from halloween to thanksgiving to almost christmas!

WOW, Really sorry this has taken so long. Its hard to balance living, and writing about what you are living, a good skill. Well let’s begin all the way back in October for Halloween, haha, I taught my English class that day about Halloween and all the traditions around it. People in Spain have started to celebrate it more but really they just use it as an excuse to party. After Halloween which was a Wednesday we had a 4 day weekend, I went up and visited Kaitlyn Heater also an Oregonian in Valencia. We walked around Valencia went shopping had starbucks, I MISS STARBUCKS, the uptown starbucks in Ashland was fabulous I would walk in the door and say "oh good morning shanay, grande non-fat extra-foamy chai tea latte today?" "YES PLEASE!" haha. But the people at stabucks in Valencia are nice too, when they ask for you name I automatically say Shanay, they say "¡¿Qúe?!" so the first day I said, Sara, and the next day we went out I said, Pepa, and the lady said, I thought your name was Sara? I said well my name is too hard so I need a Spanish name, as long as I am in Spain I can change my name haha, and the lady laughed, awww starbucks! We hung out with her friends, went to the beach, met up with Alicia for one night and went to an awesome pub which had flamenco dancing at midnight and then music afterward. Watching that flamenco dancing was the first time I really felt like, Wow this is so new and different and beautiful, I am really in Spain! Maybe it’s because it was dancing, but it really hit me, which was a good thing. One thing I am getting used to is the whole "bar pub club" scene. When you make plans with someone it is always like oh we can just go out y tomar algo, which means go out and have a fanta in a smoky bar, SO FUN RIGHT? haha occasionally we have found ones with great music and nice comfy seats. It’s defiantly different. I had a few weekends just at home with my host parents, kids really do study here, they don’t do ANY homework, but they all study hard to do well on the exams, so some weekends all my friends seriously stay in and study, good for them, I just don’t have much else to do, (or so I thought, but ill talk about college applications later ;)) I have had a few long lunches with my club counsellor, Paco Chapa, he is a really wonderful man. He used to be the head of youth exchange in the south district of Spain (there are only two districts) and so he really knows his stuff. It defiantly helps to know that I am taken care of. I had a hard weekend, I had woken up and no one was home, something just hit me and it made me cry, but getting it out is good, I got an email from Danny Ogden, ken Ogden’s son, giving me some advice, he did 5th year exchange in brazil. he was just pretty straight forward. like yeah it sucks, but you have been there 7 weeks "go big or go home". and that was that. (he said a lot of sensitive things too). I also got an email from kaleigh, who went home after a month, the combination of both sort of helped me get past feeling down. I know I will need other emails from different people saying different things in the future to help me move out of these spells, but ill worry about that later. I had to start separating more from home, Danny said "take advantage of being there, you don’t know when you will be back, and forget myspace facebook English and your life back home, your parents are still at home, your brother is being a college kid and your friends are having new lives of their own, you need to have yours, live you life, and tell them about it later." (that was in different words but I paraphrased) My host dad Tomas and I also talked about separating too, he says family is one thing, you can always be connected with your family, but you have to make friends here, and make your life here. I have been surviving, (it’s hard to do any more with the language issue) and I know it will be awhile until I am really living, Danny says give it 3 months. ill take any advice I can get. what I am saying is, Im trying, to when something reminds me of home, not to be so nostalgic, just to be happy! These few weekends when there really was nothing social going on were good though. I went to church by myself, I don’t personally connect with the catholic faith but it’s hard not to feel anything when you are in an old cathedral. One Sunday we took a drive to Calpe which is a city on the southern coast. It really looked Mediterranean, SO BEAUTIFUL, it was just my host parents and me and we had sangria and had yummy food. I really am adjusting to the food here, Im still working on the fish and seafood thing, and the jamon which is 2 year old pig leg, even if it doesn’t taste like mold, I just make up that taste in my mouth and just cant do it yet haha. Last weekend I was in Valencia again for another holiday, no one knows what we are celebrating, we just have days off school aha. We went to a huge movie theatre, we went shopping, we went to starbucks again, we went to a concert, I met more of her cool friends, we went to a disco with alicia and her sister and friend too, but it was kind of crappy so that night ended a little early (meaning 445 in the morning) RIDICULOUS! Well in general everything is going great. My host parents and I are getting along a lot better. Nothing can compare to my mom and dad, but I am learning how to be myself just myself without anyone else. If I were in college this would be happening too, it’s just a little different when I am so far away from home, it’s just a little more abrupt. My classes are going wonderfully I am taking a break from my Spanish tutor this month we just have too much going on, but I am still taking my painting classes and Flamenco classes. I bought ridiculously expensive flamenco shoes but they are made in Spain by hand and they are leather and it is a memory. I don’t even want to talk about money, I’m just trying not to think about it for now aha. School is good, it is still the hardest place to understand people, they just talk so quick and use so much slang. Oh well, in time right? haha. My theatre club is also really great, there are some of the nicest people there. I will be doing a version of Romeo y Julieta and I will have some lines as Romeos Mom. SO NERVOUS. I was always fine with the singing and acting aspect of musicals, but the acting was a whole other thing. We´ll see how it goes! December is a packed month so far, which is great. This Thursday I will go back up to Valencia to see the Nutcracker with Kaitlyn and her ballet teacher. I will stay there until Saturday and then pick up Chad from the airport and bring both Chad and Kaitlyn back to Denia. We will go to the Rotary Christmas Dinner, kaitlyn will return home on Sunday and Chad and I will stay around denia a few days, we will go back to Valencia for his last day and night and then he will head out to go home for Christmas. Then not long after that we will be travelling to Madrid to see the SPICE GIRLS! I am so excited!SO here are some funny things about Spain that I have collected:Their hairstyles, for guys mullets, rat tails, or my personal favorite, dredded mullet... so hott!girls, extreme layers (like starting at 2 inches and going all the way down) extreme child bangs, like when your daughter got bangs and then decided she didn’t want the anymore so she cut them even shorter with her craft scissors not quite understanding the growing out process. or my other personal favorite what I like to call the mammoth muff. Girls with long hair cut these really short pieces where a yarmulke would go and either spike it or rat it up. Can you understand why I haven’t gotten my hair cut the whole two and a half months I have been here? aahh.TV shows that are dubbed from English to Spanish are good to watch, but one night we were watching the Halloween episode of Home Improvement, and at the end of the episode they showed the bloopers which had also been dubbed over in Spanish, haha, how do they even translate bloopers? hahaBritish people are meaner to me than Spanish people. There are several here who have moved to the coast of Spain for the lower prices and good weather. There is a woman in my host moms ceramics class who has lived in Spain for 20 years and literally doesn’t speak ANY Spanish. I was teaching my host mom a little English and this English woman asked me, "How can you be teaching her English?" and I said, "I’m from the US I speak English", and she said "well yes, but with your accent? its not right." as simple as that. I tried to explain to her that it is the same language, but slang and accents can make a language appear very differently, I’m sure if I went to England there would be things I don’t understand just the same as if she were to come to America. I then translated what that woman said to Isabel who just laughed. Another British woman in my art class, who actually does speak Spanish, was talking to someone else in the class about how "everything is becoming Americanized!" apparently in England the Pharmacy used to be called the Chemist, and now they have changed all the Chemists to Pharmacies. I politely explained that it isn’t the Americans that are forcing anyone to change, countries are changing to be more similar to America because they are choosing to adapt. I also projected my hypothesis about the chemist/pharmacy issue. I explained that it was called the Chemist because it was a chemist, you would go and someone would make up your drugs for you. Now the drugs are made and it is just a Pharmacy, the establishment has changed, so suitably the name has too. The English woman didn’t have much to say after that hahah :)The direct attitude of Spaniards is hilarious to me. For example, we run into an old friend of Isabel’s at the store and she introduces me and goes on to repeat "has visto que bonita es??" which means "have you seen how beautiful she is??!" and that on the one hand makes me so nervous and blush whereas no one else seems to be phased. They also aren’t afraid to tell you, you look tired today. uhh THANKS A BUNCH! hahaSO, one day I am talking to my mom over the internet, and I heard the door bell ring, I run outside to sign for the package, I open the gate seriously 8 inches and the stupid dog squeezes through my legs and escapes without his collar, I signed put the package inside, told my mom I loved her and had to go and I ran my ass out the door with the collar and leash in hand. this is the email I sent to my mom afterward "ohhh, jesus christ I can hardly type this due to my inhaler-induced shaky hands, yes I had to use my freaking inhaler for the first time in like 6 months because of that dog. so the mail man came and I opened the gate just enough to be able to sign, and nemo went through my legs and out into the colt sack thing, I signed the package, put it in the house, said goodbye to you and grabbed the leash, the first part was jogging down the street after the dog which was peeing on everything. after he saw the main street after turning a corner it was a run, with an occasional pause to bark at another dog. I went on to the main street. running and yelling in Spanish, I almost got him with the collar but he slipped out before I could clip it and then growled and came at me like he was going to attack. Anyway we ran around, I finally got him to run back up towards the house, then it was just a matter of not having enough hands, I had to block him from going back down but I also couldn’t shoe him into the gate, SO, Finally about 2 min before Isabel arrived home, the neighbor said, what’s wrong? and I said, the dog got out and I cant get him back in, so she went and got a cracker, and led him into the gate, I told her thanks then tried to explain all that I just did in Spanish to Isabel. f-ing dumb dog, I wish they would just neuter it and then it would be a nice dog! Anyway, defiantly got some energy out, some exersize in, and it was defiantly a distraction, so there you go. AWwww Spain..... "So the plan for Christmas is stay distracted! haha I think it will be great though. For all of you ashlanders remember I will be online all during our Christmas party and would love to talk to anyone and everyone! I am really looking forward to my brothers visit. Christmas will not be the same, considering it is warm out and we will be celebrating the most on January 6th for Three Kings. We have lights down town, not like Ashland’s, but it is still beautiful. I miss you all family and friends. I am hoping for the best for all of you during this holiday season. Blessings to you all. Keep in touch! shanay.healy@hotmail.comMUCH LOVE!