Day 14; Oh, the Ants Go Marching . . .

Only one more day of English Camp left. I'm finding this really sad at times, and at others exciting because it'll be nice to be home.



I'm really sad to leave right now, though. The kids are so adorable, I miss them already. So I've come up with the idea to clear my summer calendar for next year when I get home. And Spain is going onto the list of places I want to live when I'm older. I like America enough that I'm perfectly willing to defend her and her people, but not enough to want to raise my kids there. In Tres Cantos it's the norm for entire families to live in small apartments. There's no "my kids have 2 bedrooms to themselves and their toys," in fact the kids here contain in their possession what the average American child receives for Christmas.



For the night I'm home alone. The whole family went out to a family dinner, but I opted to stay home, walk around Tres Cantos, go for a run, and eat a small dinner. But I didn't count on the loneliness. After living in closer quarters for two weeks it feels so strange to be alone, and I'm actually really regretting not going to the dinner.



So for no I'm going to go change into my PJs and get ready for bed, maybe turn on a movie or something so it's not completely silent in here. Until tomorrow. =]

Day 13; Starting to Switch Back

I've come up with the brilliant idea of attempting to switch back to my time zone while I'm still in Spain. The only issue is I still need to get up around 8:15 every morning, which is 2:15AM NJ time, so I'm too sure if this plan will work.

This past week I've gotten rather close with Camila, one of the girls in the Break Out Group I'm part of. She's so sweet and seems to really be coming out of her shell, which makes me sad knowing that I'll be leaving, and probably never see her again.

My group on the service team has somehow gotten assigned to a lot of free time this week. Monday and Friday or really the only two days that are full on the schedule, but I'm making the best of it. I've gone around taking pictures, and asking random people if they need help, and most oftentimes they do. Today I helped make different props for the graduation ceremony on Friday. It's going to be so adorable! The youngest group, the Reds are going to be doing a "In the Jungle the Lion Sleeps Tonight" type of theme, the next group, the Greens are doing a "Camp Rock" theme, and the oldest, the Blues, and doing a "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme. If they turn out nice, the pictures will be incredible, hopefully.

Today I ran 5k (just in case you wanted to know), and actually enjoyed myself until the driness made it difficult to breathe. But running around Tres Cantos is very nice. I get strange looks though. So far I have yet to see one female runner. And one runner that looks to be under the age of 19. That makes me kinda odd, a female teenaged runner.

Tres Cantos is set out in a way that to me is slightly unusual. From my knowledge, there are sectors here that are strictly for business, but everywhere else there are apartment complexes everywhere: but on the bottom floor of a lot of the complexes, there are stores built in. Little tiny privately own deals. It's actually really neat, and if I get the chance I'm going togo look at some tomorrow afternoon.

And for that I need energy, so I need to sleep. Until tomorrow. =]

Day 12: Heat

Today was easily 102 degrees. I'm still waiting on the official report from the Weather Channel, but at 5PM it was 99. But strangely enough, I didn't even know until I looked out of curiousity.

I'll try to write more tomorrow, but I'm really, really tired now, so good night all. =]

Day 11; The Return of English Camp

This weekend was offically a weekend for tourism. As much as I hate being a tourist, I kind of enjoyed myself. Saturday I went to Segovia with people from English Camp. It was stunning. One of the first things we saw from the bus was the aqueduct, which actually made me nervous because it was built in the first century. They didn't have building codes in the first century; what's to keep it from falling on our heads?

Sunday Señor Adolfo, Inés, Isabel, Debra, and I went into Toledo. Agin quite gorgeous, but made me nervous for the lack of building codes.

Today started the second (and last =[ ) week of English Camp. And it started when I realized I need to take more pictures of people instead of just objects. So that's my goal for the rest of the week, to take pictures of my host family, the kids at camp . . . and maybe a few pictures so I can come back with example of what Tres Cantos looks like.

In other news, I've been having issues with my stomach for the past four days. I'm not too sure why, but as I sit here typing it's gurgling away, and at times painful. The soy milk I just had is kinda suspicious since in its ingrediants it listed "flavors" instead of what was actually used, and the taste was kinda familiar, so it could have very well been chocolate. Now since I haven't had chocolate (or at least, large quantities of it), I don't know if the reactions would be as bad as they used to. Only this bottle of soy milk tastes funky, and the others didn't bother me at all. So who knows? Maybe somehow I'm getting traces something my body does not want by accident? All I know is I was woken up at 2AM Saturday morning with nearly violent nausa (or however you spell it) and have been feeling the same on and off all weekend. Today was the worst by far, though. It got so bad I actually left lunch to lay down for a bit.

So yes, if you haven't gathered it by now I'm rambling about that because nothing really happened worth mentioning today. =] But if those of you who are reading this can pray for my health, it would be much appreciated.

Day 8; Done With Week 1. =[

Today ended week 1 of English Camp. I'm both excited for next week and this weekend, but also sad that week 1 is already gone. Time keeps going faster and faster as the week goes on, and I feel that if I blink I'll be getting on the plane to go home. =[

Yesterday was like the day before that. After English Camp we all stayed at home and relaxed. But after dinner (at 9 30ish) Inés and I watched a chic flic. The Nanny Files or something like that. It was both really funny (we watched it in English, the original language it was made in with Spanish subtitles so we could both easily follow), but at the end apparently we were both close to tears (this is what happens when you watch a movie when you're tired). It was so much fun just hanging out with her. I got her to try peanut butter for the first time (while a staple in USA, people tend to think it's disgusting here), and she immediately rinsed out her mouth saying it was absolutely horrible. Hahaha.

And today nothing really noteable happened. I do believe that I've made friends with the girls in my breakout group (Alicia, Belen, and Camila [HA, ABC! I only just now noticed that . . .]), which is really exciting. They're part of the oldest group (Blue Group), but their levels of Spanish vary. Alicia (Alee-thee-ah if you were wondering. They have a pretty different accent here, so I need to constantly watch what I say so they understand) is by far the most adapt in English, and Camila . . . is not. But it's amazing how much she seems to have picked up this week alone! Either that or she just came out of her shell. For the most of the week she has been very quiet, not leading us to believe she understood us. But then yesterday at crafts (we've helped at crafts 3 times this week, including today, which I find I don't actually mind), since she was finished early I took her aside and talked with her for a bit. And she responded to the questions I asked! Granted, we spoke in Spanglish, but it was a lot better then it had been this whole week! So after she left for the next activity I ran up to the classrooms, found Jaime, and told her. We were both kinda excited that she did understand more then she did, and that maybe she wouldn't be as shy anymore.

And there's a bit of a poke war going on between Alicia, Belen, Camila and I. I'm pretty sure I started it by playing an old trick on Belen at crafts. Poking her shoulder then turning away, pretending it wasn't me. And then I did it to the others, and now they get me back my attacking me when I attempt to do it again. And then Belen started poking Camila and blaming it on me, and of course it looked bad in my case, haha.

Today was also kinda sad, because a girl on the service team I've gotten close to (Mandy) isn't coming for week 2. She's going to Barcelona with her family, but might be coming back for the camp graduation. I really hope so, she's absolutely hystercial!

I'm really looking forward to this weekend: Segovia tomorrow all day with workeds from English Camp, and Toledo on Sunday with the family (and possibly Mandy and her family). So, my updates but be on hiatus until Monday, but we'll see. Until then. =]

Day 6; And the Time Keeps Flyin' By . . .

It feels as if I got here months ago, but it's really only been 6 days. And it also feels as if Monday were happening today. It's all very confusing.

Today at English Camp my team had water bottle and snack duty. Our schedule said we would be free most of the day, but in reality we were free for about 1.5 hours out of 7. Not bad at all, but tomorrow I think we only have 1/2 hour free the entire time. That's fine by me, I would much rather be doing something instead of sitting around waiting for the next job.

Water bottles isn't really that hard of a job at all, but it's very time consuming considering there's 100 plus bottles to fill and 7 on a team. That was just in the morning before the kids came, but then later on we had snack duty. Today's snack was "dirt with bugs." Simply chocolate pudding with 2 gummy worms and chocolate cake on top. I stayed as far away from the chocolate as possible, though, just separating the pudding tubs from another. It was actually really fun watching the kid's faces as they found the gummy worms. Some poor girl actually thought we were giving them real dirt and worms and was kinda upset.

Everything else is going pretty well, I'm definitely not as tired today as I have been. I'm roughly a mile ahead of schedule in running, which is very exciting. Even though I've decided against longer runs while I'm here, I may reconsider if I can run on Friday since it'll be a lot cooler here then it has been. We'll see, I still need roughly 20 more kilometers this weeks. I'll be happy with 15 more, though.

That's another thing. I'm getting decent at the metric system! Distance measurements I've been fine with, but temperature and others have been more difficult. But I suppose since I've been so immersed it's helping a lot.

My Spanish, too. Obviously I won't be jumping levels while I'm here, but I'm pretty sure it's better than nothing. Leila, the mother of the house, gave me a Junie B. Jones book, and I understand it for the most part! Pretty exciting stuffs. =]

Day 5; Exhaustion Setting In . . .

Before I forget, I wanted to post links to the songs of the day at English Camp.

Day 1 (Monday): The theme was Jamaica. For this first week we're traveling to a different English speaking country everyday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyYZUhSeRYc

Day 2 (Tuesday): The theme for today was India. Substitute "lion" for "tiger." =] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUMwu_gXK7Q

The reason for the title today is simply because I'm too tired to think of anything more creative. The school is laid out that the gym is completely seperated from the school itself and is closest to the enterance. The school is further back, and about what is equivalent to two flights of steps higher than the gym. And then the "Bunker" is on the third floor of the school. All stairs. And we have to go back and forth multiple times in a day.

And then I've been running today. And swimming three times. And staying up too late, but oh well. It's all fun. =D

Day 4; English Camp

Here's how English Camp works. 115 kids are divided into three color groups: The Blue 5 and 6 graders, the Green 3 and 4 graders, and the Red 1 and 2 graders. Those groups are broken down again into groups of three or four, led by a "monitor." They go to a lesson, make a craft, eat a snack, play sports, eat lunch, and have "passport time" everyday. Each of those sections are led by the monitors when it's not passport time, or small group time (Break Out Groups, or BOG). But how do these monitors make sure their kids get where they need to be and lead an activity at the same time?

That's where the Service Team comes in. This year the actually have quite a few teenagers or the trip. From what I can see though, there's only a handful my age travelling alone, most other's have a relative or friend.

The Service Team consists of only teenagers from this trip, and local teens from Tres Cantos. We're broken down into 6 groups and assigned different jobs each day.

But when we're not doing a job, we're hanging out in the "Bunker" with the kids from Tres Cantos. If I'm correct, most of them are not believers. There's the "Invisible Friend" game, where everyone draws a name from a bag and leave notes for them throughout the day.

Most if not all of the teens are assigned a BOG too, but they don't lead it. That's left up to those who are over either 18 or 19 (I haven't figured out which yet). The Service Team wears red shirts, and the monitors wear blue, so it's pretty easy to tell which is which.

Today, of course with my luck, my group was assigned a break day. A break day on the first day. So essentially we sat and stared at each other in the Bunker until someone gave us the job of refilling glue bottles. Not exactly easy considering most of the lids were glued shut. Oy.

But tomorrow we apparently have a really full day, so that'll be good. Not good considering the Service Team is supposed to draw a poster each tomorrow, but I don't know if that's seriously required or not. I'll find out tomorrow.

Until then, hasta mañana. =]

Day 4; Spanish Life

There's A LOT I want to cover today, so I've split the topics into two: Spanish Life, and English Camp.

For starters, they tend to be a bit more lax on matters of time. While Americans tend to constantly be running so they're not late, Spaniards take their time for most things. I'm actually finding this really enjoyable and am really wishing America worked like this. Nearly everyone I've met seems a lot more relaxed and happy than Americans.

Then comes their sleep patterns. On Saturday night the family (including the kids, the youngest being 6) went out for ice cream. At 10:30. We didn't get home until after 11. And to them that seemed to be in the norm. During the school year, elementary school starts at 9:30 and high school starts at 8:30.

And then their food. Since they wake up later, they eat breakfast around 9 or 10AM. And then maybe a small little snack, and then lunch around 2 or 3. And then dinner can be anywhere between 9 and 10.

What they eat is different too. They tend to use oil instead of butter, fruit, "jelly (jello)," and maybe a small ice cream for dessert, and nearly always salad. They use white flour instead of wheat, but it seems to balance out because they eat so much less than us. I think their dinners are about the size of some American's snacks. I'm perfectly fine with that honestly since I really don't like eating when I'm still full. And when you wait 6 hours for a meal, you tend to be hungry.

Their breakfasts are the same, cereal, fruit, and juice. My breakfasts are going to be mainly the same because a lot of their cereals actually have chocolate in them. So i've been having "Fibre Flakes" which actually are pretty good, and "Soja Leche," or soy milk. And then Piña y Uva juice. My ultimate favorite of the juices I've tried so far. I've always loved pinapple juice, but this stuff is just awesome. I wonder if there's a way to get some back in the states. . .

Lunches and dinners so far have always been hot. Today at English Camp we had a form of vegetable soup, a ham omelette, a small piece of bread, salad, and I had an apple since I couldn't eat the small cup of ice cream. My first day here we had hamburgers, but they didn't taste like any hamburger I've ever tried. They were so good.

Dinners can be the same. Tonight we had rice and sword fish with tomato sauce over the rice, and raw tomatoes which lately I've found I'm starting to like.

And their desserts are very different. An American can eat a huge bowl of ice cream, or a plate full of cookies. So far we've had fresh fruit and one night we went to get ice cream, but the serving size of that ice cream? What's roughly equivalent to a kid's scoop at Baskin Robbins.

Tonight while we had dessert we played a game. The mother of the family had a large bowl or cherries by her, and whoever could answer her questions correctly got two cherries. I had to translate from English to Spanish, and the kids vice versa. They did better than me, which wasn't surprising, but I did get some right. I know know how many cherries we all ended up with, but it was very satisfying.

People around here tend to be what we call OCD: think Monk in cleanliness. But not in the ways of germs. When Señor Adolfo and I went running last night with Inés biking, we all shared the same water bottle. Something that I found very interesting.

English Camp explanation next. =]

Day 3; Orientation

It felt a lot cooler this morning, mainly because I discovered I'm allowed to keep the door to the porch open and the fan on. In reality, it was a good deal warmer today then yesterday. But with no humidity, it doesn't feel that bad. 90 degrees is 90 degrees, no: "it's 80 degrees, but it really feels like 92." Kinda nice in that sense, but it makes it hard to breathe through my nose.

Around 11:30, we went to church (or GV center, or Global Ventures Center), had a worship service, then went on a walk to the school where English Camp is held. It was about two miles there and back, but there was enough shade that it wasn't too bad. We had lunch around 2:45, then had a meeting until I came back the house at 8:10.

Then Señor Adolfo and I went on a run. We were supposed to go 10k, but I started getting dizzy and nauseous so we stopped around 4.5 miles. I've already decided that while I'm here, my runs will be shorter and more frequent as opposed to fewer and longer runs. Much more practical.

For now I'm too tired to write more. There was something I was going to say but I forget what it is. English Camp tomorrow! I'll explain it later. For now, bed. =]

Day 2; Free Day!

So today we had absolutely nothing on our schedules. Woke up around 8AM (2AM USA time . . . yikes!) to 80 degree weather, ate breakfast around 9 with Inés (fresh watermelon, jugo de piña y uva [pinapple and grape juice. Yes, it sounds weird, but it's feels so good to drink something cold on a hot morning. They don't have AC], and a piece of toast with some form of oil), and then around 10 Inés and I went for a walk around Tres Cantos. We saw their church (they're Roman Catholic), the central park, and "Centro Comercial," which is essentially a super market and mall rolled into one building. That was roughly a 3 mile walk with little or no shade.

I've learned that Tres Cantos is very green in the enviromentalist way. There are different garabages for plastics, "organics," and paper everywhere. Lots of activities; most people seem to be in decent shape. And yet I've seen more people smoke here than I do in America, which is an interesting thought.

Lots of Smart Cars and the like. I don't think I've seen one SUV or Hummer.

Tonight another girl from English Camp is staying with use, Debra. Her host family is away on vacation or something or the other until tomorrow. It's kinda nice, actually, talking with someone who lives in the same culture as I do. While I love the family I'm staying with, it can be difficult to make sure I "live as the Romans do," and even though I've been with them one day, it's a very welcome break. She's very nice, too. =]

This "afternoon," (5:30, or 17:30 since they tend to use the 24 hour clock) we went to a pool. It took about 30 minutes each way, but it was very nice. Not too hot, not too cold.

And then this evening (10:30, or 22:30) we went to get ice cream. Since I can't have ice cream I got this lemon slushie thing. It was so sweet I was finished with it after a few sips and gave the rest to Isabel.

And now Debra and I are just sitting in the bedroom, reading, writing blog posts and waiting for exhaustion to set in. I'm still kinda wired from that slushie thing, so I might jump on the exercise bike for a bit.

More tomorrow. =]

Day 1; Part 2

Tomorrow is a free day. Not too sure what we´re going to do yet. Sunday is 11:45AM-?? for church/orientation. And Monday starts English Camp.

On of the exciting things is I know I won´t get out of shape while I´m here. There´s an exercise bike in my room, so I won´t have an excuse not to use it. And the father of the family is a marathon runner. How cool is that?! We have a 10k run planned for Sunday evening followed by a swim with the family.

Asides from arrive, we haven´t done too much unless you count lunch and a party. Just ate dinner now with Ines and Teresa. An empenada and shrimp. It was really good.

So, far now I´m going to go read and maybe bike to get myself really tired. More tomorrow. =]

Day 1; I´m here!

After getting on the plane last night, I was beginning to wonder what I was getting myself into. It was a 10PM flight, and wouldn´t land for another 7 hours. I figured, that´s plenty of time to sleep. I didn´t count on not being able to sleep, and the plane leaving late. So somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean I seriously began to doubt myself. Until I fell asleep.

I ended up with about 4-5 hours of sleep, waking up around 9AM Spain time, and 3AM NJ time. Yikes. It´s now 10:27PM, and I´m only feeling a little tired thanks to my numerous ¨cat naps¨ throughout the day. I probably won´t sleep for another hour or 2.

Tres Cantos is absolutely gorgeous. The whole area of Madrid is very dry. Today it was about 90 degrees, right now it´s 86, but it feels wonderful. No humidity to speak of. But there are green things all around Tres Cantos.

More later.