Thank You

It's Thanksgiving, and even though I can't spend it with my family eating delicious food and having a great time in the good ol' USA, I still want to take a moment and give thanks.


I'm thankful for my parents. Dad, Sue, I truly can't express how much it means to me to know that you love me enough to let me follow this dream of mine. Thank you so so so much for helping me through the whole process of getting here and supporting me the entire way. Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you. I'll probably never be able to say it enough but just know I really do appreciate everything you do for me and have done for me my whole life. Next year I'll be able to give y'all a big hug on this holiday.


I'm thankful for gorgeous days on the beach (in November, no less!).

 I'm thankful for this absolutely stunning country I get to experience for a year. It constantly has surprises in store for me. I'll never get tired of all the amazing views and history and food and just all of it. These two and a half months have been beyond incredible and I can't wait to see what the rest will bring. I'm so beyond grateful to have this opportunity. This is a once in a lifetime chance, and I won't waste a second of it.

I'm thankful for my host family. I really am part of this family now, and I'm so grateful they opened their home and hearts to this crazy American exchange student.

 I'm thankful for Sunday afternoons spent with my host dad, wandering around Galicia and sightseeing.

I'm thankful that I sleep so much my host mom calls me Amy Marmot. (Marmots are animals that hibernate up to 9 months a year).
I'm thankful my host mom is funny and that we are close enough to make jokes like that.
This is a marmot: 

I'm thankful for my wonderful sister.  She is seriously the only reason I found my way around anywhere the first few weeks and is without a doubt my best friend here. Only for her would I post such an embarrassing photo of myself.

I'm thankful that I'm no longer a picky eater, because everything is just so delicious and I'm not afraid to try anything. Even filloas (crepes) made with tuna fish, tomato sauce, and peas for a midnight dinner with your host sister. And even a bite of tomato wasn't so bad. And rice with squid ink. And lots of other wonderful dishes. Including a whole fish, head and all.

I'm thankful for everyone I love- The Burke family (I'd name you all but... there's rather a lot of you. I seriously love my "Oh, The Places You'll Go!" book, it is great to have here. I love you Grandma!), Lynn and Annabel and Bruce (you all are forever my family), the Shoopmans, all my friends back home (I want to give individual shout outs but I'm afraid I'd leave someone out, just know you're all fabulous), my AFS family (what would I do without you here in Spain with me?), my Spanish friends who have been so great to the American these months, and everyone else I'm probably just forgetting at this moment but I know there are just tons and tons of people who have been there for me and supported me all the time, and my dog (hi Robin).


I honestly feel like I am the luckiest person on earth. I just feel so humble thinking of everything I have. I may not show it nearly often enough, but I am so grateful for everything and I don't take a second of this life for granted.  I'm so lucky just to have basics like food every day, a home, health, and an education, let alone to be blessed with so many opportunities and surrounded by people who love me. I will be so happy to get home and hug my family again, but I know they're waiting for me at the end of my 10 months and I have a new Spanish family to hug in the meantime. And that is far more than enough.

ESTOY AQUI Y ME ENCANTA

I'm here!
And not just in Spain but in my host town, Marín.

most of the kids from the US in the Madrid airport

I arrived with the other kids going to Galicia by train about 8:40 Saturday night, and got to the house just before 10. The very first thing when we got to the house is my host dad had to carry my 22 kilo (48 lbs) suitcase straight up a narrow and steep spiral staircase to get to the house from the garage.

Waiting on my bed was a note from my host sister welcoming me in Galician. 

it's a little hard to see in the photo but it says "benvida a nosa familia, benvida a nosa casa, welcome home" :)

My host mom arranged for her paper to feature the Galicia kids in an article! Click here to see it.

Speaking Spanish is the weirdest thing. In Madrid it didn't really hit me that I would speak Spanish to people for months, I just sort of felt like I was just in an area of Texas with signs for spanish speakers, because that's typical.But now that I'm with my family, it's not like that anymore. I don't really know how to describe it. I actually understand more than I'd hoped I would- my family even said that they thought I would have much more trouble than I am. I'm much worse at speaking though, so far I basically repeat: "Sí, bueno, bueno, gracias" with an occasional "está bien". And my only Galician phrase, "chámome Amy" (my name is Amy). In stores they have to explain that I'm American, so the employees understand that I don't understand. My host sister and I ran into a couple of her friends from school when we were in town, and as she introduced me they asked how my Spanish was, and she told them that I understand okay, but I speak very slowly. That's about accurate. And of course I don't actually understand THAT much.

I know everyone says how nice they're family is and how beautiful their house and city is, but mine really truly is THE BEST. Seriously.
My first night we ate tortilla espanola with pimentos (basically a potato and egg omelet type thing with some grilled peppers) and it was delicious. Actually I haven't yet tasted something I didn't like (of course that's out of a grand total of 7 meals so far). Sunday, my first real day with my family, there was a big barbeque with the rest of the family, like older brothers, their children, and the grandfather who lives next door to me. Abuelo speaks very little Castellano, mostly only Galician.  My host nephews and neices are so cute! There are 4 of them between 2 and 8 years old. The little girl, Elva, knew one thing in English and it was her favorite thing to say to me "THANK YOUUU" over and over and giggle. We ate chorizo and pork ribs and criollo and cheese and everything was so good.
After the big family gathering,  my parents and my sister and I went to the beach! We went to a neighboring town called Bueu (bway-oo) about 10 minutes away. The water was pretty chilly, but it was sunny and nice anyway. They taught me names of some shells and seafood (although I have to admit I forgot most of it right away! I'll need another lesson).
This morning my dad took me and my sister to our school for part of the registration I think. We also visited the college where he teaches in Pontevedra and his clinic here in town (he's a physical therapist). From the clinic, my sister and I left him to work and we walked around town some. I needed some photos of myself and the ones I brought were passport sized and not big enough so we stopped at a photo place. Then we walked home, and it wasn't too far but had a lot of steep uphill parts so I was a little tired.
My sister and I hung out for a while and walked to a... fountain thing? for water for plants? I have no idea in English (or in any language actually since I didn't fully understand haha) but it was like a spring from the ground of water at the end of the street, near the forrest and a trail. Sorry that story is so incoherent but it was an interesting area, sometime I'll figure it out and explain more.
Then we had lunch with Abuelo and my parents and sister. Rice with sardines and "croquetas" which look like hushpuppies on the outside but inside have some kind of ham paste. And bread of course, bread is with everything. 
They grow so much of their food right at home. There are apples, pears, lemons, oranges, hazelnuts, grapes, kiwis, strawberrys, blackberrys, raspberrys, chestnuts, onions, potatoes, lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, "paraguyas" like peaches (and what I've eaten for breakfast), and a few more I didn't recognize in English, and of course fresh eggs from the chickens. Honey from the neighbors. They even make their own wine from the grapes with a wine press in the cellar area! It's amazing how fresh and delicious everything is.

Oh, and apparently Amy is like the Classic American Name elsewhere. No one, from the kids from all over the world at orientations or Spanish people I've met, has had any trouble pronouncing it and a Chinese girl told me it’s literally the name that is used in all the examples in their English textbooks. I thought that was hilarious!

Okay, I think that is all for now. I have many more things to say but I'll save them for later. So far I haven't taken many pictures yet, I'm just sort of soaking everything in without my camera but my family has taken some and I'll upload some soon.

Ata logo!