Fiestas y la Comunion

So every year my school here in Burgos puts on this festival for the students. Primero de Bachillerato (my year) is in charge of planning this festival. This year, the festival is on May 27 and then it carries on to the 28th. Which means that this past week has been way hectic!! We have to plan everything! The theme, the food, the games, the sports, the dance, the party in the bar, the costumes, etc. It's a pain!!!
So planning is a pain, but doing it is more of a pain! To start the party on thursday, my year has to perform this pregon (a theater type thing where we have to dance). The theme for the festival is "toys" so the pregon is a story about a little girl buying a barbie queen and taking her to her house. The problem is, Ken is in love with the barbie, so he gets the G.I. Joe's to go on a rescue mission. So all the girls are Barbies and all the boys are G.I. Joe's. I have to dance! It's awful! And what's worse is that I have to dance in a tutu!!! Do barbies even wear tutu's??? And since I don't actually own a tutu, I have to make it. And since Cristina doesn't know how to sew, I have to. And since my host family doesn't own a sewing machine, I have to sew everything by hand!!! So I'm a little fed up with this festival if you can't tell.
The next time I write, I'll give you all the update and tell you how the pregon went.
But for write now, I'm going to write about a little thing called a comunion. Today I had to wake up early in order to go to Pachi's cousin's son's comunion (ya a little distant relative, but that's how they are here in spain). A comunion is a catholic tradition for 9 year olds where they prepare to accept Jesus Christ. Today's comunion had about twenty kids which means a TON of family members and friends. It was held in a really small church, so there weren't enough seats for everyone. The people that didn't have a seat stood right in front of us, so I didn't see anything. Plus, it was scorching hot! I was about to die!
After the comunion, we ate at a restaurant that was even hotter than the church. And the smoking doesn't help the heat. So basically I was miserable! But hey, at least I can say that I've experienced a real comunion which is more than most mormons can say!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

So for the past couple of years I've had this random tradition of really getting into Jane Austen stuff when school's about to end (although I watch the movies any time of the year). I absolutely love Jane Austen's novels and as many of you already know, the five hour BBC version of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth is my favorite movie. But most of you don't know how I got into craze, so here's my story...

It all started back in 7th grade when the Keira Knightley version of Pride and Prejudice came out. Back then it just seemed like another romance film, so I didn't feel the need to see it in theaters. However, when it came out on DVD, I went to my friend Karli's house to watch it. We watched it in the morning and I thought it was ok, but nothing special. When I got home in the early afternoon, I went to my friend Jessica Ransom's house to tell her about my experience with the movie she absolutely hated. I asked her why she hated the movie and she told me that the five hour version was so much better. I of course thought that any movie over 2 hours was pushing it, so in my mind I thought my friend had gone crazy. But I was curious, so that same day we sat down to watch it. At first it was hard for me to understand what was going on (I was only twelve), but as the movie went on I found myself falling in love with Mr. Darcy. In fact, when the first disk ended, Jessica could not put the second disk in fast enough! So that's when my love for Jane Austen started.

After that lovely day in May 2006, I started to explore Jane Austen's works and I've come to love every single one of them. Although I've only read Pride and Prejudice twice, Sense and Sensibility once, and Emma once, I've seen tons of movies! Here's my favorite versions of the films:

Pride and Prejudice: BBC's version with Colin Firth (given)

This version really captures the characters' thoughts throughout the novel. I promise you that when you watch this version, you will fall in love with Mr. Darcy, as so many others have.

Emma: the one with Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow really is the strength of this version. She brings out the humor from the novel and the arrogance of Emma Woodhouse. But we also can't forget Jeremy Northam who plays an excellent Mr. Knightley!

Sense and Sensibility: the one with almost the whole Harry Potter cast which includes Emma Thompson

Sense and Sensibility is just a sad novel all around, so be prepared to cry in the movie. I love Emma Thompson as Elinor Dashwood, Kate Winslet as Marianne Dashwood, and Hugh Grant as Edward Ferrars. Actually, all the characters play their part to perfection.

Persuasion: 1995 (I've only seen this version, so there's not much choice)

I do believe there are other versions of Persuasion that are better, but this is the only one I've seen. I liked this movie only because I have a love for Jane Austen, but overall it wasn't a very interesting film. The lead actress, Amanda Root, seemed a little old to be Anne Elliot, but that's just my opinion.

Mansfield Park: 2007 version (again, the only one I've seen)
This was definitely a modern version of the book. Billie Piper plays Fanny Price and Blake Ritson plays Edmund Bertram. It was pretty entertaining to watch, but it didn't have the normal characteristics that a Jane Austen movie should have. It also seemed a little jumpy as it cut from scene to scene.

And I still have not seen Northanger Abbey.

I can't tell you guys anything about this version, but trust me, in a few weeks I'll have seen it.

So that's the list. I highly recommend getting into Jane Austen because it turns the end of the school year into a bright, happy time of the year!

Globales and the SAT

So now that I've caught you guys up on all my trips I went on, I can finally write about what's been happening around Burgos the past couple of weeks.
So the week I got back from school I had three partial tests, and one of the tests was on the first day back. So that week wasn't very fun.
The next week I had a partial history test on monday and then I started my globales on wednesday. We had to study two chapters for the history test on monday and then two different ones for the history global on wednesday morning. Although it was a ton of studying, I thought I did really well in both tests. Then wednesday afternoon I had technology and I totally messed one of the questions up. Oh well. Then economy and english was on thursday. I thought I did terrible in Economy and really well in English. Haha! The only hard thing about taking that test is the fact that everyone wants to cheat off my test and so I have to take it really fast and get out of there as soon as possible.
Well friday was the castilla y leon (the area of spain that I live in) holiday, so we had some more time to study. Then saturday when I started to study, this old man started to sing across the street in a park into a microphone. He was absolutely terrible!!! I got the biggest headache from just his normal talking voice, and I couldn't study. But Sunday I didn't study at all because monday I only had math.
The math global went really well, minus one problem that I worked on for 45 mins. Then tuesday I had Lengua and Science. Lengua was terrible (like it always is), and I think I'm going to fail just because I'm the only one that doesn't copy/cheat in my class and there's no way I can remember the titles of a hundred+ works! So that irritated me. But, the science test had a lot of "state your opinion" questions so I thought I did alright.
Then wednesday morning we had to take our philosophy test at 8 instead of the usual 9 because the director wanted us to get in another hour of class. Well that test was terrible because our teacher put some ridiculous questions that weren't even from the chapters we were supposed to have studied. So I think I did terrible!
Well after all the globales, I didn't have time to relax. Thursday I took a full SAT practice test (4.5 hours) and I actually did really well. My writing section was at ivy league level, and my math was basically there as well. I just need to improve my reading and I'm there! I got a 700 in writing, 670 in math and 620 in reading. I hope I did that well on the actual thing!
Well test day arrived and I had to get up at 3 in the morning in order to get to Madrid on time. We got a little lost, but luckily we had some extra time. When we were waiting to get into the american school, I noticed the kids that were surrounding me. What a group! There was this one boy with a leather backpack that came out of his mercedes convertible and he had blonde hair that was parted on the side. Then there was this other boy that was wearing a headband across his forhead in a way that made his hair in the back stand up. He had huge sixties glasses and he was wearing shorts with long socks. Oh and then there was this girl that looked like she could have been this boys twin, except she had long blonde hair. The point I'm trying to get across is, there were people from both extremes, just no one in the middle like me. So I ended up not talking to anyone.
When we finally got inside (we had to go through security) I got to see the teachers that were going to be in charge. Man! One man was wearing european jeans, with cowboy boots, and a t-shirt and he had the weirdest voice. When he first started giving directions, I thought he was acting! There's no way someone could have a voice like his! But, after 6 hours of the same voice, I figure it was real.
So that was the SAT. I drove home that same day and I thought I did ok, not good, not bad.
Now today I found out almost all my scores from the globales:
History partial- 9.5 History global- 9.25
Technology- 7.85
Economy- 9
English- 9.8
Math- 10!!!!
Lengua- 4.75
Science- 8.9 (one of the highest in the class!!!)
Philosophy- unknown
So it's been a good day! I might actually pass lengua for the first time which will be a first!!! We'll see...

Santander and more

So the day I got home from Youth Conference I went to the saturday morning session of general conference in Burgos at 6 p.m. (kind of weird). Well there I got to say goodbye to Elder Esteves-Garcia who was leaving in the next couple of weeks to go to the other side of the mission.

The next day I missed the saturday afternoon session because I was on my way to Bilbao! I met Noemi and Zuri at the bus station and from there we went straight to the church. We watched the young women session and then we had some free time. We went on a walk around a park and then it was time for sunday morning session. Since the Las Arenas branch comes to Bilbao to watch general conference, there were a lot of english speakers (all missionaries of course)! So I finally got to watch a session in English and it was SO much easier to pay attention and stay focused! Plus, since I was in a room with just missionaries, the mission president, and his wife, I couldn't really get distracted and I had to keep very good notes. Well when the session ended I got to see Rami and Natanael again and I got to see Rami's new haircut (above)! Hahaha I felt so bad for him! But his hair grows faster than mine! It will all be back in no time!

So from the church we went straight to Santander. We got there, ate some dinner (yummy french tortilla), and went to bed. The next morning we went on a walk around Santander and we met up with some German (at least we think they were german) boys. Me and Noemi decided to sit on a bench right behind them while Noemi's parents went to check out times for a ferry. The boys kept looking back at us and when we left to leave, they whistled at us! Noemi told me not to look back, but after a few seconds I did and they all waved goodbye. Noemi waved back and I took off running. Haha, typical me.

Well that week I had a very relaxing time just hanging out with Noemi. We went shopping, we went to the beach (several times), and we ate a ton of ice cream! Santander is beautiful and I wish I could go back!!!

Every time I'm with Noemi and her family I have a blast! So I was really glad when they invited me to go to Santander with them for a whole week! I didn't study at all and I just enjoyed every minute! It was one of the last times I will be able to hang out with Noemi, so we definitely enjoyed it! And I will always think of her whenever I watch a telenovela in the future! So thank you Noemi for inviting me!!! Hopefully we can spend a few more days together before I go home!!!!

Youth Conference 2010!!!

So the day I got home from my school trip (the 31st of March) I left for youth conference. The only people that came from Burgos was me, Anthony (a 14 year old boy from our branch), and our counselor, Jairo. Well on our way there we got lost so we didn't get to Barria until five minutes before the welcoming speech.

When we did finally get there I immediately started talking to Noemi and Zuri, but when Zuri had to go to do some counselor stuff and Noemi went to talk to a friend from Santander, I made friends with two boys from Las Arenas, Ramiro and Natanael (more about them later).

So we played our get to know you game and then went to bed. Of course that meant that we had to have a little fun beforehand! In the pictures above you can see our fun we had with the sleeping bags! Well after that we were all talking when in comes the young women president telling us all to go to bed. The problem was that she's usually a really happy person and so when she came in yelling we all thought she was joking, but in the end she wasn't. She told us that if we didn't go straight to bed she would wake us up at 6 (two hours earlier than we were supposed to wake up) to read the scriptures. Well me and Noemi laid down in our bunkbeds that were pushed together and started to whisper really really quietly. Noemi said something funny and so I of course had to lean over and tell Zuri who was sleeping in the bottom bunk. Well the ladder ended up getting in my way and I ended up with a really bad bloody nose. Let's just say that me and the young women's president never got along after that. I think she still hates me!

So the next morning we did indeed have to get up two hours earlier! Then after our scripture study and breakfast we had a book of mormon scavenger hunt! Then we had free time and so we played in the park that was right by the old monastery (where we were staying). After lunch we had supersabado and I was in a group with Noemi and the two most attractive boys there, who happened to be brothers.

That night we had the talent show. Oh man what a disaster! The young women started it with some spiritual song and then every branch or ward had to do a talent. Well Anthony didn't want to participate so me and Jairo decided to sing I am a Child of God in English and we asked Noemi to help out and Zuri to play the piano. Well Burgos was the last on the list (as usual) and all the other wards did fun talents. There were skits, breakdancing, and two boys from San Sebastian played the guitar. Haha and then we had to go up and sing. Oh how embarrassing!!! I couldn't look at anyone! And then right afterwards someone told us that he was falling asleep. Ugh! I hate even thinking about it! I knew we should have sang "popcorn popping ont he apricot tree" with actions!

When it was time to go to bed me Zuri and Noemi were finally able to talk because the young women's president was showering. And man did we have a good time! I think it was my first time laughing to the point of tears since being in Spain! Above you can see that we were all extremely tired after waking up!

The next morning we had our fitness day! We played a bunch of games and then we split up into two groups. One group chose to do kick boxing type stuff and the other group was on how to look pretty (basically). So of course all the girls went to the second group and since I didn't want to be alone, I did too. Well it turns out that one of the boys from Las Arenas went with us girls and while we were in the group, me and Zuri were trying to convince him to let me cut his hair. We told him I had a ton of experience because I have a little brother (a late april fools I guess). Well after hours of trying to convince him he finally agreed to let me cut a little in the back. And then his brother (Rami) agreed as well. Rami even said I could cut as much as I wanted!!! Big mistake!

In the afternoon the stake president talked to us for a little bit and then each branch/ward had to teach one little section from the strength of youth. I think the best one was the sexual purity talk given by the Logrono ward (the only ward with two people going out), hmm... do you think the leaders planned that one out???

Well that night we had the dance! They told us to wear church clothes, but aparently to some that means formal dresses. I felt kind of stupid because as you can see, my dress could be worn to the beach. And not only that, but I also didn't take the "formal" to heart and I really dug into my dinner! But in the end it didn't matter what I was wearing or how I acted, because I had so much fun! I've forgotten how crazy a dancer I am! Man! I frighten myself! I really feel bad for the poor fourteen year olds I danced with that night.

So after three fun filled days, saturday came around and it was time to say goodbye. But before it was time to leave, I did get my opportunity to cut some hair! In the end the original boy (Natanael, above) backed out so I only got to cut his older brother's hair (Rami)! And I have to say that I did a pretty good job! Everything was looking good until some other girl wanted to join in on the fun and totally ruined it! Haha the next day I went to Bilbao and saw that his mom had cut more off to make it look better. Poor boy!

So that was youth conference! Overall, it was a blast and I can't wait to see these kids again at the next supersabado!!!

Oh and sorry for the month delay, I've been pretty busy lately.

Prague, Vienna, and Budapest!!!

On the 25th of March I left on my class trip. Our first stop was Prague, Czech Republic (the city of a thousand towers, I think that's the nickname). We started traveling at 5 in the morning and didn't get to Prague until 1 pm. Instead of going directly to the hotel to get settled, we went on a walk around the city with a local guide for 4 hours. I wasn't able to understand a word the guide said, but I liked the buildings too much to care. Prague is absolutely beautiful! Every building, whether it's a monument or a normal apartment building, is decorated and colorful. I loved it! We got to go across the famous King Charles Bridge and it was liking stepping into a fairytale!
After we ate at KFC, we went to the hotel. There were some problems with the deciding who to room with, but in the end we got every thing figured out.

The next day (friday) we went to the royal palace. This guard only moved his eyes. It was great! Well the palace was actually a huge area with a ton of important buildings inside the gates. We saw the cathedral, the old palace, and I can't remember what else. The best part about these 4 hours was that there were no guides! We got to go on our own and explore! I first went with my girl friends but all they wanted to do was sit down and take pictures of themselves so I switched groups and went with my friend Silvia and some boys from our class. Lots better.
Later that day we had some more free time to go shopping. I went with some different girls from my class and we had a good time. Basically, I love Prague!
On Saturday we went with our guides to a little town two hours away from Prague called Karlovy Vary. It used to be a very famous town where well-known people like Beethoven would go for vacations. On the bus over the guides talked for the whole two hours and no one was listening! It was unbearable! Then when we got there, they talked some more about the city. Apparently it's really famous for this fountain. The fountain brings fresh drinking water from the ground at really high temperatures. The the famous thing to do is buy a cup and fill it with the water from the fountain. Interesting, I know.

So in Karlovy Vary I went with some friends to an authentic Czech restaurant when we had some free time. My friend Alberto wanted to try real Czech food and I thought it was a good idea so I chose the most traditional plate there was on the menu. After about 10 minutes, this came out. Looks yummy! Ha! It was the grossest thing ever! There was a tiny bit of meat and the rest was this really weird sauce that had a bit of everything (lemon, strawberry jam, mushrooms, etc.) The bread in the bottom righthand corner was the type of dough the chinese use to make dumplings, so basically that means that they had no flavor. Mine kept getting covered in the nasty sauce. We all ended up blaming Alberto afterwords, but the experience was fun despite the food.

That night we went back to Prague. The teachers caught some kids in a grocery store and so during dinner they inspected all the rooms to see if they could find any alcohol. But the kids in my class are smarter than the teachers when it comes to alcohol. They ended up hiding all the bottles in the roof of the bathroom right before dinner. Genius right? Well after dinner they drank and drank and drank some more. It wasn't so good. What surprises me the most is that the teachers only caught one girl! For some reason they think that she drank alone and got drunk alone! Who would do that? They caught her because at 1 in the morning she decided to take a shower and she was yelling and dancing and singing and jumping when she fell and a teacher heard her. All the teachers did to her was call her parents and I'm sure her parents don't even care that much! Well that girl and another girl (who happened to be in my room) got so drunk that they spent the night throwing up and then they couldn't remember anything the next morning. I don't know if any of the this story made sense so sorry. It's late and I'm tired. I just had to tell you that the craziest night was saturday night (the last night in Prague).

So the next day we left Prague and went to visit Vienna. After five long hours in the bus (everyone was sleeping so it wasn't too bad and I had two seats to myself) we arrived in Vienna. Our bus driver picked up a local guide and we stayed in the bus and went around the city. This picture is of Queen Cici's palace and it was taken from inside the bus (pretty good, right?). When we got off the bus we went to another palace with the guide for 45 min. and then we had a half an hour to eat.

During the half hour I saw this man. You can find this type of person anywhere in Europe, but I liked the ones in Vienna! Instead of playing a musical instrument or dancing, these people dress up and stand like statues to try to earn money. It's pretty funny. So that was the end of the two hours in Vienna. We then hopped on the bus and drove for four more hours until we arrived in Budapest!

Last stop was Budapest! We got there Sunday afternoon (March 28th) and we spent the first night in Hero's square. Apparently after what happened the night before, our teachers wanted to get us tired to we ended up walking for 2 hours! When we got back to the hotel it was midnight and we all went straight to bed.
The next morning we went with a guide around the city(surprised? Ya, I was too). Our first stop was Hero's square! Wahoo!!! Ha, the guide explained the history of Budapest and all the different heroes and it was actually pretty interesting. At least we were only there for 20 minutes! This picture is of the parlament building (probably the most famous building in Budapest). It was gorgeous! When I become a famous politition I will one day visit this building again and then I'll show all of you the inside, but for right now, this is all I got. Sorry!
This picture is of a famous cathedral, but I don't remember the name. Actually, it's not the most famous or the most important, but I liked the roof so to me it was the coolest. It was also next to this really pretty castle on the Buda side of Budapest and we could see basically all of Pest from the castle windows (see picture above).
Well the rest of that day we spent shopping. A few of us tried to go to the Opera House but it was too late in the day, so instead we went to the San Esteban Cathedral (I think that's how you spell it). That night our teachers took us on another walk to get us tired, but this time we went to a couple of bars. It was ok.
The next morning we went to Hero's Square, again. This time we stayed for 3 hours doing nothing! It was our last day and we were all mad about that, but what could we do? So after three hours in the hot sun we hopped on the bus and went back to Vienna to fly home.

On the flight home I sat by my friend Marina. It was her second time on a plane (her first time was the flight to Prague) so she was really scared and I had to hold her hand. Ha! She cracks me up! Once we were in the air she was fine and we spent all three hours talking! I think if you took really closely at the picture you can see how red our eyes were from lack of sleep!
Overall the trip was a lot of fun! Despite the one night in Prague everyone behaved well and had a good time. I loved Prague the most and one day I'll go back, but I won't try czech food ever again!

Back to School

So I just had a 2 and a half week vacation and now I'm back in Burgos. Today was the first day back at school and I had a test! Yep, that's right, a test on the first day back! And it wasn't just any old test that I could study for and get a passing grade on, nope, this was SINTAXIS!!! Wahoo!!! In other words, sentence structures to the extreme! Well I ended up not studying for it because the last time I studied for a test like that, I failed, so it's not worth my time. Anyway, just wanted to give you the update and I'll hopefully post pictures of all my trips soon!