School Lunch

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today we had chinese food for the school lunch. This was a huge deal. The whole cafeteria was decorated with Chinese flags and there was a huge dragon hanging in the middle of the room. Everyone was really excited that we were eating Chinese food. So we got our food: rice with eggs and ham and pees, spring rolls, lemon chicken and flan. The food was truly disgusting. The spring rolls were mushy and there weren't really any vegetables inside. Nobody really liked the food, but it didn't matter it was such a big deal. If Catlin got really into every time we had Asian food, well we would have a party pretty much everyday.

Not much has happened lately. Halloween is celebrated here, but its not as big a deal. Little kids do not go trick or treating, but they do get dressed up and eat candy. Older kids dress up, have a party and throw eggs at cars and houses, but they don't TP. I have pretty much completely become accustomed to the eating hours. (Light breakfast at 8, bocadillo at 12, lunch at 2, snack at 6, and dinner at 9.) And, the bread here is AMAZING! I was talking to a girl in my class and she said that Spanish bread is better than French bread, which makes it the best bread in the world.

Today, in English class I had a presentation on Halloween in America. And, so I talked for a little bit about our customs and such and then I handed out caramel apples. I wanted to make them for everyone in my class, but I ran out of caramel, so people had to share, but it turned out to be not a big deal. My classmates asked me how to make caramel apples and they joked that they were going to go home and make caramel apples.

This weekend I hung out with Pepita and Antonio, who are like my Spanish godparents. When I came in fourth grade to Spain we rented their beach house, and they came over one day and introduced themselves, and ever since then we have been close. Last summer they came to Portland and spent the month living with Emma and Virginia. Anyways on Sunday they took me to a little town south west of Madrid named Talavera de la Reyna. It is known mostly for its incredible pottery. The pottery is everywhere and really really pretty! We went to Talavera de la Reyna because their daughters were in a bike race, so we cheered them on. These are some pictures.

The thing I think I miss most right now about the states is peanut butter. I could really go for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a banana and peanut butter, or just plane peanut butter in a spoon. mmm!!

I have been here a month!! When I was getting ready to come I was very nervous and had trouble deciding what to pack and also I had some weird conceptions of how Spaniards lived.

First, I thought that everyone in Spain would be very fashion forward and dress in all the latest styles, wear bright colors, and always look put together. So I packed to be fashionable: my more fashionable jeans, sweaters instead of sweatshirts, flats and boots instead of converse, and blouses instead of tshirts. However, I wish I had packed differently. At school most people wear jeans, a t-shirt, converse and a sweatshirt (normally a zip-up). The sweatshirts are pretty much exactly like the ones that I didn't pack, same with the tshirts and the converse (I didn't bring converse so the second week I begged my mom to send over a pair). People are really relaxed at school and don't really care what they wear or look like. The only major difference is that girls wear their jeans the same way boys do - loose and sagging low so you can see their underwear. The first time I saw this I was kind of in awe, I had to keep reminding myself not to stare at peoples' crotches. Another difference is that people like to match their clothes, so they wear red shoes, a red shirt and red earrings, or green shoes a green belt (the belt is usually thin and worn at the waist but on top of the shirt) and a green necklace, every once in a while people will paint their fingernails to be super matching. As I have been here a month I have come to the conclusion that Americans and Spaniards dress very similar, and I should not have packed so stylish (I have yet to wear a pair of pants).

My second conception was that when you took a shower you would turn the water on and rinse, then turn it off, rub in your shampoo and lather yourself with soap, then turn the water back on and rinse off, then turn it off, put in your conditioner, then rinse off. That would be a less than 5 minute shower. And I did that the first few days I was in here. However, I started paying attention to the water when someone else showered, and I noticed that they did not turn the water on and off every 30 seconds. They took normal showers of about 10-15 minutes. So although Spain has a water shortage, you don't need to be overly conscience of it.

Finally, before I came here I thought everyone would be very skinny. That hasn't quite been the case. All of the guys are fit and lengthy because they exercise all the time. However it is very rare for a girl to work out. I know one girl who plays tennis once a week for her exercise, but that is pretty much it. They might eat less, but basically for girls it just comes down to genetics whether or not you are skinny. However, I have yet to see anymore obese. People on the metro may be overweight, but nobody (that I have seen yet) is obese.