Things i'm going to miss...

February is creeping away, and I'm down to my last few weeks in Spain. I feel slightly bi-polar when I try to convey my emotions about leaving, because I've had a wonderful 6 months, full of new people and experiences, and memories I'll never forget. I also feel like I have so much left to see and explore here, and my spanish is getting to such a good place, that I hate to go back to using english.
I'll definitely miss this little boy. I'll fallen in love with Tomas, and although sometimes he drives me crazy, he is such a sweet, smart little boy. I've also loved having the ocean right there, even though it may have been to cold most of the time to enjoy it, i still love just sitting there listening to the waves. And the fresh fruit and pastries.. ohhhh the croissants and breads!
BUT... I am ecstatic to see my family and friends back home, the comfort of being in my own home and space (living with strangers still isn't the most natural thing.) I'll also happy to be figuring things out, making plans for the summer and fall, and eating food that I've been missing the last 6 months (peanut butter, spicy foods, pancakes and Reeces, to name a few.)

January snapshots

The procrastinated holiday post

I've been putting off this post, teling myself it's best just to wait till after Christmas. Then I decided I should include New Years. And when that arrived I decided I should include Three Kings Day, and now I just have a mountain of things to report, so I tried to put it off some more. But, it can be delayed no more, so here is the super-summerized version of the last few weeks. The most eventful and exciting news (for me anyways) was Jack coming to Spain. We had a wonderful two weeks here (I'm speaking for him too, becuase I'm hoping thats his answer.) I took him around Barcelona the first few days, showed him the sights. He really seemed to take to the idea of sitting in a cafe sipping espresso and eating pastries, so we definitely got our fill of that. We speant Christmas here in Barcelona with my spanish family, although truth be told, it was rather uneventful. It definitely is less of a holiday here since the traditional celebration is held on the 6th of January (Three Kings Day.) But we gave the family some gifts, Little Tomas got Thomas the Tank Engine movies (in english to help him practice) and Marta and Dad Tomas a cookie press, so they can make cookies on their own when I'm gone. Then Jack and I went my favoirte holiday spot, the Chineese resturant to have Christmas dinner. On the 28th we left for Mallorca, an Island just outside of Spain. The trip started out a mess (long story short, the stuttle from the airport to the otherside of the island we booked ahead of time online turned out to be a dud, so we stressed and paniced and finally arrived four hours later then planned, with a 100+ Euro taxi fare.) But after that mishap, we had a wonderful week. The down was perfect, small and quaint, and surrouned on almost all sides by the ocean, which, is the most beautiful I've seen. Perfectly clear, and shades of blue that you always see in magazines. For some reason I'm still fasinated by the school of jellyfish we found, some washed ashore that I tried to save, and the others you could see swimming near by in the crystal clear water. It was a wonderfully relaxing and enjoyable week, and when we came back I had a few days left to show him around more of Barcelona.
Now that it's mid January, I've also been trying to sort out my future plans, because as of right now, my visa expires on the 3rd of March, so I've got to make my move. The family really wants me to stay till June, but I'd have to stay illeagaly, which obviously isn't ideal. I'm torn between going back home and starting to get things started back there, or speanding a few more months here. As of now, I'm just going to see how things fall, because i'm completly torn, so hopefully something will happen the will lead me in one direction (and hopefully it's not a police officer deporting me from the country.)

La fiesta (aka, the drunken mess of 40 year olds)

When Marta (my spanish mother) said she was going to invite a few friends over to celebrate her 40th birthday, I envisioned a few grown adults, gathered around chatting and sipping some wine (because this is Spain, they love their wine.) But, I have never mis-judged something more. My first clue that this quite affair was not going to be so.. quite, was when I saw the guest list. Turns out "a few" friends, meant 50+. Well, okay, Marta is the calm type, surly her friends are too, no problem. But then Tomas (the dad) arrived home with the beverages from the party. Which I'm pretty sure he cleaned out several stores alcohol sections, and no joke, it took to cars to transport it all. They day of the party rolled around, Marta (as she is now does on a daily basis) gave me a fashion show of all the possible outfits, and spent the day primping. It was kind of adorable, she looked like a teenager getting ready for prom. Anyways, as the guests started arriving, I decided maybe I'd scaddadle for a bit with my own friends, and let her enjoy her party without having to remind everyone to speak castellano so I'd understand. And moreover, I've learned from previous experience, that once a little alcohol is in them, they tend to love to fire away questions at me, which is fine, except for slurred-spanish is just a little to difficult for me to understand. When I left the house, the party was almost how I imagined it, everyone merrily chatting (a little louder then I thought) and with a drink in hand. Around 2am, I thought surly the party would be well over, considering it started a good 6 hours before, and I'd just slip in and head off to bed. As I got closer to my house, i heard the beats of lady gaga, which, isn't so unusual since I live near a park, and sometimes people have a boom-box and hang out there. But as I got closer, I discovered the music was in fact, coming from my building. Yes, the music of the pop sensation audible from a block away, was coming from the 40 year old christmas party at 2am. I hesitantly decided to go in, considering I didn't really have much else to do at 2am, and as soon as I opened the door, I man with our christmas tree star balanced on his head immediately greeted me with (very loudly, considering he had to out-yell the music) "Bienvenido a la fiesta de navidad!" (welcome to the christmas party!) Then, Marta came running over, tipsy at best, saying, "es la Stevie, es la Stevie!" (It's Stevie, It's Stevie!) As she ran around the room yelling this, the man with the star followed after her asking "quien es la Stevie?!" (who is Stevie?!) After I was wished a Merry Christmas, or a Feliz Navidad, or a Bon Nadal (or really it was more of a combination of these three) I made it to me room, just as, song change, Tik Tok came on. Needless to say, the party wasn't near over, and instead of sleep I enjoyed a piece of cake and a wonderful playlist of the hottest songs, which, inspired karaoke, dancing, and much more. The party finally ended around 5am, and people started leaving (those who could.. a majority of them ended up leaving the next afternoon.) I guess I should have seen it coming, because there is no such thing as a nice, calm party in Spain. And in case your wondering, the christmas tree star (along with a majority of the other decorations) didn't survive. Luckily, little Tomas made us some nice new ones.

Feliz Navidad!

The holidays as never seen before!

Christmas is getting into full swing here, although sometimes it's hardly recognizable to do all the very odd traditions it's attached to here. Two of these seem to stand out the most, and every time I see them, I'm still shocked at a) how they at all represent the Christmas spirit, and b)that not only are they politically correct, but it is harshly frowned upon to ignore said traditions. I will explain:
1) Caganer (which translates more or less into "pooper")
The Caganer is, crudely put, a statue of a man pooping. The traditional Caganer is dressed in black pants, a white shirt, a red hat, and is found with his pants down and in a squatting position, with a pile of poo under his rear-end. This statue is EVERYWHERE here. There is a particularly lovely one in a shopping center, that is two stories tall. But more commonly, you find them inside everyones house, in the manger scene. Yes, thats right. Squatting next to baby Jesus and Mary, is a little Caganer. I really can't get a good background on this little guy, although it's nothing new. Apparently he's been gracing manger scenes in Catluña for quite sometime. And now days, they've varied from the traditional Caganer, and you can get famous soccer players, actors, and yes, even an Obama Caganer.
2) Tio Nadal or Tio Caga (Uncle Christmas or Uncle Poop)
I hope your noticing the trend of the association of poop and Christmas. Tio Nadal is usually symbolized as a log, with a face painted on him and a red hat. For the month leading up to Christmas, the kids "feed" their Tio every night, and tuck him in with a blanket so he doesn't get cold. He sure eats a lot, because every morning the food is magically gone. After a month of good care, the kids then beat the log with a stick while singing the traditional song, and if the Tio is pleased and well fed, he will "poop" out little candies and gifts.
As you can see, I'm bound to have a very exciting and interesting Christmas. And maybe even figure out exactly how poop became associated with Christmas.
I'll admit I'm even more homesick now that it's getting closer to Christmas. I'm going to miss a lot of the traditions and being with my family. I'm trying to imitate some of them here (although sledding is just a little difficult here) and pick up on some new traditions. I think I'd be completely falling apart if Jack wasn't coming in 15 1/2 days (not that I'm counting) so at least I'l have someone familiar to spend Christmas with, even if we are surrounded my pooping statues.