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 8/9th 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.
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