This past month has had its ups and downs. Everyday has its share of both. One minute I will be thinking about home, and what I have at home, and how things are there, and the next minute I am not caring how things were at home becuase things here are just as good, just different.
Every morning when I wake up, I have to remind myself to live in the moment, take this journey day by day. I have to remind myself of this because I too often find myself thinking of next summer and how things will be then, after I return home. And when I think that way, I long to be home again. I have to remind myself that its not the end result that matters, its the way that I got there that will tell about in the future.
I also have to constantly remind myself to go take everything with an open mind. I have to erase all my expectations for myself that I may have had at home and cater them to new expectations here. Not lower expectations necesarily, but make them achievable expectations, considering I am in a whole new environment with different challenges that I didn´t have in Connecticut.
I have noticed that at school, my teachers are all very happy with my work. It may not be at the same quality of the other students becuase my grammar when I write is terrriblleee, but they understand what I am trying to say, and for the most part, I understand what they are asking.
Today at school in my philosophy class, I understood the whole lecture! I was so proud. After class my friends asked me how I was doing and if I am understanding better, and I could tell them that, yes, I am and that I knew exactly what we learned today in philosophy. However, Philosophy is one of the only classes I can actually understand the teacher in. This is becuase he doesn´t speak with the Andalucian accent like everyone else. He actually pronounces the "s" in words and completes all his words. Basically, he enunciates better than anybody else in the school, so I can understand perfectly, even when he talks super fast.
So, for upcoming events this month; stuff to look forward to :)
This Thursday there is a strike against school. Students, and I think even teachers, are not attending school in an effort to demonstrate their oppinions about the budget cuts in the public school systems in Spain.
I have experienced first hand how these budget cuts affect the students because one of my teachers, of physics and chemistry, has not been in school for two weeks now. The school cannot provide a substitute and it is difficult to find a long term substitute if this teacher does not return. A friend of mine from school told me that last year a teacher didn´t come for two months, and for those two months they just had a study hall instead of the real class.
So basically, all of these students, including me are not going to be learning much chemistry or physics this year...
Next weekend, on Saturday, I have an AFS orientation in Granada! I can´t wait to see another part of Spain and to get together with all of my fellow AFSers and see how everyone is doing. This should be fun.
Sunday, October 16th I will be running a 10k race here in Malaga with my family. I have never run a 10k I don´t believe, so it will be interesting to see how I do. I cannot wait to run competetivly for the first time since JUNE. It has been so long since I have raced.
The last weekend in October my family is taking a vacation to Toledo. I am not sure what we are doing there, but it sounds like fun. I am pretty sure they mentioned something about a "feria" or fair, so I can´t wait!
October will be a fun filled month! I know this month will be tremendously better than my first!
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