Today!!!!

Today seriously ROCKED. It was awesome. Everything was pretty normal up until the period after break when we got to go with the geology teacher, MaryBel (the one who likes to embarrass me the most) and the director of the exchange program who's our English teacher, Suzanna, to have a culture lesson on Spain. We got to learn how to dance!!!! It was so much fun. Suzanna dressed up in one of the typical outfits of the dancers and she even had those little clapper things (called castañuelas)! We got to try them out. Not to brag or anything, but I had a real talent with them.... The song we danced to was called Sevillana: Algo se muere en el alma. It was a sad song about how you pretty much die inside when your amigo says goodbye. You'd never know it just by listening though because you need to know the words and understand their meaning; other than that it's pretty upbeat! We got to dance and we were partnered up with the boys which was pretty interesting. It was all fun and games until MaryBel said something about how the dance was very flirtatious and you were supposed to look into your partners eyes in a sexy way. Then we all just felt awkward. You loco Spanish people! It was still really fun though. Then we talked about two dishes typical for Spain. Paella and cocido. Paella is seriously too good. I'm asking Aleks's mom to teach me how to make it!! Cannot wait. I will actually make it once a week at home if I can be successful.. Praying I can be. We're having another session next Friday and by then we have to get the ingredients and learn how to make cocido (chick pea stew.. not exactly a fan of those..) but that's our homework. Oh fun fact. They don't use the word tarea really.. Mostly they just say "deberes" which means the same thing. In geology class (it's economics) I started a list of all the words in the book I didn't understand and I've decided that I'm going to become a Spanish Economics maestra (master). Go me! I'm honestly learning so much here. You know the saying "you learn something new everyday"? Well, I learn something new every hour, I swear. So excited for the next few days ahead of me, but I can't believe it's my last week. Going to soak up all the culture while I can. Hasta mañana!!

Reasons I'm Convinced the Teachers Here Like to Embarrass Me... Just Me

• The first day here when I introduced myself and spoke in Spanish, I was the only one corrected when I know for a fact I'm not the only one who messed stuff up.
• The Spanish teacher read only my answers to the questions out loud when she made us participate in some activity.
• That same teacher also made me go up and write something on the board on a different day (she made another American do it too though).
• Grace and I went to the library today and the math teacher (Nacho) saw her leave but when I went to leave he asked me where I was going so I had to explain myself and ask for permission.
• The geology teacher made me read some paragraph today out loud to the class. The most embarrassing event of them all. When I looked up at her, the look on my face was probably "Please don't make me do this. Why me?" She saw that and said "Basta. Lee." Ok. Sweet.  

As far as I'm aware, I'm the only American here who has experienced any of this. I mean, I guess I don't really mind because it makes for interesting stories. Oh well. Yay España!!! 

Today was nothing special..

Sorry readers! Pretty boring day in San Lorenzo. I went to school, ate lunch, went back to class, came home and did work. Well.. Two semi interesting things did happen today. First of all, I don't think they understand sarcasm here because when Grace and I make comments about the cute Spanish version of Justin Beiber in our class, they think we're serious. Today I as asked if I liked him and wanted him to be my boyfriend. No, you crazy people! It's a joke!!!! Oh well. Grace and I laugh it off. Next, I joined Grace to Skype with her Spanish class and her teacher thought I was her Spanish girl. It made my day!! Another person thinking I'm Spanish. Kind of insane considering my blonde hair and blue eyes, but hey. I won't argue. It's a compliment. Other than that today wasn't anything exciting. Tomorrow we're having a culture lesson on Spain with the director of the exchange program who's also our English teacher as well as the Geology/Economics teacher. That should be interesting. I'm excited! Anyways, good night everyone. Hope my post tomorrow can be more entertaining (sorry mom)!!

Side Note...

I have absolutely no idea who's following this blog anymore, but whoever you are, I hope you're enjoying it! :)

Where to Begin..

Well to be honest, today wasn't anything too exciting or crazy or funny. I got to Skype with my Spanish class! I miss them and all of my other classes too. I think they're expecting me to be amazing at Spanish or something now... Awkwaaaaard cause I'm not.... Basically the only noticeable difference in my Spanish is the lisp and I've picked up some new vocab. I still can't speak fast! Oh well. Today Grace, Danny and I officially realized something about our classes and teachers. If they acknowledge you (they usually don't. we feel special....) then you have to participate in class. Maybe not participate but at least pay attention a little bit. Those are usually the teachers who give you something to do so you can (attempt to) follow along.  Sometimes we get homework. Well, the other Americans have. I haven't! .... yet. Kind of hoping I don't. Not too sure I'll feel motivated to do it. Anyways, when the teacher doesn't acknowledge you, you can do whatever you want. Sleep, read, write, do other homework. I think phones, laptops and music are frowned upon though. I haven't tried because my phone doesn't work without wifi and I'm too nervous to bring my laptop to school, but just common sense really. It's an easy way to get by. Today we FINALLY got our tour of the school/monastery. It's absolutely enormous. It makes you feel completely insignificant, you have no idea. Wait.. I'll give you an idea:

The green is "el colegio," the part where the school is and the blue outlining is kind of a rough perimeter of the whole property I guess. The pink is where I took this photo from:

Gorgeous right? Absolutely breath-taking. This is my town, San Lorenzo de El Escorial!! I think we were only allowed on one part of the roof but when our guide said he wasn't following us, I decided to be daring so I went to explore.. That's when I found the staircase. I couldn't resist. ALL of the staircases in this part of the monastery building are the creepy, dark, stone, spiral staircases. The one leading up to this viewpoint was pitch black but beyond rewarding when I finally got to the top. So overall, today was an amazing day. The things we got to see on our tour were amazing and informative while also fun. From here in Spain, we are wishing all of you well in America!! 

Rubia! Rubia!

My new nickname. It means blonde. Since I'm the only one, it's easy to call me that because I'm the only one who responds to it. I actually love it! Randomly in class or during break when we're outside, I'll hear "Rubia, rubia!" because someone's trying to get my attention. All of the kids here love the Americans. We get so much attention. We're so popular here! Aleks asked me if I wanted to get a Tuenti (Spanish social networking site) because it'd be an easy way for me to learn some Spanish. I'm pretty sure you have to be invited to join it so when Aleks sent me the request email I figured "por qué no?" and signed up. It'll give me a way to keep in touch with all the people I meet here, especially Aleks. It's easier than email. All of the other Americans besides one got them too so we friended each other. Next thing I know, all of the kids from school are requesting me and the other Americans. We're all up to about 25 friends.. So popular!! The kids here really are interested in us though. Oh.. I got homework in a class? Art class. I had to finish a drawing kind of thing. There were outlines of bodies without clothes with a picture of a car and a discription above. We had to draw and color in clothes to match the description and the car. I kind of felt like I was in 4th grade art again, but it was fun. Tomorrow we finally get the tour of the entire monastery. Can't wait for that. WAIT! I had pizza for dinner tonight. Pizza in a box.. Ordered from a restaurant. Yum? Yes. It was so good. There were onions, mushrooms and tomatoes on one half but it was actually delicious. It was nice having that kind of meal. Well anyway.. Feliz martes y hasta mañana!

El Primero Día de Escuela

Wow. Uhhhh.. One word pops into mind when I think of today. That word? Different. Their schooling here is so much different than ours in the US. Classes start at 9am. You have two one-hour long classes and then a break which is recess essentially. Everyone goes outside and hangs out in the patio/courtyard surrounding the school. That's for a half an hour I think. At 1130, we went back into the building and had two more hour-long classes, then it was lunch time!! Lunch here is very important so the school gives students an hour and a half for it meaning classes resume again at 3. (Sidebar- Aleks and I walk back to her house to eat lunch everyday.) There are two more classes after lunch so school ends at 5. I'm pretty sure the classes differ everyday, too, which is kind of cool. However...... We stay in the same classroom. All day. For every class. I'm the kind of person who likes moving around and can't sit still for too long. Even though we have a few minutes between classes, it's not enough. Oh well. The English teacher made each of us Americans get up and introduce ourselves in English first, then in Spanish. When I went up to introduce myself I think the class was most amazed by the fact that I said I had my license. They all oooohed and aaahhed at that one. In Spain you can't drive a car until you're 18. The geography teacher (I swear it was not geography, we were doing economics) told us we had to bring notebooks to take notes. Someone want to tell me the point of that? I'm not taking tests in your class. When I told her my name she said "Mackenzie, es un nombre feo, no?" or "Mackenzie, es un rio, no?" So she either said I had an ugly name or that my name is the name of a river (which it is, Mackenzie River in Canada) but Grace, Danny and I swear we heard her say feo. Either way I think I've decided that class will be my least favorite. In Spanish class we had to do some activity and of course out of all the Americans she decided to have mine read out loud by another student. Awesome. At this point everyone in the class laughs at me because of all the faces I make and how embarrassed I get. Oh well. At least it makes it interesting. Also... today I felt a little tug on my hair during class. What was it you may ask? Oh nothing important.. It was just the girl behind me (whose name I still don't know) playing with my hair. Normal. They're obsessed with it here. "Qué suave!" I think I get that almost every day. It's really nothing special? Another random fact.. Everyone stares at us. At "recess" all the Americans hung out and everywhere we walked, eyes followed. I don't know how we seem so different. I mean we clearly all look Spanish!! The uniforms, of course, are a dead giveaway that proves we're outsiders and that's also accompanied by the fact that we don't in fact actually look Spanish. (Bummer!) They're not dirty looks though.. More like, interested, "I-want-to-get-to-know-you" sort of looks. Fine by us. Somos muy populares!!! Anyway, although it's much different here, I do like it and I'm having a great time. I think everyone else is too. Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow. We have gym class. That should be interesting. Deséame suerte!!

PS. I think today what made me the most excited was that I understood the classes. Well.. a majority. I definitely understood what was going on and what people were saying. Yay me!! :)

Ehhhh

Today was boring.. We didn't do anything. No worries, though. It was really nice. Tomorrow's my first day of school. Ah!!! There's no wifi in the building and I think we all know paying attention is going to be slightly difficult. I have class with another Notre Dame girl and a Malvern boy so hopefully we can hang out together a little bit. I'm excited and also a little nervous, but I can't wait to see what a normal day is like at El Escorial!! I know that they stay in the same classroom all day so it's going to feel like I'm back in 4th grade again. Oh well. As of right now, I'm skyping with my family watching the Steelers game with them. I can hear my brothers arguing and my dad yelling at the refs, as if he can change the calls made or make the calls that the refs missed for that matter. I feel right at home. Anyways, I'm going to bed. Wish me luck for tomorrow and have a good Monday everyone!! (let's pretend like anyone is ever excited for Mondays...) Pues..... Hasta mañana!!

:)