Thinking of an original title takes too much work..

 "The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will." -Vince Lombardi  

I think by now all the exchangers in Spain have realized just how hard school's going to be. For me school is exhausting, I get so frustrated that I can't follow what the teacher is saying. Math is the only class the only class I can kind of follow, but even that I only get the general idea and have trouble doing the homework because I didn't catch how to do the little step. I'm realizing how lucky I am to have the classmates I have, they are all so helpful and I doubt I'd ever be able to thank them enough.

I'm also realizing how similar American schools and Spanish schools are besides there basic differences. Students still text in class (even though you're not allowed to have phones in the classroom), in boring, pointless classes (Philosophy) nobody really pays attention and everyone just kind of goofs off, people whisper and talk to each other instead of listening to teachers ramble, and of course you see the same crafty methods of copying homework.

Enough of school, it's hard, but I'm handling it and I don't think the teachers expect much from me. Yesterday, (Saturday) Patricia had her 13th birthday party (2 months late). It was fun, I learned how to play the strange Spanish version of hide-n-seek tag and I played volleyball with a flat, soccer ball. (why didn't we play soccer.. I'm not sure) And then later that night all the parents came and didn't just pick up their kids and leave, (another thing that's different from the US) but they all stayed and had dinner. So it was like a whole other party. One of Patricia's friends has a brother that's in my class, so he came at the end too. At first it was awkward, because I haven't really talked to him. But then all the kids began playing a really intense game of basketball (with the same deflated soccer ball). It was really easy for my because the hoop the really low and I could dunk the ball without jumping, so eventually it ended up being me and Pablo (my classmate's name.. I think) against 13 thirteen year olds. Even the extremely unfair odds and some rules added on to even more help the other team, me and Pablo held our own. 

Then slowly, people started leaving and it was starting to get cold so we started playing some card games. First we played a game very similar to Spoons, called Burro (I think.. not 100% sure) it was basically the same and you hit the table instead of grab a spoon when you get four of the same cards. (Spanish cards are different, they don't have an Ace, instead they have a 1 and the picture are different too... instead of Hearts, Clover.. etc. they have swords, cups, coins, and I don't know what the last one was..) Next we played a game that was 100% the same as Kemps, only it had funny name that started with an 'M'. I managed to make myself look like an idiot in this game, because I misunderstood what sign we were using.... And finally Pablo, his brother (Patricia's friend), and their mom tried to teach me a really complicated game that I didn't get at all. It was kinda of like a complex version of War, each person lays down a card and the card with the highest point value wins the card. And at the end of the game you count up your points. But I didn't understand how many points the cards were worth, therefore I failed miserably :(

Today, we went to see more bull chasing and then ate, what I'm pretty sure was, a 5 hour long lunch with a ton of my host parents friends. The next closest person to my age (besides Patricia) was a one year old baby who was adorable. And he amused me and Patricia, while we were insanely bored. Then he cried when had to leave.. :( he was so cute

School Tomorrow.

Adios, Lotte