Halfway

Sunday February 24, 2008
I started “Mere Christianity” today by C.S. Lewis, and it’s pretty good so far, but I only got like maybe 30 pages into it. I’ve heard nothing but good things about it though so I’m excited to finish it. Other than that, I read the Ensign a lot today after lunch/church…speaking of lunch. It was awesome, we had vegetables!!! This is going to be a surprise, but the veggie mix had not only onions, potatoes, and zucchini, but it also had eggplant…and I liked it! I would never think that I would like eggplant, but it was actually really good. It was almost like they were sautéed together to be served hot as a side or something. I totally could have put it on tacos or something, and then we had some sort of beef steak which was good too. I ate way more than I should have, but because we had veggies, I figured I should stock up on them while they were there. Anyway, I think that’s about it for now, laters!!

Monday February 25, 2008
Here’s the big thing for today: the upcoming election between Zapatero and Rajoy. Zapatero has been president of the government for one term and this is his second, but from what I can see, most of the people don’t like him, and in the political debate tonight, I wrote down some things that seemed important.
1. Gay marriage is allowed throughout Spain because of Zapatero.
2. Prices have risen for EVERYTHING at outrageous rates (ex. 1.15€ for 1/3 of a gallon of gasoline).
3. Problems with immigration and not having papers; Zapatero doesn’t do anything to restrict it, but Rajoy thinks that immigrants should have to sign a work contract and do it the same as Spaniards do. Rajoy says that Zapatero hasn’t followed his “plan” to fix immigration problems at all.
4. Terrorism/violence has continually risen and Zapatero doesn’t seem to be doing anything; Zapatero believes the problem with terrorism is with the Basques and Islam does not affect Spain.
Besides these things, I could only catch bits and pieces and not enough to string together whole ideas. But the impression that I’m getting about Zapatero not just from Padre, but from everyone in general, is that he is a bad apple. He seems to be what we know as a flip-flopper, and he only says what sounds good at the time. At one point in the debate, Rajoy said “Ud. ha jugado con la ley…ha mentido”, or in other words he’s played with the law and he’s lied. When the comment about lying came up, Zapatero said “nunca jamás” which means no more. A phrase that seems to fit quite nicely that Padre kept using is “sin vergüenza”, which means without shame. Sometimes you can just tell when someone doesn’t have good intentions, and just from looking at Zapatero, I don’t have a good feeling about this guy. Of course, it’s politics, and politics is dirty stuff, but I’m really interested to see who wins the election which is on March 9th. I guess from the looks of it, it would seem that Rajoy would be guaranteed the spot, but according to Madre and Padre, Zapatero still might end up winning the election. I don’t understand how anyone could vote for him after all the problems that have come from him, but then again, I’m sure not everyone sees him the same way, and they put different priorities on things. It’s the same in the states with our politics, and not everything is always as it seems, and not everyone is morally good, nor can they be all the time when it comes to politics. More than anything, I’m just glad that I’m an American true blue, through and through.

Wednesday February 27, 2008
Yesterday there wasn’t much to write about because most of the day I was studying for my test in my conversation class for today, which went well I think by the way. Most of the stuff on the test was about food, and then there were sections about types of houses, and then names for the people for where they’re from. That last part was probably the thing that I felt least secure about, but even that I’m pretty sure I did okay on. One of the questions on food was to write a recipe for my favorite dessert, easy!!! Flan! I was pretty excited. Then today after classes we went to the temple again (this was my third time since coming to Spain), and that was fun. But since our group is so big, it takes forever to get through the temple. It wasn’t quite as personal as it is when you’re with a smaller group, it feels more like you’re being herded like cattle instead. But it’s okay, a temple trip is a temple trip, can’t complain.
Other than that, there are two things that I learned in the past couple days that are kind of interesting. First: telling someone to “cáyate”, we would translate it to “shut up”, is not rude to say at all. Our sister Raquel tells Padre to cáyate all the time, and so I asked Jesús about it yesterday in class, and he said it’s more like saying “please be quiet” rather than the harsher translation. She usually says it when the political stuff comes on t.v. because we all know that Padre gets way into it and can’t control his temper.
The second thing is that unlike the U.S., Father’s Day doesn’t come every year, but Mother’s Day does. It just so happens that this year is one of the years that Father’s Day comes and this year it’s on March 19th. I don’t remember when Mother’s Day is, but Brooke said that it comes about the same time as ours. I don’t know, I just think it’s kind of interesting that they aren’t valued equally, or maybe that’s not it at all, who knows.
So I’ve got another test tomorrow in my Spanish class, and I feel pretty good about it. I’ve never really had a hard time with Spanish, and I’m so glad I don’t because there’s people I know that can’t figure the grammar and stuff out, and I just naturally know how to do that stuff most of the time. But the downside is that I can’t always explain why it is the way it is, I can just tell which way it’s supposed to be.
As for tomorrow, after my test, I’m going to reapply for a scholarship through the CSP, maybe email the ticket office to see if I’m still considered an employee, and look at other jobs just so I can give myself options. Then after lunch, I’m going to work on the homework that I postponed because of my tests. Usually I do the homework the day it’s assigned, but I’ve been so busy studying and then today in the temple, that I haven’t had time to do that like I normally do. Brooke is going to Bella y Bestia tomorrow night with some other girls in our group, so she’ll be gone for a while, and I’ll be here alone to do my homework, but that’s okay. Friday morning I guess we’re going to go climb some mountains, and then that night there’s a Young Single Adults dance in Madrid that we’re going to. Then on Saturday we’re going to be in Madrid all day maybe going to museums, or going to Buen Retiro Park to ride the boats in the pond, or something fun like that, and then I’m babysitting for the Shumways’ that night, and then I’m coming home to make stuff for dinner on Sunday for Brooke’s birthday. I think it’s going to be lots of fun! We’re having enchiladas, guacamole, salsa and chips, and Madre is making a cake for dessert! Yum!!! So if I get all of my homework taken care of tomorrow I’ll be in good shape. Ooh, and Ana told me that she has some clothes that I can have if I want them, so I think she’s bringing those over soon. Something else, since you can’t have knives of any kind going on the plane, Ana suggested that the knife I bought in Toledo I wrap it in socks or something and then stick it inside a shoe. I figured I would have to do something like that, but I didn’t think of putting it in a shoe.
Reflecting on the time that we’ve been here so far, I can’t believe that we’ve been here for more than half our trip. The days don’t really rush by, but because we’re so busy with school and travelling and all, it’s going by sooo fast! In no time I’ll be back in the States, and then it will all be just a memory. Kind of sad, but I’m making sure to enjoy every minute of it!

Thursday February 28, 2008
To be quite honest, I didn’t do anything that was really exciting today, but I learned things that I thought were interesting. After finishing my Spanish test, I worked on my scholarship application for the Colorado State Patrol Family Foundation and then came home and did some homework after running and then lunch, and then I went and emailed for a while.
And anyway, I came home and since Brooke is in Madrid, it was just me and Madre and Padre for dinner, and we watched Al Pie de la Letra like we always do. They keep telling us that we should go on there and sing so we can win money to help pay for school. Too bad I don’t know enough Spanish or enough Spanish songs to be able to do that! Afterwards, Padre suggest I ask Raquel for help with my Spanish composition, which is ridiculously hard because it has all the technical names for words like interrogative preposition and stuff like that. I don’t even know what that is in English, much less in Spanish. Raquel didn’t really know any of it either, but she’s taking it to school tomorrow to ask someone what they think or something like that. I don’t care, I’m not going to get any further on it by myself, and we don’t have class for Spanish again until March 11th. After we had given up on my Spanish we went into the salón and sat down and started talking to Madre. There are some people that went to Bilbao and Morocco today, and Emily and Callie are the girls living with Madre’s sister (Ana) and they went to those places, so Madre and Raquel were asking about them. I’m not sure how the subject drifted, but we talked about having study abroad students and what it’s like, and what our program is like…Raquel wasn’t sure if everyone at our school was LDS or not, and I guess they had one girl last year or the year before who never went to church, and so that’s why she wondered if we all were. I didn’t understand this when we first got here, but Raquel did a study abroad in England when she was 15, and the thing about her stay was that she didn’t have a roommate and the family never spent any time with her, so it wasn’t all that great of an experience. Then one of the girls our family had was quite, well, prissy. She gave Madre a list of things that Madre needed to buy for the girl to eat (type of cereal, milk, etc.), and from what I know about Madre, I don’t think that would have gone over very well. It’s interesting to hear about their past students and their experiences, and I get the feeling that some of them didn’t make the effort to relate to the family and some of them weren’t quite as respectful of the home as we are expected to be. I don’t know, I feel pretty comfortable talking with them, and I think they feel the same about us, at least I hope so.

Friday February 29, 2008
This morning we got up and left to go to hike the mountain, and we were a little late leaving the house but by the time we got to where we were supposed to meet everyone, they were still there. So we started walking up by the river, and in order to get to the mountain we could either wade the river at this point where it was only about two inches deep because of the dam that went across the river, or we could take the bridge. But wading on a dam sounded way more fun, so we decided to do that instead. I was first in line to go across, so I proceeded to cross the river with everyone else behind me, and I was doing really well (I know you can see what’s about to happen), I was going at a snail’s pace, when suddenly I could feel my feet slipping on the algae. I had in my hands my shoes and my coat and sweater, and I had my side bag which had “Mere Christianity”, my keys, flash drive, and my socks. No sooner had my feet slipped than I was up to my hip in water. My only thought was to not let myself fall over the dam, and so in the process my shoes fell out of my hand and proceeded to go down the river without me; I did however, manage to grab my coat and sweater before they fell in tow with my shoes. Somehow, and I still haven’t figured this out yet, my bag and its contents were not wet except for a little corner or my bag. But of course, my coat and sweater were soaked completely and covered in algae. After I got my footing again on the dam, we all agreed to turn back around, because even if I did make it across at that point I wouldn’t have been able to climb ANYTHING much less a mountain. So we got back to the side we started on and took some pictures of my pitiful state, and then I told the others to go on and climb the mountain or walk around while I dried off and read on the side of the stream. I figured that since I was the only one wet, they all shouldn’t miss out just because I couldn’t go with them. It took quite a bit of coaxing before Kait would go with them, and then her and Christy broke off from the group and Christy went and got some shoes for me to borrow.
So those two came back a while later with the shoes, and us three went and walked around a while next to the river, not chancing to cross it at any point. When I got home, I found out that no one had actually climbed the mountain and that there was a little miscommunication as to where exactly one would be able to climb it. But it’s okay, it was fun to just be outside and see the outdoors. It was so quiet and peaceful, and living in the middle of the city, you just don’t get that. Brooke felt really bad that everyone left me and that it had turned out to be such a bad day, but honestly, it wasn’t a bad day at all. It was funny, and I’m glad that everyone got a good laugh out of it, and I mean that wholeheartedly too. I was laughing, so there’s not reason why everyone else shouldn’t have had a good laugh as well. Anyway, for lunch today we had potaje, which has garbanzo beans, sautéed onions, parsley, and some other stuff that I couldn’t quite place, but anywho, I’m leaving for the dance, so hasta luego!!!
Saturday March 1, 2008
Man am I tired; it has been one long day and I am pooped. But first: the dance last night. It was so much fun!!! It wasn’t like the dances I’ve been to in the states at all. I mean, they had the line dances and stuff, but some of the line dances they do aren’t the same as the ones that we use in the states, but I caught on okay. The Macarena came on and only the Americans knew how to do it, so we had to teach everyone else how to do it and they kept forgetting the order of the motions. Also, in the middle of the dance, these three girls did a salsa performance and this guy Gabriel taught me kind of how to salsa dance. I also met this guy Antonio from Sevilla; he’s 17 and he said that if I came back to Sevilla he would like to show me around the city. Here’s something funny, when you walked into the dance they handed you a heart with a number on it, and at this one point during the dance you were supposed to find the person of the opposite sex who had your number. So I was looking for my pair, and Antonio saw me and checked to see what my number was. We didn’t match, but he was like “oh look, we’re a pair”, and when I pointed out that they weren’t the same number, he said he didn’t understand numbers, only letters, so we became a pair and gave up looking for our real pair. He was a really nice guy, and he asked for my email, so I gave it to him, but I don’t know if he’ll send me anything. Oh well.
So this morning we left for Madrid around 10a.m., and first we went to the Puerta de Sol so Kait could change her money and then made our way back to Buen Retiro Park and looked around on the street with all the book shops. I ended up buying three little cookbooks for 6€ which is the cheapest I’ve found them anywhere. One of them is for desserts, one for pasta, and one with a mix of main dishes and other foods, so I think I got a good variety. Then we went and found a spot to look at the cookbooks that everyone had bought and to eat lunch and relax. Kait and Paige went to go find out about the boats on the lake that you can rent out, and it turned out that they were only 4.40€ for 45 minutes so we split each boat up by three people. Laura, Christy, and I shared a boat and boy was it fun! There was so many people there and you could hear a guitar and an accordion in the background and the sun felt so good! It was definitely my favorite day that we’ve had in Madrid so far. The other thing is that all the blossoms are starting to come out, so it’s even prettier than before. We also saw the statue of El Ángel Caido which is Lucifer so that was cool. Finally around four, Kait, Brooke, and I left because Kait and I had to babysit and when we got into Alcalá the three of us went to Carrefour to buy food for the trip next week. I decided to buy bigger containers of stuff so that it will last longer and I will therefore save more money in the long run. So that was fun and babysitting wasn’t a big deal, even though I had to run home to change my pants at one point because Timothy dumped water on me, but it was okay. When I got home I got the enchiladas made for tomorrow and Brooke made the salsa. Here’s the thing, since I didn’t have all the stuff that I would usually use I just kind of threw stuff in, and it’s spicier than I intended, so I hope it’s not too much. But the salsa is really good and we’ll have guacamole too, and then the tarta de fresa y chocolate too, so I think we’ll have plenty of food to go around. I guess we’ll see!!!

Sunday March 2, 2008
I’m going to write more later tonight probably, but we just got done with lunch and I HAD to write about how amazing it was! Everything was really yummy, and the whole meal was a hit. We don’t have any leftover salsa or guacamole, and the only reason we have leftover enchiladas (maybe only two or three) was because everyone had to leave room for dessert, and even there we don’t have any leftovers. When I got up this morning, I made the sauce to go over the enchiladas so that I wouldn’t have to worry about it when I got home from church, and it’s a good thing because everyone was starving and I don’t think they would have liked it very much if I had been any later with lunch. I made the sauce to go over the enchiladas super mild so it would even out the inside, and it worked! You would get a bite of spicy stuff a couple times and that’s about it, other than that, it was perfect. But for sure, the tarta was the best part of the whole thing, oh and we had flan too but it doesn’t compare with the tarta. We sang to Brooke and cleaned up and all, and then we learned how to make biscocho from Nacho. It’s super easy, and I don’t think I’ll ever make regular cake again!