Six down!

So I don't really have anything to talk about but I though I should post something anyway because it's my six month anniversary! Feel free to congratulate me! Yes, I have made it through six whole months of being in spain, and there's only 4 more left! Six down, four to go. But I don't want you guys to think that I'm having an awful time, because I'm not. Today, kids were really nice to me. That means that people actually talked to me, in case you didn't know. I got invited to hang out this weekend, but I'm not sure if it was a sincere invite, or one of those that they don't really mean. I'll find out tomorrow.
Well to celebrate my anniversary I took a four hour nap! Yay!!! And tomorrow we don't have math first hour because our teacher is going to be in Madrid, so we get to sleep in! Sleeping always makes me happy! And somehow, I always need it!
Let's see... what else happened today? Oh, the missionaries found out about transfers today, but that's not very exciting. I think elder estevez-garcia will be transfered, but I can't say for sure because he's only been with elder sayaz for one transfer, yet he's been in Burgos since october. So I'm still up in the air on that one.

Bored to Busy

So this week we only had three days of school (carnivales) and I only went to two of them. Thursday I woke up with a stomach ache so I decided to stay home rather than face those kids that are in my class. And then I went friday and in the morning I just sat there while everyone else took the math test (la recuperacion, how do you say that in english? recuperation? that just doesn't sound right). And then we didn't have philosophy because our tutor hour carried over. And then to finish it off we got out of school a half an hour early. So basically I could have stayed home friday as well.
Anyway, all day friday and saturday I did nothing. I sat in bed and read or watched movies. Until at around 6 o'clock I decided to go for a short, painful run. I'm so bored!
So I wished that I could have something to do besides studying...
Today when I came to church there were two other missionaries that are traveling around the mission to help out the other elders there. One of them gave me the challenge to get my host family to come one sunday to church (I think it's impossible, but I'll try). And then Lucy, a friend, told me that we are having a youth activity on thursday. And then the branch president's wife gave me the primary manual so that I can start preparing lessons because I'm now teaching english to little kids on thursdays. And then Lucy (again) asked me to help her out with some computer stuff next sunday and then invited me to eat over as well. AND THEN the missionaries in Burgos asked me to help them in a lesson they are having with a couple from Alaska on friday, but since I have school I told them I couldn't, so they said they'll find another time.
So that's my story on how I went from being super super bored to extremely busy in just a few hours. Be careful what you wish for! Lesson of the day

Tarragona

Today and yesterday I didn't have school all thanks to that dirty little holiday callled carnival. So my host family decided to go visit my host mom's family in Tarragona (a little city about an hour away from Barcelona). To be honest I wasn't very excited because a few weeks earlier I got an invitation from my friend Zuri to come visit her in Bilbao this weekend. However, after the first day I was loving it. I immediately saw how different her family is compared to Pachi's and I liked them a whole lot more.

The first day we went to see a carnival race in the old part of town and I got to see a lot of cute costumes that made me change my mind about carnival just a little bit. That's the first picture you see. It still won't let me move that picture down and I have no idea why!!! Can anyone help me?

On our walk around the city we ran into the cutest dog!! The owner had left him outside a cafe and so me and Miguel played with him for a few minutes. Once we were done taking pictures the owner came out and didn't look too friendly. Oops.

Then that night we went to a carnival parade where everyone watching was dressed up. I hated the parade and my idea of carnival is probably worse now than when we started.

The next day we went to see more of the old town and I got to see the outside of the cathedral. It's amazing how sick of cathedrals a person can get! So that's why I only wanted to see the outside instead of going with just Pachi in the morning to see the inside. Then the rest of the day was pretty relaxing. I took a two hour nap in the afternoon and I also tried to watch as much of the olympics as possible. Here they don't care about the olympics at all. My host family didn't even know there was a sport called cross-country skiing. Sad sad sad. I think they don't watch it because they don't have people from their country competing. Yet, spaniards think they are so good at skiing? It just doesn't make any sense.

And then it was Monday and we went home right after lunch. So that was my trip. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get to see some of the main things to see in Tarragona, and I didn't get to go to Barcelona, but overall it was pretty good. I should have never been nervous to meet Cristina's family.

Shopping in Spain

Tomorrow I'm going to stake conference in Vitoria and I'm way excited! This is one of the only times, since coming to spain, that I've actually cared about what I look like because, well, um I'm pretty sure you guys can guess why. Anyway, so today I went shopping to find something that I can wear tomorrow. Boy was it crazy!!!
I decided to go around 5 so that I would miss most of the crowds, but after an hour or so the stores were packed!!! You may think that's because there were good sales going on, or it's a holiday or something, but no, the stores are always packed!!! I think it's because there's nothing else to do here. So I came home around 8 with the biggest headache and only 4 purchases.
My other complaint about shopping in spain is the organization of the stores. The boys clothes are always in front, so in order to see the girls clothes you have push your way through a ton of smelly boys checking themselves out in the mirror. Then when you make it to the girls clothes you can only pick out 4 things to try on because that's the limit in the dressing rooms. Then IF you find something you like to have to go past the boys again and stand in the forever long line. The lines are so long that when I finally found something at Zara I immediately put it back after seeing the people lined up.
Anyway, the point is that I miss shopping in the states where there's space to breath, indoor malls, normal looking clothes, and huge dressing rooms!

Globales

So ever since thursday I've been getting an average of 5 hours of sleep a night. Why you ask? Because, once again, I'm in the middle of finals!!! I've been driving myself crazy! I've studied more this past week than I have in my whole life! And the weird thing is that most of it doesn't matter! Most of my credits either won't transfer or I don't want them to transfer, so why am I studying this hard? I feel this desire to beat spaniards at their own game! I've noticed lately that spaniards have a hard time accepting other people, changing thier routines, or admitting their wrong. Lots of them hate foreigners and are super prejudiced against south americans, but yet they call us racist? So my way of putting them down, or making them feel embarrassed, is getting better grades than them. I've already acomplished this in history, economy, and math (I got the best grade in all of those tests!) and I'm working on more subjects. Ya that's right people, you should feel stupid! Maybe by me beating them, they will start to open their minds to people who are different from them. Seriously though, I thought america was bad when we were having immigration issues, but there's not a day that goes by that I don't hear some negative thing said about mexicans, or bolivians, etc.
So other than my thoughts of revenge and studying, nothing else has really been happening. On saturday I went to a super saturday activity in Vitoria for seminary and it was pretty fun. And yesterday I went to family home evening at the church and we played pictionary which was also pretty fun. Oh and the spanish missionaries made american brownies which we delicious!