And that's what's going through my head. A national emergency.
Egypt? New Zealand? Madrid? Japan?
What's going on?!
And back to the first comment. ONLY 112 DAYS LEFT?!
Goals. Gains. Growth. Have I been on target? on time? Is where I am now where I had wanted to be a while back? What is the one thing that I'll forget, and regret when I get back home?
The questions. Were there from the beginning and will never end. Whether you are on exchange, or living your day to day what you might think of 'boring' life- there are always questions.
The conditional statements. How could/should/would this be if...
The hypothesis. An "If, then" statement. (Thank you Mrs. Richardson I never have forgotten this.)
The answers? There are none. But don't think about it too much. That leaves you always looking at the unanswered questions, leaving you to wonder about what you don't have.
"The grass is always greener on the other side."
How I love this statement.
When on a golf course, grass is sometimes to be blamed for mistakes.
When moving to Minnesota, at first we didn't have grass as our house was just built. Makes the above quote ironic, eh?
When flying from Switzerland to Madrid, you could slowly watch the bright green grass turn into what could be mistaken for a very dry desert land.
When in Alicante, the bright green grass is amazing. Who ever thought going further south would bring greener grass? That is, until you find out it is fake grass.
So there you have it. The grass is greener on the other side. But have you actually been there? Because fake grass looks really green from a distance. And does the green grass you see have the appropriate soil to grow the crops you want to grow? And what if that grass is wet and attracts mesquitos? You can't see that from the other side of the fence, now can you?
What does all this mean? You are on a side. Maybe by force. Chance. Or maybe you got there by jumping that fence. But the point is you're there. And whatever you have, you have. It's simple. You are not on the other side of the fence.
So live day by day. What will tomorrow bring? We'll find out soon enough. If today is worrying about yesterday, tomorrow's yesterday will be just a day of worrying.
Time changes things. Like seasons. 112 is a number. Whether the number is big enough or not doesn't matter. What matters how those one hundred and twelve days are spent.
And every day brings something new.
Recently I have made a few discoveries. Found stories. Been explained things. So here's my "Seven Wonders" list...
1. Security Cameras- There ARE security cameras in my school. They are on top of the roof- to watch the gates to make sure no one leaves. The TV screens are in the secretary's room, and whether they actually record or not I'm not sure. This still confuses me, as the kids seems to find the places where there are not security cameras and jump the fence. And then again, if the kids don't want to school, why bother with a fence and cameras? Just don't come...?
2. Toilet Paper- is kept guarded by the school's secretary. Yep... if you want toilet paper for the bathroom, you have to stop by the secretary and take some from a roll that is on the counter. I am still very confused...
3. Photocopies- So you need a photocopy. You just walk down to the library and ask...right? Wrong. There is a photocopier in the secretary, and you have to pay. Papers are anywhere between 5-15 cents per sheet. This is rather cheap compared to the ones in shopping malls, post offices, etc. Most people don't have a copier and you have to go up to the local shop to use one.
4. Books- I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but school books are bought by the students. It gets expensive. And you don't always get them on time. I suppose it 'just works' though, as I didn't buy a science book until- October? Neither open my philosophy book until about.. December? more or less. The teacher doesn't always use them. Just lectures and notes. They can be pretty hard to find. You get a list from your school and have to hope that the corner bookstore that you live by or another one that you know still has your books. From my experiences you can't just buy them either. You have to come back in a day or so to give them time to look for it. (IF they have it...)
5. Water- as some of you might know, America is noted for their 'free refills' at many restaurants. In Spain? Not so much. You have to pay on average two Euros (about $2.80 USD) for a beverage. And water? The same. And water comes in glass bottles a lot of the time. Like wine bottles, but different. I have been told that it's common for kids to go and fill the bottle up with water from the bathroom sink, in order to advoid paying for more. Never thought of it. Clever.
6. Water...Part 2- One discovery about Alicante is the water. You can't drink it from the tap. (This confuses me about the story above, so I am not able to say how un-drinkable it really is) But the biggest difference about the water that I notice is the clothes. The white doesn't come out as white, and when the whole thing is finished they have a different texture/stiffness. The is partly from the fact we don't use or have a dryer. Even in February/March our clothes are dried outside on a rack. I wonder what that'd be like in Minnesota...
7. El Pais- A world-wide Spanish newspaper. My school gets different newspapers everyday, and I am enjoying reading those during the time I have in the library. What's interesting? There's more information about the United States than any other country. Our news. What we do right or wrong. It's all over the press.
Before closing, the student Austin Bice who past away in Madrid after being missing for 10 days was NOT an AFS student. The press must have gotten this wrong, as I have had some people ask me if I knew him, which I did not. He was 22 years old and studied at a college in Madrid- since January. Sending prayers and thoughts to his family during this tough time.
The AFS Egypt (and Tunez?) students had to go home in January. Everyone is back home safe. As I do not know more information about this, I cannot be more thankful that I am able to continue in a palce where I feel safe. I feel for the Egypt students, as that must have been really hard to end an exchange experience early. I'm hoping to hear news that no AFS kids are in danger in Japan, but have yet to hear anything.
Wishing everyone the best,
-mb
Hey Mary Beth,
ReplyDeleteI will be living in Spain next year in a town called Gijon. It is in Asturias, close to Oviedo. Im not going through AFS, but I enjoy reading the blogs of people who are in Spain. I was wondering how close you are to being what you would consider fluent and how has your year been overall at this point?
The house seriously looks like George Washington's house, Mount Vernon haha
ReplyDeleteThat is so awesome!!! I haven't been to the north yet, but I've heard its VERY pretty! Wow you are very lucky! :)
ReplyDeleteIn order to answer your question about 'fluent' I had to re-read the definition of 'fluent' in a dictionary. It's hard to explain. I'm not fluent, but I can understand what's being said to me. I came with 3levels of high school Spanish and almost zero speaking/listening, and I can say nearly anything I want to, even if it does require some additional explaining if I lack some vocabulary. School is the hardest for me, as sometimes I wonder what language they talk in sometimes haha, but then again that's a completely different level. Fluent- being able to talk with flow, I can say I am really close. I have had to remind myself though that in one year it's impossible to become equal to a native speaker, and even native speakers don't always understand everything in school ;)
haha yes the very american home is a picture I took when I was at Mount Vernon hehe^^
Thanks! Im very excited to go! Seeing as Im not going through AFS, there is a little more leniency with the exact time that I go there. As you are aware, school in Spain, for me at least, begins around the middle of September or so, but my host family offered for me to stay with them all of August before school starts. I was wondering what your thoughts on staying in Spain a month or so before school starts? Obviously there would be advantages and disadvantages, but I am very interested to hear what you think would be better. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome! I would definitely reccomend going in August. This gives an extra month of time to get settle, learn the language, the family, travel, and look for activities. I arrived 15 days before school, and I guess a bit of a disadvantage was I didn't have any way to meet Spanish kids, as i wasn't in any activities at the time and school hadn't started yet. Maybe if you're not sure, only go half of august. The language thing is huge, so the more time you have to perfect that, the easier it will be to make friends as well. you'll get to know the area before going out, and that'll be helpful too. maybe search some events or activities in your area before you go to have an idea of what you want to do. i guess it also depends on if you have anything left in the states to do, if you have time. I remember a few things in Madrid was that it was hot(er than minnesota haha^^) and its a season where everyone's tired during the middle of the day because it's hot, and its more typical to do things after the 'siesta' (which i never took in the summer) time. this also was kind of how my host family did things too, so yours could be a bit different. :)
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