Portugaling

Hola!
The weekend is over and today is Monday, el Día de Inglés!
My poor host mother comes up with a new excuse to speak Castellano on English Day every single week, but her English is improving a lot.
The pronunciation bridge is so far and wide between these two languages, it is very difficult to switch back and forth.
When Manoli speaks Spanish to me and Iria is telling me something in English and they are both speaking as if there is a ticking bomb under the table, I feel so overwhelmed that I just want to explode.
But bueno.
Bueno.

Yesterday, I went Portugaling!
I really wanted another stamp in my passport, but I didn't quite know how to obtain one. Ah well.
I went with my host sister Iria and her friend/my former neighbor, Flor, and Flor's mother and father, who are from Argentina and apparently have a very thick accent. The drive was a beautifully scenic hour and a halfish, but Portugal's time zone is one hour less. We went to a gigundus shopping center in the 3rd biggest city in Portugal, Braga. It had all of my favorite stores here (Stradevarious, Zara, Blanco, etcetera) and I will miss them all dearly and require a trip to each of them in the coming years.
We went to a Chinese restaurant!
I am tragically lacking here:
Taco Bell/Mexican food
Subway
Bread from Olga's
Flavored potato chip
Beezy's tuna
GREEN asparagus...it's white here...and always cold...ew
Chinese food
Fettuccini Alfredo

So, dining Chinese-style was a rather welcomed endeavor.
Flor and Iria are really silly and fun, we had a fabulous time.

All of yesterday made me a little homesick.
I love shopping with my dad; we are a power team. It's been so long since I've been able to have a legit conversation with him. As well, right before I left, my father and I went to a super fabulous Chinese restaurant calls PF Chang and I could totally handle going there again right about now.
Going back home will be so strange.
I think about it every day.
Everything will be more or less the same, but I will be different.
I will see everything with completely different eyes.
Hopefully through different eyes as well...because I miss my lost glasses very dearly.

I've taken two tests so far today...having typical exchange student problems along the way. First hour, we had a big test with the Wicked Witch of the West. Olivia and I only had seven questions and after reading them six times through very slowly, I understood all them too well. I used to be completely obsessed with meteorology.
I could have written 3 paragraphs for each question but I was completely lost in how to explain myself sufficiently in Castellano. I ended up wasting most of my time with my nose in my little dictionary, and my answers were much too simple. How frustrating.
The teacher came up to Olivia and me with her crazy eyes and smiled sweetly and said "para practicar writing, no?"
.....
Did anyone else get chills at that?
She is very mean to the class; she whips out her shrill shrieking angry voice all the time with everyone on the class but is sugar sweet to me.
Hmm.
My other test, however, was in Spanish class.....which people who actually speak Spanish have trouble in.
I ended up leaving the entire sheet blank because I spent the whole time trying to understand the directions and the example sentences......
Hashtag, exchangestuentprobs (insert peace sign here)

Luckily, we are apparently now beginning some sort of chapter on when to use the past perfect and imperfect tense....which I effectively spent all of last year learning.
This is very exciting.
It really is.

We have a crazy English teacher too, Olga.
Today, she asked me if I consider myself a lucky person and if I could please explain to the class, in English, why.
I was a little taken aback.
I said something really slow and awkward along the lines of " Yes...I'm....lucky....because um....I have....a....sufficient....amount...of everything....I need to....need to um....live............on.."

why

After school, I tomarrrred café with Olivia because everyone is studying. She has been in love with Samuel Losada (Iván is a member of the Losada family....it is bastante to say that we love the Losada family) since the first day and we waited patiently for him to break up with his girlfriend, but now, after Olivia FINALLY had a real conversation with him.....he likes another girl.....in our class.
Bum bum bummmm.

Tomorrow there is a chestnut party!
I hate chestnuts.
I really do.
Strangest thing I've ever put in my mouth.
But hey, at least I get out of two hours of school on long, drab Tuesday.
Also tomorrow, I would like to rant about how racist the people are here.
I really need to let it out...
And this is my journal...
So heads up for that!
Adioooooos