So...since you "haven't had time to update", what have you been doing?

Well somehow Spain has changed me and made me actually want to do things and meet new people and spend time with my friends. So in December not only was I very busy with school, I was really busy with running and hanging out with people (my Spanish friends and AFSers).

Speaking of school, the first trimester is over! I got my grades on the 17th, I think, and passed all my classes except for Lengua, but there's a re-test sometime in January so I might still be able to pull my grade up.

(4 and below is failing, 5 and above passing. People are perfectly content with just a 5, 6 and 7 are reasonable, 8,9 and 10 VERY good.)

Another random thing about school is that in March I will be going to London with a bunch of kids from Primero Bachillerato! It's supposed to be like an "English Immersion" ahaha... I'm super excited!

grades

Annnd speaking of running, as of the other day I have officially run 1,000 miles this year! A big leap forward from the accumulative 300 I had last year. On the 31st my host mom, uncle and I are going to run the San Silvestre in Burgos but I'll talk more about that later.

So, things I have been doing...I guess about 2 weeks ago, now, I went to the Hobbit with a bunch of AFS friends! We went to a theater in the center of Madrid that had it playing in English with Spanish subtitles. It was so fun. Beforehand, I went to a Mexican Restaurant that I found by accident with my friend Sofia and it was quite shocking to have spicy food again! I was a little disappointed by the Hobbit but at the same time...I can't help but have loved it. It's probably one of my favorite books of all time, and being able to be transported into that world like that is the best.

Mexican food!

awkward photo of me with my Hobbit ticket and POPCORN

The Friday before we all saw the Hobbit I went to El Prado with Ilhan and Boom and we saw the Goya exhibit which I swear contains the most haunting paintings I have ever seen in my life. I am completely enamored with the way Goya can paint the darkest side of humanity, the terror, the brutality. El Prado, in general, is such an amazing collection of work, and I've barely seen a part of it.

At some point I also went to a friend's house for lunch after school and then we watched Castle in Spanish (an old episode, sadly) and went looking for a dress for me for Nochevieja (New Years Eve). It really amazes me sometimes how I can have full conversations in Spanish now (even though my Spanish is FAR from perfect). We didn't find a dress (I still haven't...) but it was a lot of fun.

A few weekends ago there was an AFS potluck for Navidad, where everyone had to bring something from their own country. I made sugarcookies with my mom and brother (: I love all of the AFSers in Madrid so much, they are a fantastic group, and it's amazing to watch everybody be able to speak in Spanish after not even four months!

Although...the four month mark IS coming up. I can't really believe it's been that long!

Colmenar Viejo

Now that it's Christmas Break I finally have to time to write a bunch of posts about what I've been up to! Sorry for not having been very consistent with keeping you all informed on my life here.

I guess first off I need to talk about the family I've been living with for the past month now! As most of you know, I had to change families a few days after my birthday in November because my host-grandmother in my last family needed an intense surgery and my family needed to be there to care for her. My family of now lives in a large village north of the city of Madrid and includes my host dad, Festus, my host mom Maite and my 2 and a half year old host brother Daniel. They are all wonderful and I'm am very happy with them. Currently, for the holidays, we are staying at Maite's parents' apartment in Burgos with her two siblings as well. Burgos is about 3 hours north of Madrid, in the province of Castilla y Leon, but I'll talk more about that later. Both my host parents and my host brother speak fluent english but we still talk in spanish most of the time.

I am still going to the same school in Alcorcon, for several reasons. I have friends there, and the teachers know and like me. Also, the isn't another school closer to Colmenar that has the same Arts Course that I'm in. This means that I have to get up at 6:30 every day to catch the train at 7:16 to arrive at my station in Alcorcon at 8:20 and walk to school to be there in time for school to start at 8:30. In the mornings my host dad drives me to the train station and in the afternoons I either take a bus or walk home, usually not getting home till just before 4. I usually study or draw on the train, so the commute isn't really that bad, and I'm really grateful that I can continue going to the same school. In fact, in March I'm going on a school trip to London!

Colmenar Viejo is nice, much more "countryside" than Alcorcon, but it's smaller so that does mean that there's a little less to do, but my host mom has been looking into a lot of activities for me so that I can make friends there. One thing I've noticed is there are quite a few hard core runners and bikers, and I've found several nice places to run, including a really nice (and challenging) 6-8 mile trail.

a trail

Colmenar Viejo (picture not by me)

my new room

Birthday and Thanksgiving

I know, I know, this post is almost 3 weeks late, but here I am (finally) to tell you about my birthday and thanksgiving. For those of you who didn't know, my birthday is always around (sometimes even on) Thanksgiving. Obviously, Thanksgiving isn't celebrated in Spain, so here I didn't have to worry about the two colliding. What I did worry about a little was the fact that I would be changing families just a few days after (see previous post). However, I ended up having an awesome birthday and birthday week!

In fact, the Saturday before a bunch of us AFSers got together and made our own Thanksgiving! Everyone brought food, and those not from the U.S. brought dishes more typical of their country. It was tons of fun, and the food was great. Cameron got stuck in the bathroom, and we ended up watching Mean Girls and sharing music. Afterwards, some of went to Sol because it was Ruby's last weekend in Spain! She's from Belgium, and chose to come to Spain for only a trimester. I hung out with Ruby, Ilhan and Ilhan's friend Adrian until 1 in the morning when I had to catch the metro home. We had a great time, and I miss Ruby so much now.

The next day my host family celebrated my birthday (it was on a Monday this year, and we were all going to busy). It was so wonderful, we skyped with my real family and Blake and both of my families sang me happy birthday! I don't think I've ever been happier.

going to celebrate Thanksgiving!

Ani with my birthday cake: a traditional Roscon de Reyes, usually eaten for Christmas or Three Kings Day

Both families!

Tuesday, the day after my birthday, was really fun as well. I went ice skating with my school for a field trip! I am so fond of my class, they are all so great. I also talked quite a bit with Cameron, a guy from Canada who is helping to teach English here. He told me it's true that most Canadians ice skate and know how to ski.

I think this is pretty much my entire class (:

 In addition, on Monday Melisande and I went into Madrid and I got my nose pierced, and she got her tragus pierced!

So that was my birthday and thanksgiving. I can't really believe I'm 16...In the U.S. that's a pretty big deal, with being able to drive and such. Here you can't drive until your 18, and that's the drinking age as well, so 16 isn't considered as important. Nevertheless, my friends and family made me feel very loved and celebrated.

And thank you everyone for the birthday cards! It's so fun receiving mail here in Spain. I have a whole bunch of postcards I've been meaning to send for over a month, I just have been to lazy to go buy stamps!

Happy Holidays! I'll do another post this week about my new family, don't worry.