Another spanish TV add :)

Ok. So i´m officially bored :). I´m not quite sure what i´m going to do for the next month?? Classes are basically done with (there are makeup exams for people who have failed this week, then I have a final exam for technical drawing) and I get my final grades next tuesday. Going to the beach and partying with my friends will be fun but what am I going to do durring the daytime??
I can only go running, play violin and cook so much; and TV and internet are not a good passtime (although they always end up being my time filler :) ).


Anyone have any good spare time ideas, new hobbies to take up (that I can take up here xD), etc???

Leave me a comment with your idea!! Thanks in advance, and lots of love and GOOD LUCK GRADUATED SENIORS!! :)

Molly

Oat Orange Apricot Scones (yes i´m procrastinating)

Here´s the recipe (then i´ll go copy by hand more silly acondiocamineto fisico notes for the PE test tomorrow!):

1 2/3 Cup flour (White all purpose, or half and half white and whole wheat)
1/4 Cups Sugar (plus 2 TBSP for sprinkling)
1 TBSP Baking Powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups oats
1 Stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1 TBSP pieces
Finey grated zest from 1 large orange
2/3 cup buttermilk (make your own; just take 2/3 cup milk con 2tsps white vinegar and wait 5min!)
1/2 cup finely chopped dried apricots

Preheat the oven to 405 Degrees F

Put the Flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a food processor and mix well. Add the oats and pulse 8x. Add the cut up butter and pulse 10x until the lumps are (at most) size of a pea. Pour the mixture into a bowl. Mix together the buttermilk and orange zest. Add the dried apricots to the dry mixture (or whatever dried fruit you want) and mix well.
Pour in the buttermilk mix to the dry ingredients and mix lightly with a fork until it just comes together. Toss onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently 6 times.

Break the dough in two, and pat each part into a 1inch think round. Cut the rounds into 8 parts and place the scones on a lighlty buttered baking sheet. Brush the tops with left over buttermilk and sprinkle with a bit of sugar.

Bake 15-18 minutes until golden brown. Enjoy hot, or let them cool!


Go try it, they are SERIOUSLY good (and perfect for when you dont´want to sit down because yoru so sunburned on your legs jaja xD).

Loves everyone!
Molly

Enable Llamas

Call me nerdy, but I´m rediculously excited about getting to try out the sims 3. I have every intention of ordering it on e-bay (like a week before I get home, so other people can have time ot buy it for their kids, then realize their kid doesn´t want it, etc and post it on e-bay for cheap :) ) so it can be waiting for me to install like my first day back in oly...xD. The new game comes with an interesting new set of cheats (most of which are pretty practical in the new framework of the game, for those of you who don´t know its a simulation game where you create ´sims´like virtual people who live in a virtual world, and now in The sims 3 you can also add personalities, and really really really costumize your sims!!) including the one titled enable llamas which, as the name suggests, apperently adds llamas to the sims jaja!
(For those of you not farmiliar, try out this teaser for the game it´s called SimSocial...and it´s suprisingly addictive xD)

Another cool tech thing to be on the look out for is Project Natal for Xbox. It is going to completely transform the way we play video games, and shoudl be availible sometime this year! Forget about having a remote control, you now ARE the remote control. Plus their is some super voice recognition, and virtual characters you can interact with (like have a conversation with, they can even since emotions and respond to them, etc), the interactions are (for the first time in video game history) actually interactive. In one of the examples shots the little boy wants help drawing a fish, so the real girl playing draws a fish, then acts like she´s handing to him, durring which the camera scans it and the boy takes it from her hand and comments on the fish she drew (all in real time of course!).
It´s going to put the Wii to shame!! I´m definitely going to get an xbox so I can go get it as soon as it comes out (and finally mom, dad and grandma will want to play with me!! Imagine you guys, no controls to learn, just talk and move and your right their in virtual reality!!; the closet thing i´ve seen is the virtual soccer at Pacsci but for that you had to put on a glove). I assume that the price of used xboxs will increase with their new demand (once people realize this will be released, it was just announced at W3, and there still is no release date) so if you´ve been as inspired as I have by this amazing sounding technology, go get yourself an Xbox 360 set up on craigslist or e-bay for cheap now :).

Yes, It is exams week, therefore reading Wired is a necessary passtime, as is researching about amazing games such as Sims 3.

Random note, my spanish is getting pretty freaking sweet, like we´re commenting poems from the spanish reninsaince, and I can totally keep up. Plus I got a 7.5 on a language exam!! YAHOOO With all the morfosintactic layers, correct verbal analysis, etc!! xD (although I STILL have trouble with the whole agreemente between my article and adjective with the subject (example: el tema largo not La tema larga, and if you want to make it plural you´d have to say los temas largos).....sooo hard to remember to do something that doesn´t exist in your native language!!)

Have fun everyone and I hope you´ve enjoyed this techy interlude to my normal blogging life xD

<3 Molly

P.S. Random though; Did Galileo and his buddies get this excited about looking the telescope?? Is it really that the technology is so cool or is it the ability to experience something completely new? Interesting relection eh? :)

Scientology, A religion?

After about 5 hours of research both of official scientology pages, and critiques pages I´ve come to the following conclusion. There definitely is something that we all don´t see going on, and I defintely would not call the organization a religion. A system of self imbetterment perhaps. If your curious about how I came to the conclusion that its more like a cult, and based in making money,
check out this link http://askthescientologist.blogspot.com/2009/03/seven-questions-every-scientologist-has.html . (and then perhaps do a google search, you´ll be suprised at the number of extreme critics...and for a laugh watch Tom Cruises testimony...my goodness :) ).
The other thing that really shocked me was the 400,000 cost to go from joining the religion to their OT 8 highest level!

Comment away!
Molly

Man is Basically Good

Can you get any more veg?? (ok, I don´t think thats how you spell veg...but if it were with spanish procunciation it would be). If I wrote man is Basically anything on a philosophy test, or a literature test i´m sure the response would be a lot of question marks. Basically I´ve heard used in a preppy since frequently (soooo basically the other day I was talking with so and so and they were like TOTALLY...you get hte picture).
Basing a religion on a phrase that contains the word ´basically´? Isn´t that a bit extreme? Perhaps some of you have noticed that i´m studying Scientology for a project in philosophy on religions. I had heard some people talk about it (more like in magazines or whatever becuase its one of the celebrity fads) and now after reading I think i´m just more confused! The information on the first part of the website I would describe as a ´how to be human´course for space aliens. Like really, they say to take emotions, and they all have numbers 1-9 and once you can identify their number you know which number emotion you need to react with. Are we human or are we dancer?

But then the question occured to me, even if it is a cult, and the system does seem strange, if the people who believe in it really are happy then what else matters? I have yet to discover any other reason to life besides happiness, so something that helps you to achieve it can´t be all wrong, right?

Does anyone have any personal experience/ opinions about Scientology? I would be SUPER interested to hear them! At the very least their conectps and broad followship have peaked my interest.

Write me a comment, and I´ll keep you guys updated as I keep studying and putting together my report,

Molly

A world without Netflix? :O

Yes you read that right, there DOES exist a world without netflix. And I´m not even talking about the people in africa who don´t have DVD players. Right here in spain, the concept as is foriegn as rootbeer! Not only do they not have the service here, but no one has even heard of the concept, man someone is going to make it big when they launch it here (takers? :) ).
Another intersting tid bit, it never occured to me but the same person generally does the translation for the voices of the actors. Actually, that isn´t quite definitive, I was talking about it with my friends earlier and it turns out that for some actors it works like that, and others they weren´t so sure. At the very least we came up with the definitive answer that in trilogies, etc they use the same person to be the characters voice.
Imagine how strange it would be if Tom Cruise came out with a different voice in every video he was in in english? It must be strange, I guess that would also take away your ability to regonize the vioce of an actor?

Ok, those are my strange tidbits for today (can you tell I just got back from goin to see X-man with my friends lol, don´t go see it btw, even my friends who like action didn´t like it...)

Molly

Life in Paradise

I don´t know what the weather at home has been like lately but here it has been positively PERFECT (think beach weather!!). I´ve taken to sitting in Parque García Sanabria in the shade of a palm tree to read and study.
Speaking of studying, I´ve been doing a LOT of that. Next year I plan on applying to MIT, Stanford, and UW (at least, probably one or two more...) so I need a super good SAT II score in chemistry and math. Therefore, in addition to the normal (rediculous) amount of studying, I also am studying for the exams at home :O.
It´s pretty crazy, living here now just feels like regular life. None of the things that happen suprise or shock me like they used to (ok, guys with shaved legs still makes me furrow my brow but...:) ). Even though I´m in Spain I realized that I should probably start planning my next year at hom ei fI want ot graduate and then go on to an Ivy league school! Silly SPSCC doesn´t have the current course catalog online, making it a bit difficult to decide which courses I want to take there in the fall (and registration is sooonnnn!).

Also, I decided that as my culminating project next year I want to start a robitics club at Jefferson Middle School. If anyone has any tips, ides, sugestions, etc that would be fabulous (especially if you know about finding funding? It´s possible that the OSD has the necesarry supplies, but I don´t know, and with a bit of a budget we could build a lot cooler robots, and there fore that the kids more excited and interested xD!).

Ok, thats my update for now, A bit run of the mill I know but I still have 100 pages of Mararía to read TODAY for my lengua exam on the book tomorrow,

Peace everyone,
Molly

Mango Juice

It really is the small things in life that count. Knowning that someone thought about you matters more than whatever it is they give you. Of course the fabulous jewlery I got for my birthday is gorgeous, but I swear the Mango Juice abuelo (one of the grandpas, abuelo is granpa in spanish) has for me whenever I visit him makes me feel just as special. I´m not really sure where the idea came from (probably something I said about mango´s when I first got here, A very typical exchange student experience, the one word you know becomes your ´favorite food´, one of the girls I know now has her family thinking she´s CRAZY abotu strawberry icecream jaja!!).

I´ve had a few very serious revelations lately. First of all life is fragil, seeing Tita (my great aunt here, who lives next door and has parkinsons) slowly loose her ability to walk alone, to dress herself, and now even to feed herself makes you realize that even getting up in the morning is a privelege. The other thing i´ve realized is that there are no rules. Meaning, the only thing which is obligatory in life is to eat sleep and drink water, money is a societal concept as are all of the behaviors we do besides those which are directly fufilling a physical need (even the WAY we fufil them is cultural!!).
For instance sleep, there can´t possibly be very many variatons on something so normal right? Wrong. Here, even in spain where the beds look just about the same as at home, and everyone sleeps at night (everyone is an exageration, but you know what I mean) the hours of living are different. It literally makes my host counselor and her family giggle when I go to bed at 9:30 or 10pm on a school night! For them that sthe time to start the videos before going to bed. And it´s not just because they don´t ahve to get up very early in the morning. Most of the kids in my class have the same late to bed schedule (except that they all also have to but up by 7 to be to school by 8!!). I really don´t know how they do it!
What I think we should take away from these fabulous revaltions of mine is that the world is our playground. It needs to be taken care of, of course, but there are no limits on what is possible.

Peace out and happy easter!,
Molly

The Parents visit :)

And here is some visual proof! We also took a trip to fuerteventura, although my parents have all those pictures, i´ll post some when I get them.

The other picture is the view from teh roof of my host counselors house, amazing eh?

Ok, I dont´really have time to write a long post write now, but this is 17 year old Molly checkin back in with olympia, I´ll try to write a longer one later!

P.S. I passed all of my classes for second tri too!!

Whoops, Due to technical difficulties the promised images are not currently availible, check back sooN!

Oh my goodness, How long has it been without an update!

I guess you all can take that as I sign that i´m doing fabulously well though :). I´m passing all my classes, enjoying hanging out wiht my friends and family, and having an all around good time :). Also my parents came to visit for the last coulpe of weeks (they went home on thursday) and I had lots of fun introducing them to my life here (even if it is quite tiring having to translate all the time!). We also had an amazing mini vacation in fuertaventura (another of the canary island) which is known for having the longest crazy cool beachs out of the carribean xD. Snorkeling there was defintiely one of hte coolest things i´ve down in my life! I´d seen pictures of all the crazy cool colored fish there are in the world put seeing them inches from your face playing in the rocks is something different all together.

This week i´m staying at Elo´s house becuase my host parents just left for the united states and on either the first or the second of this month I get to go try out windsurfing and lots of otherwater sports on a school excursion :).

The weather changed to warm here for a few days, but now its back to collld and raining (cold meaning like 60...jaja).

Try not to freeze to much my olyites!

Molly

Very cool Spanish Gas Natural add :)

Watch it!




Here is another cool one from christmas time that I never put up (it´s a phone add)

My Chemistry Teacher has a Soul :)

It´s valentines day, and I have to go get ready to go to Loro Parque (like sea world, actually from the makers of sea world, and with the largest penguin thing in the world :D) but I have a few things to share with you all first :).
So my class at school is one of the worst behaved groups in the history of the universe. And my chemistry teacher yells and is very nervous nearly always (I didnt´realize the two were related though!). Yesterday (prompted by a staff meeting for primer de bach B, my group) she decided that we weren´t goin to have class, instead we were going to talk about what goes on in class, and how to make it better. She explained that she is putting in as much as she possibly can, and it isn´t working, and it makes her very sad to see so many kids failing, because her goal as a teacher is to have as many kids as possible understand and pass the course. She explained that she´s been going slower than the department says because thats what our class needed. And while she was CALMY explaining all of this and we were having a discussion abotu what to do everyone was CALM, and LISTENED. Gasp right? No, not so much of a gasp, in Lengua class (spanish lit) everyone is like that, and the same in philosophy most of the time. I think the teachers atitude when they walk into the class is really what determines how a class will go more than whatever things they do to try to control the class (niether lengua nor philosophy teachers have to do anything to control the class, its just their presence in a calm, we´re goin to learn now and thats it way that does it.)
From this I think anyone who is sometimes in a leadership position can learn (and we all are at some point!). The people your leading will follow your example, so therefore, no matter what is happening being calm and collected is the most imoprtant thing to do.

On a lighter note, I found a very good sign that my spanish is improving. People now tease me when I say something wrong. Yes, that seems like a bad thing, but then you think about it. In order to be teased for saying something wrong, that has to mean that the majority of the things out of my mouth are CORRECT :), and that it suprises them when I say something funny to their ears. Yahoooooo :). I still have some issue with the whole where to put articles, using mi or yo, speaking in the past tense (there are SOOO MANY to choose from :O), and the whole making whatever your talking about thats feminine have the feminine adjective, but thats OK, progress is progress :).

Lots of Love for Valentines Day to all you back in O-Town (and those in other places reading my blog :) ),

Molly

Happiness is good company and a bowl of soup

Or at least thats the best version of a definition I came up with (the freedom from pain and fear, and the ´name for all good feelings´were taken by Epecurus and modern physcology respectively :) ). So why the soup you may ask? Because in all my research (yes I´m doing a project on happiness for philosophy, so this blog ALMOST doesn´t count as procastinating...more brainstorming in english :) ) the thing besides friendship, etc, that is extremely important to have happiness is a basic level of living, food, water, heat and some sort of shelter. Also, soup is warm and satisfying :) (which actually isn´t part of happiness acording to most philosophers, its a source of pleasure which is like happiness only its temporary and not as good, the ´static´pleasure from being ´happy´with your life is better says everyone).

One thing I found really interesting in this study is that the one thing all the philosophers agree on is that finding happiness is the goal of living (OK, its true the early christians didn´t think that..but starting with artistotle, and what we usually refer to as philosophers ). So if the goal of life is to be happy, and now we have some idea what happiness is, how do we get it you might ask?
That depends, basically there are two schools of thought (which doesn´t actually matter in the situation most of you reading this blog are in, but for the debate whether someone dying of hunger in africa can be happy it does) one is that happiness comes solly from strong moral character and a live with a reason, the other is that moral character and circumstances (where you are born, what happens in your life, etc) effect your ability to be happy.

To put it simply, if you want to be happy lower your expectations. Really, forget the idea of having more money, that nice car, finding the perfect boyfriend, etc. If you have enough money so that you have a roof over your head, and food on the table, according to physcological studies and ancient philosophers alike more is not going to make your happy. In fact, according to Epecurus it might even through off your balance and cause you pain, which is the enemy of happiness. He also has this whole theory about how fear of death is the root of most problems on earth, but personally I think thats majorly bogus :). Back to the example and practical advice, if you have friends, and people who care about you, be thankful for it! If you spend your whole life searching for something perfect, you´ll never get the chance to apreciate what you have before you die!

One last thought, SMILE. Yes, even if your not feeling particularly happy, a smile has been shown to cause happiness. It´s worth a try at least because :
“It was only a sunny smile and little it cost in the giving but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living.”

Peace to all (because tomorrow is peace day :) ),
Molly

P.S. This is a pretty darn cool video on CBS about Happiness

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=1773887n

Contenta

Which in Spanish means happy :). I had a fabulous weekend with the other exchange student down in the south of the island, then switched houses and have been having a lovely week with Elo, my tutor, and her family :). Her daughter decided to do my makeup and my hair last night, and I LOVE it, so I got all the stuff to do (a bit more toned done :) ) version, and today at school EVERYONE was commenting on how great I look (same as last night at rotary :) ). Yes I knwo this is one of those times when you all really want some pictures BUT I didn´t bring the cable to this house and the two cables they have plugged in are different types!
I can garuntee (wow I really can´t spell in english now :) ) there will be some dropping jaws.

Another thing I´ve been enjoying this week is consistent food and company. I never go hungry at my normal house, but we only eat together for lunch on sundays (and sometimes saturdays, and the ocasional weekday if I get home late, or the parents early). At Elo´s house every lunch is together, as with every dinner. It´s nice to get the chance to find out how everyones day went, and try some new spanish dishes :).

Peace out for now (for reals though, Friday is peace day :) For which I´m going to play my violin for the entire SCHOOL by the way in the song Color Esperanza )
<3 Molly

Granola Bars and Tofu Brownies

Yes, I am a Hippy thank you :). Blame my parents. My host family here seems to really like the concept though, especially my host mom (although I´ve yet to have someone, spanish or american try my granola bars without asking for the recipe :), see below). The tofu brownie (they are amazing btw, and have practically no fat :) ) inspiration came from how good chocolate tofu mousse, I decided to try tofu pumpkin pie (which people actually liked better, judging by how much they ate, than regular pumpkin pie, made with the same spices!) which also turned out fabulous, and the other thing that I saw online while looking for those recipes was tofu brownies. Add to all this the fact that my host mom went a bit tofu crazy (she bought 4 packs at once and said that I should cok them all because Tita should eat less meat and more protien) (and they have Mori Nu here, which is the only type of ´Silken´ tofu I know of, which you must use to make desserts, the other kind really doesn´t end well, ie doesn´t get smooth and still tastes like tofu...yuck!). Ok, so without further ado (because I have a dibujo tecnico, aka Drafting examen tomorrow, So I really to get back to studying :O) Here are my famous, sought after, and amazing recipes. I seriosuly urge you to try them. Whats the worst that could happen? And the best that could happen is you discover some even BETTER tasting alternative for a loved american dessert (and granola bars just rock, everyone knows that).

Cakey, Super Chocolately, Tofu Brownies

Put in a blender until verrryyyyy smooth:
1/3 cup Flour
One pack Mori Nu Silken Tofu (yes the brand IS important!!)
2/3 cup cold water

Put this is a pot on the stove, and heat until thickened (about 10min). Thats what hte recipe says at least, I decided that at already seemed pretty darn thick to me, so I heated it up enough to melt the chocolate and called it good.

Add:
1 Cup Chopped chocolate (or chocolate chips, they don´t exist here sooo yeah)
1 3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp salt
2tsp Vanilla

Stir until the chocolate is all melted. Let the mixture cool to room temperature, stirring occasionaly (hence why I didn´t heat it up so much :) ).

Stir in:
1/2 Cup Oil

In another bowl sift together:
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking soda

Fold the wet mixture into the dry and add chocolate chips or chunks or nuts or whatever you want (I put in more chocolate chunks, and they really add some nice extra chocolateyness :) ).

Spread into a greased baking pan, Cook at 350 Degrees F (175 C) for 35-40 minutes until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let cool as much as you can wait for and ENJOY.


Super easy Granola Bars

In a bowl combine:
2 cups oats
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs Cinnamon
Aprox 1Cup chopped nuts
Whatever dried fruit you want (1/2 to 3/4 cup)
Flax seed (opt, but really does add something :) ).

Put the mixture in the oven for about 15 minutes on low (250 degrees F) heat until it gets some toasty color.

While thats toasting on low heat on the stove mix together:
4 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey

Heat until it starts to boil, then remove from heat and add:
1 tsp Vanilla extract (lucky ducks, you really have that in the EEUU!!)

Put the toasty mixture back in its bowl and pour the sugary ´glue´over it. Stir very well so everything is coated then put into a prepared (covered with wax paper or parchment paper) normal size brownie pan (take your pick it doesn´t really matter :) ). Put another piece of wax paper on top (or double the first one over the top) and press HARD HARD HARD until very compact (you might want to put a towel over them, they are hot at this point). Let cool completley, then cut up and enjoy!

Did anyone notice that I add a lot more notes to my entry when I have a bunch of studying I should be doing? :)

Hope you enjoy the recipes, let me know how they turn out! (And yes I really do challenge you, go buy some tofu and try the brownies, If you like regular brownies I swear you won´t be dissapointed :) ).

Thank you and Good News

First the good news :). My parents told me last night that some people have tried commenting on the blog (good news for me, because it means I actually have readers :D) and had trouble. The good news for you is that I found the setting and switched it so you now should be able to comment without having an account. Give it a shot and answer these two questions in your comment A) What is the weather like where you are, has the snow finally melted? and B) What do you like reading the best here, what do you want to see more of, etc?.

And now the Thank You´s. Really this is just a general Thank you to everyone I know, and to everyone who helped make this possible, to some of you this is a thank you for just being you, others its for finacial support, others emotional support, others (mommy, daddy and friends) helping me through the long application, etc. Me being here is a result of ALL of our hard work, and all of your guys support through out my whoooolllee life :).
Another thing I thank you all for is that I am turning out to be a women with some staying and adapting power. I don´t think there is one person to thank for this, more its the sum of all of your influences. A lot of the other exchange students have been getting quite unhappy and some are wavering on weather to return home or not. Me on the other hand, I LOVE it here :). To be honest I had a dream last night where for some reason I was home in the US (like right now in the present), and I couldn´t come back here for a month, and man was I mad :).
Sure by july i might be ready to go home (;) ), but right now I really really like being here. I love all the things I´m learning, I love being with my friends here, I like school, My host family is fabulous , its fun trying new fruits, I love living in the city...Add to all this nearly perfect weather everyday and man have I got it made.

Thank you, and take care everyone!

Molly

Vamos Cantemos

So It just occured to me from my mom´s comment that you all can´t understand the Spanish song...Duh :). It translates to (aproxamitely, ah sound spelling doesn´t work in english!) Lets sing, the 7 islands that are in the same sea, Christmas is coming. Then it goes onto a little verse about each of the 7 canary islands, I don´t know them by heart so I´m not going to translate them (the first part I do know now though! Vamos cantemos somos siete, una sobre el mismo mar....blah blah blah llege Navidad)

Glad to hear that Olympia is finally thawing out, sounds like its been pretty crazy. Somebody else besides my Mom should post a comment! Really, she figured out how to do it (and definitely deserves snaps for that :) ), you can too!
Lots of love Olyers,
Molly

P.S. Here is one of the songs I actually like listening too :) (Spanish pop) It´s Called Tenía Tanto (I had lots)

Mommy says its time for an update

Sorry about the lack of updates, I got sick on chirstmas eve and have been feeling a bit out of sorts since :(. Being a sick exchange student really makes your host mom worry, which in turn meant that instead of just working on getting better I had to work on looking not so sick so my host mom wouldn´t worry at the same time as getting better :). She kept wanting to take me to the doctor, or give me lots of strange fizzy disolve in water (like most of their things here) medicines (even IB profen, etc come in fizzy water versions!). When I was still sick with a bad sounding cough a few days ago I agreed that we shoudl call the doctor line for my health insurance, they were able to reassure her a bit and give me a recomendation for more random fizzy things to take and to steam tent with special minty extract stuff from the pharmacy.

Christmas eve here consisted of a 4 course dinner at home with everyone all dressed up. It was quite fun :), and even though santa clause doesn´t really come here, we each got a box of chocolates and sweets from ´him´that I (because I´m the youngest) got to bring in durring dinner and say that santa left them in the other room lol. Christmas morning consisted of washing dishes. Yes, Dishes! For the afternoon we went up to the rural house (hotel, family´s property, I don´t know exactly what you call it in english :) ) and had a big potluck feast with 30 members of the family. It was cool to hang out with all the cousins, and the weather was nice enough that lots of them went into the pool! I managed to get a sunburn too, ON CHRISTMAS. I think thats a first :), snow burn its possible (we sometimes go to Snowqualmie on christmas at home) but a real sunburn on christmas is definitely unheard of at home. After eating we sang christmas songs (in spanish, mostly), and one song about the canary islands (this is a link, click it to go to the youtube video :) ). (ok so this version doesn´t sound too terribly good, but it gets to the chorus quicker, click around and find the more professional ones if you want) (I´m on Tenerife for anyone who forgot :) ).
After that things calmed down a bit, especially for me because I was sick in bed for a few days! On New years (last night) we all got on very fancy clothes (like dresses, Juan with a tux, etc) and ate fried potatoes with rice and eggs (apperently their favorite new years eve food :) ). After wards we lit sparklers in the living room and waited for 11 oclock (midnight in Madrid) to eat our 12 grapes with the 12 chimes of the clock (so the grandparents could go to bed and we coudl go party :) ). At midnight I also went up on the roof with my host siblings and we watched the profesional fireworks display. It´s a nice break right now not to have tons of fireworks going off, for the past week or so everyone has been celebrating and its been LOUD. At about 12:45 we went down to the ´Casino´, a club thing, and I met up with the exchange student boy who is visiting from Madrid for the holidays with his host family and hung out with him until we both got too tired around 2:30 and came home and went to bed. Carmen Celia, Juan, and Loreto all went to different parties, and got home around 8 or 8:30 in the morning!! (After eating churros and chocolate while watching the sunrise). I hope to do that sometime durring carnival, but I really dont´know how they manage to be so alive the next day (although that may be an overstatement, Juan antonio spent about half the day in bed, and the other half on the couch half sleeping half watching TV :) ).
Well its nearly midnight, so I´m off to bed, I have to get all the way better to go hangout with friends tomorrow night,
Have a very happy 2009 everyone!
Molly
P.S. For those who want to look at PICTURES click here and view them on my facebook :)