3 months

You believe it?

5 days makes 3 months that I´ve been away from home, away from the language, the food, the cars, the liberty, and of course, all the people I love. From all that i´ve been surrounded by since infancy...never before have I been away for more than 7 weeks...and here I am...doubling that in just a few weeks....and more than quadrupling it by the time I get home....

At this point I´m homesick intermitantly...the christmas season doesn´t help anything...that old Presley song "Blue Christmas" is basically my anthym at this point...seeing as....well it doesn´t snow here and it´s so cold in the mornings that the fields look blue with all the ice while I walk to school....annnnnd there´s snow in Chicago...yet not here....so yes...y´all will be okay with your christmas of white....but me, I´ll be missin everyone with my blue christmas....

haha depressing

but most of the time I still manage to be in pretty good spirits :D

so yea don´t think i´ve become all emo and whatnot over here....it´s just a tad hard being away from home...and some things are harder to let go of than I would have thought...and that just makes existence over here all the more uncomfortable...

=/

but hey hey hey now...now I´m depressing myself...haha okay lets be happy

so on saturday i get to see a pig killing! :D

despite the fact that i´m sure this is going to gross out a lot of people back home and make them wonder at my sanity and morality

hey...i like Bacon...and a lot of things that come from pork...and i duno...tho I feel kinda bad for the pig....I´m genuinly excited to go see the pig killing....hahahaha...blame my parents...something just probably went wrong while i was little that they haven´t told anybody about...and that´s why i´m this weird....

Beyond that I´ve been quite excited to get a package from aunt jenny and company and to have gotten a letter from uncle david and aunt meg, and to be getting a visit from my dad during the holidays :P

that´ll be really nice :)

and It´ll be nice to get out of Aranda...get a breath of fresh air and see what the rest of Spain is like :D

School is something that´s more frustrating and monotonous every day...but soccer is still going well...adn I´m still getting along with people pretty well

The gypsies have settled down a little bit for various reasons....which I may write about at a later date but as is I don´t have a whole lot of time to finish this :(

mmmm so I feel like this is a depressing blog entry and for that I apologize....but hey...I´ll write something more upbeat later...and I´m not crying myself to sleep or anything...so no worries :P

talk to you all soon

Your....friendly blogger?
Andrés Everardo

just to clear some things up

I didn´t really want to advertise this to the world

but apparently that´s been done for me already

sooo i might as well clear up confusion as much as I can....

So i´ll copy and paste the letter I sent the organization onto this blog and hopefully people will get an idea of what happenned that delightful saturday night.

"As I´m sure you´ve heard, I was assaulted Saturday Evening/Sunday Morning without provocation of any sort. The attack occured around 1:30 in the morning when I made the mistake of simply LOOKING at a gypsy while I was smiling. He rolled down his window and asked "que coño miras" to which I responded "pues nada" as I was more confused than anything as to why he should be so upset as I was merely walking by the car he was in. Apparently however, even that innocently confused response was enough to provoke the innebriated Gyspy further and he got out of the car he was in at which point I began to walk faster towards my friends who were just a couple of meters in front of me while the Gypsy demanded of me, "PERO QUE COÑO MIRAS CABRON!". To this again I responded "pues nada!"

Perhaps my exclamation, although absolutely warranted, may have been unwise. But I cannot stress enough that I´ve never encountered Gypsies before in my life, and I was never warned about them when coming over here, neither by CIEE nor by Interhispania which just seems illogical as every Spaniard here understands to be weary of the Gypsies. I thought their concern to stem more from racism and social misunderstanding than anything so I didn´t take them as seriously as I should have, but I must say that it would have been very much appreciated had the organization told me SOMETHING of this threat to my safety.

In any case, after I responded to the Gypsy the second time he came running at me, at which point I knew he was going to hit me and I braced myself for the innevitable blow I was to receive. He hit me and I backpeddled into a crowd of several dozen bystanders who DID NOTHING to aid me though the attack was clearly unprovoked. This ambivalence to my distress continued even after 3 other gypsies joined in. Though I quickly knocked my first assailent to the ground and out of the fight, I was soon grabbed from behind and not allowed to defend myself with anything more than my legs as the other three Gypsies continued punching me wherever they could.

As I couldn´t raise my hands at all in defence, not to mention the fact that I was still in a state of shock due to the speed and ilogical nature of the attack, I just lowerd my head to defend my face and kept spinning to keep them off balance, kicking one whenever and wherever I could. Thanks to God I had two good friends there who were not only good enough to help me, but strong enough as well, and once the Gypsies saw that it wasn´t 4 on 1 but 4 on 3 they lost their nerve like the cowards they are and ran. Before they did so however they called more gypsies to come back and really beat us.

Walking away from the fight I kept falling over as I was very dizzy from the innumerable blows I´d sustained to my head and at one point fell down right in the middle of a crowd of girls much to their concern and dismay. This state of disorientation and difficulty walking upright continued for the next 20minutes.

Due to my present condition me and one of my friends decided it was time to retire for the night and found refuge behind one of the local schools/churches only to be chased down by another group of Gypsies who almost ran over my friend and scared the living hell out of me. I dropped to the deck and hid in a field of tall grass while they commisserated behind the school talking nonchallantly as though they had not just nearly run my friend over (they would have had he not jumped the fence onto school property and continued onwards utnil he reached the Rio Duero) and my heart was beating so loudly I was almost afraid it was audible to the Gypsies despite their obvious drunken stupidity.

After laying low for at least 20minutes, the Gypsies left and I was able to come out fearing that I may find my friend run over in the field on which the Gypsies were racing their car. Fortunately that was not the case and we met up only to wait out the gypsies a good while longer and then leave the school grounds. By chance me and my friend lost eachother and as I´d turned off my phone and forgotten my pin code we weren´t able to find eachother again, so he went to the police to report what had happenned while I went home to fix my phone as half the world was looking for me at that point, and then to head to the hospital as I was still rather dizzy.

As I arrived home the father and son of the household (Sebas and David) were getting ready to come look for me, and the mother was quite concerned. Thankfully they called all those that were still looking for me and told them I was safe and then proceeded to take me to the hospital

I was very fortunate to not have any fractured bones nor any apparent permanent injuries and was released from the hospital about an hour after entering....

So the night ended with me taking painkillers and trying my best to find a comfortable way to sleep as there weren´t many places on my head that didn´t hurt from something or another. Not to mention most of the rest of my body was sore from the stressful evening.

I didn´t arrive home until 5AM and the attack had occured at approximately 1:30, the majority of the time inbetween spent running from those ridiculous people.

This I tell you as I´m pretty sure you need to know

I´m also obligated to report this incident to my embassy, my parents of course, and at my mother´s insistence I must ask that a contingency plan be drawn up to have me moved to a different city in the event that this rather unsafe and nervewracking situation doesn´t solve itself in the relatively near future.

Thank you for your time and consideration

Respectfully Yours,
Andrew Everett Herrera

PS. It must also be absolutely clear beyond ANY doubt that I did NOTHING to provoke this attack (neither that night nor further in the past) and I was not AT ALL innebriated during this incident."


I hope this serves to clear some things up...and it must be known that I´m not afraid of the Gypsies and if they come after me again I won´t be caught off guard like I was the first time. I´m physically able to defend myself and am no coward, and in the event they find me again, I won´t be the one who regrets it.

So there, I think all that needs to be said has been said, but regardless if anyone has questions I´m always happy to answer. (though i don´t think anyone´s ever had questions before...)

Soccer hurts

...so yesterday i was playing soccer and me and this other guy go up for a header and then BOOM he nails me in the mouth with his forhead...now i´m not sure who this hurt more for...but needless to say...it was less than enjoyable...but it wasn´t until my host mom saw me smile and erupted in uncontainable laughter that i suspected that i might look a tad funny...and though this picture doesn´t truly catch the full extent of that wonderfully swollen lip...i hope at least some of the humor is conveyed =P
...so yes...soccer hurts...yet somehow it´s worth the pain =D

maybe it´s the pain that makes it worth it? lol i duno

but I must say that the Spaniards are almost as bad at soccer as the Italians in the regard that they kill the sport by throwing THEMSELVES to the ground everytime somebody freaking touches them...and that´s not soccer

that´s why i love english league soccer...so much more brutal....beautiful to watch really....

it´s just annoying to watch grown men groan and scream on the field over a scratched knee....bahh

oh well...

yes...well i duno i´m pretty used to it now...like i´ve gotten to the point where i think i´d miss it if i left....so yayy!

now i just need to learn spanish...riight...

------------


So i didn´t have time to finish...so here´s some stuff i wrote during English today...woot for transcription...

¨So here I sit in English class once more...not quite bored yet...but the inevitability of it is really quit eunfortunate...so I´ve decided to put my time to relatively good use and write this blog entry =D

Currently en Historia del Arte we´re studying paleo-christian art which is most interesting as we get to see the pagan origin of the vast majority of Christian symbolism...

Now before anyone goes and decides this is so awfully hypocritical..it must be recognized that this was done mostly out of necessity as Christianity was a clandestine, illegal, and actively hunted religion...followers often being rounded up for slaughter alongside animals in the coloseum...or even more unceremoneously (sp?) but at the very least more dignified deaths in the streets of Rome.

So adopting pagan imagery and re-defining it with Christian symbolism was almost a necessary condition of a combination of their faith and the society in which they had the disfortune of living in.

So...now...2000 years later we learn about the origins of Christian symbolism after only having been educated in the modern significance of it all...and i must say that it´s terribly interesting...and that I was also tremendously amused when told that the dove, which we have known to represent peace, purity, and divinity, was actually a sexual symbol and was even included in the Roman saying that translates as ¨Es mas puta que paloma...or...she´s even more of a whore than a dove¨ =P

And then the Victorians lamentably made sex sinful...and that´s just not fun....thus I will never take to the name victoria...since between the transgressions of the Victorians against humanity...coupled with vicky from the television series ¨the fairly odd parents¨ (the best kids tv show since dexter´s lab =P) the name is one that I just can´t take too anymore...

----

Y ahora porque seguro que alguien se encabrea conmigo si no escribo algo sobre España...les cantaré algunas de las diferencias que he notado en mi tiempo aquí. Empezando con misconcepciones con las cuales llegue a España.

Okay so excuse my still somewhat inadequate Spanish...but let me just talk about the way people dress here versus what I was expecting.

Clothing:

With clothing I find the perfect example of a huge surprise I´d come to find in Europe...though I´d come with the expectation that I´d find people wearing designer Europrean brands or at the very least, a great amount of truly eccentric, borderline eclectic outfits...and of course I came with the thought that I would stick out like a sore thumb in my american clothing...

but none of this was to be found

As far as brand name clothing goes the most commonly seen are Converse, Quicksilver, Ecko, and sports brands such as Umbro, Addidas, Nike, etc.

Really the single greatest difference between the way people dress here and in Chicago is that the styles of dress that people adopt are much more varied here ranging from the eclectic, rebellious look of the 80´s to the punk movement of the late 80`s and 90´s, and the modern ¨gangster¨ look

But that´s in no way to say that these are the only fashions present...Everything under the sun can be found here...Some fashions that would make me swear the people were inuits rather than Spaniards...

So it really is quite interesting....and there have been so many people that have already confused me for being a Spaniard that I fit in much better than I would have ever imagined...And i do find it rather amusing that I fit in far better than the German girls here...partly because I look more Spanish...and partly because I my dress doesn´t really stray from the fashions present in Spain

I feel like this explanation was wholly inadequate and I´ve left whoever was unfortunate enough to have to read this without any idea of what i´m talking about...so if anyone has any questions regarding the dress in Spain I would be delighted to clear up any questions you might have...

I´ll also try to get back later and write a more concise and thorough explanation of the fashions here....

thanks for reading this...to whomever might actually be reading this =P

Today

Though totally unrelated to anything written below...it´s just such a good picture i have to brag =P

Forgive me if this blog is not up to the expectations of some...but i´ve had some difficulty finding the eloquence i desire when writing these entries...and also time is of great difficulty to come by...so I will briefly tell you all about my day...which was quite interesting...with as much eloquence as I can manage in the approximately 20minutes I have here...

Wish me luck?

Of course I´d like to start with the latest news to enrage the Spanish people and unite them against someone who is...fortunately...not us =D

http://www.clarin.com/diario/2007/11/11/elmundo/i-02816.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7089131.stm

So this is quite the news and though i´ve been ranting against Hugo Chavez for the past 2 months...only now do people actually agree with me...so of course I´m quite pleased with this recent development...and sincerely hope it hurries Mr. Chavez onto his decent into the inevitably horrific end that awaits him =)

ehh that´s bad of me...but you know what...that guy has given me a headache for so long...and has actually managed to make me dislike him even more than I dislike Giuliani...and for that...I must be excuesd for dreaming of his decent from power from time to time =P

So onto today...for those who are utterly disinterested in my political ramblings =P

Oh and one more political note before I move on....this one on the homefront...so for anyone that lives in Illinois and is reading this (probably everyone) you should all be absolutely enraged about this

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-silentsuit_26oct26,0,1832900.story?coll=chi_tab01_layout

It is a clear violation of the first ammendment and anyone who doesn´t recognize the danger in which this places the rest of our constitutionaly guaranteed rights needs to open their eyes and protest before it´s too late.

One by one the gov´t is curtailing our rights and eventually we´ll be living in nothing but the shadow of the democracy which our country was founded to be.

Forgive the lack of eloquence on this matter...as it does truly deserve much more time devoted to it due to the outrageous nature of it all...but alas i have so little time...and I´m sure you are all more interested in what´s happening in Spain...so now I´ll actually move on to my day.

Today November 11th 2007:

Today, shamefully, I woke up at noon and missed mass...oops...and I had to be at ¨los jardines¨ (a park in Aranda) by 2...so I had no time to go to 1 o´clock mass either...unfortunate really...but the day was not lost!

Instead, around 2 we ended up leaving for a restraunt in Fuentenegra, a village neighboring the town/city of Aranda de Duero.

In this town I was greeted by more bodegas (subterranean wine ¨caves¨) than I´d seen in any town since arriving in Spain...impressive as the economy of the entire region is driven by wine production...

Fuentespina, along with most towns is really just built on a rather large hill and so the trek to the restraunt was rather arduous despite being only slightly longer than ten mintes (this i attribute to the little kids who kept whining all the way up...apparently they´re the same all over the world =P) Once we arrived at the restraunt we were greeted by a friendly but somewhat overly energetic owner/manager who seated all 30 of us at a considerably large table at which we all fit comfortably.

The walls were decorated with random tools used in the countrysides, and pictures of famous guests...or here and there what i´m sure were just exceptionally large chested women who had graced the restraunt before us. Once we were all comfortably situated the food began to come. First crackers and jelly, then mashed potato puffs, then chuletas, then ox tail, then salad, then more food than i could possibly recall...and finally we were given a small salad...and dessert!

I have absolutely no idea what any of the dessert was called...though to be completely honest one of them was quite reminiscint of the Tiramisu they serve here (not as good as the kind we get at restraunts in the US) and another was reminscint of Lemon Merangue pie...except without the pie aspect...just a meranguey consistency with lemon flavor...so that was interesting...and then two other desserts which I would be completely at a loss to attempt to describe...at some point I´ll get around to putting a list of food up here to kinda show you guys what the stuff I eat is like =)

Then after dinner was the show

which I was certainly not expecting.

It turns out that the hyper/rambunxious manager was also a performer....who was actually quite talented...he performed acts impersonating everyone from a Julio Iglesias lamenting his ¨maricon¨ son to a Mariachi band (whose depiction was borderline offensive due to its scraggly appearance) However, overall everything was quite impressive and they even had people get up to dance during one part...which was quite amusing

I was also relatively amused that the grown men sitting near me at the table were endlessly interested in the prices of our whores back in Chicago and whether they were legal or not.

I didn´t really understand why they were soooo interested and beyond that...what was I really to say...I mean some may call me a pimp...but it´s not usually meant in the literal sense =P

Haha sorry my attempt at some humor...but honestly they were obsessive about whores...and I was just basically like..well how the hell am I gonna know?

but I answered their questions to the best of my knowledge...so now if they ever go to the US they know that escort services are often simply covers for prostitution rings! =D i think anyways...if not...i blame law and order for my mis-education...

pfft

so yes after 5 hours of eating/drinking/kinda dancing...we all walked...and/or stumbled out of the restraunt to go back home...mmm I hope that gives you guys kinda an idea of what happenned? I woulda taken pictures! but i brought my camera and didn´t realize that I´d taken the battery out to charge it and had forgotten to put it back in...oops?

m´i bad =P

Bwah and i must say

I heard from my mom that in her Spanish Four Honors class somebody actually that the Spanish were better spoken than Mexicans

well let me tell you this

Mexicans may swear a lot

but at least it´s not THAT offensive...usually....

but really now...Spaniards take it over the top in absolutely ever regard

JODER tio...como dicen joder aquí

oh oh and doubtlessly the second most common swear I hesitate to even repeat as it offends my every sensability...but for the purposes of education I dare transcribe it and pray that I don´t go to hell for it =P

anywho easily the second most common swear phrase over here is ¨I deficate on the lord¨ to phrase it VERY nicely...and anyone who gets it...please explain it to those who don´t...simply because I refuse to write the direct translation down...

and now any of those who know me...know that I haven´t exactly the cleanest mouth in the world...so for me to actually refuse to even repeat a swear word...well...it is quite the strong statement...blah...i don´t like it

though I must admit that ¨joder¨ I´ve picked up and is probably my favorite explative at this point =P

but dude...they swear soooo much here...just have no doubt about that

Okay I´ve been here too long despite the fact that i´m also awaiting an e-mail from my english teacher...although at this point I have little hope that she´s actually going to send it to me this weekend...oh well...less homework for me...what a catastrophy yes?....no.

I haven´t changed THAT much...=)

mmm okay but I DO need to do my Latin...and Greek....and some history and other stuff....so do forgive...but I must go....

as always I´m always keen to receive e-mails from whoever is willing to send them =D

soooo send them?

and i´m usually pretty good about responding...so yes...it´s always nice to get news from home

and yes I´ll talk to you all as soon as I have a chance

hope all is well on the home front and I hope this blog entry was satisfactory at the very least


As Always,
Your cousin, grandson, nieto, sobrino, nephew, son, brother, best friend, good friend, guy you met on the train...
-Andrew Everardo Herrera

Lets see what I can write in 15minutes

okay so Rachel in her wonderfulness decided to actually give me a prompt on what to write about in one of these posts....as I hope other people might do at some point in the future? I figure everyone has to have my e-mail address...yes?

well it´s geemale255@gmail.com if not

get it....geemale @ gmail hehe...i thought it was clever....lol

okay so the question was what i do when not in school

so i´m just going to give a brief summary of what i do with my week starting on Monday

Monday I wake up around 7, take a shower, eat, make lunch, etc. and leave by 755 to get to school by 810 (15min is good time if i walk fast)

then there´s school which fills up the next 6hrs of my day...annnd i´m free!

I then go the family´s restraunt/bar/cafetería where I eat a pretty good 3 course meal....all free...the new definition of Nirvana...yes?

I usually do my homework here as I find it the easiest place to work...it´s just hard to do it at home...cuz there´s really nowhere to work at home...dammm

then I go home...try to do more hw or occupy my time with other things that generally end up amounting to nothing...lol...around 640 i start getting ready for soccer and by 7 we´re usually out the door to get there by 720 so as to have time to change and be ready for the coach by 730...practice lasts until 930 and by the time we get back home it´s 1030

Tuesday starts much the same, but after eating at the family restraunt I go for a French class at one of the local language schools which runs from 430-6 after which i tutor a kid in English from 6-7 and then go home and do what i can of hw and contacting family

wed. is basically a carbon copy of mon.

thurs. is the same as tues. except for the fact that i don´t tutor the kid in English after school....so I have time to go to the library and either study or just read something....it´s nice there...more like a cultural center which has 2 of 4 floors dedicated to being a Library...

Fri. is the same as Mon. and Wed. but after soccer we usually end up going home just to change and then going out again usually to bars or clubs in the area where we just unwind...though i´m one of the few ppl that actually dances...mmmm....fun....lol

Saturday is just a lazy day usually unless we go somewhere out of town...and the going out at night just lasts longer =P

and then Sunday is the wildcard of the week...I never know what´s going to happen on Sunday until it´s Sunday.....and nobody else seems to know either....so it´s best to just have everything done that u need to by the time Sunday rolls around...cuz if u leave it til the last minute ur bound to b out of luck as they whisk u away to some faraway town much to ur surprise and dismay...

lol i´m learning though

okayyyy that was 20min....gotsta run

hope somebody found that interesting =P

-peace

really too short to be considered a post at all

sorry it´s so mini...but just want to give everyone that doesn´t have it yet the url to my pics

http://picasaweb.google.es/geemale255

there u are...be happy =D

mmm

yes

nobody sends me prompts...except rachel....lol

give me a promp to make my writing easier!! =P

k bb when i can

-Andrés

just a mini mini mini recap...

sorry this won´t be longer...but i´ve spent too much time on the internet already today...so this is gona be kinda short....

Now it´s the sixth of October 19 days away from home and something like 248 days left in Aranda...annnnnd no...it´s not a bad sign that i know this day thing exactly...cuz well if u figure it out once...well it´s not really too hard to figure out in ur head =P

I´ve gotta say...my lil bro has gotten REALLY ******* annoying in the past few minutes...he keeps touching me and being loud...again...i thank god every day for the invention of headphones...they are remarkable....

anyways...As I´ve probably mentioned before, Aranda is a small city of 35k+ inhabitents that is right between Burgos and Madrid...

The entertainment industry here is nonexistent...in the resdient´s own words, ¨Aranda is a strange place...we used to have arcades...they closed them for ´repairs´ we used to have numerous night clubs....they went away...we used to have SEVERAL movie theatres...now we have one...as the world moves forward it seems the only thing we can hold onto is our wine!¨

Apparently this isn´t just a situation in which it proved fiscally irresponsable to have these businesses present in the community....if not that the local gov´t drove them of by taking forever to grant them all the permits needed to open/build/run any sort of business...further evidence of this can be found in the fact that my host father had to wait for a new mayor to get elected before he could even start work on his new bar.

He waited YEARS just to get the stupid stamp that says he could REMODLE an UNUSED EYESORE of a place...I´m sorry..but I just don´t see that happening in Northbrook....oh and they stopped running trains through Aranda more than twice a day.

but people are PISSED about that one....protests in the streets, everyone´s really quite upset...but they don´t hold gov´t accountable....the gov´t will just continue to not listen to them...it´s sad really...but what can you do?

Despite this however...I must say even if they don´t know much about ehir politics...they sure as hell know their wine!

lol it´s one thing everyone above 25 here is proud of....and something EVERYONE knows a little about. And it´s at this point where I must thank Uncle Nick for his tuttelatge in what to do when testing wine (stir it up and then stick ur nose wayy in there to smell it, look at the color against a background of white, swish the wine around in ur mouth to fill ur pallet so u can really taste it...etc.) annnd i also have to thank Papa for giving me a nose large enough to get far enough into the wine glass to properly smell it =P...well I´d´ve looked notably less sophisticated at the wine tasting thing my host dad brought me to....=P

I will get those pics of the wine tasting up as soon as I can find where the heck they went on this computer...I apologize again for how incomplete this is...but I don´t really have time to write full essays =P

I miss you all...and please if anyone´s curious about anything...just e-mail me and it´ll at least give me somewhat of a prompt to refer to when writing....because well there are just so many things that are different here and worth mentioning that I don´t really know quite where to begin

Miss you all and hope to hear from you soon

-Andrés

Pic of the day....errr....post?

¨Me looking excited by the barrels of wine...it was really awesome tho...maybe I was just too astounded to react at that point? haha i duno¨

HOLA 4th Español

DOOOOOOOOOD

NO WAY!!!

MY MOM´S SPANISH CLASS FOLLOWS ME TO SPAIN!!!!!

crazy crazy!

maybe a little creepy?

but meh i´ll live...

lol now i´m trying to think back to what i put in my last blog and what could just be weird read out by classes....but at least ppl rn´t coming up to me in the halls this year and recounting stories of my infancy where i got beans on the ceiling or killed my dad´s shirts?

mmm yes

fortunate really

so Aranda is chill

yet French is killing me

lol

it´s kinda nice though...cuz despite the fact that i´m so woefully behind in that subject...it still always makes me feel smart...cuz whenever i know something i´m so excited and just altogether thrilled that there was something i understood!

it´s beautiful

ohhh and Spanish....SUCH a pain in the ass....i don´t understand ANYTHING that´s going on...like really...just a lotta weird vocab in their analysis of sentence structures....like finding the DO and IO...but a million times more complex...and so basically just altogether annoying....sooo much harder than ne GBN spanish class...well obviously right? but still...no bitching allowed...just think of the the pain i´m going thru? =O i said a bad word? will la madre censor it? only time shal tell.....Da Duh Duh

And so i hear from a reliable and thoroughly entertaining source that i blog just the same as i speak...i´m so sorry....but even funnier is that my mom actually tries to read it....don´t she know i´m unique...aint nobody that can speak like moi....don b crampin mah style y0

=P

i´m at an internet café right now...just cuz these computers r nicer...and it´s costing me about 50cents for an hour....so it´s worth my time?

yayy!

ah and i can use AIM here

w00t

but nobody is on =(

stupid people...what´s wrong with you! just cuz ur in school doesn´t mean u can´t be online too!!!

pfft

mmmk so i feel like mom will get mad at me if i don´t tell you guys at least a little bit more about Spain....and that defeats the entire purpose of posting this....since really...i don´t think anyone else will quite see the humor that i currently see in this....ahhh not to mention i love the fact that my mom tells me to set up a seperate blog for her spanish classes before i leave....of course i forget to do that....and so she shows the blog that she didn´t want to show since she didn´t want u guys knowing everything that i was doing...as though it weren´t available to the world anyways right? but still it strikes me as funny...lol and not that she´s ever been able to keep the topic of me much out of spanish class...(even when i was in that class...quite awkward i might add)

okay so lets see what she´s been teaching you guys...and well...lets see how crappy my spanish still is despite my current surroundings?

Bueno...Hoy hace diez días que he estado en España

Por la mañana me conjele porque la temperatura afuera anduvo por 4 grados celcios...creo que mi mamá se va estar riendo de que no compre chamarra en los EEUU

OOO mi familia está construyendo un bar nuevo y va a ser un bar de fútbol...que chido, ¿no?

lo van a llamar Freemason's Tavern por la Taberna en que la liga moderna del fútbol nació en Inglatera en Octubre de 1863

Bueno yo por lo menos YO creo que es padrisismo...pero aquí se dice...mmm no se escribirlo....pero suene a la ¨y¨en Íngles

tonces será guay o algo parecido ¿no?

Me soprende que hay neo-nazi aquí...pero no son violentos...y no son educados...pero tambien hay movimiento más grande todavía en contra de ellos....jaja los nazi y los anti-nazi...y los nazi escriben cosas como ¨Sieg Heil Hitler¨pero mal escrito como ¨Heil Sig Hitler¨o tonterias así...

deveras no son en contra los judeos tanto (pues como casí no hay en España se hace dificíl culparles por cualquiera cosa ¿verdad?) pero suelen ser en contra los inmigrantes...la ironía en esto se encuentra en que hay muchisimos Españoles que se mueven an Alemanía Y Francía para trabajar....pff...es verdad que la ignorancía es algo que persista sin importancía ninguna endonde te encuentras (ojalá que eso fue entendido)

bueno se me hace que esto ya se ha puesto demasyado largo y por eso me voy a despedir de Ustedes...pero espero oír de sus reacciones a mi blog y perdoname por culquiera equivocación que he cometido por el curso de este ¨post¨

en unas semanas les daré una lista de las palabras que se usan aquí que no se encuentran en México.....pero les digo cuzndo pa que no gastan tiempo cada día viendo mi blog? jaja lo siento pero también tienen que aprender la idioma para que lo puedan entender cuando les escribo así?

mmmm y que no se espanten de España....si es bellisimo con gente muy agradable....y este movimiento en contra la inmigración existe por toda Europa, hasta en Francía, Inglaterra y Alemanía tambien....Les dire mas cosas buenas otro día

Despues subo unos imagenes para que se divierten más en leerlo ¿vale?

¨uno de los imagenes prometidos...grafiti en una parada de autobus¨

(haz clik para hacerlo mas grande)

¨Some fine examples of the progress made since WWII proved to the world that fascism works and countries r better off for adopting it¨

(okay that´s as sarcastic as possible so if anyone gets pissed they better be a nazi...cuz there´s no other way that sarcasm should have been missed...yes?)

¨pretttttty¨

¨Open Field Used For Gatherings...Primarily by Gypsies With a Train Station Visible in the Background¨

hope you guys enjoyed the pictures? or at least found them informative...but i really do like that picture of the sky...it´s niiiiice

ah y dos cosas más...la gente aquí no viste de moda ni parecida a la nuestra...y personalmente yo creo que nosotros nos vemos mucho mejor....además de eso el ¨mullet¨....ughhhhhh....hay algunos que no se ven tan malos...pero les juro que otros se parecen a ¨roadkill¨ es algo horrendo....solo en ver el pelo de algunos chavales me pongo ¨homesick¨pero con sentido como si yo fuera vomitar =P

ahhh y se me olvido la otra cosa...pero mañana voy a ver una bodega....espero que sea muy interesante...y les prometo que tomaré muchas fotos y que se los mando a uds.

bueno con permiso me voy

ojalá que estemos en contacto


ooo y que les manden mis saludos a Madalina =P

a ver si se molesta con eso? jajaja soy cruel

hasta luego

-Andrés Everardo Herrera
Aranda de Duero,
Burgos,
Junto de León y Castilla,

España

A day in the life

¨Dining Hall of the Family Restraunt¨

I try to wake up around 630 on an average day....though usually i don´t get up until between 650 and 710

but i get up ALL BY MYSELF!!!!

I´M - A - BIG - BOY - NOW!!!

=DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

yayyyy!

...anywho....moving on.....and well trying to forget that ever happenned.....

it takes about 15min to get to school and it starts at 810

soooo best to leave by 750

usually get there on time

i keep my host brother on his toes...w00t w00t....i be responsible

weee

anyways

after that i go to school....which consists of 6 class periods each 50min long

there r 2 then a 15min break

then another two and a 25min lunch break

then another two and school ends at 205

not too hard...laaame classes...but not too bad

although some teachers r kinda cool admitedly...shitty teeth tho...and bad breath...almost all of them....least i´m pretty sure they shower....

after that we walk to the family´s bar/restraunt...we eat there...and i do some of my hw there.....and basically just chill...it´s a pretty cool place...and the best part is dessert....

tho i´m still of the opinion that they use too much oil when they cook....

and the little kid hates wearing pants....it´s a little annoying cuz his underwear looks like a bikini *this being a random note having nothing to do with him outside the house....it´s just that it´s begun bothering me just now...and he keeps whining to his mom that he doesn´t want to put pants on....ahhhh and he whines SO MUCH...so aggravating...god bless headphones...*

after the restraunt we either go out with friends of David´s (my host brother) orrrrr we go home...if we go home i usually take a siesta and then finish my hw...ideally....well and go on the computer if i have a chance...and mon. wed. and fri. i play soccer from 730 - 930

and then on weekends we just go out....haven´t really done much on weekends yet...but they stay out ridiculously late....like 4....and there are NO COPS to be seen ANYWHERE

crazy

and apparently the police has zero power here...they actually do something in the south of spain apparently...but here...nope...lol the kids boss them around...funny...yes i believe so =P

mmm i know i´m missing stuff if ppl have more questions then i duno...i´ll answer ´em and add it to this post....well just edit the post really....i´m just kinda hurried right now cuz i have a tad of a headache and kinda wana go to sleep...ehhhh no siesta today...dammmmmm

dude

duuude

bad

okay

gonna put up a pic then time for sleep

peeeeeace/buenas noches y hasta luego

con amor,

Andrés Everardo Herrera

¨Visitando la Bodega de la Familia Garcia¨

La Tia, Yo, El Abuelo, y el Hijo Menor

Una Semana en España

¨Mercado de Barcelona¨

Yo....the first week is over.....annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd i feel like every time my host parents get home i´m on the computer....i´m not...but it just seems like that....hmmm....lol but i´m teaching them new things bout their computer every day! lol perks to having a northshore american in ur house yes?

ahhh so today was a melancholy day here in Aranda de Duero....despite the fact that i got to contact everyone i wanted to and was quite pleased to talk to Madi, my parents, Danny, and Miguelito....it still ended on a melancholy note in the sense that the town was shaken today with news that a girl died last night and two other kids 19 and 17 are in critical condition after a car accident...apparently the car was going 200km/hr when it lost control....that´s approx 130mph....and it was really quite a crappy car to be going that fast....so it´s quite astounding they´re not all dead...and a good half of the town wants the blood of the 19yr old driver who´s now in critical condition since he was drunk and most likely high while going that fast...and once he woke up from being unconcious he didn´t want to call the ambulence nor the police since he´d be so incredibly screwed...annnd now she´s dead....so he´s really quite screwed...mandatory jail sentence....and not a rich family so no good lawyer to make it all go away...or even really lessen the sentence....so he´s very very screwed....he may be a moron....and not have great values....but i still feel bad for the stupid bastard....pfff

well sorry to start this on a melancholy note...but really that´s what´s just occupied the latter half of the day and everyone was really quite depressed by it....so i duno...it was just weird to be in the middle of it all and not really knowing what to do....

and now i´m just really impressing my little host brother by typing while looking at him while i´m typing on the keyboard....but he can´t read English so he´s relying on me to tell him if i´m writing everything well or not....lol way to lighten up the mood i s´pose right?

i never understand how i can be so oblivious to my host dad getting home...never ever do i see it....he just appears...and it´s not like i figure it out a few seconds after he walks in....he´s always in like uber short shorts when i finally see him...pfft...so kinda strange...and i´m just thinking...whoa where the hell did u just come from....weird right?

eh whatever...maybe i´m just oblivious....

well just have to give you guys a real short overview of what life is like here generally....cuz i don´t have a whole lot of time...i still have to eat...and this whole town tragedy thing kinda horribly detracted from the work i planned on getting done today...dammmmm....i need to do a lot of hw tmrw for sure....damn....and there´s soccer practice tomorrow too!!! that means no siesta!!! dude...what do i do without my daily nap????? end of the world...surely.....i cannot permit this to become a habit...for how i adore that midday nap.....

Okay so overall it´s pretty cool over here...though it´s a tad on the sketchy side...the town is pretty cool....all the rich people live relatively far away....aka. a few km outside of town....and they´re all rich cuz of wine....and people flying around on business is really quite rare....but it always has to do with wine....kinda astounding what big business it is....

The only downside to this whole being in Spain thing is the whole going to Spanish school thing....lol....gee what a surprise right? but i gotta say....our schools back home beat the living hell out of the school i´m at here...and all the schools in the area are basically the same....and they say that the south has it REALLY bad so it just makes you wonder....dam....how must their schools be...yes?

ahhh i could bitch and rant about the school all day as my parents full well know by the time they next check their e-mails....but at least i have my History of Art class...which seems like it will be enough too keep me quite sane....and Latin seems pretty cool too....Ancient Greek is proving to be interesting...but these ancient languages are really a tad dificil u kno? or difficult rather....and i´m too lazy for accents so shoot me and shoot me for my spanglish too...lol my english is slowly becoming funny for being surrounded by so much spanish all the time...despite my music....and my online life....my english is still drowning =P

*sigh* school is stressful but meh right....and the bar´s here r just strange...i´ve never seen a bar that serves people ranging from 15-70

it was really just strange...and with hairmetal bands playing on the TV and assorted rock playing on the stereo....it was really quite strange....but i had fun....and i almost got run over by some gypsie....stupid was trying to run me over i swear....and he must have been going at least 50km/h

ahhh my lil host brother is taking all my frigging typing time....and now they´re sitting down to eat...frustrating...yes i think.....damnit

whatever i will have no time to finish after dinner and they´re sitting down right now so i´m just going to put up a picture after dinner and then go about doing my hw...and maybe i´ll update this a little bit tomorrow....posting what Madi wanted me to perhaps...but i feel like tomorrow will be busy....so perhaps tuesday? whatever the case it will surely be soon....so don´t fret all 3 of you wonderful people out there that are reading this =P

lol

bbs?

wish me luck in school tomorrow =/

-nite

Primer Blog de España

Aquí estoy en Barcelona, España and it´s 28degrees centigrade outside

hotttttttt

well

hotter than Chicago was...by a long shot...and it makes jacket quite uncomfortable....

so yes I´m in Barcelona right now and it´s pretty arid here..well not really...just there´s not a whole lot of green....but it´s right on the mediterannean (too lazy to figure out how to spell that right). The city limits r basically defined by the surrounding mountains and the sea...so it basically expanded until it ran out of room....and now here i am...they´ve got some pretty cool cathedrals...the coolest being ¨la sagrada familia¨ by gaudi....crazy cathedral...never seen one like it in my life...

eveything is terribly expensive here and the exchange rate doesn´t help any....so i´m being far more stingy than i´ve been in quite a long time...the people here are pretty nice...and everyone is quite pleased with my spanish....i lack quite a bit of fluency at this point...but the most annoying part is that none of the slang is the same as in Mexico....Chido, or Padre (cool) is said ¨guay¨ here...which i find endlessly weird...there´s an annoying cat rubbing against me right now...which is made more annoying by the fact that i´m allergic to the little buggers.....ahhh he´s outside now....much better =)

ack i still need to pack for Madrid...well re-pack...so it´s not so bad...but it means i need to go really soon....it´s 3:26 at home right now but 11:26 here soi that´s fun....but not really....okay i really need to go now because it´s getting late and i need to be completely re-packed in 20min...kinda pushing it....love you all and i´ll be back in touch when i can....

peace

mmm randomness of the evening

^^My feelings about leaving...and Madi's reaction?^^

....dude....i'm tired....i'm just gona put a picture up...and say that i'm dragging my feet in leaving...i have few reasons to really want to stay in this country much longer at all....yet idk...i'm jus thinkin that i'm really gonna miss ducky =/ and that's just not a great motivator at all...i'm really sincerely hoping that i can get my head in the game once i leave US soil...but i duno...it's gona take some willpower =P

eh i can handle it i'm pretty sure...but yes...this is a most unpleasant situation that i'm now being forced to endure....hey one more experience to make my life worth living right? One canot fully understand the joy of loving without having felt the pain of loss after all....yes? i don't know....but that's what i'm telling myself right now so that it makes this whole thing seem purposeful in some abstract way....ah God and the games he makes us play....oh well...at this point i'm kinda rambling so i'll just shut up....but as a last note...i've gotta say i've always thought we're the masters of our own destiny and so that pretty well assures me that this isn't the end of the line at all...but rather just another stop along the way....

mmmm goodnight...i'm tired and probably boring the hell out of whoever is reading this.....assuming i'm not just talking to blank cyberspace.... =)



-picture of the day? lol til i get to Spain anyways....then it'll be picture of the week or something like that...good day =P

MEEE

okay so fine my mom insists that people will think that since the first picture is a picture of Madi ppl will actually believe that this is Madi's blog and not mine...thus....i put a picture of me up....so that's me

sideways

and now i need to figure out how to make it right side up....this could take a while

do excuse me =P

bbs i hope?

2nd First Post

oooo so i decided that the last url wuz kinda sucky

sooo now i have a new one

and a new first post

yet it's still being posted from the good 'ol US of A

ahhh crunch time now...gotta sleep annnnd pack!

URL courtesy of GBN's very own Sra. Herrera =P

mmm until later?

-bye