Friday, September 26, 2008

1st Month

Well, now it's been a month since I'm here. I've decided that every month I'm going to make a special post evaluating how it was and summarizing what I did ;)

The first month is the most difficult one. Everything is new and in the beggining that's cool, but then you realize that you really are going to spend a whole year here. Once you accept it it's a lot easier to go on.

Many things have happened: Mom's niece (Krista) came twice, it was Chris's birthday, Matt went to Europe to visit Elsa, Adka came and we went to Williamsburg and then UBie's stepmother died and he had to go to Ohio. Not a very typical month, regarding Mom, but sure it was exciting!

School started and I got to meet all my teachers and classmates. Some are better than others, but every of them acceptable and bearable. Specially in Art class and Public Speaking I talk to many of the kids. One thing that bothers me is that children here speak very lowly, so mostof the times it's not that I don't understand it but I can't hear them!!

I also tried many clubs and made it for the Fall play and had the anime club first meeting today. I like poeple in Drama club, they're nice and there's one girl from my P. Speaking class that I like veeeery much. In the Anime club everything is insane. Seriously. No kidding at all!! I'm a bit afraid, but I've decided that before judging and because today was the 'presentation' day and didn't watch ani anime at all I'm going to give it another chance and then decide whether I like and keep on going or not.

Next month I want to try the art club (1st meeting on the 6th of October) and the Pilates club (not a clue when 1st meeting will be)

So far I'm doing well with my grades, although it could be better. Since here everything is kind of easier compared to Spain (tests are basically matching or multiple choices) I have made the promise to try my best so my average will be an A and therefore when I go to Spain it'll be something like a 10 ;)

I have read 4 books (Breaking Dawn, Dating Game, The Elegance of the Hedgehog and Cindy Ella) and am reading other 2 (The Scarlet Letter and Dreamland). Most of those books are Gul's but she's very nice and lends them to me! :D

Finally, I went through some very difficult moments missing Spain, family and friends(and food) but succesfully got over them (go, Elena, go!). The path to maturity and independence is right in front of me and I seem to be going the right way.

Now a new month is starting and ther will be many new experiences that I'll share with you as often as I can! :)

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Hey everybody!

How are you doing? I have many things to tell, so let's get down to bussines! :)

First things first, I want to talk abou the Elegance of the Hedgehog. I finished it on Monday and oh my gosh... Now I understand why our Spanish teacher said that you laugh at the beginning and cry at the end. If you are feeling sad for something, don't read it! I really felt bad, but it's an awesome book. No one of the best of the world, but very easy to read and understand, in spite of all the philosophical comments ;)

OK now, after I wrote my last entry, Anushka's cousin came to introduce us to her wife (apparently he got married in August in India, where he met her). She hardly spoke English, and has a Law degree, but cannot work here basically because of the language. That's a pity! so I hope when she gets better she'll be able to work as a lawyer

Then, on Monday, I felt very badly. I didn't sleep very well, woke up at 2 and couldn't sleep again until 3 or so, and the dreams didn't help a lot (I can't remember what I dreamt that night, buuuut I kno I didn't like it). Then we had to get the bus but we missed it! So we had to wake Mom up (although she had been in bed only for an hour :P), and she wasn't very happy, but told us not to worry anyway.

Also on Monday the auditions for the drama club were held.... well, it was horrible! :O They gave us a monologue to memorise and we had to perform it in two different ways, and after that with a random partner (but I was lucky and went with Rose :D) perform a scene. I had to play the role of a little girl in the dentist and she was the dentist. we didn't know what to do, because we have accent and are not as fluent in english as we'd like to be, so we played a mime act :P Then we went home and I felt so.... I don't know how to say it, but that made me make a decision.

I decided that I couldn't be sad anymore. I'm not here to feel like crying everyday and keep worrying about Mom and Dad in Spain (yes, I already told you, I worry about you!! :O). This might sound selfish, I know it, but I feel like I'm abandoning you and leaving you alone and helpless. That's why Yesterday I sat down with Mom and talked to her. She made me realize that you don't want me to be sad, and that a parent's goal is to raise their children so that they can live by themselves and become independant. It's always hard for both parts, but eventually we'll learn to get over it, and getting mature and independant doesn't mean that I love you less or that I'm abandoning you.

Sooo I really felt better, I cried for a while, let it all out and then started smiling again. I've realized that being here is the best thing that could have happened to me. As Jewish people have the bar mitzvah, I have my year in America to help me growing up and mature. Somehow, I know this is the right thing both for you, Mom and Dad, and for me, although it's a bit difficult now :) (You know the saying, "tras la tormenta viene la calma")

After our little chat, we went to Barnes and Nobles! It's a book store with a Sturbucks in it, and I just love it. There are sooo many books and you can pick them up and read them while you have a coffee and then decide wheter you want to buy them or not. I already want some of them that I'll buy in October, when I can use more money!! :P (I know videogames are a bad habit, Dad but it's just once in a year so that I have something to do besides reading, drawing and watching TV!). I had a wonderful time there, and also with Rose. Now we're starting to know each other better, and that's good.

Then it was late (around 8.30) so Mom didn;t have much time to make dinner, so we bought some hamburgers from Wendy's, which are good for us :P (and at least they taste good as well!)

And today I woke up with my batteries charged! (literally, because I'm very tired :P) We didn't miss the bus like on Monday (and hopefully won't be able to miss it again, because UBie's already here! :D), but they had an emergency drill!! :O They made us get down through the back door and then get on again... Anyway, it was a new experience indeed :P

Also in the lunch break I had to buy some goggles for Chemistry, and afterwards couldn;t find Rose, so I was going to my Chemistry class when I saw the list for the play this fall.... and I just culdn;t believe it!!! I'M IN THE PLAY!!! :D And Rose is too! We have non-speaking parts (also known as extras :P) but it's better than nothing! Since Adka (5 years ago) we're the only ones who've made it, so it's something to be proud of!

Also this afternoon we went to the Beach for the first time! :D (I uploaded some pictures!) It was sooo windy, but we didn't mind! I had a lot of fun :D Somethings are like in Spain, but some other things are not. For example here there aren't as many apartment buildings as in Spain, they rent houses instead! and in the first row there are big buildings, but they're only hotels, then in the 2nd row are the shops which are small buildings. It's very curious, next time I'll try and take pictures of them ;)

And then... Here I am! That's all! I'm going to read a bit of the Scarlet Letter (Now it's getting boring :/) and that's it. Tomorrow at 6 we have a Karaoke arranged by the Drama club. Of course we're going! :P

Dad, thank you for the music! ;) Take care, both of you! :) Loooove you!

And girls!! When Saturday comes I want to see in my mailbox an email from every and each of you telling me how your first week was! :P Esme, if you see Marisa tell her that I'm in the drama club, please!!

Lots of love everybody! Be careful, take care, blah, blah, blah!

Elena.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Spore and Nadal!




Hello!


How's everyone? I'm fine, my weekend was relaxing and pretty normal. Well, 'normal'


I think I already told you that UBie's stepmother died on Thursday, right? They just found her laying on the floor at her house. So, UBie's brother came yesterday and had dinner with us (that's why we couldn't go to the movies in the end) and they left early in the morning.


Anyway, let's start with Friday. On Friday I was happy because it was the beggining of the weekend! (yeah, I don't like getting up at 6 and not being able to stay up later than 10 without passing out :O Besides, I don;t like mornings. I always feel sad. It gets better as the day goes by, though ;)). In the afternoon we went to see the Blue Angels (That;s a group of planes of the navy that do fancy things in the air) Guess what, in the end we didn't get to see them!! We stayed there for almost 2 hours and saw many other little planes, but not the cool ones!! Anyway, I had a great time with Mom and Rose.


With Rose I don;t talk very much yet, because her English is not very good, but little by little it'll get better. That's why right now I spend most of my time with Mom (she talks all the time, and that's cool for me).


Then after waiting for the planes, we went to the drugstore. I bought some nail files and french manicure nail polish. It has a mistake proof white brush, and it works for me :p


Yesterday (saturday) I woke up and just sat with UBie in the living room, watching I Love Lucy. That;s what we do on weekends, we are the ones who get up early (at 10, sometimes earlier) and since I discovered that show, is what we do. If you get a chance, you should watch it!! It;s in black and white, and it's about an american woman married to a cuban guy (Ricky Ricardo) and she always gets in trouble when she tries to get what she wants and all that. Very funny, really! I think it's the best show I've seen since I'm here ;) (American TV sucks almost all day long)


Then in the afternoon Mom's niece came over with her boyfriend. He's in the navy and therefore he works here, so after a holiday in New York with her, she came with him for some days. Krista is a very nice girl, I like her :)


After that Jim, UBie's brother came over. He's very tall, that;s the only thing he has in common with UBie. I don't see anything lese in their faces or even their personality. While UBie is easy going (although sometimes reserved) and funny, Jim looked very serious. Matt also came, because he hadn't seen Jim since he was a child (Yes, almost 20 years ago...)


Families here are not like in Spain. I's say that every kid leaves home at 18 to go to college, and many of them go far away, so they only see their parents a few times a year. After that, they just have their own lives, and brothers don;t have such a strong relationship as Spaniards do, so if they live in different states, chances are that they'll only see each other 4 or 5 times in their lives. Now I'm happy I'm Spanish!! :P

We played Jenga (a japanese game in which you have to build a tower) for a while and then I just fell asleep on the coach. I was veeery tired.


Today I got up later than usual (at 11, wow! :P)and watched Nadal's game. Of course he won! hehehe (That's why his picture!) Right away I could say that it was Spain. The public is very different from what I see here, more... spanish :P (that is more shouting, more singing and all those "oe, oe oe oe") I'm happy that he won, I think he's going to win the cup!
Then in the afternoon adn after studying (Chemistry test tomorrow) we went to the mall. I saw many cute shirts and clothes but... I had something in mind for the 50 euros I had left this month... It's called Spore!
It's a videogame in which you create your own little creature and help it grow into a community, then a city, etc, etc. I really need something to entertein myself apart from drawing and reading, so I thought it was a good idea since I already had my eye on this game and here I can;t download it. So this month I din't buy any clothes, but I bought a videogame!! Yay!! :D However, October's close so I won't have to wait long before I can buy some of the things I've seen ;)
Now I want tot alk abou the books I'm reading. The Elegance of the Hedgehog is just amazing! I'm enjoying it very much. It's very philosophical, but at the same time, funny and easy to read (even in English)... Very Elena, so to speak :P I recommend it to you.
The Scarlet Letter is a bit harder to understand, it's written in ancient English, but it's ok. It's a bit slow, and I'm afraid it won't have much action, but you get a clear idea of how puritans lived at the time (around the 17th century).
I've already seen some books I want to buy next month! One of them is Brisingr, the third book of the Eragon series (I'm afraid the title doesn't start with an E!!), and the other one is Anna Karenina. This last one is huge, and maybe my English is not very good at the moment, but for 8 dollars I'm so buying it! :P
Now I'm going to install my new super game! :D in 10 minutes the new season of the Simpsons will start, and hopefully I'll be able to find the channel among all the one that they have!
By the way, I'm so happy Bea's surgery went ok... I hope it won't hurt very much, so as soon as you're ok and at home, please let me know!!
Love everyone, take care!
Elena
p.s. I tried to install the game... and can't until UBie is here and with his almighty administrator account allows me to do it! O man :O The good new is that I found the Fox channel :)

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Here I am again!! :O

Hi there!!

I am so happy that you lef tso many comments :P and that you tried to write in English!! (except for you Pilar >_>)

I added more pictures, although there are more that were taken with UBie's camera that he hasn't been able yo upload to this computer yet because this week he has a presentation to give (actually, tomorrow :P) and has been busy working on it sooo I didn't want to be very annoying!

He's leaving this evenings, after dinner, and coming back on friday afternoon. I think he said it's in Richmond, I can't remember! :O

Nooow I'll talk about my weekend. Williamsburg was amazing! It's very different from what I'd seen so far, I mean, in Europe they won't set up a whole village so that you can feel as if you were in the 16th century. Only actors live there, and it is like they're working 24 hours a day 7 days a week!!

I could've enjoyed myself more, but it was a hard day for me. Sunday was too. I know it's going to take time until I get used to this new life, but I can't help feeling stupid for not being able to just forget about Spain!! At least it's not like in the camps (I'm not crying in the corners and begging for you to take me back home :P) I know, and have many living proofs (Jofi, Friede adn adka) that this is the best for me, and I'm going to learn not only English, Chemistry and Biology (this last one I'm not so sure :P I'll talk about it later), but also how to get stronger, more mature and independant.

On Monday I didn't want to go to school. I'm not very cheerful at 6;00 in the morning (actually I get ready very quickly, so UBie lets me stay in bed until 6:15) and I usually have those dreams that won't let me rest properly! And I don't feel like taking a nap, so I just get by. I had a Geography quiz and today he gave it back and I scored a 100 :P (right now everything's easy!).

You have to know that here we have quizzes almost everyday, which is good because it makes you study everyday, instead of a lot in the last minute for the test. The quizzes I've taken so far have more or les 10 or 20 questions. Fill the blanks, match, multiple choice.....easy stuff!! The tests... I'm not sure yet. I think it depends on the teacher and the subject. Next week I have all my first tests, so I'll let you know. I asked my history teacher and he told me that we only have to study te notes he gives us, not from the book (and we almost didn't take any notes!! :O). If everything's going to be like history, I'm afraid next year is going to be complicated!! But I think the experience will be worth it.

Yesterday I learned that in my Math class there's another Spanish girl!! :O Not an exchange student, but a NATO girl :P She's been living here for 4 years. I got to know that she was spanish because my teacher told me to help her because she didn't understand something (which she did, it was the girls by her side who didn't understand). It's good to know that there's someone from spain, but I told her that it'd be best if we could speak in English, so we did. I want to be nice to her, but I don't want them to be my only friends (coming to the States and going with Spanish people.... bad thing!! :O).

About friends... Actually, I talk to many people, specially in Public speaking and Art (becaus ewe have more 'freedom'). Getting to know people won't be hard, making true friends will!! And that;s what Karen meant when she told me that probably I won't make friends out of school. I've learned no to care very much. After all I have them, and I also have Rose. It's just that I felt a bit lonely at first.

Now, today! Tpday I came to the conclusion that this might be a wasted year, talking about Biology. It's an 'easy' class, and all the lazy kids take it. So just imagine a mixture of bad kids and a teacher who can't keep them under control. What do you get? My Biology class!! :D She goes at a very slow pace, and we keep doing activities that I think are useless, and we spend more time pasting sheets on our notebooks that taking new things. Jofi had the same teacher last year and complained, too, but she didn't mind.

I talked to Karen a while ago, and she's going to talk to the counselor and see if there's any other Biology class at that period (which there is, because I've seen it :P and they might be lazy people, but what I've seen is that they were on their seats and quiet, and the teachir explaining) and change me. even though I know there are, it's not 100% sure that the councelor wants to change me, because my reason is not a good reason. Anyway, if it turns out that it can't be changed, I'll just have to bear with it and work harder next year. I;d love to drop the class and take Study Hall, but even though I;m not learning new things I can learn vocabulary.

That's pretty much everything, for now. I should study a bit now, so I don't have to do it later when I don't feel like doing it :P

Lots of kisses, I love you! :)

Elena

p.s: (I always forget something :P) I bought 'The Elegance of the Hedgehog'. It's a book I've wanted to read for a long time, and when I saw it I couldn't hel buying it!!! :D I'm starting it today, when I finish my 2 daily chapters from the Scarlet Letter (We have to read it for school).

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Let's Get Started!

Hi everyone! This'll be my blog for this year, so that you can know what I've been up to in the other side of the world (meaning Virginia Beach :P)

Today we don't know what we're going to do. Adka, a girl from Slovakia who stayed with the Reeds 5 years ago is spending some days with us. She's marvelous!! It's one of those people that you might not notice on the street, but once you stop and look at her carefully you find out a really pretty girl!

Maybe we're going to a city called Williamsburg (nobody told me what's in there), but it's not 100 per cent sure... We have to wait till Mom wakes up (that'll be 1 pm or so :O)... She's just like a vampire!! stays until 5 in the morning and then wakes up late.

Right now I'm feeling a bit down... I always do in the mornings. My dreams aren't very pleasant, and since I've been here it's always the same thing: I go back to Spain, and when somebody asks me how my year was I can't remember anything at all. As if I hadn't ever been there. I know that's a sign of frustration, the question is why am I frustrated? Oh man, I hope it ends soon, it's like I don't rest well and I'm tired all day long :O

Right know I don't have many things to tell, so pleaaaaase leave comments and let me know how everything's going there!! I'll read them once a week, so I don't see much spanish ;) (also you could try and do it in English... that sure would be fun :P)

Lost of love everyone, and have a nice day!! :D

Elena.

PS: On the upper left corner of the pager are the webs I often visit. In photobucket I'll post most of the pictures so i don't have to email them. Don't forget to check it out!! :)