Oh say can you see

After the packed weekend, we started the week of school off by getting a whopping 4 and a half hours of sleep. Monday brought about new experiences, including falling asleep while standing, falling asleep while eating and falling asleep while reading. I have been spending most of my time in the kitchen watching El Internado, a teenage soap, and La Ruleta de la Suerte (Wheel of Fortune). If I'm not in the 6x6 kitchen, I am in Silvia's room helping her with English homework, or I'm in my room, staring off into space.


At school, Silvia takes lots of classes. Math, Biology, Language, English, Social Studies, Ethics, Latin, Health, Religion, French and Gym. We have seven classes a day. All in Spanish. All week. So India and I opted out of three, mine being Latin, French and Biology, and now we go to the library to work on Chemistry and English. It's so hard to focus when every single person in the library is staring at the two Americans. We are greeted in the hallway every day by a boy singing the National Anthem, and it is extremely entertaining being the odd ones out. But in the library, our only opportunity to work during the school day, it gets old.


During Math class today, the teacher tried to convince me that I should be doing the math homework, even though I cannot understand a thing he teaches, and for the past few days he has told me to read during class instead of take notes. hmmm. In English class, I am the second teacher and I get to talk about things in the United States in front of the class. Yesterday I accidently told everyone that in New York, if you drive too fast then you go to jail. Whoops. But their reactions were priceless. On the highways here, you are allowed to drive the equivalent of 90 mph! Most of the boys are very rude to the teachers, who they are permitted to call by their first names. In language class, we have the strictest woman teaching us. The same boy who sits alone in the back and smokes outside during recess has been kicked out of class three times in a row. The teacher has a thing against all of the boys and makes at least two of them leave the class per day. I don't see it as a punishment, considering they get to go to the library or go outside and play Futbol.


Speaking of Futbol, tomorrow I have two hours of gym in the morning! We run outside for twenty minutes, and then play Futbol in el gimnasio. After I told everyone that I play soccer at home, some of them actually want me one their teams! This is a huge change from elementary school, being the last one picked for kickball. Well tomorrow there is going to be much disappointment when everyone discovers my lack of skill. As India said, this is when I wish I could play like Erin Myers (shout-out).


My general sleeping habits during the school week at home are, go to bed at 10:30 (11:00 at the latest), and wake up at 6:35. Well here I am running on a whole new schedule. I get home from school at 4:30 and go right to the kitchen to get a snack. Since I've been here, I am constantly hungry even though I eat about 6 smaller meals a day. Then I go to Silvia's room to harass her and teach her English slang. Then I go to my room and try to organize myself, but to no avail. Then Silvia yells for me to pack my bag for the gym. I guess it's a good thing we work out every day considering how much I have been eating. I pack and we go to the gym. When we get home 2 hours later, we eat dinner. Then I watch some television with the family, and then I go the Silvia's room to hang out. Then I go to my room and do homework and talk to some people who speak English on my computer. Then I go out of my room to see Silvia again and then we watch a tv show before bed. I don't know how, but bedtime always ends up being at around 12:30 or 1:00. Then I wake up at 7:20 and do it all over again!


Normally, the gym is really fun. We run for 20-30 minutes of the treadmill or elliptical and then do the other machines. Today however, Claudia and Silvia thought it would be fun to do a step class. First of all, it was taught by a very happy, flamboyant guy who claimed he was from Rochester, although he didn't speak English fluently. He was very nice to us, but in the beginning of the class he told us that the first time, we wouldn't be very good. We laughed considering we were in a class filled with about 15 old people. Well, it was the worst HOUR AND A HALF that I have ever had to dance through. On top of it all, I had to go to the bathroom really badly and I was dying of thirst. Bad bad bad. It was actually impossible to keep up with the choreography. I'm amazing I made it through unscathed. 


Today for dinner we had the same deep-fried mystery meat that I am actually starting to enjoy, and french fries. I have noticed, that almost everything in Zaragoza is eaten without silverware. Meat and vegetable and fruits, you can always use your hands, but for french fries they use forks! Of all things, it's a finger food for goodness sakes! Also, people here must have really sharp teeth to be able to eat all the tough smoked ham, sausages and what not. I can't do it! Along with that, their taste buds must be dead from all of the extremely sweet things they eat and drink! I have been drinking Pina and Uva juice-boxes, and I actually die of sugar over-dose every time I take a sip.


But I am really enjoying every thing I do in Spain, including step classes, discotecas, singing Party in the USA for a group of strangers and doing watching Spanish soaps. 


But now it's time for me to go do my deberes! A new word for homework. Tarea is not in their dictionary and it makes things very confusing! 


pues... tata for now
Besicos