August 30, 2012 - Rotary Youth Exchange Madrid Begins
Hello all,
I am Madrid bound tomorrow morning at 7am! I will arrive there at 7 am the next day (their time.) The time difference between Madrid and San Francisco is 9 hours. This will be my first time in Europe and I cannot wait!
I will live in Alcalá de Henares which is 35km northeast of Madrid. My school is called Colegio Alborada and this is its website: http://www.colegioalborada.es/. It is a private K-12 girls Catholic school. I am sooooo excited to get to wear a uniform!! I will be in the second year of Bachillerato, which seems to be the equivalent of senior year over there. School begins on September 10.
My host family, La Familia Pedraja, is absolutely lovely. There are two children: José who is 16 and Lara who is 11. I will be taking José’s place in the family; he left two weeks ago with Rotary for exchange in Omaha, Nebraska. Sonia, my host mother, says that he is having a fabulous time in the States with three host sisters doting on him!
I have skyped with the Pedrajas three times and my Spanish is adequate enough that when they slow down and simplify I can understand! It is exhilarating that in less than one year I will be entirely fluent in Spanish (and have an awesome accent!!)
Right now I am finishing up packing. To make the weight I am going to have to slash the Rotary pins or the two jars of peanut butter...... Just kidding, Rotary, I will leave the peanut butter!
Adios,
Kate Lane
September 17, 2012 - First Two Weeks in Spain
Hola Todos!
My first two weeks in Spain have been a wonderful whirlwind!
Overview:
I spent 3 days in Alcalá de Henares settling in. My family here is patient, kind, and welcoming. They are have done more for me than I could have imagined. They took me up to Santoña, a beach town in northern Spain for 4 days. My host father, Joaquin, is from Santoña. We came back to Alcalá on Sunday, and I started school the next day (the 10th.) On Thursday I traveled to Guadarrama for 3 day orientation with the other Rotary Exchange Students from all over Spain.
Lenguaje:
I am happily relieved that my Spanish is functional. I can communicate and people can communicate with me (when they slow down.) Learning the language is really quite fun, because it forces me to be creative. With my limited vocabulary, I am challenged to think of different ways to express myself! It is always entertaining making mistakes, too. Last night during dinner, I said "sand" (arena) instead of "flour" (harina!!) Lots of laughs.
Santoña is only a 4 hour drive from Madrid. It is amazing how much the landscape transitioned in those 4 hours from the plains, to the mountains, to the farmlands, to the coastal mountains, to the coast. I kept thinking- It's like Utah, no wait- Nevada, no wait- the Midwest, no wait- CA, until I finally just decided: IT'S LIKE SPAIN.
In Santoña, the walk to the beach (about 2km) is part of El Camino de Santiago. So I have walked part of El Camino three times! There is loads of fascinating history in Santoña which people tried to explain to me, but I only understood tidbits. When we go back, my Spanish will be better, and I will be able to tell you more about it!
It turns out there was a celebration for the Virgin of the Port in Santoña, so there were lots of community fiesta and feria. There was a blessing of the boats so we went on a boat, cruised around the gorgeous peninsula for a while, and then threw carnations in the water at the Virgin (which they had taken out of the church.) It was very beautiful.
In Santoña, I also had my first exposure to BULLFIGHTING. I was hanging out at the boardwalk along the beach with some of José's, my host brother now in Omaha, friends. Right along the boardwalk, there is a bullfighting ring (which I was aware of and had seen before.) It was late Saturday afternoon, the day of the fights (which I was also aware of.) A new amiga pointed out that the fight had just ended, because lots of people were coming from the direction of the stadium. Suddenly, a bulldozer joined the throngs of people leaving the boardwalk. (Why was a bulldozer on the boardwalk??) A medium sized truck pulling a closed metal trailer followed the bulldozer. (Is it coming together?) The trailer was leaking crimson liquid! And that was that: the carcass of the bull being properly disposed of after the show. I am looking forward to watching a full bull fight sometime soon. Apparently I might be able to see a running of the bulls as well, because my host mom was just telling me that they happen all over Spain, not just in Pamplona.
Colegio:
School is super fun! (I am not being sarcastic.) It is primarily a social event for me. I study what I want to, read books, and learn. It is fascinating going to an all girls Catholic school. Colegio Alborada is so different from PHS that the two are hard to compare. Two completely different worlds. I am in the second year of Bachillerato. Bachillerato is when the students prepare for big exams to get into university- kind of like Harry Potter's OWLS! All of the students had to pick between humanities and sciences when they enter Bachillerato, but I am taking a mix of humanities and sciences classes. My classes are: Spanish, English, Philosophy, History of Spain, Art History, Geography, Biology, and Math (with the science gals.) There is so much for me to absorb every day- it's exhausting!
Comida:
The food here is ok. JUST KIDDING! I LOOOOOVE the Spanish cuisine. It was hard for me at first to adjust to the different meal schedule here. We eat a tiny breakfast, usually hot chocolate with a piece of toast (with butter or olive oil) or an apple. (I still have not adjusted to this and make myself some hearty oatmeal some times!) Then at 11 or 12 we have a small sandwich on baguette bread with ham or prosciutto and olive oil. If you are hungry you can eat a banana at this time as well. Then at 3 or 4 we eat a large meal. Potato and meat stew, meatballs, bean and vegetable stew, or chicken breast with cooked onions. And bread with olive oil. Later, at around 9pm, we eat a small dinner. This dinner may be a simple vegetable soup, rice with peas, a tuna salad, bread with anchovies, chorizo, and salami. All accompanied with (you guessed it)—bread with olive oil! And this is a good thing, because I absolutely loooove olive oil.
Futuro:
Tonight I am going to try out a flamenco dance class. (Why not?!) The dance class is in my neighborhood, which I am hoping will allow me to meet other girls from the barrio. The girls from school are from all over—many even come 30-40mins from Madrid! This weekend my family and I are deciding between going to El Rastro, the big flea market in Madrid, and visiting Toledo, a city nearby. What a life! I feel so lucky and grateful for these opportunities.
I am also looking forward to going to the International Organ Festival at the Cathedral here in Alcala at the end of October.
And since you managed to read this much,,,, pictures!
Thank you all for your support! I love hearing from you.
Con cariño,
Kate
March 3, 2013 - How to make paella
Hello all!
I am doing fabulously here in Spain. Two days ago I completed 6 months here. Amazing how time flies. In the past month I changed host families and now live in Torrejon, right near Alcalá, with another fabulous family. I have two parents, Gemma and Ruben, and a brother, Ivan, who is going to go on exchange next year.
I wanted to share with you a photo-journal of how to make paella. Gemma taught me last week and it was delicious! Hopefully I will learn to do it well enough that I will be able to share it with you when I come back to the states!
Cheers, Kate