highlights of the last 3 weeks
-the Christmas program at school. Most of my 3 & 4 year olds were dressed up like Santa or Sheppards. It was super cute.
-Afterwards was a lunch with the teachers at the school. I had a lot of fun there. I love the other teachers I work with. For me it compensated the Hess Christmas party I missed out on the weekend before because I was surrounded by good people and good food.
-I spent Christmas break with my various teacher friends. I visited 7 different towns and stayed in 5 of them in the region of province of Albacete.
-1st was La Roda with Miguel Angel and his family. The first full day of vacation we went with his friend Pepe to see the city of Cuenca (town number 2). I’d been wanting to go for a while and finally got to go. It’s small but quite cute and charming.
-I spent Christmas Eve with the family of Miguel Angel. There were a lot of people and a lot of food like shrimp and chicken. The children sang Christmas carols (instruments included), some of us played bingo and Santa Claus even showed up. I love how the family party lasted until 2 am, children included.
-Christmas day was spent with Miguel Angel’s girlfriend Carmen’s family. Very calm but enjoyable.
-Town # 3. Chinchilla! I just adore the town, maybe I’ll live there after I retire. The one night Carmen and I went on a walk right as the sun was going down and it was just gorgeous. Rather chilly, but
-on the 30th, 9 of us from the school, including significant others, had a big dinner together with amazing food.
-Town #4. Fuente Alamo. The town of my friend Pilar’s boyfriend Ramon. A small town of about 3000 people. Pretty ugly, with nothing to see. And literally in the middle of nowhere. Full of farmers and hunters. Quite possibly Spain’s version of Bernville :)
-I bonded with Ramon’s 3 sisters while the 5 of us girls did our hair, nails and makeup together for New Years Eve.
-For dinner we stayed in the house. We were “12 + 1.” I learned how to eat different seafood. In Spain at midnight, the bells chime 12 times and each time the bells ring, you have to eat a grape. It happens really fast but it’s fun. The family had their own tradition where you write 3 desires for the new year and you stick the paper and 20 euros under your plate for all of dinner. After midnight, the grapes, a toast of champagne, we went outside and burnt the paper with desires (but not the euros). It was 2 am before the one sister’s boyfriend decided it was a good time for us all to go to his house to wish his family a happy new year. And his parents, aunts and uncles, all in their late 50’s-late 60’s were there awake and excited to see us. We didn’t leave there until about 4 am. Oh Spain… :)
-there were 2 people in the town that were exactly like 2 characters from Doctor Mateo. Like so similar behavior wise it was creepy.
Town #5- Pozohondo. Pilar’s hometown. Super small. 1500 people. Super calm with not much to see or do. Here I was served freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast and also tried pig tail and rabbit brain. And trust me, both are a lot better than they sound. The brain was actually pretty good. And I knew what it was when I tried it because I watched Pilar spoon it out of the skull.
Town #6 Albacete. 8 of us gather again for dinner, this time at Andres & Lourdes’ house in the province’s capital city, therefore bigger than all the other towns combined. It’s a decent sized city with plenty of things to do but still on the calm side. They have a big outdoor market about the same size of my Sevilla market. I went with Lourdes, Celia and Pilar. Of course I loved it.
- I went to a parade for 3 Kings Day (it’s another part of Christmas here where instead of Santa, the 3 wise kings bring gifts.). We appeared on TV for all of Castilla La Mancha to see. Lourdes’ father called to tell us he saw us. Woo-hoo! We’re famous!
-In order for the 3 kings to come we each set out a shoe and left chocolate and water for the kings and their camels. I love that Andres & Lourdes made me celebrate El Día de los reyes like I was a little kid since it was my 1st experience of the holiday.
- we went to the movie theater to see 3 Metros Sobre el Cielo. It was alright. I like parts of it but found other parts really frustrating. Haha.
- And I went wedding dress shopping. No worries, Mom, it was for Lourdes’ best friend, not for me :) But that was nice since I’m missing out on that experience with 2 of my best friends back home.
-We had another dinner with the same crew of teachers and significant others. This time at Celia's house.
-I got to visit Peñas de San Pedro (town #7), the hometown of Lourdes. It's small but rather cute. and it has a castle type thing! well, it's all in ruins and it was mainly used as a fortress but it was super old and super cool. And I had to climb a mountain to get there. It was a great little adventure!
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