Alex has written about her trip to Mostoles
My visit to Spain by Alex S.
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I was lucky to be picked to go to Spain. I am glad that I went but I feel
sorry for those who missed out on this great adventure.
I went with Mr Mason, Mrs Sharp, Mrs Duroe, Harry, Kate and Isabella.
I am sure that I wouldn’t have had such a good time if the teachers hadn’t
looked after us all so well. So I would like to say a big thank you to them
all for making the whole trip so enjoyable.
I would also like to say a big thank you to my host family who took good care
of me and gave me a good time.
Wednesday 25th October
Our
first flight from Manchester to Brussels went on time but our second flight
from Brussels to Madrid was delayed so this gave us the chance to have some
gorgeous chicken and chips whilst we were waiting. This was Mr Mason’s
great idea. When we eventually arrived in Madrid to drizzly weather
a man called Jesus (pronounced Ha-zeus) who had groovy hair drove us to the
first school which was called E.T.G. I was feeling a bit nervous about staying
with a family who were complete strangers to me but when I finally met them
they seemed very nice and they even spoke a bit of English. In the family
was a mum and dad and two boys. After I got to know them a little better
they drove me home in their car.
As I approached the house I saw a tall building, which in fact looked like flats. Their house was an apartment in this building. They gave me a tour of the apartment and then we had our tea in the kitchen. I had two cheesey sausages and some potatoes like croquettes. I unpacked my things and gave the family my presents from England. Finally I went to bed after a very long day.
Thursday 26th October
I woke up at 07:30 and went for my breakfast. After this I got washed, dressed
into my smart t-shirt made by Mrs Dureo and cleaned my teeth and set off
for school in the car with Victor and his mum and brother. It was hot and
sunny. We got there for nine o’clock and the bell, which played the
traditional can-can, gave us the signal to line up. I wish our bell was like
this! I first went with Victor to his classroom but after a short while all
the foreign students and their hosts got on a coach. This took us to the
leisure centre – ‘Les Rosales’. 
We played a variety
of sports including badminton, football, basketball, paddle and my favourite
sport of the day climbing. After all the sports we headed back to the
Leon Filipe School for our lunch. For lunch we were given a traditional
Spanish food called paella, which was surprisingly nice. After lunch
there was a welcoming event in the hall. The five and six graders had
prepared some traditional songs that I enjoyed and we were also presented
with a little gift bag of presents. After this we went home with our host
families. This gave us the chance to get changed for the evening event.
It was a great party which included a buffet with a wide selection of food,
a karaoke that anybody could have a go on, I didn’t but my host family
did. (They were very good actually). There were some dancers in special Spanish
costumes called Flamenco dancers and they were interesting to watch. I
did the Macarana dance with Kate and Mrs Sharp. It was really late, about
23.30, when I left the party with my host family to go home to bed.
Friday 27th October
After my late night Victor’s mum had to wake me up in the morning. After
breakfast and getting ready we set off for school again this time walking. It
took us about 15 minutes to get there in the lovely warm weather. After about
ten minutes of school we left to go to E.T.G, the other school on a coach.
Here there was a welcoming ceremony where each school was presented with a
trophy and a red banner. 
Each of the foreign children were presented with another
goodie bag. This was a nice surprise. At this ceremony some of the older children
at this school did some dances for us which were very different to what I have
seen before. Afterwards we set off on another coach but this time to the Natural
Park, ‘El Soto’. Here we learnt new games from all the other countries.
Mr Mason, Mrs Sharp and Mrs Duroe showed the other countries how to play parachute
games, cricket and a bit of skipping. This was good fun. To do these activities
we were split up into ten groups of twelve. I happened to be put in group 2
with Harry. I enjoyed all the sports but my all time favourite was the Swedish
game called number football. In this game it was 6 v 6 and we all had a number
from 1 to 6. The object of the game was to score and defend goals like in normal
football but only three players from each side were picked by the referee to
play at once. For example the number threes could be in goal and numbers 1
and 6 could be playing to try and score goals against the other team. Half
way through the day we stopped to have a picnic outside on some picnic benches.
The food included an apple, a squashed pear, two different sandwiches in baguettes
and a bottle of water.
At 15:30 we made our way back to the Leon Filipe School where our host families
picked us up at 16:00
After an hour of beating Victor at football, 13 – 3 to me on his PS2 I took a shower and got changed to go out bowling with all the family. We also had a meal at McDonalds. I had a chicken nuggets happy meal. YUM! This was a particularly good evening because I won at bowling with a score of 118. At about 22.30 we went back home to bed. I was very tired and not used to all these late nights.
Saturday 28th October
I was woken up again! Another sunny day. The day to go to Madrid had arrived
and I was really looking forward to it. All the schools and their hosts
went to Madrid, some travelled by coach and some travelled by car like me.
In Madrid the children went round in groups with their teachers and hosts. 
First of all we looked around one of the most famous museums in the world
which was called the Prado. In this museum there were a lot of interesting
paintings and statutes that were worth millions of pounds. After a tour of
the museum we then went shopping for presents for our families at home. When
we’d done this we ate some squid, as a tasty snack, and then to Burger
King for our lunch. Later we saw many famous landmarks, including the very
centre of Spain and the Palace which the King and Queen thought was too big
for them to live in. At 16:00 I left my friends and teachers to travel to
a theme park with my host family. I had a wonderful time there and surprisingly
I saw Harry there with his host family. I went on a lot of rides with Victor
but I didn’t go on one of the roller coasters with him because I chickened
out. Instead I went on a different ride with Victor’s dad. We went
home at 20:30 and, before packing my case and going to bed, had chicken and
sweetcorn pizza. I shall have to look for this in England because it was
the best I’ve ever tasted. The family were very kind and gave me some
lovely presents for both me and my family at home.
Sunday 29th October
Again I was woken up by Victor’s mum but this time it was only 05:00 and the day to leave. That morning I felt quite thrilled about being able to see my family again but at the same time I felt sad about leaving Victor’s family who had been very kind to me and had looked after me so well. Before I left the house Victor’s mum packed me up a sandwich in case I got hungry. At the airport everybody said their goodbyes to their host families before leaving them to go with the teachers on the plane.
After two plane journeys my mum and dad met me at Manchester Airport to take
Isabella, Kate and me back to school. When I reached home I told all
my family about Victor and his family and gave them all their presents. That
night I went to bed at 20:00 exhausted.
I really enjoyed my stay at Victor’s and I hope I have the chance to see him and his family again. Even if I don’t see him I am definitely going to keep in touch and learn more about Spain.
