Reflections...

I have been meaning to do this post for about 4 days now, but it hasn't happened until now. Monday i was just plain lazy and didn't do it. Tuesday was a long day and I was worrying about other things. Yesterday I hung out with Robert (another kid from AFS) who is in Tres Cantos because he is switching families to Barcelona (crazy, i know) and was staying with my Tutor. So I am writing it today.

Ok, so normally I would do a video post, those being more fun for me to make and y'all to watch, but today (or Monday, you pick) I decided to do a more serious blog post reflecting on life here, these whole three months, things I have noticed, and just things like that. So prepare yourselves.

Reflection Number 1: One thing I find interesting is how much I am learning about English while learning Spanish. This might sound weird, but let me explain. First thing I learned: How confusing of a language English is. I mean, OK, everyone always says English is a hard language to learn, but what I realized is that they were right. I am not saying I didn't believe them, I am just saying I didn't realize how right they were. We have so many words that mean three or four different things, and there is no way we can tell them apart besides context. For example, Have. You could say "I have three apples" and it is possessive, saying you are in possession of three apples. Or you could say "I have been to the park" and it is not possessive (I don't know what it is) but it means something completely different and there is no way to distinguish between the two. But in Spanish, they have two words (haber and tener). Haber is have (as in have been, have eaten) and tener is have possession. And if there are two words that are spelled the same way in Spanish, they have accents (usually, there are few that don't, and those are usually the same word but between verb and noun form. i can only think of one word that isnt: Como. which means i eat and how). For example, two words spelled with the same letters in the same order but with an accent on one to distinguish it from the other: está and ésta and esta. Está means he, she, or it is. Ésta means this (used as a noun, for example this is blue). Esta means this, as an adjective (this book). Another thing I learned about English is how little we know our grammar. Ok, we know this is the noun in the sentence, this the the verb, and stuff like that. But here (in Spanish) we learn so much more about the grammar. Some of these things I knew before, others no. For example, we learn about these things called Complementos Directos y Indirectos (indirect and direct object, I knew that one), Complemento de Regimen (I dont know what this is exactly in English, and i am still kinda confused on it in Spanish), and Complemento Circunstancial. I will explain this one. These are kind of like a prepositional frase phrase, but they don't have to be. There are 2 major types of these, Adverbial ones and In-adverbial ones. The Adverbial ones you can substitute and adverb for, for example, instead of saying "I went to the park yesterday, you say I went to the park then. That is also an example of a one that is not a prepositional phrase. And In-Adverbial ones you can't substitute an adverb for, for example, "I gave a present to John" you can't put an adverb in in place of "to John." And then there are about 10 different sub-categories, and it just goes on and on and on and on and on and on and you get my point.

Another thing i learn about English is why some words are the way they are. For example, Pulmonary Artery. In Spanish, it is called the Pulmonary Artery tambien also, but in Spanish it makes more sense, because lungs are "pulmones" and the Pulmonary artery goes to the Pulmones. So yay for learning.

Reflection Number 2: I have realized just how privelegded privledged privelged priveleged *anger* privileged I am to be an American (see below) from the US. I mean I always new knew this, but being here makes me realize just how much I love the good ol' US of A. I am not saying that other countries are bad, on the contrary, I am not saying anything against them. I am just saying that I for one prefer the United States of America and the amount of Patriotism we have. Just to compare, lets use Spain (and to make it clear, I am not trying to say anything against Spain, and if it is perceived that way, that was not my intention).
Both Spain and the US have a National Anthem. The Spanish National Anthem does not have official lyrics (it is one of two in the world that doesn't have official lyrics), our's does. But what really differentiates the two is the usage. We use the National Anthem to start every and all professional sports game, and for a fair amount of other organized sports games (ok, not kiddy soccer, but, for example, a high school basketball game or something, yes). And every child older than about 8 knows the lyrics. And then the Pledge of Allegiance. I didn't realize (although I had never really thought about it before) that other countries don't have a Pledge of Allegiance. And while this isn't bad or anything, I find it a little strange. Here in Spain there is not as much patriotism as in the US. Ok, it isn't like people just walk around all day in the US with flags and stuff, but we have the Pledge of Allegiance and, I don't know, it is just different. But here, that doesn't exist. There is not a flag in every classroom, there is not a Pledge of Allegiance, and people don't have nearly as much pride in their country as in the US. And I am not saying that no one here has pride in their country, I am just saying that it is not the ever present constant that it is in the US. Take the Catalunya situation as an example. While it is still a part of Spain, it is mentally apart from Spain. In history we talked about the difference between a Nation and a State (like a political entity). A nation is a group of people that have the same culture, language, history, and things like that, while a State is all the people under the same ruler or rulers. And a State could be made up of one Nation, for example the US, or made up of many, for example Spain (Catalunya, Pais Vasco, Spain...), or made up of part of a nation, with the rest of the nation in another State, for example Ireland and Northern Ireland. So while Spain is a State, it will never have the same level of unity because it is made up of different Nations. And thus there is not the same amount of patriotism.

Reflection Number 3: Confession time. Reading other peoples blogs, they mention that they chose year programs to build a stronger relationship with one family by living with them for a year, or to get the full depth of the language, or for some other deep thoughtful reason. I didn't. To be honest, I don't know why I chose the year program, or Spain for that matter. Or why I wanted to go on exchange. I still don't know why I wanted to go on exchange. I think I picked Spain because I already knew some of the language, and I just thought that it sounded cool. So that led to the year program, because Spain only has a year program. But that may seem like I was forced into the year program when in reality, I never really thought about not going for a year. It was never even a thought. I just was going to go for the year.

Reflection Number 4: The word American can be way more than we mean it to be. When asked our nationality, we typically respond "American" and while we do not mean to offend, we very well might. Because while you aren't a United Statesian or a United Statesite (which I do think is a flaw in the English language, the lack of a Demonym (I just learned that word right now. How fun.) for a person from the United States of America), people from Canada, or Panama, or Chile, or Brazil, or Mexico or any other place in North and South America also consider themselves Americans, too. So just a warning that you should be careful when and where and how you use it. Because while I am sure you don't mean to offend, you might. And as you see above, I am trying to be careful where I use it and use other words if I can.

Well that about sums it up. And if this seems a little disjointed around the spanish/english grammar connection part, that is because i started this two weeks ago and am just now finishing it. And you may have noticed, but i left all of my spelling mistakes in for your entertainment.

A little update, tomorrow I am going to this monastery. Pictures soon.

Miss you all!!!

Merry Christmas! (It's not too late, right?)

Benjamin