Lo que será, será

What will be, will be.

That's the literal translation of the title of this post and I'm finding it to be incredibly appropriate. Contrary to the common, negative connotation that comes with this statement, I'm finding it to be more of a peaceful mantra as I weave my way throughout these weeks and months in Spain. The control is not always yours, the world isn't always yours for the taking, and things just don't work out sometimes. But what will be, will be. And it will all be alright.

I don't feel like a lot has happened in this past week, but when I look back on it A LOT has happened this week. First of all, I turned 19. Birthdays are not that big of a deal here, my 3 best friends on exchange all had their birthdays in November and December so we learned early on that a birthday is in many ways just like any other day, the one that you happened to be born on. It certainly doesn't involve a mother bounding into the high school in Spandex with a tray full of cupcakes for the entire lunchroom (... hmmm, now who does that sound like?). My special day was, nevertheless, still pretty darn special. I woke up around 1, like we always do on weekends here. It was the day after a holiday, so my parents were back at work. It was literally raining snow. I've got to tell you... You think that you dislike snow, until you live in Madrid and recieve, instead, freezing rain. It literally comes down in sheets and then either freezes, causing numerous accidents, or gets all slushy and mixes in with existing snow patches here and there and causes your boots to get thoroughly soaked. I met up with a few friends and went out for a local lunch... They got me the shoes that I've been seeking... Literally, they're just plain old Keds, styled after the 1950's. They're red cloth with a white rubber sole and I absolutely adore them. We went into Madrid later that day and did some shopping at the "rebajas". Similar to after-Thanksgiving sales, all the stores have their giant sales beginning the 7th of January, after Three Kings Day. I came home completely exhausted, forgetting throughout the day that it was my birthday, only to be reminded when I walked into the house to an overjoyed Jacobo and a sketch book with colored pencils, a nice drawing pencil, and an eraser/sharpener combo. This family got to know me pretty darn well, pretty fast :) I absolutely adored it. "Skyping" with the U.S. fam had to be done via Amber Woitalla as my parents were stranded outside of our half-mile-long tundra of a driveway, unable to reach the house or computer. Suspecting something of the sort at about 11 pm, I had my best friend Amber call my mother and we talked over the speaker on Amber's cellphone... Ahh, technology.

The next few days were spent in relative tranquility. My friend Robi's parents are divorced, she lives most of the time with her mom here in Majadahonda, but goes into Madrid occasionally to stay with her dad. I should take this opportunity to mention that separations are incredibly common in Spain... If you think the divorce rate is high in the U.S, you truly haven't seen anything until you've visited here. I'd say around half of my friend's parents here are divorced or separated (and, no, Mom, I'll save you the sassy comment and add that I have more than just 2 friends to make this observation upon). Robi has a biological brother named Rafa who I share a love of horror films with (we've watched many in Robi's comfy Majadahonda living room) and on Saturday night, I met her 3 step-siblings and fell in love.

Robi's biological mom is Spanish and her biological dad is Italian. Therefore, Robi was raised speaking both languages, and after her exchange year in the U.S. she now also speaks English. Her mom did not remarry, but her dad remarried an American woman named Judy Rose. They together had three children, ages 8, 5, and 3. The 8 and 5 year olds are boys and the little 3 year old is a girl. I'm going to attempt their names, but since they're Italian, I might butcher them. The 8 year old has a name similar to Michael, the 5 year old Giancarlos, and the 3 year old Alianna. Their mom speaks to them in English, they're learning Spanish in school, and their dad speaks to them in Italian, so they too are trilingual. Robi warned me on the way over to their apartment that the kids were a little insane.... A little insane was more than a little bit of an understatement. Maybe I just haven't been around small kids ALL that much, but after about 20 minutes, Robi and I both had to make ourselves espressos out of the machine in the kitchen. Not that this hysteria was a bad thing... I loved the chaos, brought me back to Grandma Colleen's house for a while. The kids all get along really well (something I've noticed and am now willing to make a generalization about Spain... Kids fight way less here. Not sure what to attribute that to haha) but there are motorized airplanes flying overhead while you're trying to eat a homeade pizza and the gelato-machine is running in the kitchen while the boy on your right is asking you about what sort of fighter boat you most prefer and the adults are politely trying to talk to you but there's a little one pulling on your sleeve wanting to go over Alphabet cards (in what language?!) and then the airplane crashes into the light and there's a great whoop from Dad and an eerie peace ensues.... Ah, chaos, how I've missed you.

All in all, I utterly LOVED Robi's house on Friday. I also think that Judy Rose appreciated having someone fluent in English to talk to, it's usually a great big mix of languages all flying around her, and I've gotta hand it to her in terms of composure and all around joy. Her kids adore her and she adores them right back. We finished the night (after watching a movie on the giant Megascreen which comes down from the ceiling and literally takes up an entire wall) with sloppy, ice cream kisses on both cheeks and big hugs and a promise to come back. I'll absolutely hold up my end of the deal.

Would you believe it? Sunday rolled around and as I was dusting off (literally) my backpack to get ready for school the next day, my mom strolled in and said there was no way we'd have school tomorrow. It had just begun to snow and she was absolutely correct. Because of about 3 inches of snow, school was cancelled on Monday (I'll reiterate again here that school isn't technically "cancelled", there are no official warnings, you just trudge to the building and if the teachers decided not to bother with the roads, there's no class that day) and I spent it tromping around El Parque Retiro (the famous "Central Park" of Madrid) with my two best American friends, Emma and Devon. We ate some Turkish Doner Kebab, drank some Starbucks and made an eventful trip through H&M that resulted in the purchase of a beanie and black nail polish.... I'm really starting to love these people :) It still smacks me in the face sometime when I leave a store or restaurant that I'm walking out onto the Main Strip, the Gran Via, of Madrid, Spain. It makes you catch your breath and smile to yourself, the incredible fortune and all the great things that surround us if we seek them out... Madrid is slowly, more and more, becoming my city.

School today was uneventful and absolutely freezing. They don't turn the heat on at my school until about 1 pm. We get out of school at 2 pm. Thanks for that, Carlos Bousouno. I explained that it's about -10 in my hometown and there's about five feet of snow in some places and my best friends (justifiably) teased me and told me to stop whining about a little rain and cold.... You know you're making some close connections when it gets to that point of comfort :) I picked up a few packages from the fam this week, filled with lovely things like cross stich, 7 bags of Reeses, a few cards, and a Jimi Hendrix print for my host dad, Javier. Responsibilities are starting to creep back into my mind again... "When is that financial aid form due? Wait... I'm going to college next year? Where will I sleep? Oh, that's what this form is for. Malt-O-Meal night shifts... Other options please :)?" Fortunately, I usually fall asleep before they pester me too much :) I'm not ready to grow up just yet, and I think Peter Pan would agree with me in my concept of letting things roll, What will be, will be, and I'm hanging on tight for the ride.

Hasta Luego, Sami.... All the photos are from the outing to Retiro Park... You'll notice the last one is me, being.... well, me. Love