Saturday Night Soccer Game

My host dad and some of his friends share season passes to the Real Madrid soccer games and they pass them around. So this weekend, it was his turn to get the three tickets. But, he had his 24 hour shift this Saturday, so he could go. My youngest host sister didn't want to go, the older one had to work, so he offered them to me! We weren't sure who else was going to go, but it ended up being my host cousins, Borja and Nacho.

The game started at 8pm, and we got there at 7:50 or so. Our seats were right over the middle of the field and pretty high up. But that was nice because there was heating coming down from the top, so it wasn't cold at all. Not much to tell, but it was a good time and it was nice to do something. I got back in about 10:30 or so.

Here's a video from the game. I couldn't get the others to load.

Wednesday Meeting

So a couple days ago, I went back to Majadahonda to meet with the exchangers. We had made a plan to meet at the same cafe, then walk to one girl's tutor's house. Then she was going to show us around the town, then go to her host parents' house to eat dinner. Well, I decided to skip eating dinner, because they were planning to eat dinner and like, 9:30, and it takes an hour to get back to my house, and I had and early school day the next morning.

Anyway, after school I had time to come back home, get a bite to eat, drop off my stuff and change my clothes. Then back in the Metro. And that's when I realized..... I had forgotten my iPod! But I got over it. So I got there and found Shayna and she said that Kayle couldn't come because she had to go to some dinner with a Rotary person or something. But we found the bus and got on, and we were only a couple minutes late.

So we were sitting in the back of the bus, talking English, of course, and after about 10 minutes, this guy turns around and he's like, "Excuse me, where are you guys from?" (In english) So long story short, we told him about our exchange and living in Madrid and he told us that he had moved to Spain a few years ago. He was born in South Africa, but lived in Australia most of his life. It was just kinda cool to be able to talk to someone that wasn't from Spain, but lived here and spoke english, you know.

Well, we had assumed that we would remember where we were supposed to get off, but then the bus kept going and nothing looked right, so the guy asked us what street we wanted and he said that we had missed it, but it would be back in that street in a couple minutes.

So we got off and walked to the cafe and the girl (Danielle) was the only one there. And we were only about 15 min late. So we sat down and I ate some churro-like things with chocolate, they were really good. Then as we were getting ready to leave, another boy (Evan) came. He told us that one of the boys wasn't going to come because he was in the Canaries this week, and another boy said he had a take a test and would come a little later. So we decided that since it was 3 girls and 1 boy, we would go shopping after going to the tutor's house! :] So we walked (probably about 1.5 miles) to her house and she had plates and cups set up. So we had to sit and eat, which would have been fine, but I had eaten those churro things and was already full. So we had little finger sandwiches, then she brought out a pastry like thing and hot chocolate, and then flan. And of course, she had prepared it all with the intention of feeding 7 people, and since there were only 4 of us, she kept trying to get us to eat more so there's weren't left overs. I was really sick by the time we finished. But I had a really nice time.

So we left, then walked to the shopping center in Majadahonda. And we had to speed walk the whole way so that we would have time to get there, do some shopping, then get me back when I was supposed to. I would guess that from the tutor's house to the mall is about 3 miles almost all along the highway (but there was a nice sidewalk). My feet were killing me! But it was fun when we finally got there. I don't think Evan had a very fun time shopping, but it was still fun to be able to do something all together.

So I finally got to the bus station at 9 or so and made it home by 10:15. I could barely walk because my feet hurt so bad. And I still have 2 huge water blisters on the back of my heels. But, my outfit was really cute and I'm glad I wore the shoes I wore! (the pictures above)

Exchangers Gathering

So last week (1/21/09) all the exchange students in the Madrid area skipped school and went to Majadohonda to meet the mayor. I met in a Metro station with Shayna and Kayle and we took the bus together. We had to walk a little to get to the cafe we were all meeting in. It hasn't been very cold these last couple weeks, but it's been really, really windy. And the wind has been ice cold.

So we all met, then walked a little more to get to city hall. There were 7 of us, I think, and 3 or 4 Rotary people. We only talked with the mayor for about 5 - 10 minutes, and he was really cheesy. I didn't like him, but whatever. So after, the Rotary people just left, and us kids decided to go back to the cafe and have something to eat. Then after we took the bus back Madrid and went to one of the American Stores. I was really small and didn't have that good of a stock, but some kids got something. After that, it was only like, 1:30 and none of us wanted to go back home, but we could decide where we wanted to go. We ended up just walking, and walking, and walking. We made it to a really pretty park where there's an Egyptian monument, but it was closed. And after we walked to the Metro station and all went our separate ways.

It was a really nice excursion and it was fun to be able to skip school for the day. I didn't get any pictures, but we made a plan to go back to Majadahonda the next Wednesday after school.

The Snow Post

So, a week or so ago (January 9th) I woke up and got ready for school. I decided to wear just a long sleeved shirt (really cute) but not a jacket or scarf or anything because it's always so hot in the classroom I never need one. And it's a hassle to carry it around it the Metro. So I walked outside and it didn't seem anymore cold than normal, but the ground was kinda wet and frosty. At that point I was wonder if I should go back and grab and sweatshirt or something, but I decided not to because I was late.

When I arrived and was walking up the the street, I saw a bunch of kids in the entrance to the Metro, which isn't a good sign because they only do that when it rains (instead of standing outside). So I figured I would just walk really fast into the building. But then when I got outside, it was snowing! I was very magical.

So, I got in the class, and I'm really lucky because my seat is right next to the window so all day I was able to look out the window. It was actually very distracting for everyone. And in every class someone asked the teacher if we could go outside for a little bit, but they always said no. So, all day it kept snowing, and big fat flakes too. By about 10 everything was covered in white.

During break, me and a couple girls went outside for a bit just to enjoy the snow. I was really cold then, but it was worth it!

So that's pretty much my story. I guess it's really uncommon for it to snow that much for that long. But then, the next Monday, it started snowing again. Probably for about an hour, so it didn't stick or anything, but the flakes were fatties. And that time the teacher let us take 5 or 10 minutes to just look out the window and talk about the snow.

So here are some pictures I took when I got home from school.

Finally, the real Christmas post.

This is their family (kinda). Just thought it might make it easier for you. My host parents are Luis and Maribel, btw.

From the back: Luis Jr., Me, Marta, Marina, and Ale.
This picture wasn't so much for looking at the people, but to show the setting. This is where we sat with everyone before dinner, and after when we were opening presents.
From top left: Marta, Maribel, Luis, Alejandra, Me, Luis

Just to show you my dress! I borrowed it from my host sister Marta, it was really cute. And I wore black leggings and my silver shoes.
This is the kitchen. This is where we sat before everyone came over. It's really big and pretty nice. I hated the chair though, really uncomfortable.

Bad quality, but there's me, Marta, the aunt Marta, Marina (who is not pregnant, it's just the way her vest was moving), and Ale

This was a couple days before Christmas at my house. From top left: Willi, Marta, Ale, Marina, and Me.
This was a lunch we had at the grandma's house. From the front left going clock-wise: Jorje, Isabel, Borja, Marta, Me, Cristina, Marina, Ale, and Willi.
Same lunch, in the kitchen, with the grandma
Before christmas, my host mom had all of her friends over to stuff the turkey. The kitchen was really messy. That's me and Javier.
A while ago, some friends from Theota came to visit, and this is a picture from a breakfast we had.

So, in summary, for Christmas eve, we had dinner at my host aunt's house with all of the family ( I think there was like, 20 of us) and opened presents. We got home at around 2:30.

Then the next morning we went over to her house again, but this time it was just the grandma, me, both luis's, marta, ale, and host mom. We had lunch and opened presents for each other.

Then for New Year's we went to another uncle's house and had a really informal dinner (although we were all really dressed up) and watched the 'ball' drop on tv. The big thing in Spain is to watch what's going on in Sol, they have a big clock tower and it has a puny non-lighted ball that drops on midnight. And then for every chime of the clock, you have to eat one grape. It's actually harder than it sounds because the chimes go so fast. Then Cristina (the cousin that's in Canada this year but just came to visit for the holidays) and I went to a discotheque. It was very fun. Unfortunatly I don't have any pictures because I didn't want to risk getting my camera stolen.

Then they have another holiday Jan 6 called Rayos Magos (magic kings). We didn't do anything really special. There's a special pastrey called Roscon. That was good. And the grandma came over for lunch.

From a couple weeks ago

No, that's not a finger in the way.... It's the heavy fog we had a couple weeks ago! I just thought it was really impressive. I woke up, and I was confused, because I thought it was pretty late and the light wasn't coming in like normal, so I opened the window, and it was just really really foggy!

More fog, I could hardly see the ground from the apartment.

This is a fountain in the back gardens of the Royal Palace. These next few pictures are from the tour I took in Madrid a couple weeks ago with Susanna. It was really cold and wet and rainy.
This was our tour guide.
This is the street where the Royal Opera is and it's right across the street from the Palace.
Palace, back side.
I'm not sure what this is, I think it's a church.
The El Corte Ingles promotional stuff for toys during Christmas. Down below they had clowns doing balloon animals and 'mickey' and 'minny' mouse posing with kids. Their costumes weren't very good.

Last Day of School!

Yesterday was my last day of school and now I'm on break until January 7th. It was really boring and I'm glad I don't have to go back for 22 days. And I wont have my physics class for 30 days! wooohoooo

The look of the whole building.

The front steps.

This is a view from those steps.

These are what the steps in the school look.

This is my 3rd floor. The fire supplies and the heater below it. They have vents in the ceiling, but it's only for cold air. Every room (schools and houses) have these things.

The bathroom. The one on the right is one of the two that actually close.


A real chalkboard. I hate them. And that bulletin board is the only other thing on the walls.

The icky, icky desks. Every grade, even in other schools, has desks like these.