with all the scathing emails i've been getting from certain members of the family (cough Grandma cough) ;), here i am for probably the final installment. it's a shame that i only have about 20 entries for 5 months, but i have been writing in a journal the entire time i've been here and i'll have that. =)
i just don't know what to write about! i go to school. i talk in class (that includes getting yelled at, unfortunately). i do my homework. i eat. i laugh. i sleep. i do it all over again. sound boring? it's not. i really do love my life, and i think that the last thing i want is to think about going home all the time and then when i'm finally there, only remember wanting to go home. not a good plan at all. so with the lessons i wrote about in the last entry, i live it up here! we go out on the weekends, and meet at cafés during the week. i have intense political discussions with my european friends, and we get to share our experiences and points of view. i often stop in the hallways (to the confused looks of the spaniards) to just take a deep breath and kind of record what i'm feeling. i never want to forget this, because it's been fantastic. it's everything i've hoped for, and more.
so for all the Grandma Club (a.k.a. Society of "Where-Are-You?" Emails), i'm alive and well. i'm a bit busy doing the things that i would love to write about, if not busy living them.
til next time,
simon
Monday, January 14, 2008
Friday, December 14, 2007
not really sure if anyone reads this anymore,
considering that it's been an actual full moon since i wrote last. i intend to go to the computer center to write a blog entry all the time, but when i finally get there, it's either closed or i have like 2 seconds to check the vitals and get out of there.
but i suppose it's better to be living life and not have time to write it than the other way around, right?
to say that nothing's been happening would be a lie, of course. i've just finally settled in, and i'm really happy here. which is odd, considering that it all falls in to place about 2 months before it's time to go. i guess that's just how life works.
so right now, i'm trying really hard to squeeze every minute out of everyday. we just finished finals, and i passed all of my exams (except one that we haven't gotten the grade for, but that should turn out ok). and there are no more projects or anything til january! i can FINALLY rest from studying til like 12 at night (sorry, all you night owls out there, that's late for me).
i'm not even sure what to write about now. i've been to a million festivals, because that's just about all they do here. my spanish is so much better than i ever could have imagined- i understand 99.9% of what they say to me. every now and then something gets by, but it's normally regional slang or a badly conjugated verb (yes, even they don't use the verbs correctly. it's a shame, considering the amazingly beautiful system that they have.) i have some really good friends, and i don't feel awkward when i walk through the hallways anymore. i no longer view the large groups of people standing around as potential socially awkward situations, but rather an entirely new group of potentially fascinating people to meet. and after all that i've gone through here, i can't think of anything that i've missed- a new thought for me. when i first got here, i panicked all the time thinking about everything going on at home with my friends and what i would miss and the jokes that i would never get and all that. but i realized that there are a number of things more important, especially my personal development. i view two worlds: mine, and the one outside. while it is extremely important to react with and be an active, productive part of the outside world, the development of the inside is equally important. you've got to have peace on the inner ocean to stand the storms outside.
all this isn't to say that i'm now some sage whom the world doesn't affect. i still have moods, and i still get angry and upset. but i think that i'm slowly lowering the intensity of those moods, making myself a generally calmer person. i'm not going for perfection just yet, just improvement. and i think i'm getting it.
that's about it for now. i can't promise a date for another entry, but thanks for reading this one. til next time!
but i suppose it's better to be living life and not have time to write it than the other way around, right?
to say that nothing's been happening would be a lie, of course. i've just finally settled in, and i'm really happy here. which is odd, considering that it all falls in to place about 2 months before it's time to go. i guess that's just how life works.
so right now, i'm trying really hard to squeeze every minute out of everyday. we just finished finals, and i passed all of my exams (except one that we haven't gotten the grade for, but that should turn out ok). and there are no more projects or anything til january! i can FINALLY rest from studying til like 12 at night (sorry, all you night owls out there, that's late for me).
i'm not even sure what to write about now. i've been to a million festivals, because that's just about all they do here. my spanish is so much better than i ever could have imagined- i understand 99.9% of what they say to me. every now and then something gets by, but it's normally regional slang or a badly conjugated verb (yes, even they don't use the verbs correctly. it's a shame, considering the amazingly beautiful system that they have.) i have some really good friends, and i don't feel awkward when i walk through the hallways anymore. i no longer view the large groups of people standing around as potential socially awkward situations, but rather an entirely new group of potentially fascinating people to meet. and after all that i've gone through here, i can't think of anything that i've missed- a new thought for me. when i first got here, i panicked all the time thinking about everything going on at home with my friends and what i would miss and the jokes that i would never get and all that. but i realized that there are a number of things more important, especially my personal development. i view two worlds: mine, and the one outside. while it is extremely important to react with and be an active, productive part of the outside world, the development of the inside is equally important. you've got to have peace on the inner ocean to stand the storms outside.
all this isn't to say that i'm now some sage whom the world doesn't affect. i still have moods, and i still get angry and upset. but i think that i'm slowly lowering the intensity of those moods, making myself a generally calmer person. i'm not going for perfection just yet, just improvement. and i think i'm getting it.
that's about it for now. i can't promise a date for another entry, but thanks for reading this one. til next time!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
hello!
i only have the chance to get online about once every full moon... so ya. the posts are definitely suffering as a result.
the other day we went to eat at some friends' house. i had heard that spanish dinners last a while, but i really had NO idea. our meal lasted 8 hours... we had to have 5 courses to avoid starving to death. luckily, they gave me some champagne so i don't remember about half the meal... ;) that was just for the members of my family. they really didn't.
then after that i went out to some bars with friends of mine. so that was fun.
now i'm at the computer center. i had to skip the gym, german class, and volunteering just to be here- it's never open when i can come! so sacrifices had to be made =(
that's about all in my life. i love letters, so you all should write!
sgjerome@gmail.com
=)
until next time
the other day we went to eat at some friends' house. i had heard that spanish dinners last a while, but i really had NO idea. our meal lasted 8 hours... we had to have 5 courses to avoid starving to death. luckily, they gave me some champagne so i don't remember about half the meal... ;) that was just for the members of my family. they really didn't.
then after that i went out to some bars with friends of mine. so that was fun.
now i'm at the computer center. i had to skip the gym, german class, and volunteering just to be here- it's never open when i can come! so sacrifices had to be made =(
that's about all in my life. i love letters, so you all should write!
sgjerome@gmail.com
=)
until next time
Sunday, November 4, 2007
EXCELLENT.
is a word that describes yesterday. so after we went out to the monastery with some friends from the winery yesterday, we went to dinner together. while we were there, carmen (the american friend of cristina and me) told me that i should come and spend the night sometime because i had told her how much i missed chocolate chip cookies. we decided that i would spend the night there that night (last night). so after grabbing clothes from home, she picked me up and we came here. she has a 16 month old baby, so i helped bathe and dress her after we fed her dinner. then her husband juan said that he was going out with some friends here in town. then carmen took out of the cabinet a bag that was practically worth more than everything i own- a bag of debbie crocker oatmeal chocolate chip cookie mix. i made the batter and ate practically half the bowl =). while they were cooking, i threw on my pajamas and got the movie ready. she said that she had just bought the interpreter and had been wanting to watch it. for those of you who don't know, i aspire to be an interpreter at the UN and this is my FAVORITE movie of all time. so then the cookies came out and we had hot cookies with milk and my favorite movie. i was ridiculously happy. now i'm sitting here on the couch (next morning) and waiting for carmen to get up. i think i'm going to borrow the 10th season of Friends from her. =D
until next time!
until next time!
Saturday, November 3, 2007
sorry i haven't written in so long!
i have had SO many technical difficulties lately. because pedro (host father) bootlegs internet off of a neighbor, it's extremely unreliable. for this reason, we haven't had functioning internet forever. which really kinda sucks. and the other day, i was at the computer center (hardly ever open) and i was writing a blog. in tribute to murphy's law, the computer then decided it needed a virus scan. so there went my fledgling book of a blog entry. o well.
i've discovered that it isn't wise to attempt talking on a cell phone while trying to catch a bus. see below:
i went to meet Cristina (host mother) the other day at the mall after school to grab a bite to eat. we ate and then she told me that she had class at the university right next to the mall in 10 minutes. so i had to go and catch the bus. conveniently for me, the bus stop was about 400 kilometers (check out that european measurement) away. i had half an hour, so i figured i was alright. but then aunt bob called. apparently there is a scientific law (unbeknownst to me) that says that your feet will move more slowly when you're talking to someone. anyways, i finally had the inspiration to look at my watch. i had 10 minutes, and i was still about 5 blocks away. so i picked up the pace (still on the phone, keep in mind). a few minutes later, i checked the watch again. and it was time to go faster. i ended up running to this dumb bus stop and getting there 30 seconds before the bus was planned to arrive. i set my stuff down on the bench, and it started to rain. luckily for me, i was safe inside the bus shelter. so i kept talking to aunt bob. then i saw the bus coming. i told her i needed to go, and put the phone in my pocket while turning around to grab my things. as i'm turning around to go to the bus, i see it roll by. great. now it's raining buckets, and this is the only bus for about 3 hours. so i see the nearest stoplight turn red. what luck!, i think. i can catch it. i started to jog, and it turned green. so i started to run. just as i'm coming up on the back of the bus, i slip in the most random and invisible puddles of water. so i had to run even harder after i got up before the bus left town. ya, that sucked.
when i finally got on the bus, i asked the bus driver why he didn't stop. he said that if he doesn't recognize people at the bus stop, he doesn't stop. o. ok. glad we got that one straight ;D.
today was a fun day. first we went to the church of our lady of varvanera, a gorgeous little church in the mountains. THEY HAD THE COOLEST MACHINE EVER: it looked like a soda machine, but it sold candles. candles that you can buy to light for prayer requests. only in spain, i tell you. then we went to the birthplace of castellano (spanish), the monastery of yuso in the town of san millán. it was so cool. they had a set of 16 books that are 300 years old. i almost died of excitement. it turns out that there were some monks living in this monastery who used to copy latin texts. while one of them was copying, he was taking notes in the margins. turns out that this was the dumb monk of the monastery, and he didn't know latin that well. so he was writing notes in the vulgar tongue (ancient spanish) in the margins. so hispanohablantes worldwide, take note: the first written records of your language are from a monk who didn't study hard enough. =) after that, we went to lunch then to a winery that a friend of Cristina's owns. then we went home to get my pajamas- i'm now in a small town about 20 minutes from oyón with a friend of cristina's from the winery. she's an american who married a spaniard. so after she puts the baby to bed, her husband is going to go out with his friends (because he speaks no english) and we're going to watch a movie and english then make chocolate chip cookies. there really is a God. =D
so that's it for now. i'll try to write more often. thanks for reading!
i've discovered that it isn't wise to attempt talking on a cell phone while trying to catch a bus. see below:
i went to meet Cristina (host mother) the other day at the mall after school to grab a bite to eat. we ate and then she told me that she had class at the university right next to the mall in 10 minutes. so i had to go and catch the bus. conveniently for me, the bus stop was about 400 kilometers (check out that european measurement) away. i had half an hour, so i figured i was alright. but then aunt bob called. apparently there is a scientific law (unbeknownst to me) that says that your feet will move more slowly when you're talking to someone. anyways, i finally had the inspiration to look at my watch. i had 10 minutes, and i was still about 5 blocks away. so i picked up the pace (still on the phone, keep in mind). a few minutes later, i checked the watch again. and it was time to go faster. i ended up running to this dumb bus stop and getting there 30 seconds before the bus was planned to arrive. i set my stuff down on the bench, and it started to rain. luckily for me, i was safe inside the bus shelter. so i kept talking to aunt bob. then i saw the bus coming. i told her i needed to go, and put the phone in my pocket while turning around to grab my things. as i'm turning around to go to the bus, i see it roll by. great. now it's raining buckets, and this is the only bus for about 3 hours. so i see the nearest stoplight turn red. what luck!, i think. i can catch it. i started to jog, and it turned green. so i started to run. just as i'm coming up on the back of the bus, i slip in the most random and invisible puddles of water. so i had to run even harder after i got up before the bus left town. ya, that sucked.
when i finally got on the bus, i asked the bus driver why he didn't stop. he said that if he doesn't recognize people at the bus stop, he doesn't stop. o. ok. glad we got that one straight ;D.
today was a fun day. first we went to the church of our lady of varvanera, a gorgeous little church in the mountains. THEY HAD THE COOLEST MACHINE EVER: it looked like a soda machine, but it sold candles. candles that you can buy to light for prayer requests. only in spain, i tell you. then we went to the birthplace of castellano (spanish), the monastery of yuso in the town of san millán. it was so cool. they had a set of 16 books that are 300 years old. i almost died of excitement. it turns out that there were some monks living in this monastery who used to copy latin texts. while one of them was copying, he was taking notes in the margins. turns out that this was the dumb monk of the monastery, and he didn't know latin that well. so he was writing notes in the vulgar tongue (ancient spanish) in the margins. so hispanohablantes worldwide, take note: the first written records of your language are from a monk who didn't study hard enough. =) after that, we went to lunch then to a winery that a friend of Cristina's owns. then we went home to get my pajamas- i'm now in a small town about 20 minutes from oyón with a friend of cristina's from the winery. she's an american who married a spaniard. so after she puts the baby to bed, her husband is going to go out with his friends (because he speaks no english) and we're going to watch a movie and english then make chocolate chip cookies. there really is a God. =D
so that's it for now. i'll try to write more often. thanks for reading!
Sunday, October 14, 2007
not feeling very inspired...
because nothing's happening. just felt like posting something to let you all know i'm here =)
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
more life lessons...
a couple more life lessons...
- along the lines of sí, one must use 30 forms of goodbye in rapid sequence in order to part company. "adios" doesn't do it. "adios venga hasta luego cuidate mañana" does.
- if possible, never mention within a school that you are american. if you do, then they ask you the meaning of 500 curse words and tell you english ones that even you didn't know.
- george bush is best left out of conversations.
- when the romanian housekeeper offers a "suggestion" that you don't take, your sheets end up unclean for several weeks. as do your clothes.
- NEVER EVER think so hard in school about a spanish word that your mouth hangs open and you drool on your clothes. from experience, i can say that it's awkward.
- laugh at any spanish joke. even if you don't understand, laugh. otherwise it's evident to everyone that you have no sense of humor. note: before laughing, be sure that it is in fact a joke. people don't like it when you laugh after they've told you that their mother is in the hospital. once again, my experience should be your guide.
- stores are always closed when you finally find the time to go shopping.
- if you've run through the rain and slipped and dropped your books and you finally made it to the library soaked and in pain, it will be closed.
- heed the wisdom of small children. my younger brother marcos after hearing me cough: "simon, you must go to the doctor soon. otherwise you're going to die."
- google in spain is pronounced "GOOG-lay."
- always check whether the door says empujar (push) or tirar (pull). pushing on a door for 5 minutes when it says pull gets you some VERY strange looks.
- don't cough on the family bread. not cool. similarly, don't drop your retainer in the family soup.
keep these in mind!
=D
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