Ok, so I forgot to put these in the other posts. Here are links to my pictures in Spain!
El Escorial:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2030199&id=1605090135&l=83729508c6
Carnaval:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2030197&id=1605090135&l=140169d925
Malaga:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029145&id=1605090135&l=7c0a0c3174
Madrid:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2028622&id=1605090135&l=f428b3b1e9
First few pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2028135&id=1605090135&l=63d18bae55
Enjoy!!
Monday, February 15, 2010
A meal to write home about! :)
So I think since Thursday was my host-dad’s birthday we had a huge lunch today. It started off with these shells in a yellow soup. The shells don’t really have any meat in them…and it tastes a bit fishy, so they are not really my favorite. The way of eating this shell soup was interesting as well. You had to scoop up the liquid with the shells themselves and slurp it out of them…needless to say, it turned out to be a very messy meal. Then we ate shrimp/langostina – the ones with the head, legs, tail still attached. I’m pretty sure you are supposed to suck something out of their head when you rip it off, but I just pretended like I didn’t know that. The shrimp were actually really really good. Then we had fried chicken breast, which I think she uses an egg covering over the chicken before she dips it in bread crumbs (or just flour?) and fries it. Delicious. Then my dad brought out the fruit, like usual, but also brought this cake-type thing. It was a roll of cake filled with thick whipped cream, covered in an orange sauce and chocolate sprinkles. It was amazing, I could have eaten the whole thing! I thought then we were done, because that is a lot more than we usually have. But then Jose brought out lemon sorbet and a bottle of champagne, which we mixed in a glass and drank. Raul kept telling me the cake was going to make me fat because I don’t run or play sports here, and that I was going to get too drunk to do my homework right now off of my ¼ glass of champagne, bahaha.
Later today, Emily, Brooke, and I are going out to celebrate Valentine’s Day together :)
Upon my return from this dinner I was given a glass of sparkling apple cider. Once again Raul informed me that I was going to get drunk off of this because it contained alcohol. Oh boy.
Btw, they watch the movie “Ghost Busters” here. Only it’s called “CazaFantasmos” which literally means ghost-hunting.
Later today, Emily, Brooke, and I are going out to celebrate Valentine’s Day together :)
Upon my return from this dinner I was given a glass of sparkling apple cider. Once again Raul informed me that I was going to get drunk off of this because it contained alcohol. Oh boy.
Btw, they watch the movie “Ghost Busters” here. Only it’s called “CazaFantasmos” which literally means ghost-hunting.
¡CARNAVAL!
This past weekend was Carnaval! We’re still not completely sure what it celebrates, specifically, but in general I think it is just celebrating the week before Ash Wednesday. Festivities started on Thursday, but I did see people dressed up on Wednesday. We didn’t do anything for Carnaval on Thursday, but some of us went to Enebro’s as usual in Polígono.
FRIDAY
Friday we had a trip to “El Escorial” which is actually a town called San Lorenzo de El Escorial. We toured the monastery located there which was really cool to see. It was a bit chilly though, since the monastery is simply a stone castle with no heating system. The church part of the monastery was probably my favorite, it is amazingly beautiful. In a 3 sided square surrounding the pulpit is the palace part of the monastery, where Felipe II lived. It’s is cleverly built so that both Felipe II and his wife could watch the priest during mass from their beds. I also really liked seeing the tombs, even if it was a bit creepy. The whole place is full of paintings and is really interesting. I would love to return and wander through the place by myself for hours, on a much warmer day of course. After the tour we ate “comida” (lunch is the small snack they eat at like 10 or 11 which includes coffee and a pastry or small sandwhich, comida is the huge dinner-type meal they eat at 1 or 2 or 3pm) at a restaurant nearby. We had pasta with a sweet tomato sauce, a huge slice of pork chop, and a crepe filled with some banana/cinnamon/something? sauce which was delicious!
FRIDAY NIGHT! = Carnaval in Polígono!
Brooke came over to my house to get ready since she lives in Buenavista (a different neighborhood of Toledo). She, Lis, and I were disco balls. How does one dress as a disco ball?? We bought silver sequin dresses which were on sale for 5 euros at Zara and paired them with huge silver earrings, a sparkly necklace, and lots of bangles. Brooke and I both decided to wear a black shirt/sweatshirt and two layers of leggings/pants/tights underneath our dresses since it was freeeeezing Friday night. Our outfit was completed with silver eye makeup and lots of glitter. Upon descending the stairs we got to present our costumes to my family. My host mom said “How pretty!! But, what are you?” I finally got a picture taken with most of my family, minus Olga since she was in her pajamas and refused to be in the picture (I’ll post a link to my Carnaval pictures later).
Carnaval in Polígono was located behind the library and consisted of a large stage with a live band. It was actually pretty sweet. There were drink stands surrounding the place, and millions of crazy costumes. We encountered a Pac-Man guy who went around saying “Guapa Guapa Guapa” constantly. That translates to “pretty girl” for those of you non-spanish speakers. He was hilarious and told us he’d be at Zocodover the next night, so we made plans to try to find him again on Saturday. Some of my other favorite costumes I saw included (and yes, I did take pictures of these) a mermaid (man) with a full, uncovered plastic chest, tons of chickens and tiny chicks, the characters of Grease, and the gingerbread people (who refused to take a picture!). Everyone here gets really into dressing up, and the cool thing to do is to plan to dress as a theme within your group of friends. On Wednesday night in Zocodover we saw a person dressed as Jesus, followed by his 12 disciples, complete with one of them splashing wine on the ground in front of Jesus’ feet. I tried a new Spanish drink tonight! It consisted of red wine and coca-cola, and was actually very good. This was also the first time I encountered Spaniards that actually danced! Oh, and another note: they have a hilarious song here about “las chinas” (Chinese women) and also they do a different chicken dance, which is much more fun than the one in the states!
SATURDAY
Today there was a parade at 5:30 in new Toledo. It was a lot of fun once it finally got to us, but I feel as though it just made me more confused about what Carnaval is celebrating. Apparently each neighborhood dresses up for the parade as a specific theme to represent themselves. I saw everything from a movie theater complete with tiny walking popcorns to Aztec dancers. I also heard the “Ding Dong Song” which is definitely not age-appropriate for the kids at the parade. Good thing it is in English, and I don’t think anyone there actually knew what it was saying…The parade went on forever, check out my pictures to see some of the highlights!
Saturday night!!
I went to Brooke’s after the parade where I got to meet her dog, Jack, her mom, María, and her sister, also María. We warmed up some paella (which was very good) and then her mom made us a salad…lol Well, she said she was making us a salad, and that we should get it out of the microwave once it was done. It turned out to be tomato slices covered with melted provolone-type cheese, which was actually delicious. I still find it hilarious that our ‘salad’ was made in the microwave though! After fruit for dessert we rushed to get ready and caught the buho bus at midnight to Zocodover. The same stage and band were at Zocodover as was in Polígono the night before, but there were tons of people shoved into the plaza. We pushed our way through the crowd, searching for someone we knew. We finally found some kids from our program and ended up standing right next to some older people (40s+) dressed as Indians, complete with a teepee set up, and smoking pot in their pipes… I find it really odd how they gather to celebrate here. Everyone just brings a bottle, mixers, and cups to the plaza or street where they are meeting and then sets it all down and forms a circle around their alcohol. It’s so different from the States I feel like. After dancing in the plaza we went to O’Briens bar to warm up for a bit. From there we returned to the plaza for a while. Once we were chilled again we went to our favorite discoteca, Camelot, and danced until we had to catch the bus at 3:30am.
I’m thinking that the United States really needs to find more reasons to throw weeklong fiestas like Carnaval!
FRIDAY
Friday we had a trip to “El Escorial” which is actually a town called San Lorenzo de El Escorial. We toured the monastery located there which was really cool to see. It was a bit chilly though, since the monastery is simply a stone castle with no heating system. The church part of the monastery was probably my favorite, it is amazingly beautiful. In a 3 sided square surrounding the pulpit is the palace part of the monastery, where Felipe II lived. It’s is cleverly built so that both Felipe II and his wife could watch the priest during mass from their beds. I also really liked seeing the tombs, even if it was a bit creepy. The whole place is full of paintings and is really interesting. I would love to return and wander through the place by myself for hours, on a much warmer day of course. After the tour we ate “comida” (lunch is the small snack they eat at like 10 or 11 which includes coffee and a pastry or small sandwhich, comida is the huge dinner-type meal they eat at 1 or 2 or 3pm) at a restaurant nearby. We had pasta with a sweet tomato sauce, a huge slice of pork chop, and a crepe filled with some banana/cinnamon/something? sauce which was delicious!
FRIDAY NIGHT! = Carnaval in Polígono!
Brooke came over to my house to get ready since she lives in Buenavista (a different neighborhood of Toledo). She, Lis, and I were disco balls. How does one dress as a disco ball?? We bought silver sequin dresses which were on sale for 5 euros at Zara and paired them with huge silver earrings, a sparkly necklace, and lots of bangles. Brooke and I both decided to wear a black shirt/sweatshirt and two layers of leggings/pants/tights underneath our dresses since it was freeeeezing Friday night. Our outfit was completed with silver eye makeup and lots of glitter. Upon descending the stairs we got to present our costumes to my family. My host mom said “How pretty!! But, what are you?” I finally got a picture taken with most of my family, minus Olga since she was in her pajamas and refused to be in the picture (I’ll post a link to my Carnaval pictures later).
Carnaval in Polígono was located behind the library and consisted of a large stage with a live band. It was actually pretty sweet. There were drink stands surrounding the place, and millions of crazy costumes. We encountered a Pac-Man guy who went around saying “Guapa Guapa Guapa” constantly. That translates to “pretty girl” for those of you non-spanish speakers. He was hilarious and told us he’d be at Zocodover the next night, so we made plans to try to find him again on Saturday. Some of my other favorite costumes I saw included (and yes, I did take pictures of these) a mermaid (man) with a full, uncovered plastic chest, tons of chickens and tiny chicks, the characters of Grease, and the gingerbread people (who refused to take a picture!). Everyone here gets really into dressing up, and the cool thing to do is to plan to dress as a theme within your group of friends. On Wednesday night in Zocodover we saw a person dressed as Jesus, followed by his 12 disciples, complete with one of them splashing wine on the ground in front of Jesus’ feet. I tried a new Spanish drink tonight! It consisted of red wine and coca-cola, and was actually very good. This was also the first time I encountered Spaniards that actually danced! Oh, and another note: they have a hilarious song here about “las chinas” (Chinese women) and also they do a different chicken dance, which is much more fun than the one in the states!
SATURDAY
Today there was a parade at 5:30 in new Toledo. It was a lot of fun once it finally got to us, but I feel as though it just made me more confused about what Carnaval is celebrating. Apparently each neighborhood dresses up for the parade as a specific theme to represent themselves. I saw everything from a movie theater complete with tiny walking popcorns to Aztec dancers. I also heard the “Ding Dong Song” which is definitely not age-appropriate for the kids at the parade. Good thing it is in English, and I don’t think anyone there actually knew what it was saying…The parade went on forever, check out my pictures to see some of the highlights!
Saturday night!!
I went to Brooke’s after the parade where I got to meet her dog, Jack, her mom, María, and her sister, also María. We warmed up some paella (which was very good) and then her mom made us a salad…lol Well, she said she was making us a salad, and that we should get it out of the microwave once it was done. It turned out to be tomato slices covered with melted provolone-type cheese, which was actually delicious. I still find it hilarious that our ‘salad’ was made in the microwave though! After fruit for dessert we rushed to get ready and caught the buho bus at midnight to Zocodover. The same stage and band were at Zocodover as was in Polígono the night before, but there were tons of people shoved into the plaza. We pushed our way through the crowd, searching for someone we knew. We finally found some kids from our program and ended up standing right next to some older people (40s+) dressed as Indians, complete with a teepee set up, and smoking pot in their pipes… I find it really odd how they gather to celebrate here. Everyone just brings a bottle, mixers, and cups to the plaza or street where they are meeting and then sets it all down and forms a circle around their alcohol. It’s so different from the States I feel like. After dancing in the plaza we went to O’Briens bar to warm up for a bit. From there we returned to the plaza for a while. Once we were chilled again we went to our favorite discoteca, Camelot, and danced until we had to catch the bus at 3:30am.
I’m thinking that the United States really needs to find more reasons to throw weeklong fiestas like Carnaval!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Comida deliciosa
Sorry, this is not really for the benefit of readers, but more so for my benefit. But once I get these recipes I’ll be sure to pass them on if you are interested!
I need these Spanish recipes:
-Apples in the oven (like applesauce, but better). Cook at 180 degrees until skins are brown and apples are mushy (I think). You can also core them before and then shove an orange slice in there and cook it like that if you want. I have not tried this version, but apparently my host dad thinks he’s quite the chef and that is how he makes his. (considering this is the only thing I’ve seen him make I’m not quite sure whether to believe it’s good or not..)
-Breakfast bread
-Soup recipe(s) esp the one with cabbage in it
-Uh oh…there were others and I’ve already forgotten them.
I need to find a place in the US to buy “quesitos” also - think cream cheese with more of a goat cheese type taste…it’s delicious.
I need these Spanish recipes:
-Apples in the oven (like applesauce, but better). Cook at 180 degrees until skins are brown and apples are mushy (I think). You can also core them before and then shove an orange slice in there and cook it like that if you want. I have not tried this version, but apparently my host dad thinks he’s quite the chef and that is how he makes his. (considering this is the only thing I’ve seen him make I’m not quite sure whether to believe it’s good or not..)
-Breakfast bread
-Soup recipe(s) esp the one with cabbage in it
-Uh oh…there were others and I’ve already forgotten them.
I need to find a place in the US to buy “quesitos” also - think cream cheese with more of a goat cheese type taste…it’s delicious.
Monday, February 8, 2010
¿Conejo?
Sunday, February 07, 2010
I would call this past weekend my first true weekend that I have spent here in Toledo. Thursday the Polígono people went out to Enebros. We had a larger group this time, and we dominated the empty bar (apparently the Spanish people don’t go out if it’s been raining…or even sprinkling within the past 24 hours…). It was fun to just catch up and chat (interesting converstations…) and then of course to play Nin-Jeti thanks to David.
Friday was a bit more intense… A bunch of us (myself included) had to go to the Prado Museum (ok, we got to go, not had to) for our Master Painters of Spain class. It was interesting to see all of the Greco and Velazquez paintings while getting a guided art tour of them. My favorite is now the last and most famous Velazquez painting of the princess and of Velazquez himself looking out at you. The story and confusion/wonder about the painting’s meaning really intrigues me, and I think I could stare at it for hours trying to figure out what I believe he meant by painting it that way. My other favorites are definitely all Greco paintings. I find his style so amazingly intricate it never ceases to overwhelm me. Where do you start when you first look at a Greco painting?!
After the Prado I went back home where I took a quick siesta, made myself a quick dinner consisting of 2 slices of buttered bread (there was no turkey for my sandwich) and some cornflakes in chocolate milk. Just like the US :) I then met up with Kyle and our intercambio partners, Arantxa (not sure how to spell her name, it sounds like Aran-cha) and Gonzalo. We chilled in a park talking, with them ripping on our Spanish pronounciation for a large portion of the time. They had to leave at midnight (they are only like 16-17 years old) and so then Kyle and I went and met up with a bunch of the Polígono friends at O’Briens bar. A bunch of us split a pitcher of sangria while we just hung around for an hour or so chatting and dancing a little to the oh-so-American music. We also met a guy who spoke English and who happened to be with the traveling circus which was in town. He also turned out to be a bit of a creeper, so those who were smart ignored him, bahaha. We then visited Explorer’s (a discoteca) which was empty so we went instead to Camelot, one of our favorite discotecas as of now. We stayed at Camelot for a while dancing a bit and having a good time (el Azul!). Once Camelot started emptying at around 3am we decided to go over to Explorer’s again and see if it was any better. It was. That place was packed, both floors. Unfortunately the music was not the best and we had to catch the bus at 3:30 (we thought..) so we didn’t stay too long. The bus ended up coming around 3:50 instead of 3:30, so Liz, Matt, Felipe, and I got back to Polígono at around 4:10ish. Felipe had been talking about this “Churreria” he went to with his host brother, so we decided to give it a try. After touring almost all of the industrial park of Polígono we finally found it. Fresh churros and chocolate have never tasted so good.
Saturday I had planned on going to the mercadillo in Polígono with Amy and Liz, but it turns out I had other plans… I had agreed the night before to go to Eroski (think Spanish Walmart) with my host mom and dad because I was going to look for contact solution there while they picked up a few things, or so I thought. Well, Matu (mom) woke me up at 10:30, a good 4.5 hours of sleep there… and we left at about 11am for Eroski. They didn’t have my contact solution and it turned out to be one of the most painful shopping experiences of my life. I really am learning just how much patience the Spanish people have. My host mom took her time. With everything. I enjoyed seeing all of the different products they sell here, but after seeing them all for the 3rd time it got a little old, lol. After about 2 hours there we left, me with the skinned conejo (bunny rabbit…) in hand. Needless to say, I didn’t make it to the mercadillo. After we got home I took a siesta, ate dinner, and met up with friends at Zocodover Plaza (in old Toledo) for the botellon. With a box of sangria and some cups in hand we headed to the park outside the walls of old Toledo for the botellon. Botellon happens every Thursday and Saturday night in the same spot. It’s basically a high school reunion for Spaniards. About 200-300 people were there, drinking and chatting with friends. There really isn’t much to do besides socialize and freeze if it’s cold out, which it was. Once we couldn’t feel our feet anymore (from the cold! Jeeze!) we walked to a new discoteca. I never really figured out the name of it, but I know it said “rock music” on the outside, but on the inside they definitely played only crappy techno. It was a cool place, actually. 2 stories, with the top floor being like an overlook of the dancefloor below. We stayed for maybe an hour before heading to catch the bus.
-The bus had some interesting characters on it. Some extremely drunk and probably on drugs Spaniards kept trying to harass two of our guy friends. Luckily some of the Spaniards were not so messed up, so they helped keep things calm. Still, it didn’t leave the greatest impression on me about how “accepting” Spaniards are of outsiders. I don’t think I have ever witnessed anything like that on a bus in Minneapolis, and that is saying something.
Sunday Liz, Matt, Felipe and I climbed “Pride Rock” which overlooks all of Toledo. My lunch before the climb consisted of a tuna/boiled egg/seafood-tasting mayonnaise salad (which I luckily didn’t have to finish because my mom just made me try it, she must have known it’s not a hit with people from the US) and conejo. As I was eating my bunny rabbit my host dad pointed at it and exclaimed “Bugs Bunny!!” That really did not help it go down any easier. I think it only went down because I was actually hungry and for the most part it tasted like chicken. Although watching my mom eat the bunny’s brain after I finished almost compromised my previous accomplishment of getting it down in the first place.
Mmm dinner was a huge hotdog and scrambled eggs. Thank goodness I told Matu I like scrambled eggs early on. :)
This week is Carnaval, well more specifically, I think it is this weekend. I’m not quite sure what that is going to entail, but I am excited to find out!! And I promise, the Madrid and Malaga posts are coming…sorry!
I would call this past weekend my first true weekend that I have spent here in Toledo. Thursday the Polígono people went out to Enebros. We had a larger group this time, and we dominated the empty bar (apparently the Spanish people don’t go out if it’s been raining…or even sprinkling within the past 24 hours…). It was fun to just catch up and chat (interesting converstations…) and then of course to play Nin-Jeti thanks to David.
Friday was a bit more intense… A bunch of us (myself included) had to go to the Prado Museum (ok, we got to go, not had to) for our Master Painters of Spain class. It was interesting to see all of the Greco and Velazquez paintings while getting a guided art tour of them. My favorite is now the last and most famous Velazquez painting of the princess and of Velazquez himself looking out at you. The story and confusion/wonder about the painting’s meaning really intrigues me, and I think I could stare at it for hours trying to figure out what I believe he meant by painting it that way. My other favorites are definitely all Greco paintings. I find his style so amazingly intricate it never ceases to overwhelm me. Where do you start when you first look at a Greco painting?!
After the Prado I went back home where I took a quick siesta, made myself a quick dinner consisting of 2 slices of buttered bread (there was no turkey for my sandwich) and some cornflakes in chocolate milk. Just like the US :) I then met up with Kyle and our intercambio partners, Arantxa (not sure how to spell her name, it sounds like Aran-cha) and Gonzalo. We chilled in a park talking, with them ripping on our Spanish pronounciation for a large portion of the time. They had to leave at midnight (they are only like 16-17 years old) and so then Kyle and I went and met up with a bunch of the Polígono friends at O’Briens bar. A bunch of us split a pitcher of sangria while we just hung around for an hour or so chatting and dancing a little to the oh-so-American music. We also met a guy who spoke English and who happened to be with the traveling circus which was in town. He also turned out to be a bit of a creeper, so those who were smart ignored him, bahaha. We then visited Explorer’s (a discoteca) which was empty so we went instead to Camelot, one of our favorite discotecas as of now. We stayed at Camelot for a while dancing a bit and having a good time (el Azul!). Once Camelot started emptying at around 3am we decided to go over to Explorer’s again and see if it was any better. It was. That place was packed, both floors. Unfortunately the music was not the best and we had to catch the bus at 3:30 (we thought..) so we didn’t stay too long. The bus ended up coming around 3:50 instead of 3:30, so Liz, Matt, Felipe, and I got back to Polígono at around 4:10ish. Felipe had been talking about this “Churreria” he went to with his host brother, so we decided to give it a try. After touring almost all of the industrial park of Polígono we finally found it. Fresh churros and chocolate have never tasted so good.
Saturday I had planned on going to the mercadillo in Polígono with Amy and Liz, but it turns out I had other plans… I had agreed the night before to go to Eroski (think Spanish Walmart) with my host mom and dad because I was going to look for contact solution there while they picked up a few things, or so I thought. Well, Matu (mom) woke me up at 10:30, a good 4.5 hours of sleep there… and we left at about 11am for Eroski. They didn’t have my contact solution and it turned out to be one of the most painful shopping experiences of my life. I really am learning just how much patience the Spanish people have. My host mom took her time. With everything. I enjoyed seeing all of the different products they sell here, but after seeing them all for the 3rd time it got a little old, lol. After about 2 hours there we left, me with the skinned conejo (bunny rabbit…) in hand. Needless to say, I didn’t make it to the mercadillo. After we got home I took a siesta, ate dinner, and met up with friends at Zocodover Plaza (in old Toledo) for the botellon. With a box of sangria and some cups in hand we headed to the park outside the walls of old Toledo for the botellon. Botellon happens every Thursday and Saturday night in the same spot. It’s basically a high school reunion for Spaniards. About 200-300 people were there, drinking and chatting with friends. There really isn’t much to do besides socialize and freeze if it’s cold out, which it was. Once we couldn’t feel our feet anymore (from the cold! Jeeze!) we walked to a new discoteca. I never really figured out the name of it, but I know it said “rock music” on the outside, but on the inside they definitely played only crappy techno. It was a cool place, actually. 2 stories, with the top floor being like an overlook of the dancefloor below. We stayed for maybe an hour before heading to catch the bus.
-The bus had some interesting characters on it. Some extremely drunk and probably on drugs Spaniards kept trying to harass two of our guy friends. Luckily some of the Spaniards were not so messed up, so they helped keep things calm. Still, it didn’t leave the greatest impression on me about how “accepting” Spaniards are of outsiders. I don’t think I have ever witnessed anything like that on a bus in Minneapolis, and that is saying something.
Sunday Liz, Matt, Felipe and I climbed “Pride Rock” which overlooks all of Toledo. My lunch before the climb consisted of a tuna/boiled egg/seafood-tasting mayonnaise salad (which I luckily didn’t have to finish because my mom just made me try it, she must have known it’s not a hit with people from the US) and conejo. As I was eating my bunny rabbit my host dad pointed at it and exclaimed “Bugs Bunny!!” That really did not help it go down any easier. I think it only went down because I was actually hungry and for the most part it tasted like chicken. Although watching my mom eat the bunny’s brain after I finished almost compromised my previous accomplishment of getting it down in the first place.
Mmm dinner was a huge hotdog and scrambled eggs. Thank goodness I told Matu I like scrambled eggs early on. :)
This week is Carnaval, well more specifically, I think it is this weekend. I’m not quite sure what that is going to entail, but I am excited to find out!! And I promise, the Madrid and Malaga posts are coming…sorry!
Monday, February 1, 2010
Politics!
Domingo, el 31 de enero.
Ok, so I found out my host dad’s b-day is actually the 11 of February, and not the second…and they don’t really do anything for birthdays…not sure if I should do anything or not.
I talked with my host parents today about politics (great, I’m horrible at talking politics in English). It was really interesting actually. They don’t like Republicans since they think they are all about money and oil (and they are…pretty much correct). They also argued strongly and intensely with me aobut how social healthcare is better in every way possible. They said that the quality of doctors doesn’t decline, and also proved every other doubt I had about it wrong, I’m still not sure where I stand on the whole issue, but it was really interesting to hear how much they love social healthcare, considering they know what it is like. They really really do not like the system we have now. Guaranteed they don’t really know everything about it, but they do seem to have a good take on it, and can form a rebuttle to whatever point I may make. They hate Bush. Bahahaa, as does everyone. They also said the US needs to focus on our own people, instead of worrying about everyone else—we do have enough problems at home to keep us busy for centuries I think. Also, we talked about schooling, and the costs of school. I wish I could go to school in Spain…it’s soooooo much cheaper! More people my host dad knew about: Davey Croquet, George Washington, John Adams, Sitting Bull (my favorite, bahahaaa), and also West Point Military Academy. I wonder where he gains all this information…
Sorry that is such a random collection of thoughts/conversations, but it’s actually really hard to describe my conversations with them, they really are just random tangent conversations, although the healthcare debates we have (frequently) usually follow a pattern.
PS Malaga was amazing. I still need to write about Madrid. And then Malaga after that. Sorry I’m behind….it’s been a busy week…2 weeks? I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve written!
Ok, so I found out my host dad’s b-day is actually the 11 of February, and not the second…and they don’t really do anything for birthdays…not sure if I should do anything or not.
I talked with my host parents today about politics (great, I’m horrible at talking politics in English). It was really interesting actually. They don’t like Republicans since they think they are all about money and oil (and they are…pretty much correct). They also argued strongly and intensely with me aobut how social healthcare is better in every way possible. They said that the quality of doctors doesn’t decline, and also proved every other doubt I had about it wrong, I’m still not sure where I stand on the whole issue, but it was really interesting to hear how much they love social healthcare, considering they know what it is like. They really really do not like the system we have now. Guaranteed they don’t really know everything about it, but they do seem to have a good take on it, and can form a rebuttle to whatever point I may make. They hate Bush. Bahahaa, as does everyone. They also said the US needs to focus on our own people, instead of worrying about everyone else—we do have enough problems at home to keep us busy for centuries I think. Also, we talked about schooling, and the costs of school. I wish I could go to school in Spain…it’s soooooo much cheaper! More people my host dad knew about: Davey Croquet, George Washington, John Adams, Sitting Bull (my favorite, bahahaaa), and also West Point Military Academy. I wonder where he gains all this information…
Sorry that is such a random collection of thoughts/conversations, but it’s actually really hard to describe my conversations with them, they really are just random tangent conversations, although the healthcare debates we have (frequently) usually follow a pattern.
PS Malaga was amazing. I still need to write about Madrid. And then Malaga after that. Sorry I’m behind….it’s been a busy week…2 weeks? I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve written!
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