Christmas Eve is much more of a big deal over here than back home and all the festivities are at night. I was invited by roommate to eat dinner - and a big dinner at that! - with her and her family. Dinner was supposed to be at nine so of course it was more like quarter til ten. First off were the appetizers, classic Iberian and Andalucian dishes that consisted of ham (who would have guessed) and chorizo (sausage). There were definitely two types of different hams and a couple other types of meat, probably another type of ham or sausage, along with cheese, some sort of potato salad which I'm not a fan of, and mariscos (shellfish). Mariscos are more of a luxury, especially around Christmas, and when I went to my Christmas lunch with other teachers from my school one teacher told me they can cost over 100 euros for one kilo. I saw last week advertised on tv that one kilo at the local Carrefour was 14.99, so it's definitely pricier. I tried them at my teacher lunch and they weren't bad, but honestly they are just plain creepy looking. They still have the black eyes (I think they're eyes) in them along with the legs and creepy feelers and I'm awful at unshelling them so I passed on them last night. And of course there was bread and rioja.
Next came some French dish that was a flaky outside and had potatoes, some sort of sauce, and raisins on the inside. It had a French name because my roommate's brother-in-law is a chef at a hotel in Mallorca. They're were also slices of what was extremely similar to roast beef. After that there were pimientos (peppers) that were stuffed and it actually reminded me of Mexican food back home! Naturally I thought it was delicious. And last, but not least, was the dessert. I made a cheesecake, but I'm bringing that to the lunch for today since the brother-in-law made a dessert that was like ice cream with different berries on top.
The other thing to do here is to go to mass at midnight. I've never been to midnight mass back at home and honestly I was pretty tired last night by the time we actually went to the mass. We went to a smaller place so it wasn't crowded which was nice and overall the mass is a lot like back home except for a few things here and there. There wasn't any singing and at the end they bring out a Baby Jesus doll and everyone goes up to kiss it. I felt kind of awkward, but hey, it's all part of the cultural experience, right?
Another observation. We were driving home last night and we passed this big lot where tons of cars were parked and all these young people were standing out there drinking. I asked my roommate's sister about it and she said it was typical for young people to go out drinking and dancing on Christmas Eve. Definitely something I wasn't really expecting since it seems like family is more of a focus on Christmas Eve night, but one thing for sure is that Spaniards like to and know how to party. I feel like Christmas Eve isn't as important back home as it is here, but nothing is really open on Christmas Eve so people back home usually spend it with family and friends.
One final thing is that I woke up this morning and went out into the living room and saw a belen (nativity scene) set up. I'm not sure when my roommate did it, maybe yesterday and I just didn't notice although I noticed it first thing this morning. I thought it was pretty neat since most people have a belen in their house/piso versus a Christmas tree.
FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!! Merry Christmas!!!
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