Navidad

Yesterday I spent Christmas with my roommate and her family.  I was supposed to go over to my friend's place too, but by the time I got home everyone had already left from there.  I helped my roommate wrap some last minute gifts (the wrapping paper had glitter on it which does not make it easy for tape to stick) and she explained that they usually exchange gifts on January 6th, el Dia de Reyes Magos or Three Kings Day, but one of her siblings couldn't be there that day so they were doing it on Christmas.  We went over to her sister's piso where we ate lunch consisting of much of the same foods we had on Christmas Eve.  After that her newphew, who is four, went someplace with his mom and grandma while everyone rushed around getting out the presents since he still believes in Papa Noel, Santa Claus.  All the gifts were anonymous and I even got a travel bag and a sweet scarf.  After eating dessert we played a bingo game which is almost exactly like our bingo except they don't use letters so it's just every number 1 through 90.  The last game I played everyone did so the prize was 6 euros and guess what - I won!  I left after that and came back to skype with my family.  My mom had sent some presents through the mail so I opened those where I got three new cds, Mad Men Season One, earrings, and some clothes.  And now I just have to wait until tomorrow until I get to see my mom and sister!  I'm so excited that they are coming to visit for twelve days!

Nochebuena (Christmas Eve)

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!!! 

Navidad en el cole (Christmas in the school)

Today was the last day of school before my nice long puente (break). I knew there were activities planned, but I wasn't quite sure what. I brought in m&m cookies for the other teachers to try since making cookies is the thing to do back home around Christmas. I originally wanted to make something more Christmas-y like snickerdoodles, but like I've said before, you're limited on ingredients here. One thing I was not expecting was many of the younger students to be dressed up! I'm talking costumes in the shape of Christmas trees, wise men, and other ones I'm really not sure what the significance was. I have no idea why they were dressed up and I really didn't think to ask anyone why now that I think about it. In the afternoon I listened to villancicos (carols)that all the classes performed. There were cookies and bizcocho (basically any type of cake or bread, like my banana bread, is called bizcocho) during the recreo (recess break) and overall it was a good day! I read Twas the Night Before Christmas and had a few of my first grade students make reindeer where they traced their hands for the antlers and we sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas, which they performed in English when they sang villancicos, and Jingle Bells.  I've uploaded a short video of some of the kids singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas.  I'm pretty sure you can hear me more than them, but I have to lead them!  Also, please note the costumes.  I wish Nico the Christmas Tree or Manuel the who-knows-what had been there just so everyone could have seen those costumes.

Driving

I was having a conversation a few weeks ago with one of the teachers I have a bilingue class with and we were discussing driving. He asked if I thought people drove better here or in the U.S. I told him I would never want to drive over here and that is a fact. The drivers over here are crazy and I've never seen so many roundabouts in my life. In the mornings I wait for the other teacher I drive with by an intersection that a secondary school is at. The parents drop their kids off there and I have the privilege of seeing the awful and scary driving of Spaniards. A stop sign (where the sign actually says STOP) is more like a suggestion than a law. If you stop too long you get honked at.

Let's not forget the student drivers either. I honestly have never seen so many driving schools. This morning I was walking to the post office and on one certain street all the driving school cars are lined up. I've seen this before so it must be a normal thing, but you will always see a driving school car at any point of the day. Are there really that many people learning how to drive in this city?

And the roundabouts. I'm always afraid that someone is going to crash in one of the roundabouts because sometimes whoever is on the outermost lane wants to go straight while the person in the lane next to them needs to turn. This would normally result in a crash and I'm surprised I have yet to witness one.

I really should take a video sometime of the driving over here. My mom says I sometimes get too close to the car in front of me when I stop, but really I would be considered far away in Spain's driving terms.

Christmas/Zambomba

Christmas is by far my favorite holiday of the year.  I like Halloween because it means Thanksgiving is in less than a month and I like Thanksgiving because the day after is Black Friday which means it is officially the Christmas season.  Needless to say, there is no such thing as Thanksgiving or Black Friday and Christmas here is just not quite the same.  I've yet to see a Christmas tree (the one in Italy doesn't count) and now that I think about it I don't even think they sell them at Carrefour!  They sell Christmas lights, but you won't find lights on people's houses, apartments, or stores.  The extent of my Christmas decorations at my flat is garland I put around my bed and a super small Christmas tree I discovered yesterday on a table next to the front door.  It's kind of sad really and is it bad that I'm already looking forward to next year's Christmas where I know I'll truly be able to enjoy all the Christmas spirit? 

One cultural aspect that is uniquely Andalucian is zambomba, a mixture between flamenco and Christmas songs.  People dance and sing upbeat Christmas songs (not that you could tell they are Christmas songs) that have a distinctly flamenco flair.  On Friday night I went to a party at the youth club my roommate works at.  All the families of the girls were invited and zambomba was performed.  It wasn't really what I was expecting because honestly, it sounds like nothing Christmas associated, except for perhaps the words, but I've yet to understand Spanish songs.  I've posted a video of zambomba from the southeastern most province, Almeria, in Andalucia.

Italia!

This past weekend until yesterday I had a puente (break) and I went to Italy.  I went to Rome and Venice over the summer and I loved Italy as a whole.  A lot of people told me that I should have gone to Florence too so that's what I did. 

I booked my flight through Ryanair, a cheaper airlines over here in Europe.  I heard about it over the summer when we were staying in hostels and some people had mentioned it and yes, they do have cheaper flights!  The flight was quite different than any other flight I've been on though.  First off, you don't have an assigned seat, you just sit wherever you want.  On my one side I sat next to a fifty-something lady who was wearing high-waisted leather pants.  I'm sorry, but I feel like leather pants are never in fashion at any age, but what can I say?  European fashion.  Throughout the entire flight the stewards and stewardesses kept trying to get you to buy things.  Cigarettes (didn't quite figure that one out since it's not like you can smoke on the plane), food, and other random stuff.  Let's not forget the turbulence.  I don't mind flying, but I don't like turbulence at all since one of my biggest fears is falling to my death.  There was some turbulence at the beginning of the flight and about twenty minutes before we landed the turbulence was worse than anything I've ever experienced before.  The only thing comparable was when I went to the Grand Canyon and my mom, sister, and I took a small plane ride over the Canyon and it was extremely windy (people proceeded to vomit on that flight while my then six year old sister laughed thinking it was all great fun).  You could hear the luggage moving around in the cabins and people were gripping their seats and the seats in front of them.  The plane definitely dropped and when that happened people shouted out and screamed.  I was sending a silent prayer to not crash and afterwards, thankfully, the turbulence lessened and everything was fine.  Too bad on the flight back there was turbulence too and I couldn't help but think of the flight over, hoping not to crash either.  I think I've been watching too much Lost. 

Florence is known as the Renaissance city and there are quite a few museums there filled with famous Renaissance (of course) art.  Too bad the museum workers decided to go on a strike while I was there and there was no forewarning whatsoever.  Thankfully the day before the strike started Sarah and I went to the Accademia where Michaelangelo's David is.  If I hadn't gotten to see that it would have been really disappointing.  It's like going to Paris and not going to see the Mona Lisa.  It's one of the things you have to do in the city.  Honestly, I don't quite understand Europe and their protests/strikes.  The day before the museum strikes there was some sort of protest about water (not too sure what about it) and the same day I left Spain for Italy apparently the Spanish airlines were on strike (again).  Everytime I've been in Europe I have witnessed some sort of protest/strike.  Just this past summer, in Spain once again, we saw a general labor strike. 

Although I didn't get to see the Uffizi or some of the other museums in Florence, I did climb the campanile, the tower of the Duomo where I had a great view of the city.  We strolled down the Ponte Vecchio that is filled with jewelry shops, and, of course, let's not forget eating the fabulous Italian food. 

In front of the Duomo in Florence

Seeing as the museums were all closed, I decided to take a day trip on my last day to Pisa.  I had originally wanted to do this, but I didn't think I would have enough time.  I had hoped that the Leaning Tower wouldn't be too crowded so I could climb it and I was lucky enough to be able to go right up and get a ticket and then climb it.  To be honest, it's not as tall as it looks in pictures, but as you are climbing the stairs you can definitely feel the way it leans.  They only let a certain amount of people up at a certain time so it wasn't too crowded either.  I wasn't able to do the picture where it looks like you are holding it up, because everyone there was either Asian or Italian.  I don't speak any Asian language or Italian, so I felt lucky to just get a couple of pictures with the Tower in the background.  This is just an observation, so please, don't take offense, but every place you go in Europe there will ALWAYS be a tour group of Asian people.  This never fails, in any city that I have been in.  If you come to Europe I guarantee you will find an Asian tour group.  

Around the tower are other buildings, such as the Duomo and a baptistry, and two museums.  It all cost 22 euros (including climbing the tower) so it was definitely worth the trip there!

 

Thanksgiving

I was invited by a girl I work with to celebrate Thanksgiving with her, her roommate, and a couple friends on Thanksgiving Day.  I thought it was really nice that she was trying to make an effort to celebrate some American holiday with me and I was looking forward to having them try "American" food, but....let's just say it's a little difficult to celebrate Thanksgiving over here.  First off, it's hard to find certain ingredients.  Cranberries?  Non-existent.  Pumpkin?  Well, it's a white pumpkin and if you really want to attempt to make a pumpkin pie from scratch then go for it.  Turkey?  We live in the country of jamon (ham) so it's not exactly popular.  The girl from work exclaimed that she would provide the chicken and my reply was that we needed to have turkey or at the very least ham!  Too bad she likes neither which is how Thanksgiving Number One ended up being like a nice meal.  The chicken was good and I made super yummy potatoes (probably the most Thanksgiving dish at that meal).  Of course there was jamon and cheese as an appetizer.  Not very Thanksgiving, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Thanksgiving Number Two was much more successful.  My friend Leslie and I went to Carrefour Saturday night in search of ingredients for our Thanksgiving feast where we found that: 1) Pumpkin is definitely hard to come by.  2) Cranberries are not sold at Carrefour.  3) Maple syrup is over 4 euros which is more than five dollars.  Good thing I made oreo cheesecake for dessert which everyone liked!  Even though we had a lack of ingredients we made do.  There was stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, a green bean casserole, and there wasn't any turkey (pork), but Leslie made a phenomenol cinnamon apple sauce.  I'm usually not a fan of baked apples, but I will most definitely be trying to make this on my own!  Although it wasn't quite like Thanksgiving from home, it was good comfort food and very delicious! 

As a side note, I'm glad I was able to skype with everyone on Thanksgiving!   It was nice talking to everyone from back home!

The cheesecake I made for Thanksgiving Number Two!