A Small Happiness

I volunteered at a children's shelter with another exchange student on Sunday: painting, cleaning, building, etc. There were about twenty-five people, most of them from Britain but now living in Marbella, who gave up their Sunday to lend a helping hand. Although the whole experience was wonderful, this moment stands out in my memory - I hope my writing properly depicts how much these few minutes meant to me :)


Small fingers wrapped around my hand. Quickly dropping my sponge, I turned away from the half-cleaned windows to see the little boy who was pulling me towards the kitchen. At about five years old, with typical spanish features -- dark skin, dark hair, dark eyes, and a sweet smile -- he was speaking to me in Spanish, trusting me to understand and help him. In that moment, I felt at home for the first time in Spain: someone, despite a language barrier and my blonde hair, believed that I belonged here and wanted me to help them (usually it's the other way around). He saw, in me, a person just like any other. I grinned and strengthened my hold on his hand. He pulled me into the kitchen freezer and was, I could tell, asking me for something. It took me a second but I eventually recognized the word "zumo" (pronounced "thumo") as juice, and followed his pointed finger to the top shelf. I pulled the juice down for him and his grubby fingers snatched the package from my hands, a smile on his face and happiness in his eyes. "Gracias," he said to me, and I just smiled, happy to help.

 This is the backyard of the children's home - It's a three story house with plenty of room for the 12 children it houses. As you can see by the wall on the right, it was in need of paint :)

 Some of the volunteers!

 After the paint finished drying, Charissa and I got to put up the wall decor - flowers, butterflies, etc.

 These two have the cutest British accents! They helped us put up the butterflies :)

Charissa and I after a long and enjoyable day.

I hope everyone at home is doing well -- to all of you getting ready for homecoming, I expect to see lots  of pictures on facebook! I miss you all but am enjoying life here. I went for my first real run today, hopefully I can fit a few more in! School is difficult, but I like having a set schedule for my day :)

As always, feel free to ask questions!

Love from Marbella,

Shona Bell

madrid recap & first day of school

Madrid - one of the most amazing places I have ever been. In the few hours I was lucky enough to spend touring the city, I was treated to fantastic views of famous monuments, roads which seem like doorways to a different time, delicious and ethnic food and drink, and the fulfilling, yet frightening, feeling that the world is full of so much more that I could ever imagine. From the lovers' locks on light posts in Plaza Mayor to the streets full of people in protest of their government; so many lives connect, cross, and interweave in this magnificent city.

 the demonstrations

 El Museo del Prado

 view of Plaza Mayor

 "lovers' locks"

 Plaza Mayor

The City :)

The highlight of my orientation weekend were the train rides and the saturday morning that I spent in Madrid with other exchange students. The other 48 hours were spent in an encampment in the mountains about an hour from Madrid, playing silly games and eating not-so-great food. On the plus-side, meeting all the Spanish exchange students made enduring the rest of the weekend bearable.

Now, for what you're here to read: The First Day of School.

My host dad drove me to school today and walked me into the counsellor's office, where we spend the good part of an hour (all of first period) discussing paperwork. When the bell rang, the secretary handed me over to another woman who then showed me to my first class, introducing me to all the students as "an exchange student who speaks very little Spanish" (at least, that's what I think she said!). After she left, I was greeted by silent smiles and a few waves from other students, then turned my eyes to the teacher. About five minutes after class started, I realized that I had no idea what my schedule was or where I was supposed to go after the class was over. Luckily, the teacher finished his introduction before class ended and suddenly I found myself surrounded by about a third of the class. They all introduced themselves and asked which school track I was on. *Really quick interjection -- for those of you who don't know how the Spanish Bacheloriato system works, here is a quick debrief. In their last two years of high school, Spanish students choose a major (Humanities, Social Studies, Mathematics, Sciences, or Arts). The students in that major stay together throughout the day - either moving from classroom to classroom or staying in the same classroom with changing teachers.* Luckily, I knew that my major was Humanities, so two of the girls said to stick with them throughout the day -- are on the same track I am. Basically, I MADE FRIENDS! :D

After my first class, which was History, my new friends and I walked up two flights of stairs to the Greek/Latin room. Greek and Latin are taught by the same teacher, and Latin should be one of my easier (ha!) classes because I have studied it for two years and everyone else is starting this year. That's not to say that it will be an easy class -- just one of the easier ones. Finally, it was time for "recreo" aka break; this basically consists of eating a snack and talking with friends for a half hour. During this time, my friends took it upon themselves to introduce me to a few people, then explained to me that everyone here is in a similar position to me -- because Spanish students change schools for the Bacheloriato, most of them don't know many people in the school yet (basically, everyone is the "new kid," it's not just me). Once break ended we moved into the library for (I think) Spanish literature. The teacher for that class seems really worried about my level of Spanish compared to the difficulty of her class, and has asked an English teacher to work with me on my Spanish a few days of the week during her  class (yay!). At 12:45 we moved back into the same classroom I had History in, and had Science (which Ana doesn't think I'm supposed to have), then Philosophy.

Once the final bell rang, I chatted with some friends for a few minutes, then went to meet Salvador at the front of the school. He then walked me over to the bus stop, talked to the bus driver about where my stop was, then waved goodbye as I stepped onto the bus. Unfortunately, as I am the only person to get off at my stop (and I didn't know where that stop was), the bus driver forgot to stop and had to circle back once he'd reached the end of the route to take me home.

All was okay, though, because I did get home. Ana had lunch waiting for me (spaghetti with cream sauce and salad), then I went and took a long and needed nap.

School is going to be difficult, but I think I can do it. I might not be able to pass all my classes (especially Philosophy and Science) but I think I can do well-ish in English and Latin, at least. Basically, I'm going to do what I can and try not to stress about it -- I am going to enjoy this year, learn Spanish, make friends, and do my best.

I hope everyone at home is doing well :) Miss you all!
Love from Marbella,
Shona

The Train

I wrote this while attempting to watch Spanish TV, so I apologize if it's terrible. This isn't my usual narrative writing style, and I'm not sure if I like it. Hopefully it gives you a view of a few minutes of my trip to Madrid. Enjoy!

I'm sitting on the train home from Madrid. My feet are scrunched up on the seat next to me, slowly encroaching into Cj's spot -- personal space is quick to disappear between exchange students -- and Christine's arm is reaching across the table to snag the water bottle from my hand. Charissa has just returned from the bathroom to find her seat occupied by Cj's feet, but shows little qualms about shoving him out of her way. As I watch the countryside pass by, my heart swells with the friendship I feel towards the people sitting next to me; although I have only known them a few days, I cannot help but think we have been friends forever. At this thought, I smirk at myself - it is such a cheesy thing to think, but I feel that way nonetheless. Christine laughs, a big smile spreading across her Katherine Heigl-estque face, breaking my train of thought, "It's so funny to watch people look out the window," she says, and everyone turns to stare at me, "your eyes wander with no sense of direction." Glares from our across-the-aisle neighbors quickly turn our spirited laughter into quiet, behind-the-hands giggles and some typical teenage eye rolls (not in the view of our neighbors, of course!). From the way we're laughing, I can tell we're all exhausted: the giggling is a bit excessive, even for us. The laughter finally ceases and our eyes fall to the movie screens above; without headphones to listen with, we attempt to understand the movie, Tower Heist, from the Spanish subtitles which fly off the screen as soon as they appear. Christine understands some of the words, but it's Cj who can explain the movie best -- he's seen it, in English, before. All too soon, the movie holds little interest -- lack of sleep from the past couple nights is finally catching up to all of us. Christine is leaning on the window, eyes closed, "I've only had one cup of coffee today, that's eleven short of normal." On Christine's left, Charissa is texting her host parents, "Is this how you say we will arrive in Spanish?" she asks as she hands the phone to Christine, trying to figure out how we are getting home from the train station. Cj's head slowly moves to the table, and I can tell he is fighting the urge to fall asleep -- we all are. By now, I've turned myself around so that I'm leaning up against him, with my head resting on the seat. The slow lull of the train is calming and peaceful and I can feel my eyes start to go heavy; as I let them close, I think of my friends and family (both new and old) and feel, simply, happy.

 Charissa, Cj, and Christine "en tren."

Madrid Train Station

Cj is your typical 16 year old baseball player -- except he's really, really tall.

Christine is super smart and drinks more coffee that I ever thought humanely possible.

Crazy Charissa! The oldest of us all, she's always smiling!

I'm still loving Marbella, and will post more about my trip to Madrid soon!

Love from Marbella,

Shona

A Few Days in the Life of Me :)

Wow. This blog has over 1,000 views - I knew that there were people interested in what I was doing, but to have only written five posts (this will be the sixth) and have gained that many views... it's an honor I could never have imagined. Not only am I amazed by the views, but also by my worldwide audience -- people are reading my blog from Japan, Argentina, France, Italy, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Spain, and, of course, the United States. It means so much to me that my words have reached so many different people, so many different places. Basically, I just want to say thank you to everyone out there who is reading this blog!

When I last posted, I had just gotten over being sick; I'm all better now :) On Thursday I met Vanessa Lusa, another Rotary Youth Exchange student living in Marbella, and accompanied her and her parents on a tour around Marbella. My host mom had already given me a similar tour around the city, but it was incredibly interesting to see Marbella from someone else's point of view (plus my Spanish has drastically improved over the last two weeks, so I understood much more of Vanessa's parents explanations of the city). Vanessa is a sweet, always smiling sixteen-year-old from a small town in Connecticut. Her Spanish is about ten times better than mine -- she studied it in school for three years before coming here (hmmm, why didn't I think of that!). Still, I have a two-week's advantage when it comes to the slang and common words here; it's very satisfying when she turns to me to explain or translate a word (usually it's the other way around). She's also writing a blog, so if anyone wants another view of Marbella visit http://vanessall.blogspot.com.es/2012/09/beaches-and-much-more.html.

On Friday I went with Ana, my host mom, to her work. She is a teacher, but school hasn't started yet so  she has a much shorter work day filled with meetings. While she sat in meeting after meeting, I helped the counsellors in the office with their filing, then went into the schools library and attempted to read some Spanish books. 

Saturday morning I was up bright and early (8 o'clock haha) to go to Bolonia with Vanessa, her host mom, and her host cousins. Bolonia is in Andalusia, like Marbella, but it is on the other side of Gibraltar (on the Atlantic coast). Bolonia is famous for two reasons: firstly for its beautiful sand dune beaches, second for the Roman ruins. Lucky me, I got to visit both in one day! 

The Roman ruins are in the process of going from an archeological dig site to a museum: in some places you can watch the archeologists digs artifacts from the dirt (which I find really cool!). Because I've studied Latin and ancient Roman culture, I was really excited to be walking on the same stones that Roman colonists walked on around two thousand years ago (!!). We walked around a temple dedicated to the god Osiris, who is actually an Egyptian god, but whom the Romans in this area dedicated their homes to. Houses, aqueducts, public baths, a forum; everything that I've studied in school was there before my eyes! I even got to walk through a Roman theater, touch Roman statues, and (attempt) to read Latin inscriptions. 

After spending an hour or so in the ruins we made our way to the beach. Unlike the beaches in Marbella, the sand in Bolonia is incredibly fine. There are seashells here and there, and the dunes are worth walking up. After a good long swim in the not-so-warm water, Vanessa and I ran along the coastline until, BOOM, we arrived (unknowingly) at a very, very nude beach. Trying not to laugh too hard, we took some photos at the beautiful rocks (which stick out of the water like knives) then headed back to stuff. Our lunch consisted of sandwiches, fruit, and melting chocolate cookies. Vanessa unsuccessfully tried to teach me how to do a cartwheel, but, upon realizing her attempts were futile, we made our way up the beautiful dunes. It was such a great day -- lots of laughter and goofing around with her host cousins (a 5-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl) -- I was absolutely exhausted when I got home!

Sunday morning Ana, Salvador and I went to the AAA (the animal shelter); the shelter was hosting a fundraiser fiesta and Salvador was making paella to sell. I helped Salvador to make the paella, then got to walk around the vendor booths - so many people donated clothes, books, jewelry, food, etc.! I was surprised by the vast amount of people who turned up -- the people in Marbella (both tourists and natives alike) really care about the animals.

A little before three, Salvador and I returned back to the house; he had to get to work and I had to change for the movies. One of the teachers at Ana's school has a fifteen-year-old daughter who invited me to go to the movies with her. We went to see Step Up -- it's the second time I have been to the movies, and again I was surprised by how much of the storyline I could understand. Even if I cannot comprehend each and every word, the theme, characters, and plot was easy to decipher. It was a fun night, and it's always good to meet new people.

Today was a relatively relaxing day; my host parents and I did a little bit of shopping and Ana showed me how to use the bus system in Marbella. Now I'm writing this blog! On Thursday I am going to Madrid for Spain's Rotary Exchange Student Orientation; I'm incredibly excited to see the city and to meet all the other exchange students!

Just a quick note -- in one of my earlier blogs I said my Rotary counsellor's name was Linda, but it's actually Nina :) sorry Nina!!

I hope everyone at home is doing great -- I miss you all but am enjoying my time here!!

As always,

Love from Marbella,

Shona

Estamos Perdidos

Sorry too all of you worried about the fires; the ones near my house have been clear for the past couple days. We didn't have to evacuate, although it certainly came close to that! I've been sick for the past couple of days, hence the lack of a blog.

On Saturday, Salvador and I woke up early (8 o'clock) to go on a hike with two of his friends. We drove for about an hour to a pueblo called Juzcar, which is famous for it's bright blue buildings. In a promotion for the Smurf movie that came out a year or so ago, an entire Spanish pueblo (typically famous for their whitewash buildings) was painted Smurf blue. From what I had gathered about Salvador and his friends, they were experienced hikers who enjoyed hiking along ancient paths. For this hike, which they had never attempted before, Salvador and his friends were using a book written by their friend which describes (with words, not pictures) some of the ancient pictures. As we left Juzcar, I was excited to get some exercise and to see more of Spain; part of that excitement quickly dissipated, however, when, still on the roads out of Juzcar, Salvador and his friends were arguing, passing the book around, trying to decide whether we should take the right path or the left path. We were barely five minutes into our hike and already had no idea where we were going. Finally, they decided on left, and we were on our way. The trees and plants we passed were so similar to home, oak trees, grapes, fig trees, blackberry bushes -- I could have sworn we were hiking through California! We crossed a beautiful river that, at the moment, had very little water; apparently the water level raises so much during the winter that it can be a dangerous river to cross! About ten minutes after we passed the river, there was a disagreement about the direction again. Salvador kept looking at me and saying "We are lost" -- not exactly the most comforting thing to say to a girl out in the wilderness with men she has just met. After a bit of discussion, I was told to sit down with on of the men while Salvador went walking in one direction and his friend went the other. They both returned after about 10 minutes, and they discussed whose path was correct. Eventually, we continued on. We were "lost" with the same process about five or six times in the entire hike, sometimes turning back on ourselves, bushwhacking, or splitting up.  The hike itself was relatively easy, but by the time we made it to our destination (another pueblo) it had taken us three and a half hours to do an hour and a half hike! I was exhausted! After eating some lunch at a local cafe, Salvador and I wandered the pueblo while his two friends hiked all the way back (this time not getting lost) and then drove the car to pick us up. At that point, I was starting to show signs of a fever - chills, exhaustion, paleness, etc.

That night I was very sick -- hot and cold spells and a terrible fever. I won't go into the details, but I was sick for a good two days, barely able to eat anything, sleeping most of the day, and just feeling poorly. By Monday evening, I was starting to feel better, although I still didn't want to eat anything my host parents put in front of me -- it was all fish lathered in butter and oil. Comfort food to them, but not so much for me. On Tuesday, I went to spend the day with my Rotary counsellor, who is from Denmark and speaks fluent English. She helped me to understand that I was most likely sick because my body was rejecting all the different food, especially because I come from a home where we eat many vegetables and everything is fresh but here most things are really rich and/or fried, with very few vegetables. Not to mention they they buy milk that doesn't have to be refrigerated and will last more than a year (!!! yikes!). My counsellor, however, believes in organic and fresh foods; for lunch we went out to a New York style restaurant famed for it's use of organic and local food, and for dinner she and I cooked a wonderful meal: rosemary chicken in foil in the oven, spinach, potatoes, and salad.

When she took me home, my counsellor explained to Ana that I might need to eat some simpler foods for a little while; she emphasized less fish/seafood and more vegetables.

Today I spent the day with my host aunts (my host father's two sisters). They were incredibly nice; only one spoke some English, but she only used it when necessary -- we had most of our conversations in Spanish! Together, we walked around Puerto Banus, which is well-known around here as a place that the wealthy park their yachts. There are many expensive designer stores on the waterfront and expensive cars clutter the streets. Eventually we made our way to lunch, where my host cousin joined us for lunch; I had a caesar salad (trying to stick to "normal" foods until I'm feeling 100%) and they shared different types of tapas - fried and breaded white fish and fried pork, both with fries. After lunch, we went to "la Canada," the biggest shopping center in Marbella, to window shop. On our way back home, my host aunt popped into a bakery and bought some pastries to share with Ana and Salvador.

It's been a long couple of days, but I'm finally started to feel better! Hopefully I remembered all the important things about my weekend -- if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask!!

I miss home!
Love from Marbella,
Shona