A lot of pretty monumental things happened this week. I had my first dream in Spanish, which was really blurry but I dreamt about some of the people here and I know I was talking in Spanish. I can understand television and when people talk to me without any problems and slowly I´ve been learning things in Euskera too, which I find that once you start to learn it comes to you easier but the actual frustration of starting to learn and trying to remember the words and keep them in your head makes it so difficult.
I had 3 tests in the past week. One in history, one in spanish (lengua), and one in math. All of them were in spanish, so I didn't have any problems with the language. I'm pretty proud to mention that I got a 10 on my history test (the grading here is from 1 to 10, 1 being the worst and 10 being the best) and an 8 on my spanish test which was about grammar. I don't know about math yet but I'm a little nervous as I had a lot of trouble concentrating since the kids in my class were making a lot of noise.
Last weekend was the AFS northern Spain fall orientation, which went really well for all of us. The activities really helped me take a step back and sort of take everything into perspective and remember a lot of the important things I need to keep in mind. Also, I made a lot of really good friends there. It was nice to be with people that understand me not only about what I'm going through now but also that have the same mindset as me, that sort of thirst to adventure and enjoy every moment of their youth.
Other than that overall I've been getting on really well. My spanish every day gets a little better. As of now I have a very good basis but I'm starting to notice more how much there is to learning another language. Although I don't have a problem with talking about simpler things and I don't really have to think before I talk in certain situations, I still hesitate a lot and there are a lot of things I don't know how to say. I get sort of frustrated because I can't really express myself too often but more and more I've been reminding myself what everyone's been saying to me from the beginning - poco a poco. Little by little. I've learned to take everything as it comes and not to worry about things that have happened in the past, which I can't change, or things that will happen, which I can only take care of when they happen. Elimiating worry is difficult, and frustration as well, but every day I have time to take things into perspective and even if I am worried or frustrated by something, I have time to relax and just let my thoughts flow, which is really helpful.
I took a walk yesterday after school with my camera. It was really peaceful, and perfect timing too. I've had a chunk of time every friday after school and before soccer practice (when I get home at 2:30ish until when I have to leave the house at 5:15) where the only thing I have to do is homework, and as I don't like to do my homework on a Friday right after school, I haven't had anything to do in that time. I think I'm going to keep going on walks Fridays after school. It was really nice and peaceful and just to sort of get away and take pictures really helped clear my mind. I played around with the camera and ended up with some really nice pictures.
Overall I'm really content with everything. Day by day the language gets better and slowly everything's falling into place.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Seventh Week
My host mom and I having too much fun
Estamos haciendo las tonterías.
Necesitamos reírnos.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
10/10/10
Today is my host mom´s birthday. I can´t think of much more to say about that. Happy birthday!
I went to Bilbao last weekend for an AFS meeting. It was pretty calm, I got to talk to the other AFSers in the region and the volunteers too, and I got to see Bilbao. I have another orientation on the 16th and 17th (overnight) which should be fun.
But aside from AFS, everything´s going really well for me here. I had a soccer game yesterday (the first time I was able to play, because certain papers had to reach Madrid before I could play in the games) and I scored a goal, which was pretty exciting. I´m starting to understand television and I can talk to my friends with a little less struggle (the only trouble I´m having is conjugating verbs without thinking, but they correct me when I say something wrong and they´re really patient with me, so I´m really happy about that too).
Overall I couldn´t be more content with my family, friends and school. I´ve been put up to a challenge with learning Castellano and basque at the same time, but since I don´t actually have to learn basque (of course, I really want to learn) I can take my time, which is better since it´s very difficult. Naturally my friends speak in basque more than Castellano, but on the weekends they talk more in spanish than basque, especially when I make more of an effort to talk and be part of the conversation. I´m content either way because when they speak in basque I´m getting used to listening to the language and trying to pick out the words I know.
The weather is really confusing (one minute it´s raining and the next its sunny). The food is really great, so all in all, I´m really happy with everything right now. I have to go eat breakfast now, so I´ll probably write more next weekend. We have fiestas this week so monday and tuesday I don´t have school.
Anyway, until later.
I went to Bilbao last weekend for an AFS meeting. It was pretty calm, I got to talk to the other AFSers in the region and the volunteers too, and I got to see Bilbao. I have another orientation on the 16th and 17th (overnight) which should be fun.
But aside from AFS, everything´s going really well for me here. I had a soccer game yesterday (the first time I was able to play, because certain papers had to reach Madrid before I could play in the games) and I scored a goal, which was pretty exciting. I´m starting to understand television and I can talk to my friends with a little less struggle (the only trouble I´m having is conjugating verbs without thinking, but they correct me when I say something wrong and they´re really patient with me, so I´m really happy about that too).
Overall I couldn´t be more content with my family, friends and school. I´ve been put up to a challenge with learning Castellano and basque at the same time, but since I don´t actually have to learn basque (of course, I really want to learn) I can take my time, which is better since it´s very difficult. Naturally my friends speak in basque more than Castellano, but on the weekends they talk more in spanish than basque, especially when I make more of an effort to talk and be part of the conversation. I´m content either way because when they speak in basque I´m getting used to listening to the language and trying to pick out the words I know.
The weather is really confusing (one minute it´s raining and the next its sunny). The food is really great, so all in all, I´m really happy with everything right now. I have to go eat breakfast now, so I´ll probably write more next weekend. We have fiestas this week so monday and tuesday I don´t have school.
Anyway, until later.
.JPG)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)