January-April

In Salas for the annual soup festival.

It has been almost three months since I last wrote and a lot has happened. Yet, at the same time, nothing much has happened. I know that is a weird sentence and probably doesn't make a whole lot f sense, but it is true. In the last three months I have been spending more time with my host family and friends and getting to know them better.

Making a Catalan dinner in Sweden.
(Estefania, Berta, Me, and Lovisa)

I also went to Sweden for a 10 day trip with school. It was a trip offered to all of the kids in my grade, but in the end, only 9 of us went. In the end I think it was better because I got to know the kids from the other classes really well and we had an amazing time!! Sweden in the beginning of February is incredibly beautiful (and also incredibly cold!).We spent one week in northern Sweden with a host family and then 3 days in Stockholm with just the class.

Umea (northern Sweden) was the best part of the trip because we really got to see what living in Sweden was like. The host family I was matched up with was great and we learned a lot from each other! While there, we did as many things as we could in the snow because here in Spain it hardly snows. We went sledding, cross country skiing, hiking and much more. I really like how they spend a lot of time outside despite the cold weather.

Only about two weeks ago the Swedish kids came here, to Mataró, for a week. While they we here, we had amazing weather and it was warm enough and sunny enough to go to the beach. (The first day all of the Swedish kids got sunburnt because they neglected to listen to the whole sunscreen speech haha.)

In Stockholm with Anastasia.

In the past few months I have also been participating in a musical at a local theater in Mataró. It is called "El Soldadet de Plom" which literally means the "lead soldier." In English the title of it is actually the "Tin Soldier" and it is a piece by Hans Christian. It is something I love getting to be a part of it because I am able to be a part of an amazing group of people outside of my host family or school friends.We have just had our first public performance of the musical and have four more shows.

The theater also is head of many of the festivals here in Mataró and I often get to see a "behind the scenes" look of how it all works.  One of such festivals is Sant Jordi or Saint George. We celebrated it on April 23rd and it is breath-taking.

Here in Catalunya Valentine's Day is not celebrated. Instead, they celebrate Sant Jordi. It is a day celebrating a mix of love and literature. The literature comes from the international day of reading which happens to fall on the 23rd. However, the romantic side to this day comes from something entirely different; La Llegenda de Sant Jordi (The Legend of Saint George).

Celebrating Sant Jordi with friends.
(Correfoc)

The Catalan version of the legend goes that there once was a town in Catalunya which was under constant attack. The attacker was not another village though. The attacker was a dragon. Many of the brave knights went to try to kill the dragon, but non succeeded. So, they started to feed the dragon in hopes of calming it and everyday they sent someone to battle it to ware it's strength, but never kill it. Then the King decided to put all of the villager's names in a hat and the person chosen would be the human sacrifice for the dragon. Little did he know, his daughter, the beautiful princess, would be drawn out of the hat. Met with her horrible fate, the beautiful, young princess marched to her death with the townspeople in tow.

Suddenly, a chivalrous knight (Sant Jordi... then not a saint) comes to her rescue, killing the beastly dragon. The knight then fled, claiming that he was not worthy of someone as profoundly beautiful and courageous as the princess and they were never married.

The blood of the dragon was such a dark red that it sembled that of a rose. Sant Jordi gifted the princess a rose before he fled as a sign of his love for her. Every year on April 23rd, millions of Catalans buy roses as a sign of their affection for their loved ones.

The following link goes a little more in depth about the history of Sant Jordi. http://www.gencat.cat/catalunya/santjordi/eng/llegenda.htm

Personally, I went to Girona with my host family. It is a city origionally built in the 1600's and is home to one of the bigger Sant Jordi celebrations apart form Barcelona. There, the streets are filled with people all buying roses and books as well as enjoying the day with loved ones (It is also a big day for shopping much like our own Valentine's Day).

In Girona with my host sisters.

Correfoc

Later, in Mataró, there is something called the Correfoc. That is a big celebration in the town center in which a dragon is lit with fireworks and taken down the street. The whole city follows behind dancing to the beat of the drums and taking part in the celebration. We stop several times during the march to listen to the story of Sant Jordi being told. Each time we stop large sparklers are handed out to the festival workers and lit. They then slowly jog in a circle to the beat of drums and many people join in on the fun while dancing under the newly sparkling night (However, only those who come with the proper clothing take part in the "fire dance").

Correfoc

The thing I enjoyed most about the holiday was how much joy the people have. It is a day for being with family and loved ones as well as taking part in the culture of where you are living.

Walking through Mataró during the Correfoc.

Me and my mona :D

The following Monday my family celebrated Easter. We ate dinner with family and friends and everyone was gifted a "mona." A mona is basically a chocolate dessert that can be in the form of a cake, but it always contains a chocolate egg. My mona was a giant Easter Egg... literally bigger than my head!

Holiday Season

                Here in Spain, the people do things just a little bit differently than we do in the U.S. Then, you add in the traditions of Catalunya and things get even more interesting!!!

                

Christmas:

My host family and me with "Caga Tió" on Christmas morning.

The first of the festivities is Christmas. However, the people here do not open presents on Christmas Day. My host family and I had lunch with the entire family, on my host Dad’s side, on Christmas Day and the following day was proceeded by lunch at my host aunt’s house.

This is not to say that there are no presents opened on December 25^th.  A tradition here in Catalunya is called, “Caga Tió.” In English this means, “pooping log.” Sounds weird right?? Well, I thought so too! In the end though, I think it’s actually really adorable!

What happens is that you have a log decorated with a face, a hat (typical Catalunya style), and completed with a small blanket to keep him warm. The children believe that he is  really alive and that if you feed him well he will “poop” out lots of presents for you! So, you feed him things (much like we leave out cookies for Santa) and then on December 24^th and/or 25^th you get out sticks and hit the log to make it poop.

*Before we hit the log, I must add that you need to heat up your stick/pole in the oven (note: don’t actually turn oven on… not a good idea with small children! haha).  You must do this because a hot pole will hurt the log more, thus, adding to it’s production of more presents.

Heating up our poles.

Also, while the kids are in the kitchen heating up their poles and constantly asking if it’s time to go and hit the log, the parents are placing presents underneath blankets placed over the “Caga Tió” that will be removed after the beating and singing takes place.

We all got hats are one of our "Caga Tió" presents.

This process of heating up poles, hitting/singing, and opening presents continues until the log poops out potatoes.

*Lyrics to the song you sing while hitting the log:

Catalan: Caga Tió, ametlles i turró, si no cagues bé, un cop te donaré, TÉ, TÉ, TÉ!

English: Pooping log, almonds and turró(type of sweet), if you don’t poop good(or enough presents), I will hit you. Take it, take it, take it!

         I must say that as I write this it seems completely ridiculous. Whereas in real life, it is 

just so much fun and rather adorable.

Reis/Cavalcada:

"Patge."

The reason that the people here don’t open presents on Christmas morning is because instead of Santa Clause bringing presents, the Three Kings bring them. However, the Three Kings do not arrive to give Jesus his gifts until a few days after his birth. Meaning, that keeping with tradition, the people here open presents on the 6^th of January. This is also another family day filled with lunches and dinners.

This day is much like our Christmas in this way, they just do it a bit later and Santa is not the one bringing presents. (The people also eat incredible amounts of food in the holiday season seeing as how they celebrate not one or two days of holidays with family, but have at least four days of eating if you count the two different sides of the family.)

             

         Along with Reis, comes the Cavalcada. This is a parade the night before (Jan. 5^th) that includes the Reis (the white king, the red king, and the black king). The streets in my town on this night were filled with an estimated +50,000 people who had shown up to collect candy and hand cards to the Kings. Younger children are also allowed to climb the floats and hand-deliver their cards to the Kings, while other older children hand their cards to the helpers who then hand them to the King on that particular float.

               

In the parade for the "Reis" of Mataró!

            One of my favorite things about this was the fact that I actually got to participate in the parade. I was a “patge” for the White King. A “patge” I would loosely say is somewhat like a Christmas Elf, therefore, helps the Kings.

The White King is always the first one and is followed by the Red King and ultimately the Black King. It was so much fun to get to walk down the streets of Mataró, meanwhile it seemed the entire city had shown up to see the Kings and hand cards to the other “patges” and me.

In addition to this, it seems everyone is in search of candy and is extremely overjoyed when showered upon by candy. Or if not showered upon, yelling for candy. Overall, something I will never forget and feel extremely lucky to have gotten to do!

                New Year:

                New Year is yet another thing that is celebrated differently here in Spain. My host family and I went to a friend’s house to celebrate. At midnight everyone watches the television program in their region… We watched the Catalunya one.

All have some sort of bell tower and when the bell tolls, the people eat a series of 12 grapes in correspondence with the 12 tolls. After, everyone jumps up and gives everyone two kisses, one on eat cheek, and wishes them a happy new year.

                After midnight, around 1 a.m. everyone goes out to party. All of the kids 16 and older mostly go to discotecas, while others go to parties organized by local organizations or companies. I went to the discoteca with my friends from school and my younger host sisters went to a party at the theater in which we all participate. Around 6 a.m. the people start to slowly go home and this pretty much sums up the New Year.  

Random:

Other than all of this, everything has continued to follow the normal schedule that has been put in place. School, musical, and flamenco are all things that I find “normal” now.  My host family and I are all comfortable with each other and they treat me like one of them. It is really nice to actually feel like part of their family. It was hard to imagine feeling that way before coming here, but now that I am here, it’s just something that happened.

I also go into Barcelona whenever I can and over Christmas Break I had many opportunities to go in with my AFS friends and explore.  It is an incredible city and have fallen in love with it!

Settling In

AFS Catalunya at Parc Güel!
*can you believe this isn't even all of us!!
huge chapter

Hello again!

In the past month I have continued to settle into my new life here and get to know people a little better. I have started taking Flamenco lessons close by at “Casa de Andalucia.” There is a dance studio in the back of the restaurant where people come of all ages to learn how to dance Flamenco. It is something I look forward too doing every week and not just for the dancing.

The atmosphere in dance class in a completely new experience! I have almost always been involved with dance, but the lightness and laughter during class is something that makes it that much more fun!! We have an upcoming festival in December and will be performing four different dances that we will have learned in a little over a month!!!

Tourism:

Some of the things I have done outside of my town include an AFS orientation in which all the students in my chapter (Catalunya) got to go to a famous park in Barcelona called Parc Güell. It was designed by Gaudi and is home to the longest bench in the world… which happens to be completely mosaic!! It was incredible!! It is possibly one of my favorite things in the city. However, the architecture here is only one of the things I love.

Parc Güel

Parc Güel is absolutely enormous!


The old section of Barcelona is fantastic too with its plaças and the cathedrals dating back more than one hundred years. It is hard to imagine building such impressive buildings even with the technology we have today, let alone then.

I have also gone to the Les Rambles in Barcelona along with a place called La Boqueria. Les Rambles is a street in Barcelona that is home to street performers and shops as well as the Boqueria.

La Boqueria is the one of the largest, continually open, world markets and is home to almost any type of produce or ingredient. It the most impressive market I have ever seen with all of the people and venders! Also, the fresh made juice that most of the shops sell is incredible!! (Luckily, my host mom also knows how to make it just like they do there, so I have learned!)

In my town there was a festival a few weekends ago as well. The festival was for Castells (Catalan). Castells are effectively human castles and are either very big with many people across and high, or a single base with 4 or 5 people high. In addition, there are always 2 other outside groups invited to participate in the celebrations which are held in plaças (Catalan). 

 Group from Mataró! (dark blue shirts... the other groups had lighter blue shirts)

 The castells are usually several stories high and music is played while those who participate climb up. Once the very last person is at the top, the music changes so that those below are aware of the descent. The crowd awaits in silence until the last person is on top and then errupts with applause and then grows silent again until the last person has safely reached the ground. Again, the crowd goes wild. It is a very impressive celebration and one that all ages enjoying going to.  

Overall, I have discovered that Barcelona is one of my favorite cities. It is impressive, but still friendly and unique at the same time. The smell of castañas (roasted nuts) and sweet potatoes in the fall sold by the many street vendors fills the air with a sweet and salty smell unlike any I have ever smelt before.

School:

The structure of school where I am is as follows:

ESO: grades 6 through 10 roughly

Batxillerat: grades 11 and 12

*I am not too familiar with the school system before this since I do not go to a school that includes the lower levels.

In Spain, Batxillerat is not mandatory and if you choose to take courses, they are a lot more rigorous and the teachers expect a lot more out of you. Basically, not like any high school I have ever witnessed!

I am in primer batxillerat which is 11^th grade in the U.S. Segon Batxillerat is 12^th grade. (these are in catalan… they are similar, but spelled a little differently in Spanish)

Here, they have courses you choose as well. I am in sciences, but you can take a course similar to the equivalent of history, language, or art. In addition, the required classes for each course such as math, English, P.E., Spanish, and Catalan differ depending on which course you are taking.

For example: I am in the sciences course and our math is a lot more difficult than the math of those taking the art course, but it is still the same course in the eyes of the country… it’s difficult to explain.

And, need I say it?? Yes, I am probably only going to pass English, sorry Mom. As much as I would like to say that I am an excellent student, this would simply be lying. If school was in Spanish I feel like I could say that I was getting what they were talking about in lessons and passing the tests. However, school is in Catalan and I only understand if I concentrate very hard on what my teachers are saying. Even then I have no idea what I am supposed to do when it comes time to apply it. It is somewhat frustrating because when Catalan is spoken I still feel like I only understand part of what is going on. It is something I am learning to accept and I know that it is normal to be confused and not knowing is part of life. It has, believe it or not, made me more comfortable with asking questions and feeling stupid! As of right now, I do feel a lot more comfortable with the language and try to speak it when I can, but for now, I mainly communicate in Spanish. My family is very encouraging and helps me a lot with both Spanish and Catalan. It is still very funny to hear my pronunciation issues with Catalan and they often come up when I am trying to do homework.

***I will write again soon and next time will most likely write about the Christmas traditions here in Catalunya. I can’t wait to take part!!!

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT LIFE HERE IN CATALUNYA PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT AND I WILL DO MY BEST TO ANSWER THEM! THANKS!!!

¡Mataró!

Hello Everybody!!!!

I've been in Mataró for a little over a month now and I absolutely love it here! It's a place of beauty, friendship, and patriotism. It's a city in which everything is beautiful and has significance. However, the people are, by far, my favorite.

Mataró:

The people I meet are extremely friendly. When you leave a shop you say a warm Adéu (goodbye) to the clerk . For example, when we went to the fruit stand for the first time, my host mom explained to the elderly women running the shop that I was from America and was going to be staying with them for the duration of the year. She then started picking up fruit and handing it to me to try! (Raw figs are basically the best thing ever! Who knew?)

The weather here is hot and sunny one minute and rainy the next. Now that it is fall I am told there will be many rainy days. I love how the beach is only a short walk away here. In reality, everything is just a short walk away I guess!

The few things that I do here currently include choir. I hope to take a dance class, but this will have to wait. I think the options are hip hop and flamenco. Why not right? Choir is fun though... I am in the choir at a local theater and will be part of a musical this spring. Also, I am in the school choir and they will be taking 2 trips to other parts of Spain that I will hopefully get to participate in!

Luckily, Barcelona is just a short drive or train ride away and I have been in a few times already! It is truely and incredible city! The history is amazing! I'm sure I will write more about it later...

Family:

I live with a family of women. My poor host dad! (No really though, he's a good sport.)I have 3 sisters now and they are all hilarious, loud, and full of energy. The eldest is Aina who is 14 yrs old. Next there is Alba, who is 11, and finally Queralt who is the baby of the family. She is 7 yrs old. My host mom and dad are Núria and Carles. We are always singing something or talking louder than necessary. We are always learning something too. For example, I will ask, "How do you say this in Castellano (castilian spanish) and then Català?" then, they will ask what it is in English. It's always funny when we try to pronounce things in each others language!

They are also a family who seems to know everyone in Mataró and we often run into many of their friends while out and about. I love it here though and it already feels a lot like home!

Random story number 1: My host mom has now started calling my host dad Mary Poppins without his knowledge. Why? Well for starters, my host dad is basically a well-oiled machine. He is always the one who knows exactly what everyone's schedule looks like and always goes to pick whoever needs to be picked up at the proper time and place, and he does all the laundry (whites/colors) because my host mom accidentaly washed new shirts with other clothes turning everything blue... 20 yrs ago! He also makes sure everyone always has everything they need for school/activities/ or AFS, he makes pati sandwhiches every single school/work day for the 6 of us, he wakes us all up for school in the morning, and makes lunch for my host sister Aina and I everyday that we are home for lunch!!! So basically, my host mom jokingly says that all he needs is an umbrella and a wig(he's bald) and he could be Mary Poppins with no extra effort! (Don't tell him this though ;D)

Catalunya:

As most of you already know, I'm participating in an intercultural program which includes spending my junior year abroad. However, you may not know that the culture in Catalunya is a mix of two similar, yet very different worlds.

Here in Catalunya people most often speak Catalán as their first language. Still, Castellano is also spoken fluently by almost any native. For example, my school is taught entirely in Català, but I have friends who actually speak Castellano at home. (Everybody speaks to me in Castellano still because I am a hopeless cause with Català!) Yet, I am learning two languages at the same time... this is sometimes very difficult. I will mix up my languages and often speak half in one and half in the other. My pronounciation is also hilarious sometimes, usually this is with my Català since it's sometimes pronounced with more of a french accent and sometimes with more of a spanish accent. Then, there are other times where it sounds like neither of these!

If you have any questions about my life here or things that you are just curious about just ask!!

*Also, if my English is wrong... you'll have to forgive me!

AHHHHHHH SO MUCH TO DO!!!

From the title, I'm sure you can see that I am a little overwhelmed. :/ I recently had a meeting with my school counselor and was informed that this summer, I have to take a few classes in summer school in a near by high school as well as an online class so that when I return, I will have enough credits to graduate with honors. This will be a big part of my summer vacation as well as finishing this year out with good grades and still managing to spend some time with my friends before I leave.
Something that I am definitely not looking forward to is saying goodbye to all of my friends and family at the end of the summer.... You all better stay in touch!!!
Right now, I have so many things to sew up with AFS before I leave such as payments, meetings/orientations, and much much more. However, I am so so so excited to find out who my host family will be, where I will be staying, and what kinds of activities that I will be able to participate in while I am there. Unfortunately, these things take some time to figure out and I will not know where I am going for a while yet...

Spain

Hello,
My name is Karen O'Brien. I am participating in a foreign exchange through the organization AFS. The trip that I have applied for is one that leaves for Spain in the fall of 2010 and returns summer of 2011. This would mean that I would be away for the entirety of my junior year of high school. This is something that I am very passionate about and desperately want to do.
I am very familiar with the program and my family has also been involved in AFS for many years. I have previously been a host sister and volunteer. My mom was also a host sister and an exchange student.
Every experience that I have had with AFS has been life changing and I don't think that I'd be the person I am now without it.