Alright. I'm officially the worst blogger ever. But oh well, whatcha gonna do?
Let's do a recap of the past three months I've failed to blog it up about :)
 |
| Fran and I with some family and friends |
December. Quite a different December from any other I've had. It was my first Christmas away from the family!! Missed them a lot during this time, but I was lucky enough to be able to join up with another family for the holidays. Went to stay with Fran in Murcia for about a week and got to see what a real Spanish fam does to celebrate Christmas!
 |
| Something you'd probably see at most Spanish homes during the holidays. Carvin that jamón... qué rico! |
 |
| First round of goodies for our Christmas Eve meal |
 |
| Our delish dessert |
Fran and I made a yummy dessert for the family dinner on Christmas Eve. A bunch of people came over to their house and we chatted and watched different things get prepared. Outside over the fire pits a bunch of different meats were roastin and inside prawns and octopus and other various seafood were being cooked.
Then we munched on all the goodies and later went out with some of the family to the bars. For me it was crazy to see how many people were out on Christmas Eve. I think that in the US most of the bars and things are closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day... but it's a pretty big night to go out in Spain actually.
 |
The Amurrio boys and I at Christmas lunch |
 |
| Fran's padres |
Which brings me to Christmas Day.... we actually went out to a restaurant to have our xmas day feast, and apparently that's really common! In the restaurant where we were there were TONS of people! Some tables probably had about 25 people! Totally different from home. I loved the food, but I gotta admit, I missed mama's cookin (and STILL DO!)
 |
| Om nom nom nom |
 |
| Half-eaten dessert plate from lunch |
After Murcia I headed down to Granada to check out the old stompin grounds. It was wonderful and strange to be back in a place that had once been a home away from home. I walked around the Alhambra and all the little streets I remembered from before had hardly changed. Only a few things were different, like the new bar in the little plaza we used to visit all the time. Now it's not such a hidden secret, but it's still the same old plaza de los gatos for me. It definitely wasn't the same without all the lovely people that were there before with me, felt some bittersweet nostalgia in Granada.
 |
| Happy Shadow Tay with her Bunny Balloon in Granada |
But I did also get to have new experiences there! I celebrated New Years with some old friends in the city. Also did the New Years Spanish tradition of eating grapes. Unfortunately, the grapes had seeds in them, and the goal is to eat 12 grapes, one every toll of the clock, when the clock strikes twelve... so I had to crunch the seeds up with the grapes and swallow them while I quickly shoved more grapes in my mouth. But, it was a success! Ate all muh grapes at the right time! Should be goodluck for the whole year! We'll see how that one pans out :)
January. Came home from Granada and quickly after went on a trip with 52 of my students from the highschool. From A Coruña we went to the Pyrenees in Aragon by bus. Good time had by all.... 12 hours of traveling each way. Woohoooo.
But the trip was great. By the end I got to know all my students really well and made new friends with them and the two teachers I traveled with. The mountains were beautiful, we had a few good day and a few crappy condition days. But OH MAN. Do I appreciate chaperons now, expecially on long trips with a group of rascally kidlets. Holy moly crapoli. I was SO BEAT by the time we headed home. I slept pretty much the entire bus ride on the way home. Let's see... I think there were probably 3 or 4 broken arms and wrists, probably 7 sprained arms/wrists/etc. Some injured legs and butts and some puking issues. OMG. Not to mention during one of our nighttime English activities my friggin camera was stolen. The next day one of my students asked me to come upstairs, and when I entered the dark room, the lights flipped on and everyone was yelling SURPRISE!! and my sweet little students surprised me with a box full of cash that they had all put together. Enough to buy me a new camera. Went skiing on our last day and felt some mixed feelings, I was definitely ready for a full night's sleep, but I wasn't ready to not see the crazy youngins every day. At least I still see the majority of them when I go to the highschool. Buncha cuties. (I'll post some pictures from the trip later when I get them from my prof!)
 |
| Boats in the harbor |
Also in January, we took a little day trip on a rather sunny day and checked out Finisterre, or "the end of the world" with Zofia, Blanka and Pablo. We drove along the "Costa da morte" or the Coast of Death, and stopped in a few quaint fishing towns.
 |
| I love the colors on these buildings |
 |
| A lighthouse along the way |
 |
| Pablo got soaked by the waves, only a third into our drive with no change of clothes. |
 |
| At Finisterre, the "end of the world" |
 |
| Homeless dude sleeping by big ol' waves |
February. Had some pretty big ol' waves here again. I love walking along the paseo when there's crazy weather like that. It's amazing how much power water has. Never ceases to surprise me.
 |
| Marco with pizza makins |
 |
| Ettore kneadin that dough! |
Also had friends over for a fun pizza night, the Italian boys can make some mean pizza dough. Twas scrumptious! I think about 14 were made! It was a regular pizza factory in our flat :)
We had all kinds of toppings, artichoke hearts, jamón serrano and cocido, olives, cheese, cheeese, CHEESE, onions, chorizo, sauteed red peppers, tuna, nom nom nom! (But not all on the same pizza... don't know how that would turn out. :)
 |
| Professional Tanners |
 |
| Sweet soccer (football) field and the evil coaches |
March. Finally felt like Spring was around the corner (which it is!) Today's actually the first day of Spring, if I'm not mistaken.... there have been quite a few sunny beeyootimus days... just like today. We've been going to the beach and hanging out till the sun starts to go down or until the waves almost touch our towels. Zofia and I've been packing fruit salads and bocadillos and taking them to the beach. Sometimes we play cards, other times we just relax and enjoy the awesome people-watchin that the beach offers. In the specific beach we go to there's a bit less wind and a lot more people. Along the ramp that leads down to the beach is where the "professional tanners" always lay out, there are some leathery-brown regulars that crack us up.
 |
| Hanging out on the beach |
Ah yes, and March also brought with it Carnaval! Twas my first Carnaval experience and I had an awesome time. It's like 4 straight nights of Halloween! And it's not as cold as it is in October. Had a bunch of different costumes. The first night it was our friend's birthday and he decided he wanted to have a mustache party. So I scrambled together a Jack Sparrow outfit with a kick ass stache and beard! The party was hilarious, the whole night we were laughing and had to hold our mustaches while we were cracking up so they wouldn't fall off, which only made things funnier because everyone looked like such dorks while they're laughing and holding their moustaches. My favorite costumes from this night were the Village People and Albert Einstein.
The next night I was a punk rocker, and had a sweet-ass long silver wig. The best part of this night, however, was beautifying Gregory and Mattia as "escorts" (aka putas)... at least that's what they claimed they were... seemed to me they were pretty darn whory.. hahhaha. Zofia and I did their makeup, which was absolutely fabulous. And once they put on their wigs, boobs and girly clothing... well let's just say it was freaky (they still had beards... but were surprisingly pretty). The best part was when we started heading to our friends' apartment, the "boys" were wearing heels.. now Gregory, like most dudes would, was walking fairly slow and in a rather dude-like manner.... but Mattia on the other hand, walked better than half the girls I see in heels here! But by the end of the night both boys were cursing heels.
 |
| Village People |
 |
| Albert Einstein is awesome. |
 |
| Taylor Sparrow |
 |
| The putas :) What an absurd photo. |
The last night of Carnaval I dressed up with three friends from Coruña as characters from the Spanish deck of cards. We dressed up as the Sotas (the equivalent of Jacks). The outfits were homemade and were a riot. The best part of the night was dancin in the streets with the live music and all the people dressed up. Saw some great costumes, wish I had pictures of them all, but of course, my camera got messed up on the first night of Carnaval (NOT my fault, and fortunately the warranty covers it).
 |
| Las Sotas |
Well, can't wait for more exciting things to come! Going to Sevilla with Zofia for Semana Santa, should be a blast!
Lookin forward to THIS FRIDAY!! Mama Bear and Susie Q are comin to visit and I can't wait!! It's going to be a total blast.
Well, until next time.. and WHO KNOWS when that'll be :-D
XOXO!
