Oh the weather outside is frightful
But the fire is so delightful
And since we've no place to go
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
It doesn't show signs of stopping
And I've bought some corn for popping
The lights are turned way down low
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
When we finally kiss goodnight
How I'll hate going out in the storm!
But if you'll really hold me tight
All the way home I'll be warm
The fire is slowly dying
And, my dear, we're still goodbying
But as long as you love me so
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
Friday, December 24, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Just in case anyone was wondering, it is impossible to eat a banana leaf. You know, just in case you were thinking of going out today and looking for something new to eat, a banana leaf wouldn´t be a good choice. Even if you are served a banana leaf, don´t be fooled. It´s a trick. What you are really supposed to eat is what is wrapped up inside of the banana leaf.
ooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh.................... that right there would be my favourite saying.
ooohhhh...... i see..... so you´re not supposed to chew this tasteless green rubber for 5 min and try and force it down your throat......
Anyways, it´s a good thing to take note of.
Yesterday I also had a very interesting experience. I went with my Spanish friend Miriam to her English intonation class. Maybe I´m just a nerd but what they learn about fascinates me. Did you know that the way we speak in English can by analyzed so that with every different pitch we use we change the meaning of what we are saying. It´s so crazy. They were all so intent on analyzing everything that I said. Miriam told me that a native English speaker here is very precious and I was like a treasure. Yup, thats right, I´m a precious commodity here. Ha I dunno if I can use that word. I´m getting to accostumed to speaking with people who are trying to learn English so that anything I say is taken as correct because I´m the native Canadian.
IT was really hard in the class thought because I would be given a sentence like "WHere do you come from?" And I would have to say it naturally. The first time I could say it naturally but if I tried to say it again I always changed it and raised my voice at the end because I was seeking confirmation that I was doing it right. I didn´t come up with that explanation by myslef by the way. DId you ever notice that when we ask questions in English sometimes we are hiding a command in the question and when we do that our voice goes down at the end of the sentence and not up. Like if you ask someone to pass something at the dinner table. There were a lot of things she explained that I had just never thought about and was like hey, ya, thats true! Sometimes I would disappoint her though when she would ask me to say something naturally that I wouldn´t normally say, hence I can´t say it naturally. Like "goodbye." If you think about it you probably don´t ever really say that word. I say "bye" on the phone and when I¨m leaving somewhere I always say "see ya" The SPanish people find "see ya" amusing because in spanish you are saying "chair" - "silla."
Well that will have to be all because I am supposed to be studying for my Spanish exam! Ya no sé estudiar!
ooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh.................... that right there would be my favourite saying.
ooohhhh...... i see..... so you´re not supposed to chew this tasteless green rubber for 5 min and try and force it down your throat......
Anyways, it´s a good thing to take note of.
Yesterday I also had a very interesting experience. I went with my Spanish friend Miriam to her English intonation class. Maybe I´m just a nerd but what they learn about fascinates me. Did you know that the way we speak in English can by analyzed so that with every different pitch we use we change the meaning of what we are saying. It´s so crazy. They were all so intent on analyzing everything that I said. Miriam told me that a native English speaker here is very precious and I was like a treasure. Yup, thats right, I´m a precious commodity here. Ha I dunno if I can use that word. I´m getting to accostumed to speaking with people who are trying to learn English so that anything I say is taken as correct because I´m the native Canadian.
IT was really hard in the class thought because I would be given a sentence like "WHere do you come from?" And I would have to say it naturally. The first time I could say it naturally but if I tried to say it again I always changed it and raised my voice at the end because I was seeking confirmation that I was doing it right. I didn´t come up with that explanation by myslef by the way. DId you ever notice that when we ask questions in English sometimes we are hiding a command in the question and when we do that our voice goes down at the end of the sentence and not up. Like if you ask someone to pass something at the dinner table. There were a lot of things she explained that I had just never thought about and was like hey, ya, thats true! Sometimes I would disappoint her though when she would ask me to say something naturally that I wouldn´t normally say, hence I can´t say it naturally. Like "goodbye." If you think about it you probably don´t ever really say that word. I say "bye" on the phone and when I¨m leaving somewhere I always say "see ya" The SPanish people find "see ya" amusing because in spanish you are saying "chair" - "silla."
Well that will have to be all because I am supposed to be studying for my Spanish exam! Ya no sé estudiar!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
My New Little Friend
Just thought I'd give an update on the lizard in my room. Apparently it's still there because yesterday I came downstairs to find eight year old Ivan building an elaborate lizard trap.
It consists of an empty plastic water bottle cut in half, filled with cut up tomatoes.He fashioned a ramp out of cardboard so the lizard may enter the pool of tomatoes. He then put oil on the sides of the bottle so the lizard couldn't climb back out.
So far, however, the lizard seems smarter than Ivan as the tomatoes have gone untouched.
And! Oh I was so excited! Okay, so, I have been watching movies and Spanish tv with spanish subtitles so I can understand what is going on. But yesterday I went to the cinema with some friends who had discounted tickets to Mega Mind. Yes, its a kids movie, but I understood everything that was happening! Without subtitles! Yay!
It consists of an empty plastic water bottle cut in half, filled with cut up tomatoes.He fashioned a ramp out of cardboard so the lizard may enter the pool of tomatoes. He then put oil on the sides of the bottle so the lizard couldn't climb back out.
So far, however, the lizard seems smarter than Ivan as the tomatoes have gone untouched.
And! Oh I was so excited! Okay, so, I have been watching movies and Spanish tv with spanish subtitles so I can understand what is going on. But yesterday I went to the cinema with some friends who had discounted tickets to Mega Mind. Yes, its a kids movie, but I understood everything that was happening! Without subtitles! Yay!
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Some Beautiful Shots of This Beautiful Island
Monday, December 13, 2010
I don't come with subtitles
Wow. It's almost been a month! I really don't feel like it's been a month since I last wrote but I also feel like it's still September, I don't think my internal clock works very well anymore.
What has happened in a month?
Well first of all I lost my image of the tough Canadian that never feels the cold as I went to Malaga for a weekend, left my African climate, and shivered and suffered in a staggering temperature of 10 degrees. I came back traumatized by the cold and convinced that I can never again leave this island. You can imagine that I was mocked just a little when I came back to Gran Canaria with a brand new jacket.
That weekend was however the first weekend where it really started to feel like Christmas. We went Christmas shopping and huddled inside under blankets drinking hot drinks on Saturday after going out Friday night. Spain really does go all out on the Christmas decorations. There are poinsettias everywhere along with lights, giant bells and Christmas decorations, and in Malaga, even a giant pink Christmas tree.
It was recently David's (one of the boys that I look after) birthday and he received Monopoly as a present. Hence I think I have played Monopoly everyday for about a week. But this also adds to the Christmas feel. I think it's because Bethany and I used to play endless Monopoly over the Christmas holidays. I wasn't sure what to get David for a birthday present but thankfully I lucked out when I found a whoppee cushion in one of the toy stores. Le encanto! He loved it. Unfortunately I can't say the same for his parents. It was around constantly for about 2 days and I haven't seen it since.......
I feel like I really get along well with the boys. When I was little I always was asking my mom for a little brother and now I know what its like to have 2!
I've also been meeting and speaking Spanish and English with a lot of Spanish students that want to improve their English. And my Spanish is getting better! Yay! Last weekend I went to a Birthday party where there were only Spaniards and I managed to speak Spanish all night! It's a lot easier once you start drinking. Yesterday I met with one girl who wants to improve her English as she is going to go study abroad. She has been watching Friends episodes in English with English subtitles. We were mostly speaking Spanish but after a bit I switched to English for her to see if she could understand me. She just kind of looked at me, then made a motion with her hand as if trying to change a channel on the TV and said "no tienes subtitulos!" You don't have any subtiitles! I laughed so hard. No, no, I don't come with subtitles. Unfortunately for me, the Spanish don't either. Although I am getting better! I understand now when the boys whisper to each other in Spanish, planning some kind of scheme, like trying to trick me by teaching me wrong Spanish words when they said that they would "help" me study for my exam.
Yes, thats right, next week I have an exam on EVERYTHING that I've learned so far. Me parece que hay muchisimas cosas que tengo que repasser!
On that note I am going to go to sleep as I am always tired lately and need to get to bed one night before midnight.
The other day I found a lizard in my room. They're harder to catch then spiders. For all I know it's still there.
What has happened in a month?
Well first of all I lost my image of the tough Canadian that never feels the cold as I went to Malaga for a weekend, left my African climate, and shivered and suffered in a staggering temperature of 10 degrees. I came back traumatized by the cold and convinced that I can never again leave this island. You can imagine that I was mocked just a little when I came back to Gran Canaria with a brand new jacket.
That weekend was however the first weekend where it really started to feel like Christmas. We went Christmas shopping and huddled inside under blankets drinking hot drinks on Saturday after going out Friday night. Spain really does go all out on the Christmas decorations. There are poinsettias everywhere along with lights, giant bells and Christmas decorations, and in Malaga, even a giant pink Christmas tree.
It was recently David's (one of the boys that I look after) birthday and he received Monopoly as a present. Hence I think I have played Monopoly everyday for about a week. But this also adds to the Christmas feel. I think it's because Bethany and I used to play endless Monopoly over the Christmas holidays. I wasn't sure what to get David for a birthday present but thankfully I lucked out when I found a whoppee cushion in one of the toy stores. Le encanto! He loved it. Unfortunately I can't say the same for his parents. It was around constantly for about 2 days and I haven't seen it since.......
I feel like I really get along well with the boys. When I was little I always was asking my mom for a little brother and now I know what its like to have 2!
I've also been meeting and speaking Spanish and English with a lot of Spanish students that want to improve their English. And my Spanish is getting better! Yay! Last weekend I went to a Birthday party where there were only Spaniards and I managed to speak Spanish all night! It's a lot easier once you start drinking. Yesterday I met with one girl who wants to improve her English as she is going to go study abroad. She has been watching Friends episodes in English with English subtitles. We were mostly speaking Spanish but after a bit I switched to English for her to see if she could understand me. She just kind of looked at me, then made a motion with her hand as if trying to change a channel on the TV and said "no tienes subtitulos!" You don't have any subtiitles! I laughed so hard. No, no, I don't come with subtitles. Unfortunately for me, the Spanish don't either. Although I am getting better! I understand now when the boys whisper to each other in Spanish, planning some kind of scheme, like trying to trick me by teaching me wrong Spanish words when they said that they would "help" me study for my exam.
Yes, thats right, next week I have an exam on EVERYTHING that I've learned so far. Me parece que hay muchisimas cosas que tengo que repasser!
On that note I am going to go to sleep as I am always tired lately and need to get to bed one night before midnight.
The other day I found a lizard in my room. They're harder to catch then spiders. For all I know it's still there.
Monday, November 22, 2010
My Favourtie Things
While I was walking home last night I thought of a list of Things that I love about this little island of Gran Canaria.....
- When it rains it only rains for about 10 seconds....however people still run back to the car to get an umbrella.
- If I stare out the kitchen window and look closely there are always lizards running in and out of the stone wall.
- They are very creative with the centre pieces of their round-a-bouts. My favourites are the creepy eye, the giant tea cups straight out of Disneyland, the giant mushroom, and the birds that actually fly around in a circle.
- I can't put on pants before 9 pm without regretting it and wishing that I had worn shorts.
-The word for bus here is different than everywhere else in Spain - la guagua- pronounced la wawa, thats how I hear it anyways....it may not be an accurate pronunciation guide.
- If I wanted to go a day without seeing the ocean I would have to lock myself in my room in the basement.
- I don't know if I've mentioned this before but I live in a golf course. Complete with tennis and padel club. Really wasn't too thrilled with this when I arrived, but I was thinking, and how many people do you know who can start a story with "so this one time when I was living in a golf course full of bunny rabbits...."
-There are rabbits in the golf course. They remind me of UVIC!
- I never knew before that there are so many different kinds of palm trees...and cacti, love the creepy cactus plants that look like they are going to come alive and eat you. I suppose I have a bit of an over active imagination.....
- I never have to worry about grass stains when I play outside with the boys because the grass is fake. Can't really get dirty either.
-The freshly squeezed orange juice every morning.
- No two clocks ever say the same time
-The flower, bird of paradise, grows along the street in people's gardens.
- When I babysit the parents leave so late that it is practically already time for the kids to go to bed and they don't come back until 4 a.m.!
Well thats all I can think of for now.....its quite a bit though eh? Maybe tomorrow I'll make a list of things I hate and then compare..... although that probably wouldn't leave me in a very good mood so I might skip that. Most everything that I don't like here revolves around taking the bus......
- When it rains it only rains for about 10 seconds....however people still run back to the car to get an umbrella.
- If I stare out the kitchen window and look closely there are always lizards running in and out of the stone wall.
- They are very creative with the centre pieces of their round-a-bouts. My favourites are the creepy eye, the giant tea cups straight out of Disneyland, the giant mushroom, and the birds that actually fly around in a circle.
- I can't put on pants before 9 pm without regretting it and wishing that I had worn shorts.
-The word for bus here is different than everywhere else in Spain - la guagua- pronounced la wawa, thats how I hear it anyways....it may not be an accurate pronunciation guide.
- If I wanted to go a day without seeing the ocean I would have to lock myself in my room in the basement.
- I don't know if I've mentioned this before but I live in a golf course. Complete with tennis and padel club. Really wasn't too thrilled with this when I arrived, but I was thinking, and how many people do you know who can start a story with "so this one time when I was living in a golf course full of bunny rabbits...."
-There are rabbits in the golf course. They remind me of UVIC!
- I never knew before that there are so many different kinds of palm trees...and cacti, love the creepy cactus plants that look like they are going to come alive and eat you. I suppose I have a bit of an over active imagination.....
- I never have to worry about grass stains when I play outside with the boys because the grass is fake. Can't really get dirty either.
-The freshly squeezed orange juice every morning.
- No two clocks ever say the same time
-The flower, bird of paradise, grows along the street in people's gardens.
- When I babysit the parents leave so late that it is practically already time for the kids to go to bed and they don't come back until 4 a.m.!
Well thats all I can think of for now.....its quite a bit though eh? Maybe tomorrow I'll make a list of things I hate and then compare..... although that probably wouldn't leave me in a very good mood so I might skip that. Most everything that I don't like here revolves around taking the bus......
Friday, November 19, 2010
Oh No
Okay people I just spent the morning checking out volunteer websites that I found in my "Work your way around the world" book.
Does anyone else out there realize that you can go to almost anywhere in the world, offer to work a few hours a day, get room and board, and well, its done all the time!
Anywhere. Like I mean there is loads of stuff out there and all you really need is the money for a plane ticket.
And you can do just about anything.
We should have learned about this in Planning 10. I wouldn't have had to invent stuff that I wanted to do.
Anywhere. Really, anywhere.
Does anyone else out there realize that you can go to almost anywhere in the world, offer to work a few hours a day, get room and board, and well, its done all the time!
Anywhere. Like I mean there is loads of stuff out there and all you really need is the money for a plane ticket.
And you can do just about anything.
We should have learned about this in Planning 10. I wouldn't have had to invent stuff that I wanted to do.
Anywhere. Really, anywhere.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Going Backwards Just A Bit....
I was just going through my pictures and realized that I never posted to the end of my Austria trip. This is in Salzburg. Me encanta el arbole!
When I got out of the bus and saw this view I was like oh, hey look, I'm home! Doesn't this look like Nelson? Maybe minus the church steeple? One of these days, maybe not really soon, but eventually I am going to realize that I come from one of the most beautiful places on Earth and be content to stay where I am!
This one is for Helene! This is the place from the Sound of Music where the kids are all in the trees.
Hiking in Innsbruck, it may have been just a little colder than Spain....
Ooooooohhh.....ahhhhhh.....mountains...... One thing that is very different about hiking in Austria is you can stop at a little hut after two hours and be served hot chocolate and apple strudel :)
The strangest tourist place I think I've ever been - Swarovski (hopefully I spelled that right?) Diamonds weird museum type thing.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
I dont know if I'm going to survive this winter, I can only get sunburnt so many times.....
"Its so hot out!"
"This isn't normal, not at all. Its winter now, usually it is cold and rainy. no es normal. You will see, it will get cold and you'll have to buy winter clothes."
I have this conversation with different people almost everyday. Yesterday, apparently it rained, and everyone wore pants and were like see see, its winter! And I'm like, the sign still says it s 25 degrees! And are you sure it rained? Or were they just cleaning the streets again? Maybe it rained while I was in the bathroom or something because I definitely did not see it.
Hence I'm still holding out on buying the winter clothes. I'll believe this winter when I see it. The funniest day was November 1st. To be fair, it might have been a few degrees lower than usual but I came upstairs and everyone in my Spanish family were wearing pants. Then I went to school and my spanish teacher was as well. I totally missed the memo that winter started exactly on November 1st.
I'm really not complaining though, I dont mind still being able to go to the beach every weekend. For Halloween, however, the boys had a problem that we definitely never have in Canada. Their costumes were to warm. They couldn't wear their dracula capes! They went to a Halloween party but the North American culture hasn't taken over enough yet for them to be able to go trick or treating. We did carve a pumpkin. It came with instructions and a black sticker face just in case you weren't sure what a jack-o-lantern looked like. The boys were really confused though as to what exactly the pumpkin was for. They were convinced that we now had to go trick or treating and collect the candy in the pumpkin. It didn't matter how many times their mother and I tried to explain to them that we use a plastic pumpkin to collect the candy, or better yet pillow case, they were still convinced that the pumpkin needed candy. I finally did manage on Halloween night to show them how a candle goes inside the pumpkin. A candle is much less exciting than candy.
I was also invited to a Halloween party and it was actually really well done. The only things that gave away that we weren't in North America was the food and the music. The music being Spanish salsa and the food being barbecued meat, and olives and not a piece of candy in sight.
Honestly I think its kind of sad how our commercialized holidays are spreading their way around the globe. I dont really now how to explain why I don't like it, it's just a little scary.
David and Ivan.
Time in Spain. Love it.
"This isn't normal, not at all. Its winter now, usually it is cold and rainy. no es normal. You will see, it will get cold and you'll have to buy winter clothes."
I have this conversation with different people almost everyday. Yesterday, apparently it rained, and everyone wore pants and were like see see, its winter! And I'm like, the sign still says it s 25 degrees! And are you sure it rained? Or were they just cleaning the streets again? Maybe it rained while I was in the bathroom or something because I definitely did not see it.
Hence I'm still holding out on buying the winter clothes. I'll believe this winter when I see it. The funniest day was November 1st. To be fair, it might have been a few degrees lower than usual but I came upstairs and everyone in my Spanish family were wearing pants. Then I went to school and my spanish teacher was as well. I totally missed the memo that winter started exactly on November 1st.
I'm really not complaining though, I dont mind still being able to go to the beach every weekend. For Halloween, however, the boys had a problem that we definitely never have in Canada. Their costumes were to warm. They couldn't wear their dracula capes! They went to a Halloween party but the North American culture hasn't taken over enough yet for them to be able to go trick or treating. We did carve a pumpkin. It came with instructions and a black sticker face just in case you weren't sure what a jack-o-lantern looked like. The boys were really confused though as to what exactly the pumpkin was for. They were convinced that we now had to go trick or treating and collect the candy in the pumpkin. It didn't matter how many times their mother and I tried to explain to them that we use a plastic pumpkin to collect the candy, or better yet pillow case, they were still convinced that the pumpkin needed candy. I finally did manage on Halloween night to show them how a candle goes inside the pumpkin. A candle is much less exciting than candy.
I was also invited to a Halloween party and it was actually really well done. The only things that gave away that we weren't in North America was the food and the music. The music being Spanish salsa and the food being barbecued meat, and olives and not a piece of candy in sight.
Honestly I think its kind of sad how our commercialized holidays are spreading their way around the globe. I dont really now how to explain why I don't like it, it's just a little scary.
David and Ivan.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Things I don't Understand......
It's pretty easy not to buy clothes here. You see, everyone is convinced that even though the weather hardly changes at all, their clothes still need to change. I think its crazy that every clothes store I pass is selling winter jackets and wool sweaters with christmas tree and reindeer patterns while I'm sweating in a sun dress. Are these people actually going to put on a winter a jacket in one month when it is 20 degrees? Are they going to buy the toques and scarves and boots and pretend that it's cold so they can have a fashion change? It actually makes me a little nervous. It's like everyone knows something I don't and suddenly I'm going to wake up one morning and the temperature will have dropped 30 degrees and I'll be the foolish Canadian that didn't bring wool mittens to go live off the coast of Africa.
Although, I do have to admit that last weekend we went camping in the mountains and it was kind of cold. It was like that last week of camp at Pines
in August.....or maybe camping up at Grow For It at the beginning of June, you have to bundle up at night to go to bed but it warms up a lot during the day. But in Canada its fine because we make a CAMPFIRE. I think its so funny listening to all these Spanish people bundled up in winter jackets complaining about being cold while sitting around a LANTERN. Well of course you're going to be cold if you're relying on a candle to give you heat! I understand that there is a risk of forest fires and yes, there are a lot of trees around, but there are the same factors in Canada and yet we still have campfires......do we just not care as much? In any case I made sure that I lived up to the stereotypical view of Canadians by insisting that I wasn't cold and that this was nothing. I survived perfectly fine in Mandy's brown zip up hoodie. If I had been at home I probably would've been complaining........
Okay one more thing I found hilarious. When I was in France there were always deer signs on the highway but I never once saw a deer. Helene insisted that they hide during the day and come out at night. ( even though I never saw one at night non plus...) So I didn't see any but apparently they were there. Last weekend while we were driving we passed a deer sign. Naturally I asked if they had deer. They answered by saying that sometimes there were goats on the road. But no deer? No, no deer. Are there any deer on the island? Nope. None. Nunca.
haha so.......why the deer sign? Well, its because there are goats.
Well at least they were honest.....
Although, I do have to admit that last weekend we went camping in the mountains and it was kind of cold. It was like that last week of camp at Pines
in August.....or maybe camping up at Grow For It at the beginning of June, you have to bundle up at night to go to bed but it warms up a lot during the day. But in Canada its fine because we make a CAMPFIRE. I think its so funny listening to all these Spanish people bundled up in winter jackets complaining about being cold while sitting around a LANTERN. Well of course you're going to be cold if you're relying on a candle to give you heat! I understand that there is a risk of forest fires and yes, there are a lot of trees around, but there are the same factors in Canada and yet we still have campfires......do we just not care as much? In any case I made sure that I lived up to the stereotypical view of Canadians by insisting that I wasn't cold and that this was nothing. I survived perfectly fine in Mandy's brown zip up hoodie. If I had been at home I probably would've been complaining........
Okay one more thing I found hilarious. When I was in France there were always deer signs on the highway but I never once saw a deer. Helene insisted that they hide during the day and come out at night. ( even though I never saw one at night non plus...) So I didn't see any but apparently they were there. Last weekend while we were driving we passed a deer sign. Naturally I asked if they had deer. They answered by saying that sometimes there were goats on the road. But no deer? No, no deer. Are there any deer on the island? Nope. None. Nunca.
haha so.......why the deer sign? Well, its because there are goats.
Well at least they were honest.....
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
Picture highlights from the last 2 months!
Eating on the beach in El Palo, Malaga where my Spanish classes were. I ate every kind of seafood that you could imagine!
Airplanes Kill Confidence
I have decided that I shouldn't go on airplanes. I will be fine all the days up until I go somewhere new until the day I get on the airplane. There, sitting at the boarding gate, with nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs, all of a sudden I will start to question everything. What the heck am I doing? Why am I going to the Canary Islands? Why am I trying to learn Spanish when I can't even succeed at rolling my r's? Why is it that just when I'm feeling comfortable in one place I feel the need to uproot myself all over again and dive into a situation completely different?
yo no se.
There's some Spanish for ya. But I do it because for some reason I love it. I'll board the plane, still cursing myself for my idiot decisions, and sit there thinking of all the times I've been in the exact same situation. The time I went to France and I boarded the plane from Paris to Brest after a crying panic attack but on the plane calmed down while listening to some old French sailor type men laughing and talking rapid French. There was the first time I was all alone in my huge basement room in Victoria and didn't know what to do with all the space so ran around spinning all over the room. There was last August standing in the rain in the Morlaix train station realizing that ya, I was actually going to Spain and they were certainly not going to speak French. And finally there was this plane. I calmed down listening to the rapid spanish of middle aged women drinking beer on the flight, fell asleep, woke up and was brought to this huge house where they drink fresh squeezed orange juice every morning and don't have a house number or street name because after three years the Spanish government hasn't gotten around to licensing them yet. I like the orange juice, the lack of street name and number concerns me a bit.....definitely going to use my backtracker in this place!
Anyways I guess the point of all that is that I am constantly questioning myself, but in the end it always turns out great, right?
yo no se.
There's some Spanish for ya. But I do it because for some reason I love it. I'll board the plane, still cursing myself for my idiot decisions, and sit there thinking of all the times I've been in the exact same situation. The time I went to France and I boarded the plane from Paris to Brest after a crying panic attack but on the plane calmed down while listening to some old French sailor type men laughing and talking rapid French. There was the first time I was all alone in my huge basement room in Victoria and didn't know what to do with all the space so ran around spinning all over the room. There was last August standing in the rain in the Morlaix train station realizing that ya, I was actually going to Spain and they were certainly not going to speak French. And finally there was this plane. I calmed down listening to the rapid spanish of middle aged women drinking beer on the flight, fell asleep, woke up and was brought to this huge house where they drink fresh squeezed orange juice every morning and don't have a house number or street name because after three years the Spanish government hasn't gotten around to licensing them yet. I like the orange juice, the lack of street name and number concerns me a bit.....definitely going to use my backtracker in this place!
Anyways I guess the point of all that is that I am constantly questioning myself, but in the end it always turns out great, right?
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Brief Update!
I´m a little bit anxious today as everything seems to be moving so fast! I just spent an amazing week in Austria, met up with my cousin Leif and his wife Christina, experienced a fire shot with some crazy Australians, went to the opera ( I´m so glad I went!), climbed some mountains in Innsbruck, and ate a lot of cake. I actually stayed at a hostel that was above a bakery and in the morning they brought us cake for breakfast, didnt even ask if we wanted it, just assumed that no one would turn down cake! And the fire shot wasn´t the kind they light on fire before you drink it, it was the kind that they light on fire in your mouth. For some reason my basic instincts told me not to swallow fire and I ended up spitting up the shot on the bar tender. Felt a little bit bad about that the next morning....
But anyways I have to get OFF the computer and pack so that I can fly to the Canary Islands tonight! It all seems a little sureal.....I´m not really sure wha to expect!
But anyways I have to get OFF the computer and pack so that I can fly to the Canary Islands tonight! It all seems a little sureal.....I´m not really sure wha to expect!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Just Ring the Bell
When I was living in France I remember one night very clearly In January when I was sick with the flu and just couldn't find a way to get warm. It was the worst in the middle of the night and obviously, I did survive, but because it was in the middle of the night I just didn't want to wake anyone up and ask for help. Afterwards Helene made it very clear that I should have woken her up! She told me a story about a similar experience she had staying with a family in England where in the end her life would have been a lot easier if she hadn't been scared to wake the people up.
Unfortunately it turns out that I learned nothing from that experience in France. If I had last Friday night would have not need to have been quite so complicated.
I was fairly busy last Friday and went into the centre straight after school to help my friend Jessica find a place to rent for October. After Katrin and I decided to go to a movie that started at 11. (yes it was in English......but thats the first english movie I've watched since I left home!) By the time I got home it was about 1:30. I then stood outside talking on the phone to my parents for about 20 min. Finally I went to go to bed. I took out my key for the first door to the apartment building. Just like always, it stuck a bit so I started jiggling it around. I wasn't having much success. Took it out and tried again. Pulled the door towards me and tried. Pushed the door away from me and tried. Put the key in slowly, jammed it in quickly. No luck. You get the picture. I did that for half an hour. I was convinced that a key cannot just work one day and not work the next. I have been known to have a slight handicap when it comes to keys and locks so I just kept on trying.
After about 40 min. I started to accept the fact that I was not going to get in this way. I could ring the bell, but by this time it was about 2:30. Even for Spaniards this was a little late. Instead I started texting friends. Luckily Katrin ended up still being awake. She couldn't believe that my key could just suddenly not work so she came over and tried. Still didn't work. This made me feel better as it proved that it wasn't just me that was the problem! She came to the conclusion that i was just going to have to ring the bell. No, I definitely didn't want to. I spent the night on her extra bed that pops out of the wall.
The next day I came home at a decent time and rang the bell. I managed half a spanish sentence trying to explain why I couldn't get in by myself before the Spanish lady I've been living with starting going off in not rapid spanish, more just angry annoyed spanish, asking me where I was and why I didn't come home and of course my key didn't work, yesterday they had changed the locks. Ahhhhhhhhhhh ha. well then. I had been joking that they were tired of me and had changed the locks...... Turns out she had tried to call me but, and I still haven't figured out how this happened, she had my old canadian cell phone number. Turns out they had tried to all me before on it as well and were very annoyed that I did not answer their calls. Huh. I don't know, I still haven't figured out how that got so messed up. On the bright side I'm understanding so much more in Spanish that I could pretty much understand everything she said when she was angry! Improvement!
The worst part is though that I even thought about Helene's story as I was standing outside confused at 2 in the morning. I knew I should just ring the bell. But I didn't. I always have to learn things the hard way!
Unfortunately it turns out that I learned nothing from that experience in France. If I had last Friday night would have not need to have been quite so complicated.
I was fairly busy last Friday and went into the centre straight after school to help my friend Jessica find a place to rent for October. After Katrin and I decided to go to a movie that started at 11. (yes it was in English......but thats the first english movie I've watched since I left home!) By the time I got home it was about 1:30. I then stood outside talking on the phone to my parents for about 20 min. Finally I went to go to bed. I took out my key for the first door to the apartment building. Just like always, it stuck a bit so I started jiggling it around. I wasn't having much success. Took it out and tried again. Pulled the door towards me and tried. Pushed the door away from me and tried. Put the key in slowly, jammed it in quickly. No luck. You get the picture. I did that for half an hour. I was convinced that a key cannot just work one day and not work the next. I have been known to have a slight handicap when it comes to keys and locks so I just kept on trying.
After about 40 min. I started to accept the fact that I was not going to get in this way. I could ring the bell, but by this time it was about 2:30. Even for Spaniards this was a little late. Instead I started texting friends. Luckily Katrin ended up still being awake. She couldn't believe that my key could just suddenly not work so she came over and tried. Still didn't work. This made me feel better as it proved that it wasn't just me that was the problem! She came to the conclusion that i was just going to have to ring the bell. No, I definitely didn't want to. I spent the night on her extra bed that pops out of the wall.
The next day I came home at a decent time and rang the bell. I managed half a spanish sentence trying to explain why I couldn't get in by myself before the Spanish lady I've been living with starting going off in not rapid spanish, more just angry annoyed spanish, asking me where I was and why I didn't come home and of course my key didn't work, yesterday they had changed the locks. Ahhhhhhhhhhh ha. well then. I had been joking that they were tired of me and had changed the locks...... Turns out she had tried to call me but, and I still haven't figured out how this happened, she had my old canadian cell phone number. Turns out they had tried to all me before on it as well and were very annoyed that I did not answer their calls. Huh. I don't know, I still haven't figured out how that got so messed up. On the bright side I'm understanding so much more in Spanish that I could pretty much understand everything she said when she was angry! Improvement!
The worst part is though that I even thought about Helene's story as I was standing outside confused at 2 in the morning. I knew I should just ring the bell. But I didn't. I always have to learn things the hard way!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Change of Plans.....
So those of you that know me well will probably not be surprised that I have had a slight change of plans. I opted out of going to school......it all started when I got the idea in my head to search for a family in Malaga who needed an au pair so that I could be half au pair half student and it would be a whole lot cheaper to live here. I found a few families but none of them worked out for how long they wanted me or their location. In the meantime I had made a profile on au pair world and had families all over Spain asking if I wanted to be their au pair. One family in particular was very eager. They live in the Canary Islands.
Ya.
In one email she wrote, "we know you are looking for a family in Malaga, but do you really want to stay in Malaga? HAve you ever been to the Canary Islands?"
Out of curiosity I looked them up.
So ya. You should look them up. At first I thought they were off the east coast of Spain in the Mediterranean. Turns out they´re off the coast of Morocco. The island that the family lives on, Gran Canaria, seems to have mountains, beaches, sand dunes, and a volcano.
After that I started thinking about why I wanted to go to school. To learn Spanish. Turns out I have to pay extra for Spanish lessons and they´re not at the university. So pretty much my choices were as follows:
1. spend 6,000 dollars to live and study in Malaga to learn Spanish.
2. make 300 euros a month living in Gran Canaria to learn Spanish.
Hmmmmmm.
Hence the change of plans. The only downside is I´m going to sorely miss the amazing people I´ve met in Malaga! I´m trying to convince them to come and visit me. I don´t think it will be that hard to do.
Ya.
In one email she wrote, "we know you are looking for a family in Malaga, but do you really want to stay in Malaga? HAve you ever been to the Canary Islands?"
Out of curiosity I looked them up.
So ya. You should look them up. At first I thought they were off the east coast of Spain in the Mediterranean. Turns out they´re off the coast of Morocco. The island that the family lives on, Gran Canaria, seems to have mountains, beaches, sand dunes, and a volcano.
After that I started thinking about why I wanted to go to school. To learn Spanish. Turns out I have to pay extra for Spanish lessons and they´re not at the university. So pretty much my choices were as follows:
1. spend 6,000 dollars to live and study in Malaga to learn Spanish.
2. make 300 euros a month living in Gran Canaria to learn Spanish.
Hmmmmmm.
Hence the change of plans. The only downside is I´m going to sorely miss the amazing people I´ve met in Malaga! I´m trying to convince them to come and visit me. I don´t think it will be that hard to do.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
The Pig´s Foot
For the last three weeks I have been living with a lovely Spanish family while I´m going to the Spanish school just down the street from their house. Here are some things that I find interesting in their house.
Umm...someone is going to have to tell me how to rotate pictures.....this is a painting that hangs in the hallway.
This painting hangs on the wall opposite my bed. I fall asleep to him staring at me every night. Each morning he is still staring at me.
Maybe its just me but I thought it was strange when they added coca cola to red wine. It´s really good, the wine is absolutely amazing. It´s called calimocho .....or something like that, thats what it sounds like to me. Everytime they serve it to me they talk about how it will make me really sleepy and I´ll have to have a siesta when the meal is finished.
How about another one, has anyone else ever put ice cream on their coffee? You can order it at McDonalds for one euro. I just wanted to buy a coffee so that I could use wi-fi. The cheapest coffee was "cafe y helado." I knew helado meant ice cream but I just thought maybe it also meant whipped cream. Nope. It just means ice cream. They serve it with a spoon and the coffee is cold. Although, if you don´t like it you could always buy a beer, still at McDonalds, for not much more.
OKay I have more pictures but I have to go! I´m going to a football game! Malaga vs. Sevilla!
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