Well, again it's up and down, up and down here, I've been feeling homesick a lot recently, missing small things from Australia, the people, but I'm feeling good now. I expected to feel like this, I'll get over it so it'll all be good :)
On Language...
Language is the hardest thing about living here, without speaking the language I can't communicate effectively (obviously) which makes it hard to make friends, learn at school, everything. The ahrdest part is when you're trying to communicate with someone else who doesn't speak english, you see them get frustrated, you get frustrated, it's just frustrating! But, it can also be funny! And it's such a rewarding feeling when you understand them. I'm learning a lot and I'm learning fast. I'm starting to be able to pick up words in sentances, so I can tell what they're talking about, the subject, but I can't yet put the whole sentance together and understand what the message is.
Language is also the most tiring thing here, when you have to constantly concentrate one what people are saying (and people talk a lot!) it is very tiring, the nicest thing to do is go home and listen to some australian music with australian accents! Very refreshing!
On Family...
Well, it's different :)
In fact everything about living in this family is a new experience, and that goes past the different culture, now I have to share a room, I have younger siblings, different customs, everything! But they're really friendly, the kids are nice, they try to help me learn spanish, and make fun of the fact that I can't roll my r's very well :P My Mum, Alba, she's so nice, always cooking! But she cooks great food, and she tries to talk to me, we went to the shopping mall together and she talked with me on the way, and I understood almost all of what she was saying! We had a laugh about it all! And my Dad, Javier, he's really nice as well, he talks to me in english which is nice, he tries not to translate too much which is both helpful and frustrating :P It's something he's gotta do though! I've gotta learn! And next week he'll be in the USA so he wont be there to translate for me at all! And he has two beautiful Mustangs, one that I know my Aussie Dad and Pete would LOVE!
On School...
At the moment school is so boring! Because I can't learn anything as I can't understand anything! But we just sit around and chill for a lot of it, talking (often in english :D), laughing, being gang attacked with questions from curious venezuelans about Australia! I think I'll really enjoy class once I can understand what the teachers are saying, because they're interesting subjects. History, Philosophy, Economics, those sorts of things. But of course it's from a different perspecitve, Venezuelan History, Venezuelan economics etc.
School is useful to learn spanish as well, although so many students speak english, or at least a little bit.
But yesterday in Castellano (Literature class) the teacher (a really good teacher) made me read out a description of the assignment and then I had to try and figure out what it meant. So I read it out, which helped with pronunciation, and then I figured out what it said, I got it exactly! A lot of the words are alike in english, so if you just join the dots, you can see the picture! Or at least you can see the relations, for example, a Pen is called a boligrafo, to be hungry is to be hambre, so it is ok. Of course...there are other words like cosquilla which means tickly which look nothing like the English words!
So yes, school is good and bad, but either way it's a new experience and I'm enjoying it!
On Friends...
At the moment I'm sort of being pulled between two groups, one is the 'alternative' group, they're really really friendly, I really like them and they're a bit like my aussie friends, and the other group is more of a 'jock' group, they're nice as well! They're really loud though :P And Vicky, who's in that group, helps me so much with my spanish, she's really friendly. Neither group is better than the other, but once I can understand more I'll probably make a decision and stick more with one group. My old aussie friends are sort of a mix between both, not AS alternative as the group here, and not AS 'jockish' as the other group here.
Yesterday a second guy, Diego, came in, his now in my class. He's from Colombia and he's so awesome. He loves the John Butler Trio (which no one else knows of here)! He likes Jazz and music in General, he seems to be pretty interested in History and politics, he likes Parkour, and yeah, he's just a pretty awesome dude. I'd love to talk with him more. He told me a lot about Colombian history with the FARC and the drug trade, and how it's really something Colombia is trying to solve, because internationally that's how they are seen.
Last weekend, me, David, and David's neighbourhood friends went up to the oval to play some grid iron (american football), that was so much fun! It was funny seeing them trying to explain me the rules and plays in Spanish! But yeah, we had loads of fun, and I scored like half of the touch downs! :D And afterwards we ate fresh lemons from a wild lemon tree growing next to the field. They're a good bunch of guys really.
Anyway, I was going to list a load of things that are different here just for curiosities sake for all you guys reading, but I don't think I will do that, at least not right now. Maybe later if people want me to.
Tonight I'm going to a BBQ/Party thing at a friends house which should be fun, my first party! They're going to try and teach me to dance to reggaeton, which is a very popular type of music here, it's like reggae, sped up, and mixed with R&B, and apparently the lyrics are very dirty and the dancing is like, and I quote, "having sex with clothes" (to which I replied, "awesome!"). Anyway, tonight should be fun!
Hahaha earlier today my Dad, after having just read my facebook, made the comment that everyone was calling me gay! I think he must have been a little worried :P Because homosexuality isn't tolerated all that much here, at least, no where near as much as it is in Australia, so I had a fun time trying to explain that among friends, especially my parkour buddies, we use the term 'gay' just as a slang sorta word, not specifically for homosexuality! Thank god I have a girl friend eh?!
Anyway! Keep watching this space for more updates and for more pictures visit my facebook page here! Missing you all! MWA!
Eliot out.
Oh, p.s. if anyone knows when emily gets home from Natinols, chuck me an email or something and let me know!
1 comment:
Dude, you've been there for less than a fortnight and you already have friends. Anyways, reggaeton seems awesome, you'll have to send me some sometime. Venezuala sounds electric man, I promise to keep you posted on goings on through email, ok?
Your Buddy
Riley
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