Week 8

February 02, 2020

Week 8

Buenas!

Monday - Today we had a day off for Santa Tomas (which I still don't know what it is but because it meant a day off school and no religion class so I am alright with not knowing) and as per usual I slept in but this time until 1 (which was kinda waste of a day but it meant that I would refuel my energy for the week of school. Then I had a shower and then we picked Elena up from school and went to my host abuelas house for lunch and then we walked home and my host sisters prepared for swimming. Then while they were swimming I did some shopping and I bought some stuff for presents back home and also a cute pair of jeans and a shirt that was on sale at Pull & Bear. Then when I got home I read a book on my phone for a bit after we had dinner and then we chilled before going to bed.

Tuesday - Today we had school which although it was nice to see my friends again waking up early in the morning and walking in the cold to school isn't exactly my idea of fun. Firstly we had maths but the teacher never showed up and then we had English which was easy then we had a Spanish exam which I didn't do because I hardly ever understand what is going on in that class. Then we had break and after we had drama which I just about fell asleep in and then we had biology which I already know the material we were learning and lastly we had history which was talking about the Carlist Wars. After school, we had lunch at my abuelas house and then we came home and because I didn't have much homework I spent the afternoon playing on my switch and watching Netflix. Then we had dinner and after I went upstairs tidied my stuff and then went to bed.

Wednesday -Today we had English first period and we had an exam which I did do and the listening part was easy but the translations were hard as they were Spanish words I’ve never seen before in my life but I did manage to get at least half of them fully translated after we had bio and then chemistry then break and after break, we had Spanish which was the teacher yelling at the class for fifty minutes about a part of the exam that they did badly in and then we had PE and we played baseball and that was fun and after we had tutoría which involved this lady who came in and talked about how to be healthy. After school as per usual, we went to my abuelas house for lunch and then we came home and I spent the afternoon studying different Spanish tenses and then proceeding to get distracted by Nintendo switch. Then we had dinner and after I made a list of ingredients for pavlova which I’m gonna make for them and then I had a shower and went to bed.

Thursday - Today we didn't do much at school (that I remember) but after school, I needed to buy a new charger for my phone as my other one broke and so we went to MediaMarkt and then we went to IKEA because I had never been to one before and I was very excited for some reason to go and explore inside. I didn't buy anything as I did not see the need to but it was a very cool experience. When we got home it was time for me to make a pavlova for my family so Marta and I whipped up the pavlova and put it in the oven and it turned out pretty good if I do say myself. Then for dinner, we had what they call burritos. In New Zealand what they called burritos I would call wraps because when I think of burritos I think of rice, beans and veggies and here it was a tomato chicken mix, lettuce and ranch.

Friday - Today I got the opportunity to not go to school but instead spend a day shadowing my host mum at the local primary school she teaches at. It was so cool. The kids were all very cute and they thought when I said I am from New Zealand that we must speak Spanish because when I spoke English to the English teacher they were very surprised and exclaimed "Hablas inglés!" (You speak English!) It was very amusing. Then after school, we went to my abuelas for lunch and after I went with Marta, Lucia and Martin (Marta's friend from swimming) to see Jojo Rabbit at the cinemas it was quite funny as I had watched the movie back in NZ and the jokes we find funny in NZ did not go over as well in Spain and it was just me laughing and the rest of the cinema was quiet.

Saturday - We went to Valencia for a day trip. It was very cool and surprisingly hot as over here it is winter and it was 26 degrees with a lot of sunshine. Valencia is known for some amazing architecture (old and new) We spent most of the day walking around the city looking at many of the old buildings that they have there and then in the afternoon we went to these huge modern buildings that host the museum of science (which I really wish we visited) and the opera house. Early in the morning we walked around Central market which was insane as it was this huge building with people selling fish, veggies, meat and many different types of food and there were huge amounts of people there. We were probably walking around 7 hours and my legs were pretty much dead on the car ride back but we had to stay awake so that after we got home and had dinner we would go to sleep.

Sunday - I really did not do much on Sunday as I needed a day to relax so I spent the day at home eating pasta and playing on my Switch and watching Netflix and taking a much-needed shower after the day before.

Overall the week was really good. Some of my fellow kiwis have departed Spain today (Sunday) and I will miss them and I wish them a safe flight back to NZ. I have 4 weeks left in Spain and I know that time will go by very quickly and while I'm excited to go back to see my family and friends back in NZ I am not excited to leave my life here in Spain knowing that some of them I will never see again. February is gonna be an interesting month as I don't have a lot planned except a weekend with my cousins living in Europe. As per usual I am learning Spanish so please excuse any and all English mistakes I have made. Hasta Pronto!