My Other Family

I figured since I go home in a couple of days, now would be a good time to write about my family from Spain. I couldn't have asked for a better family while here. They have truly made my experience memorable. I became just another member of the family...another daughter for them (that makes 4 girls and 1 boy) and a sister. In turn I consider them part of my extended family. I love them all and will forever. I have an open invitation to come and visit any time I like and I have said the same for them. Anytime I come back to Europe for my travels I will definitely come to visit them. I know we will always be a part of each others' lives. The parents, Eva and Franscess, are amazing. Eva is a great Mom and always included me in everything. She is also a wonderful cook. She loves learning Enlglish and has been speaking it since she was in high school. She is very proficient in the language. There have been times when we don't undrstand each other, but the spanish/english dictionary usually takes care of the problem. Franscess doesn't speak English, but that did not stop us from communicating with each other. We would find one work that the other knew and be able to figure out what the other was saying. There ways also some pointing involved. It always amused the rest of the family how we talked to one another. Marc, the oldest, is 20. He goes to Barcelona University. He loves futbol (which is quite typical here) and plays on a team. We only talked a little to each other because in the beginning he was shy and then later on he didn't want to speak in English. Even though he can understand and speak it a little, he hates languages. He much prefers to speak in Catalan which didn't offend me at all and I was ok with. It just made it difficult to get to know him well. Although, he frustrated his Mom becuase she couldn't understand why he wouldn't take advantage of speaking with me in English. Mireia is 17 and in her last year in high school. She takes her work very seriously and is always studying for some test. She is on a roller skating team which is very popular here. It's like ice skating, but on roller skates. She just came back from a world championship in Germany and placed 7th for individual which is very good for her first time. The group skating also just competing the world championship and the club placed 2nd for the first time...which is a very big deal. Cristina is next and she just turned 16. She is the most like me. We are both middle children and hate school...I can totally relate to her :) She fights with her younger sister like I fought with my younger sister...way too funny. She is also a skater. She also competed in the world championship and was in the same group as her sister. Skating practice takes up a lot of time. They sometimes have 2 practices in 1 night. In the summer I would cart them around and most days it would be 2 or 3 practices in 1 day. It is way intense! Anna, the youngest, is the little diva, but not in a bad way. She will be 14 next month. She is very much into being the comedian around the house and is alwyays trying to get a laugh out of everyone. She is always looking for attention at home, but in public she can be quite shy. She loves speaking in English and will be the best in the family because she started at a young age and likes learning it. She especially likes saying bad words becuase she doesn't really know the meaning and they are fun for her to say...even when I tell her not to say those words (which is why I think she does it). Her sport is tennis and she take piano lessions. The 3 girls definitely remind me of me and my sisters. Even some their characteristics are similar to ours. It was really crazy to witness...it was like seeing me and my sisters almost 10 years ago. I will definitely be sad to leave them all. However, knowing that I will come back one day soon makes it easier to leave. I look forward to seeing everyone when I return home. Less than 2 days!!

Random Facts

Houses in Almoster Above-the Church in Almoster, Below- The Bar in Almoster My time in ending in Spain and I realized that I haven't really talked about the things that I have witnessed, heard about or seen while here. Almoster, the little town I reside in is like most small villages in Spain. There is a grade school, bakery, pharmacy, public pool (that costs money to enter), a tiny, tiny grocery store, bar and a church. The church in each village is always the highest building so in the distance you always see the church tower. They are usually at the top of a hill. The bar area is usually the meeting point for people. Each village I have entered has exactly the same set-up. During the day the old people are always out and about taking their walks or going to the bakery. The old men are always congregated together in the little square. I see them every morning during my run. The population here is rather small. This area that I'm in is condisered the country because it's up in the hills...it's definitely not what we consider the countryside. Down the hill from us and a few minutes away is Reus, the city. Here is a list of random things that I have noticed during my stay: -Every single family has an alarm system in their house. -Every house is surrounded by walls and fense. -Most people have huge dog(s) in their yards (I think to scare away potenial robbers). -On occasion some of these dogs have wanted to take a bite out of me...they can usually see over the fense and as I am running by they like to pop their head out and start snarling/barking at me. I have learned which houses to steer clear of. -There are no public rest rooms. Restaurants do not let you use their's unless you are a paying customer. -In the streets of Reus I have seen mothers with children of the potty training age just pull down their kid's pants and let them go to the bathroom right there in front of everyone...they usually find a patch of dirt, but come on!! -There is really no grass to speak of unless it's in a person's backyard or in an abandoned field. -Facial piercing are huge over here. The majority of teenagers have at least 1 or more kind of pircings on their face. -I'm sad to say that I have seen guys sporting mullets. I don't know what they are thinking, but it's a terrible look and the 80's are definitely over...I guess they didn't get the memo. -A popular type of pants that I see are where the crotch of the pants is at the knees. I don't know who thought of this, but it makes the kids loook like they are waiting for a flood. Plus you can't walk very fast in them. -High School starts at age 12...they don't do junior high. Right after grade school they go straight to hight school. I'm not sure why since there is such a huge age difference between 12 and 18. -The driving and drinking age is 18. However, if you want a motorbike then you can start driving a small one at age 14. Does anyone understand that logic because I sure don't?! -Most kids come home from school for lunch for about and 1 1/2 siesta and then it's back to school until 5:30. -Most shops close during siesta as well and are closed all day on Sunday. -Majority of cars are manual, only a few are automatic. Round-Abouts are everywhere with hardly any street lights...I HATE round-abouts. -There are playgrounds everywhere...usually randomly placed throughout the city. -Betty Boop and Hello Kitty are very popular right now. Every store usually carries some kind of merchanise for one of these brands. -I also see figurines of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs everywhere as well. There are no malls...only shops on the street (kinda like what you would see on Birch street in Brea, but on a bigger scale). -Estrella Damm is the choice of beer. -Graffiti is on most walls and buildings. There is a section of wall in town where it looks like they let people do their own mural. On this stretch of wall there are probably about 50 different murals...some are really good and some are just way too random and weird. -Many families that I have met eat cereal out of a mug instead of a bowl. -I hear American music on 2 different radio stations. Plus when I am out and about in town I also hear it. -Since I am living in Catalonia, I learned that these people hate bull fighting and flamenco dancing...that is south of Spain, thank you very much. They want nothing to do with it (they think it's so stupid) and when people stereotype the whole of Spain with these 2 activities they get very angry. -Catalan people are very prideful about where they come from. Many would like to be separate from the rest of Spain. I mean, they even have a different language from the southerners. -Many consider themselves from Catalonia first and Spain second. I am sure there is much more, but that is all I can think of at the moment.

Castanyada (aka Halloween)

Halloween is celebrated a lot differently in Spain than in the States. There is no trick-or-treating and no one dresses up (except for maybe the big cities). I was a little sad not to dress up, but I made up for it by still going to a party. That afternoon I carved pumpkin with the youngest daughter. It was lots of fun because that was her first pumpkin carving. Her reaction to taking out the insides was, "ewww, gross!" It is popular for people here to get together with friends and roast Castanyes, which are a type of nut and not too bad. Days before people were selling these all over town. A popular dessert is Panallets which is a cookie made with almonds and potatoes. It sounds gross, but it is actually really good. That night I went to a party in a farm house with my friend, Ari, from Barcelona. The house wasn't that far away, but we had to take this country road for about 10 min. It was extremely dark because there are no lights and there were lots of curves. It was a pretty scary drive and I would not want to do it by myself. I was able to meet all of Ari's friends and they all were super friendly...even though they all spoke Catalan/Spanish (only Ari speaks English). I tried to talk to them with my high school spanish, but it's been years since I have really used it and it didn't quite work out. Therefore, Ari was my translator for the night. After a few drinks, though, it helped with our communication with each other. We had a big dinner first and later we weredrinking and dancing. One of the guys at the party is a DJ and brough his equipment with him. Around 3am we went to a little disco in town. The bad thing is that smoking is allowed inside so my clothes and hair reaked of smoke by the end of the night so that was pretty disgusting. I am so happy to have met Ari and her friends. They all made me feel part of the group. I'm sad that I am leaving so soon after meeting them...if only I met them months ago.