Diciembre

 

This will be my last post for the year 2012. December has flown by. Some of the highlights of the month were…

I had a class Christmas party. Just about everyone from my class (about 30), we had a reservation for an Italian restaurant. Two other friends and I ordered 4 deserts and split them. It was interesting to eat Italian food after months of Spanish comida (food). After two hours of eating and talking we paid, left and took a long walk down to the docks. There is a place that every teenager goes to in Vigo; Náutico. I had an amazing night with all my new friends.

After I was introduced to Náutico I have gone every Friday since. I go with another American friend and we present our friends from our classes to each other.

I got my grades and I passed 4 classes with flying colors, failed 3 really hard classes, and the other 4 teachers didn’t put any grade. For this being the first time me knowing what my grades are I am encouraged to step up my game next year.

Other events not involving the holidays, I have been to Portugal and visited an old library that part of the Harry Potter movies were filmed at. Unfortunately I was not allowed to take pictures so I have no proof that I was there. You will just have to take my word on it.

The weather was terrible coming into December but further in the month it started to warm up just enough to be able to walk the beach in a sweatshirt.

I am now getting ready for what would be equivalent to my prom.  It is a black tie party and I have many friends going. It is the perfect ending to an awesome year.

Noviembre

School has been getting a little easier but the exams that the professors give are killers. I still need more Spanish friends because I have been hanging around the ASF kid’s way to much; every weekend. I have been talking too much English with them. I need to practice my Spanish with those new friends that I need.                                                                                                                                                                                     We had a long weekend for Day of the Dead, a five day weekend. With Yingqi we switched houses to sleep in all five days. A lot of English.                                                                                                                                                              There is a boy in my school, probably in 3` ESO which is like 8/9^th grade. Whenever he sees me he screams out “American!!” Then he and his friend just join themselves into my friends and my  conversation. The other day he tore out a page from my note book and drew the American flag on it. To occupy him I asked him to draw all fifty stars and thirteen stripes. It took him about 30 seconds. Then he asked what my name was so he would not have to keep calling me ‘American’ and I told him it was Rebecca. I also told him I was leaving to go back to America on Friday. That was three days ago and so far I haven’t run into him at school yet. I run into all these strange people who want to just say hi then run away and giggle with their friends.

7/11/2012

In History class today my teacher was doing her normal things preaching to the class in Gallego so I understand nothing. As she was scanning the class to make sure we were all paying attention her eyes stayed on me. When I came back into reality she told me “Happy Birthday”. In confusion I just stared at her as did the rest of class. When she realized she had not said the right thing she asked “Como se dice felicidades?” In unison the class responded “congratulations”. She then turned to me and said “Congratulations on Obama winning” my reply was “Oh thank you”. Then to further the conversation in English she asked “Are you beautiful?” Me –“What?” teacher – “Como se dice contenta?” Class – “happy” teacher – “ Are you happy with this choice?”. Then she didn’t even give me a chance to say anything because she went on about how Spain is all for Obama.                                                                                                                                                               Then we have a class pet in History as well. It is a bug that has antennas on its head and butt. With its 40 or so legs it crawls around the classroom chasing my teacher. Then it will go hide in a hole only to pop out and scare the class a little more. Today was interesting.

 

8/11/12

This weekend we went to a Squash tournament in La Coruña. The whole family got up later than expected and we racing to get everything things ready.  The drive was long but worth it. We saw Mateo in his first competition and unfortunately he lost and was done playing. After waiting around for a while we went out for lunch and then traveled to Torre de Hercules. It is a grand tower that supposedly had one of the monsters that Hercules defeated underneath it. Later Carmen dropped my older sister Ale and me off at one of the biggest malls in Galicia. It was nice to spend time with someone closer to my age.                                                                                                                                                                                                That night we spent at a friend’s house and they have a daughter who is 13 years old. We passed the time listening to One Direction and talking. The next day she took me to the coast and it started to hail. We found shelter in an old castle where we took a tour and took pictures with old cannons.

 

15/11/12

On Wednesday there was another strike but this one became more violent than the others. Just about every bank in the city had broken windows and doors. There is trash everywhere and graffiti on every street corner. Posters and signs litter the sidewalks. Cars set on fire. I didn’t know that these peaceful protesters could become so destructive.                                                                           This weekend I spent mostly at home because Carmen was out of town and the children were at their father’s house. I spent Sunday with my tutor to celebrate a little thanksgiving feast with her family. She has two sons that are to die for. They are so polite and they wanted me to play with each of their toys and read to them every book they owned. I hope to spend more time with them soon.

 

22/11/12

On Friday I went with Yingqi to an underwater documentary. It was kind of interesting but the words were in Gallego so I didn’t understand anything. Also the theater was full of little kids and they would not be quiet. Later out with some other American friends from school and we got a bite to eat. Then Yingqi spent the night and the next morning we (with Carmen) went to the gym and I rode the bicycle for like an hour and a half then following that we started an intensive Zumba class. I had trouble walking for the next few days. After we had lunch and took a much needed nap we went to my host cousins squash tournament. It was fun and one of my cousins even won every games! Sunday was calmer and we went out of town to eat lunch with friends. For the main course -the best way someone could explain to me what we were eating- was “worm babies from the sea”. I was told they were expensive but they just got the cheap kind. It was loaded with garlic so it didn’t taste bad at all.