first off, we got out of school on the 20th, and I wont be going back until the 8th. which is sweet because right now all my American friends are in school. anyway, on that last day of school, we basically did nothing in class, and we got out early, except we couldn't leave school grounds until 1230... not exactly sure why they did that. buuut there was a concert. in the school. so that was sweet. it was just a band made up of some of the students, but they were actually really good. we also took a class picture (although not everyone was in the photo). then later, after the concert, it was our friend luli's birthday, so we went out to eat (pizza) and then hung out.
from left: my Romanian friends (cristina, deni, ale), and marta. shes spanish
but here in spain they have an extra holiday called Reyes, which is 'kings', so the holiday comes from when the three kings came and gave sweet little baby jesus gifts. sooo with that said, many families give gifts on both Christmas and reyes, or some on just one of the days. really depends. my family, however gave gifts on Christmas eve, and then on the 6th, we'll be going over to our neighbor, lola's house, and I'm pretty sure that's the day that they give gifts, so we'll be with them. yeah. you can tell I really have no idea whats going on.
so on the 24th my moms side of the family came over for dinner, and afterwards we opened gifts. well, basically, we all walked downstairs, and everyone opened theirs at the same time. my mom got me this really pretty dress, and I got my sister, ana, a ring. my parents told me not to buy them anything and instead use the money to go on trips or something, so I was really thankful for that, because I heard a lot of people spent a lot of money on gifts. as for dinner it was a lot of seafood. which is normal. and for desert turron and mazapan, both very Christmas-y sweets here in spain.
this is my moms dad, and like my favorite old person I know. isn't he cute
then on Christmas day we had my dads side of the family over for lunch. this time, the main meat was robo de toro. a very typical Spanish dish. after, we sang Spanish Christmas songs, and they made me sing part of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer all by myself. argh. but it was still super fun. I also met some new cousins, so that was good.
so this is them singing.
from left, top row: forget his name, marta, ana, ramon, me, I think alvaro??
bottom row: fer, pilar, abuela (don't actually know her name), forget, ana
they actually had me go around and learn all their name, which I really enjoyed, but obviously that didnt work out. so then after we had lunch, i went out with my friends to go ice skating. I've never really 'gone out' on Christmas day, so that was odd, but im glad i did. ice skating was so much fun, even though the skates are so badly made that I had to stop early because my feet hurt so bad. but earlier i met up with marta at the train station and we went to majadahonda, but we didn't know which way to go, so we went into a gas station and asked, and the lady said it was 4 km away. sooo we started walking. then eventually we made our friend Jaime come and get us. so we finally got to 'la nevera' meaning 'the fridge', and paid our 11 euros to get in. so to let you all know, I am not a very good ice-skater. so most of the time i was holding my friend maria hand. buut that was to make sure she didn't fall. so basically it was a lot of fun. and in the end, i think she fell like 5 times, and I didnt at all, so i was proud.
Maria and I, we had a great bonding experience
from left: Jaime, maria, marta, espe, me
so overall, a successful Christmas.
then for new years i decided to visit my friend gail, who lived in murcia. I had met gail last summer on a missions trip in louisville, Kentucky. i told her i was going to be in spain next year, and she was like 'oh, im moving to spain next year too!' so it was all cool and we said 'lets try and meet up!' so I made the plans and yeah, I got to see her. so 4.5 hr bus ride later on the 28th of december, i was in murcia. so we drove to her house and i met her family, and they are all awesome. honestly, I felt more part of the family with hers, than with the one I have now. so it was great. and since i was in murcia, I wanted to meet all the exchange students there. i think in the area, there are 7, but only 3 were able to come. so i met them on the 30th and 31st and had a great time. exchange students are seriously the coolest people i know.
me, Curtis, and kalob.
I also met andie, but forgot to take a picture with her, so unfortunately you cant see her. but basically we just hung out and watched some glee and walked around Murcia a bit. also on the way home (both days), i took the bus alone, and of course, missed my stop. i swear, I really dont like buses, i'd much rather take the train or metro. but anyway, I had to ask the driver to go back both times, and luckily I understood their accent well enough and they were nice enough to do it, so I got back safe and sound. Gail told me she thought i was really brave, but I guess for me, I take these situations as an adventure and something i can learn from. and i enjoy it. getting lost in murcia was one of the most fun parts. and you now what, I know murcia so much better now. so that was all fun.
I also went into murcia with gail and hefzi (her sister, my age) and we saw the few touristy things there are: the cathedral and the river.
this is the river, although I don't know its name. and in the background, the cathedral. the river was pretty dirty, and there were a ton of ducks, but I liked it.
here on the bridge couples would lock locks and throw away the keys, you know, forever sealing their love. the earliest we found was from 2003. I've always liked these.
and then on new years eve, 3 people came over: a romanian friend, johan, an Ecuadorian friend, oscar, and the guy who plays the guitar, david. i might want to add that this family started a church, so they were all people who went to the church. that's another reason I loved this family: they loved god. we prayed before meals and we worshipped on new years eve. I know that doesn't sound fun to a lot of my friends, but it was awesome. its been a long time since I've really been with fellow christians, and I loved it. as for food, we had barbecue ribs, which were delicicous. yes, dad, I actually liked them. another thing to add is that gails parents were missionaries. so they had lived in morocco for 7 years, and America for a few, and they were born in mexico, so throughout the whole week I got a mix of Mexican, American and Spanish food (and some Moroccan soda), and it was all delicious.
a new years eve tradition in spain is to eat 12 grapes in the last 12 seconds for 12 months of good luck in the upcoming year. of course me with my big mouth got them all in. so then we stayed up and played some games (which I also realllllly missed). and at 3am i was laying on the couch and fell asleep, then had to get my tired self upstairs and i fell asleep immediately. then slept until 2pm. which is always fun. then we watched the movie 'the last holiday', where queen latifah hits her head and learns shes gonna die and all that stuff. then I wrote my resolutions for the upcoming year, and that was that.
from left: johan, oton (gails dad) Oscar, gail behind Oscars head, isa (gails mom) hefzi, and david
this is gail.
so that was basically my trip to murcia. and it was awesome. i made cookies as a gift to them for housing me, and they were actually successful! just sugar cookies, but still really good.
and yeah, happy 2014, a reyes post will be coming soon
M
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