you are breaking the mold. Have a fantastic time. We are considering a trip to Spain with friends but not until June. Don't know if it will work out or not. You are only about 6 hours (from what I can tell) from our nephew who has been living in France for several years in Aix en Provence Would be really cool (but doubtful) if you could get together. He speaks fluent french, and is quite the entrepeneur, besides being a phenomenal piano and soccer player and very handsome. He went to school where Reilly is. Oh well...enough Talk to you later Becky
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are really getting to know the place. The conversation must be fun. The bicycling should be a really nice way to get around -- good you are getting so well, getting acquainted and finding out how to do things. We are having rather cool for Florida weather though sunny but we are going to walk the beach in a few minutes. Went to see the movie Gran Torino last night which was pretty good.
ReplyDeleteI worked in the nursery at church this morning for the first time and the two little sisters, age 2 and 5, were a new experience for me. Neither are able to walk yet, though the 2 year old did pull herself up to the chair by the end of the hour. They can each say single words. They would play with dolls and everything and the older one put her doll in the stroller and tried to push it while she sat or crawled. I wonder what their situation is.