¡Feliz Navidad!

Right Now, vacation is over and I am back at sdchool, studying and trying to make new friends. I have to do all exams now because it is an AFS requirement, and am trying really hard to pass my asignaturas. This month, I have 3 examenes and in February, I have 9 examenes.

I had an awesome time during Christmas Break and I most definitely enjoyed it. The week before the winter break, my host family and I went to A Coruña, around an hour and a half drive, because my host dad had a Conferencia. We spent most of the time "paseando" (walking) and I have to admit that the city is a lot nicer than Vigo. We went inside the "Torre De Hercules", built by the Romans in the 1st Century, and the oldest lighthouse in the world still in operation. It is also a UNESCO Heritage Site.

On the first weekend of my Christmas Break, I went back to Ponteareas to my friend's birthday party. I had to take three autobuses, which took around 2 hours but it was worth it. There, we had a sleepover and played FIFA all night. It was fun, but tiring at the same time because I only had two hours of sleep! The next day, I played a little bit of futbolin, then went to another friend's house. At night, we all went to his Christmas concert, because his trumpet band was playing there. It was at the Gulans Casa Cultural (community center), so there were lots of kids and parents watching. After that, all of us went to a fiesta. The typical order is: Lo Que faltaba, Pub Grolos, Addelio, and finally La Boheme.










The next couple of days, I didn't do too much, except pasear and rest a little bit. On Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) My host family and their kid's families ate dinner at our house. We had a good time and at the end of the night, my host dad lit some fireworks. I don't know how he does it, but it involves lighting a cigar and strapping it to something. 









Santa Claus (Papa Noel) exists in Spain and the tradition started recently because of American movies and commercials, but it isn't a big deal here so the kids didn't get any presents.

On Christmas Day, we went to Ourense, the provincia beside Pontevedra. My host mom's son lives near Ourense, so we picked him up and went to my host mom's parents house in Verín. Verín is a small town near Portugal and and hour and half from Marin. There, I met my host mom's two other brothers. One of her brother, Juan is from Andalucia and has a cool Andaluz accent. He had to drive ten hours to get to Verin! Her third brother lives in Taiwan. Apparently, my host mom cooks better than her mom, but I can't decide which one is better because the food that day was delicioso. 

The next day I went to A Coruna for the second time, because we went to see Cirque Du Soleil. I've always wanted to see it and now I finally have. The show we saw was called Quidam and the crew had been touring around the whole Europe for a month. The stadium was filled with people and I think it was sold out. It was an amazing show; some parts were funny and some parts displayed cool stunts. 







http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/es/shows/quidam/default.aspx



The following Sunday, I went to my host dad's grandson's soccer tournament. There were many teams competing where each were all from different cities around the region. (Pontevedra, Marin, Bueu, Cangas, Ponte Cadelas). They were around 10-11 years old, and I think they are probably good enough to beat 14-15 year olds in Canada. I didn't know this before, but in the leagues for younger kids, they mix boys and girls up. Turns out, the two best players on the team are girls! They eventually loss in a penalty shootout, but it was a good game.

On New Years Eve, we went to Pontevedra to pasear and to watch people run a marathon. Every year on December 31st, in all parts of Spain, they have a marathon called "La Carrera De San Silvestre" and more than 1,300 people in Pontevedra joined. There were around 200 marathons on that day. All types of peopl were running: Kids, old people, people in ballerina costumes, rugby players, people dressed up as Santa Claus...

We had the last meal of 2013. In Spain, they have a tradition of eating 12 grapes at 12:00 am. 12 grapes for 12 months of good luck. You have to eat one grape for every sound of the bell. It would be awesome if I could take this tradition back home. At around 2 am to go to a "fiesta". Not wasn't my type of fiesta but it was a unique experience. Normally, nobody sleeps the fiestas en el fin de año because it is the biggest fiesta. It is like the superbowl of the fiestas. The tradition is to eat churros with hot chocolate in the morning. It is a shame that I missed the biggest fiesta, but oh well, no pasa nada...

There was a band playing music and around 40 people watching. I'm sure that almost everyone was at least 65 years old and I was by far the youngest.

On January 6th, it is supposedly when "Los Reyes Magos" arrive which is probably the biggest Christmas tradition. On January 5th, the kids leave their shoes and a little bit of food for them (like Santa Claus), and on the 6th, Los Reyes Magos bring their presents. It was a pretty busy week because I had to buy gifts for people and I had to think of stuff that they liked. In the afternoon, we went to the Centro de Marin (downtown), and watched the parade. Every time the cars passed by, they would throw us tons of candy. There was traditional Spanish music, people on horses, trains, and the Christmas atmosphere was amazing. We went to the nativity scene, where my host dad narrated and his son dressed up.












The next day, there was another fiesta, fiesta de San Julian/San Xulian. It wasn't a big fiesta and nothing special happened, because it is only celebrated in the neighborhood (parroquia) we live in. 


And that my friends concludes mis vacaciones!


Hasta Luego!

El Periodico

On January 11th, I went to my first conviviencia in Marin. I don't know what it is called in English, because it translates into "coexistence". It's kind of like a meeting. Basically, all the AFS students and host families in Galicia went to the library in Marin to talk about what we did in Christmas and how we felt about it. After that we just went for a "paseo" in Marin and toured around the nice parts. We were featured in five different editions in the newspaper, Faro de Vigo (the oldest newspaper in Spain) and Diario de Pontevedra.

Photos of Ponteareas

I don't think I posted any pictures of the city where I used to live, Ponteareas. It is a small town with a little more than 23 000 inhabitants. Not a lot of people, but at times, it can be pretty crowded. Ponteareas or Puenteareas is located near Portugal, and also Vigo, the most popullous city in Galicia.

Ponteareas isn't the prettiest city and neither does it have anything special in particular, but it is famous for its "Fiesta de Corpus Christi" and is listed in the Fiestas de Interés Turístico Internacional, the best fiestas in Spain. 

Mi Nuevo Instituto

Since I moved to a new city, I had to change schools. Right now, I am attending IES Illa de Tambo. IES stands for instituto educacion secundaria. (Secondary school education). It is a a little bit bigger than my old school but there isn't a cafeteria, which is kind of strange. Kind of funny, but the doors of the bathrooms don't have boy or girl signs. Most people in Bachillerato go outside the school during recreo, because it is located near cafes supermercados, a church, and a bus stop. As of now, I only have around 8 or 9 friends but I hope I can make more after Christmas break! All my classes are really boring. All we do is listen to our profesores talk and talk and talk. Many people complain, that the Spanish Education system is too much sitting down in the class and not enough activities.  I actually have to count down the hours until I get to go home. I can't hep but agree, but it would be really hard for the government to change the education system because. As of now, none of my teachers are "colegas" (friends) with people in my class. In my other instituto, we had some profesores who would hang out with us in class. 


For some unknown reason, I wasn't nervous at all on the first day of school. I had a couple of friends that showed me around the school. I am not completely sure, but I think June and I are the only exchange students. There are 2 or 3 other asian kids in school and I also met a kid from Brasil. The second day of school, we had a free class, so all of us guys played soccer. I'm not sure, but I think my friends in Ponteareas are better players. However, a bad soccer player in Spain means a normal or above average player in Canada. My schedule is a little different from my other Instituto. On Mondays and Wednesdays we go home at 3:00 and on the other days we go home at 1:55.  

La Biblioteca

Mi Aula

El Pasillo 


There is a popular online game in my class called Comunio. I am last place in the game because I made a stupid mistake. In this game, you are assigned soccer players and get points based on their real life performances. You can trade players with other players and choose the starting lineup. The person with the most points at the end of the season wins.

http://www.comunio.es/

Asignaturas

English

My profesor in English class is Elena. In this class, we translate Spanish phrases into English, which helps me learn as well. Sometimes she teaches really strange grammar stuff that us Native English speakers don't normally use. A lot of times, the translation don't make sense so she asks me to correct it, but honestly, sometimes I don't know if I am doing it right. Around 6 people are passing in this class because 1. The teacher is strict, and 2. the curriculum is way too hard. I don't know who makes it, but I think they should go a little bit easier on the students.   

Historia

This class is extremely pointless because no one listens when the teacher is talking. The teacher just keeps talking when the class is being noisy and interruptive. Almost everyone does whatever they want in the class, chat, or use their phone.  

Economia

This is my favorite class right now because I actually understand something. We are currently learning about "Costes, Ingresos y Beneficios de la empresa". (Costs, Income, and Benefits of the company). I was pissed off because I wasn't allowed to go on the field trip to the Inditex headquarters in Arteixo, A Coruna because they already planned the trip beforehand. Everyone got a free Zara t shirt! For those who don't what Inditex is, it is the company that owns clothing brands like Zara, Pull and Bear, and Massimo Dutti. 

Lengua Gallega/Lingua Galega 

Because I am excused from doing any exams, I don't have to pay attention in class. We learn stuff like grammar and mostly phonetics. If it is hard for most of the students who speak Galician fluently, it is probably impossible for me. Time goes by really slowly in this class, so I just read a book in Galician or maybe take a nap. 

Religion/Relixion

There are 3 options. Evangelica, Catolica, or At Ed (free block). Most people in my class chose At Ed and only a couple chose Evangelica or Catolica. Most people just go home early because there isn't much you can do inside the school, except for studying in the library. I am "supposed" to go to Clase de Evangelica, but I don't attend every class because there is only one other person in that class. I usually just play soccer. 

Lengua Castellana/Lingua Castelan 

In this class, we learn about grammar, phonetics, and have to memorize facts about some famous Spanish writers. Can't understand most of the phonics and grammar stuff, so I just read my other textbooks or study Spanish verbs and vocab. This one time we analyzed Latin American Spanish text and compared it to Castillian (Spain) Spanish. 

Filosofia

The profesora in this class is almost always annoyed, because there is this guy in the class that won't keep his mouth shut. He constantly interrupts the teacher and makes jokes. It was kind of funny when she said "Hombre, eres un accidente". (Dude, you are an accident) She keeps telling the class that if they don't listen up, she will fail everyone. 

Geografia/Xeografia

I don't dislike this class or like this class. We are currently studying Pollution and forest fires which is pretty interesting. I will probably enjoy this class more when we start studying political geography. 

Mi texto nuevo

Francais

My least favorite class of all. We have a really small french class, around 7 or 8 people. I don't understand NADA because I don't know any basic french. Maybe except for Bonjour, Merci, and comme ci comme ca. Two weeks ago, we had to do a presentation about a French singer and I chose Jacques Brel. I basically just translated Spanish into French. My pronunciation was also horrible. 

Literatura Universal

Here, we learn about Universal  Literature, hence the name Literatura Universal. We study writings or writers, like Edgar Allen Poe, Gullivers Travel, Pride and Prejudice (Orgullo y Prejuicio), and Frankenstein. This is probably the most interesting class because we sometimes have discussions and actually get to participate. The teacher speaks really slow but I'm not sure if she does it for me...

Historia de la musica

In this class, we study music history and the work of famous  classical composers like Handel or Vivaldi. 

http://ciug.cesga.es/grupos/musicaaudicion10.php

 

Just posters I saw at school.