October 22 - October 27 (well, 28)

October 22, 10:28pm

Today has been full of highs and lows.
High:  I got up the courage to ask two people that I see on a daily basis while walking each a single question about themselves/their day before continuing on my way; a question a day is the start of a friendship!
Low:  Upon reaching my internship I got ridiculously cold and tired and felt just all-around awful and was incapable of speaking/understanding Spanish.
High:  I procured cheap, delicious, sugary candy that, while a simple pleasure, lifted my spirits.

You can't really see it that well, but it's a
rainbow over the colegio that I work at!

Low:  Though I paid attention through anthro, I'm super concerned about how I'll end up doing on the midterm.
High:  I got to have a brief conversation with Gaby over Facebook.
Low:  I was basically bored to tears in my Spanish class today.  I'm not even exaggerating when I say this; I wanted so badly to be doing something else and learning that I nearly cried.
High:  Running after Spanish felt great, even though I think last week I may have gotten tendonitis or something and I have no idea how.
Low:  My host mom had told me before I could eat whatever and whenever in the house, so I had been doing a small "dinner" here, and she confronted me today saying that IES program requirements state that I can't do that and I have to go out every night or go buy groceries.  That wouldn't be a problem except that, as you Reader may or may not know, I'm not exactly that well-off financially.  Actually, to be fully honest, I'm flat-broke and have been borrowing money from my parents, who are out of work and have been for some time, as in we have to sell the house and stuff.  I've already borrowed so much that I feel quite weighed down by what I know I owe my parents, the loan company, other people... So no, I really would indeed prefer skipping dinner except for every now and again, because of all this.
High:  I feel like I'm growing in my relationship with God a ton, which I sense most clearly in that I thirst for Him now more than ever before.  It's probably because I've been depending so heavily on Him.

The book sale going on in Puerta Real.  SO MANY BOOKS!

Low:  A couple of my friends are stressing out because of the drama happening around the program.  Long story short, a fellow LFC friend was venting about how another fellow Forester was venting about how some of the non-LFC students talk bad about me and a couple other people behind our backs.  Personally, I have a clear conscience and a belief that even if you gossip about me I will still love you and treat you well, thus I don't care about what anyone may say about me.  I just feel so sorry for those students, because they don't care to know me or my friends better and try to understand my story, or anyone else's story, and because nobody will confront us in person about anything.  Poor guys.

October 24, 9:10am

My key for the song activity we did in English.

Yesterday was probably one of the craziest days of my internship because for whatever reason the kiddos just wouldn't settle, and not just during English but also when we were trying to correct our homework.  There's like between six and ten kids at any given point in time who are talking, standing up to walk around, or fighting, boys and girls.  At the same time, I'm falling more in love with these kids and starting to care for them and what they learn.  Teaching like this is for sure not my career path, especially since I wake up daily not looking forward to coming to my internship, but I may enjoy doing something similar with relevance in my future career in IR, maybe working in Monteverde and fostering language exchange programs or organizing the hosting of foreign students, especially as a tour guide.  It's funny, I don't like doing tourism myself personally as a tourist, but I love being the tour guide and teaching others.

Last night some of us went out and celebrated Kelsey's 21st birthday, which was full of laughter and a great time with good company.  Yesterday I also had the opportunity to skype my family and wish my dad a happy birthday, and I'm happy I skyped them, even though I got a little homesick.

October 25, 11:40am

Dinner at a Chinese restaurant for Kelsey's birthday.

Yesterday was basically the apex of a second hump of culture shock for me.  I just became homesick and the whole thing that happened with my host mom basically saying that I can't come home with my wet shoes anymore because I'll get sick and that I need to buy rainboots was really frustrating, and I ended up saying, "Look, I currently have no job while I'm here, and my parents have been out of work since the crisis started. I can't just waltz over to the store and drop 30 euro (like 35-40 USD).  I'm not a 'rich American'."  I think it's not just the money situation though but also that while in Costa Rica I got so accustomed to not buying what I really could do without and such, and it was a cultural aspect I adapted to readily and maintained during my month back in the U.S. as well, and to have that challenged was actually a shock for me.  I don't know.  Anyway, the day was full of little things like that, though I had a good Spanish class because talking to Antonio was awesome.  Today I just got done beginning a new lesson in English about animals and it seems like the kids really liked it.  I also encouraged them a bit to sign up for the theater class that's being offered for free, and showed them my Pirates of Penzance picture.

October 26, 4:09pm

The Civic Center of Zaidín, where I did my field research.

What an oddly busy day today is.  Here's yesterday though:  I had a pretty great internship day especially because it was one of my best English classes.  It was probably because, as I already mentioned, we learned new vocabulary and I had them copy it down.  They [the kids] are starting to talk to me more, which is great.  That evening we watched a movie in Spanish called Volver and it was all right.  I then attempted to meet up with Tito to practice for the open mic but the church was closed and it was downpouring so we played a bit outside the theater and then went home.  All my stuff was wet.  No problem though.

Neda and her cola-cao (hot chocolate basically) at the café
where we were meeting to discuss our Spanish project.

Today I went and studied with Kassie and Aurora a bit for anthro, then I went and dropped stuff off/picked stuff up for my investigation/field work for anthro and went to the Civic Center.  There, I took notes and talked to a woman about the center and Zaidín.  I came home and typed that all up and had lunch, and now I have to make tortillas, meet up with Jenny, meet up with Neda and Jessica, shower, change clothes, met up early for open mic, and yeah...a lot of stuff not necessarily in that order.  It's a crazy crazy day.

October 27, 3:21pm

Left to right: Tito, Eileen, Jenny, and me singing at the open mic.

A butterfly at the butterfly house in Parque de las Ciencias.

Last night at the open mic was fantastic.  The song I did was "Only Hope" by Switchfoot (or Mandy Moore if you've seen A Walk to Remember) with Tito, Eileen, and Jenny.  It was keyed up though, too high for my voice and I had a voice crack when singing the highest note, but anyway, my Spanish intercambio partner came with her boyfriend and like seven or eight other Spaniards in the translation department at the university and it was so cool!  I like them a lot.  And well in general we just had a great open mic night with many performances, religious and non-religious.  Then afterward me, Carli, Eileen, Jenny, Claire, and Tito got tapas with Carli's friend from Germany, Sebastian.  All in all it was a great night, though I got back late and had to get up "early" for the Parque de las Ciencias (basically museum of science and industry).  IT WAS SO COOL!  I seriously because like a little girl as soon as I walked in and was all over the place exploring and talking with the museum guides/workers and losing my group three or four times.  We saw a body exhibit, brain exhibit, puppet exhibit, butterfly garden, birds of prey, and so much more.  I want to go back so super badly now.  The guy I talked to in the butterfly house gifted me with a didactic manual on insects/butterflies because I told him about my odd fascination and how I used to want to be an entomologist.  Too cool!

October 28, 9:25am

Left to right and back to front: Travis, me, Nathan, Lorena, Albert Einstein,
Robert, Raye, and Kristen outside the Parque de las Ciencias.

After I took a nap yesterday, I put myself to work.  I had, and still have, a lot of work to do.  I want to do my Spanish homework primarily, but it's not due until Wednesday, so really what I should be doing is studying for my anthro midterm on Monday.  However, that didn't stop me from spending most of my evening doing my seminar and Spanish homework.  I just like it better, that's all.

At around 10pm, Aurora and I went with a couple other IES Granada students to welcome the IES Rabat students and take them out for tapas at La Bella y La Bestia.  I'm glad I went because I like doing that sort of tour guide type stuff a ton, but all the kids really wanted to do was drink.  I say "kids" because, well, here in Spain even though it's a drinking society, the people who get totally wasted like those guys wanted to do are usually the younger ones in high school or just beginning college.  I think American drinking culture, by prohibiting it until age 21, may have something to do with it; it becomes a sort of binge for so many people.  In any case Rorie and I took them to the shot place they wanted to go to and then we left and went home.  And it's daylight savings time clock fall-back today, so I got an extra hour of sleep, yay!  More study time!