Christmastime: teacher edition!

Ahh...so many fun times with these wonderful teachers! First, let me give you an example about how full and social my Christmas schedule became:

Dec. 17^th: Tarragona to pick up NIE/TIE, and dinner with several teachers late that evening

Dec. 18^th: concert in Lleida

Dec. 19^th: church, lunch with Eli/Miriam and family, and another concert in Lleida

Dec. 20^th-21^st: hardcore school preparation for the Christmas program

Dec. 22^nd: picked up epic and heavy package from home, Christmas party and program at Rocafort, dinner with teachers in L’Espluga, and tutoring session with Paula and Josep Maria at Javi and Cati’s house.

Dec. 23^rd: Basically nothing, minus wrapping some gifts for various teachers

Dec. 24^th: dinner with Javi/Cati and family

Dec. 25^th: lunch with Olga and family, and Els Pastorets play in the evening

Dec. 26^th: Madrid

Dec. 27^th: Toledo

Dec. 28^th: Madrid part II

Dec. 29^th-30^th: Segovia and la Granja

Dec. 31^st: travel back home, rest, and bring in the new year praying and watching the famous New Year festivities in Madrid via TV

Jan. 1^st: lunch with Laura and family

Jan. 2^nd: church in the morning, play of Els Pastorets (round 2) with Carmen Torres (the mother of Josep Maria, the boy I tutor). Met and ate dinner with the cast! :-)

Jan. 3^rd: lunch with Oscar and Anna María

Jan. 4^th (today): NOTHING! Catch up on sleeping, laundry, cleaning, studying, blogging, emails, and school stuff.

Jan. 5^th: back in L’Espluga with Olga and family, watching and experiencing the arrival of the 3 Kings/Wisemen

Jan. 6^th: lunch with Laura and family II. Last day of Christmas break!

Jan. 7^th: back to school, but only for two hours. :-) Olga and I then went shopping and ate lunch together.

Jan. 8^th: cleaned, studied, etc.

Jan. 9^th: church in the morning and then late afternoon/early evening with Javi and family at ANOTHER Carmen from L’Espluga’s house. :-) This Carmen is the next in charge of the schools after Javi. She’s really nice!

Now, the traveling part is going to be a separate blog post. However, I’m going to see if the rest will work for one post. Here goes!

December 17^th:  Cati, Núria, Carmen Vielba (the teacher next in charge after Javi), Tere, two teacher ladies not from the ZER, and I ate a late dinner (like at 10:00 or something!) in Montblanc. At first I declined, thinking it was too late, but after an invite from Tere, a phone call from Carmen, AND a phone call from Cati, I decided that they really wanted me there. :-) It was a lot of fun, and I was tickled to find out that I understood probably 95% of the Catalan conversation going on. Of course, we talk in Spanish when I’m involved in the conversation, but trust me, it’s very hard for Catalans NOT to speak in Catalan when they’re together. :-) But I understood it! Yay! We stayed out until 12 or 1. It was a great time, but it was definitely strange eating out so late at night. :-P

After a weekend of church concerts and a few more days of school, Dec. 22^nd came! I was excited about the school program and fairly excited about the teachers’ dinner...until I found out about a few things. Javi said that for whatever reason, the school inspector was coming to the dinner! An inspector has NEVER wanted to go to a Christmas dinner in the past. Not a big deal on my end, until Andreu told me that the “novatos,” or newbies in the ZER, had to perform something. Yes, this includes me. WHAT?? No! The whole world’s going to be there! This isn’t part of my duties! :-) The newer teachers included Andreu, Juanjo, Anna (the girl I had for the Amigo Invisible present), another Laura from Barberà, and me. A few others were in the “Newbie” (that’s my translation, by the way :-)) group but were unable to come to the dinner. Anyway, Juanjo wrote new lyrics to the very famous “Waka Waka” song by Shakira. Now, by famous, I mean famous in SPAIN. Maybe it’s famous in the US, but I’ve never heard of it. The only references I had to the song previously were from a Target co-worker who would randomly say “Waka Waka!” on the walkie-talkies and a blog post from my friend Katie. She mentioned the song in a post about the World Cup, but I didn’t bother to look at the clip she posted of the song or even pay much attention to the post. I should have! :-) The song is originally in English and then was later translated into Spanish, and the Spanish version because the “theme song” for Spain as they won the World Cup in soccer. Anyway, Juanjo wrote some extremely clever lyrics to the song all about the ZER Conca! But as fun and clever as they were, I sooo did not want to sing karaoke in front of some 30-40 teachers that also included an inspector. Eep! But I didn’t have a choice, and I felt a little better that Andreu would be stuck doing it as well. Heh.

Fortunately, several of us were able to practice the song in Rocafort (but we had to do it without Núria knowing so that the surprise wouldn’t be spoiled), and I listened to the song probably about 20 times the night before. It’s actually a very catchy song, but if you look it up on Youtube, be careful. Some versions are fine, but some clips have outfits that I by no means approve of. But if you can find a version with just the words and no dancing, it’s worth a listen!

So after the Christmas program in Rocafort, some singing practice, and some goodbye hugs from Rocafort students, Andreu and I headed to Casa Nostra, the restaurant in L’Espluga where we’d all meet. And wow, what a dinner! First, there were soooo many people. Second, there were all sorts of goodies for us! Two group photos of the teachers (one has me in it, the other was taken before my time here) were enlarged to make one really nice large photo, and we also had a sort of place card with the pictures as well (imagine two panoramic pictures together, folded, so you can place it on a table). There was a boombox of sorts, and Javi even had a microphone set to use so everyone could hear him. Everyone eventually arrived (not all of the teachers were able to make it, but most were!), and as I looked around, I realized that I really did know almost every teacher. I’m really glad I get to spend time in each of the schools! Now, instead of only feeling comfortable with Pira teachers, I feel comfortable with just about everyone.

We started with some appetizers, most of which were good, and it was then that I finally was able to try the dreaded snails. I ate caracoles! There they were, a whole bunch on a plate right in front of us. I was closest to Núria, Anna, Rosa Maria, and Andreu, so they had the joy of watching me try the little bugs. Rosa Maria showed me how to eat them, and as I put a toothpick into the snail body, pulled it out, and just stared at it, Anna made the wonderful comment that you can see the whole form of the snail—eyes and all. I then dropped the whole thing on my plate and declared that I couldn’t eat it, but everyone kept encouraging me to do it. :-) So I grabbed it again, closed my eyes, popped the whole thing in, and started chewing. It really wasn’t that bad! I ended up eating two of them, but after that, I couldn’t deal with the whole I’m-eating-a-snail thing. And since I’m always telling people that I wanted to try snails and that it’s a pretty disgusting thing in the US, Laura came over to talk to be later and asked if I tried them. And Javi asked me on the microphone! :-) Oh, and Tere gave Andreu and I gifts from the parents in Solivella! Aww! Chocolate and a bag that’s very popular with teachers over here: it’s kind of like a cloth briefcase and hard to describe, but pretty much everyone has one, and I always thought they looked really nice. It’ll also be nice because my purse is too small and my backpack is too big for the school stuff I like to bring with me to classes. Yay!

I had lamb and chocolate mousse for the other courses, and Javi, being the Javi he is, had one of the waiters put Pepe Pollo (you know, that rubber chicken thing?) on the inspector’s plate! Bahaha! Fortunately, the inspector took it in stride and really seemed to enjoy the whole evening. :-)

And then came the part I dreaded. The singing! Nooo! The newbies did some last-minute planning, and Juanjo wore a goofy wig and made Andreu wear an ugly yellow boa. :-P I think it’s all part of the Shakira thing, but since I know very little about the singer, I was just glad that I didn’t have to wear anything weird. :-D And as we sang and half-shouted the fun lyrics into the microphone, I looked around to see a sea of faces that I’ve come to love, all grinning and laughing and just looking so happy. For this I was freaking out? Snort! It was great! Everyone joined in singing, clapping, dancing, etc. later on, and it really was a highlight of the evening. Ha! I have such crazy coworkers. Delightful, but crazy! And Javi presented all of the newbies with really nice keychains that had “ZER Conca” engraved on them. Definitely worth singing! :-)

And after the singing, all of my pent-up nerves vanished. Then I realized how tired I was! I slept very little the night before AND woke up early to pick up the heavy and fun package from home at the post office, and I was on-the-go all day until that point. Without even realizing it, I started tuning out the Catalan conversations (again, if someone’s talking to me, it’s in Spanish. But if they know I can follow the conversation and am only sort of listening, it just naturally falls back into Catalan) and just kind of stared into my plate, half-asleep. That is, until Javi blew a whistle and boomed out into the microphone, “Sarah! Are you asleep??” (in Spanish, of course). :-D Gah! Javi should NOT have a microphone, that’s what I say. Give him a microphone and a rubber chicken, and you have no idea what trouble he can cause! :-P I just took it in stride and did NOT daydream again! Haha.

We also exchanged our Amigo Invisible gifts. Anna was delighted with the necklace (a bit odd, watching someone right across from you open your gift, and you have to pretend that it isn’t from you :-P) and was amused but weirded-out by the can of tuna and chocolate bonbon I stuck in there. Why did I do that? I didn’t know much about Anna, but I figured that every girl likes necklaces, and I also knew that she did NOT like tuna and chocolate. Being the mischievous person I am, I stuck those in there as well. :-P She had no idea who gave her the gift and asked pretty much everyone around the table. No one had any idea until Andreu asked me which person I had. When he found out, the little tattletale told Anna. :-P But everyone finds out about everyone else sooner or later, and that’s when more kissing and thank you, I love it, etc. occurs. :-) And my gift was perfect! I found out from Laura that Carmen, the sweet, older teacher in Pira who teaches the 3-year-olds gave me mine (she wasn’t there though :-( ). One was a small tiò (remember, the log? I bought a different kind in Tarragona, so now I have two! I love them both) and a pretty glass dish in the style of Gaudi’s mosaics. Special gifts very typical of Catalunya. Yes! She also wrote little notes to go with them. Anyway, I was tickled. :-)

And then after awhile, the inspector left. Javi saw him out, peered out the window until the inspector drove away, and then joyfully shouted to everyone that he left. Haha! Then everything became even more silly and fun. Javi kept shoving Pepe Pollo in everyone’s faces, someone turned on the karaoke music and we all sang the Christmas songs that were sung in the school programs, Santa hats and the goofy yellow boa were passed around for everyone to wear at some point (yes, including me...:-P), other former teachers popped in to say hi (one is Carmen Vielba’s sister, who had a baby just a few days after my arrival in Spain. She brought the baby as well. You can imagine what that was like with mostly women present! :-) ), and there was just such happy chaos. So much fun!

Carmen Torres, Josep Maria’s mom, stopped in as well. She used to teach in the ZER but now teachers in her hometown, L’Espluga. Anyway, she brought JosepM with her, and Javi, Cati, Josep, and I all left together since we had a tutoring session. I originally planned on having some time before the tutoring session to get the presents for Javi and Cati together, but that didn’t happen! :-P However, it worked out well, and I’ll explain later on. Carmen Torres also invited me to the Els Pastorets play on Jan. 2^nd in L’Espluga. It’s a very typical play in Catalunya which I’ll explain shortly, but I was already planning on seeing it with Olga on the 25^th. However, when I found out that Josep would be a demon on both days but would have a speaking part on the 2^nd, I KNEW that I wanted to see it both times! :-)

And finally, I came home after a loooong and wonderful day to the sweet landlady Rosa asking if I wanted to use some Christmas decorations. Do I want to use some Christmas decorations?? YES! Garland for the terrace balconies, a golden decoration thing I made to look kind of like a Christmas tree, and a doorknob wreath made up the decorations from her. Add my new tiò logs, some of the gifts from other people, a few Christmas cards from family and friends back home (if you sent one, thank you so much! :-)), a wrapped present from Mom that I wanted to open on Christmas Day, and then a library copy of “It’s a Wonderful Life”, and I went from assuming that I wouldn’t have ANY decorations to having a happy little setup. Sigh. Dec. 22^nd, 2010 really was one of the best days of my life. God is so good.

Javi wanted to take a look at the Spanish books I bought, and he and Cati invited me over Christmas Eve to have dinner, work on some Spanish, and just hang out. The 24^th (Nochebuena) isn’t celebrated in Catalunya; it’s more of a central and southern Spain thing. Since Javi and Cati are from a different part of Spain, it’s more of a big deal for them. So I was happy to be able to celebrate with them! Javi’s brother and his family were planning on coming but had to cancel at the last minute due to a sick baby. I was able to wrap and prepare presents for everyone beforehand, and they loved everything. :-) I brought chocolates for everyone, but I had specific gifts for the “main” teachers that Mom sent from home (I also gave some to the librarians and Rosa). The one I was most anticipating was the one for Javi. One day, we somehow got into a conversation about ringed binders, and he was shocked to find out that we use 3-ring binders in the States (here, it’s always with 2 or 4 rings...and Javi and Cati later told me that there can be as many as 16 rings!). Anyway, Mom sent two 3-ring binders, a pack of paper (the size is different as well! Plus, I never see lined paper. It’s always either blank or else more like graph paper), and a hole punch that fits in a binder. He loved them. He and Cati were both looking at them, fascinated (Cati especially liked that the hole punch fit into a binder), and it felt so good to give a little something to this family who has helped me out so much.

Javi later took one look at the Spanish books I bought and declared that we had to laminate them. :-) He then wanted to make copies of the CDs in case something happened to the originals, and throughout the evening, both he and Cati wanted to see my new NIE card (well, I showed Cati at our dinner the previous Friday), made a copy of the card for me, gave me a winter hat to wear because it was CRAZY windy that night, and just generally were the observant and caring people they are. We then watched a movie (Sergio went to bed before the movie, and Paula headed to bed about halfway through) until about 1:00 in the morning! :-) It was another fun evening.

Then came Christmas Day! My first “real” time with Olga. We met around 12:30 that afternoon, and I spent all day with her and her family in their huge house. Like all of the teachers, she’s really nice, and she’s definitely in my “inner circle” of favorite teachers. She loves traveling and wants to show me all sorts of places around here! Anyway, her husband’s a policeman named Jordi (yes, both Laura and Olga have husbands named Jordi!), and she has a just-turned-7-year-old son named Pau. Jordi and Pau both seem nice, but I feel like I connect better with Laura’s husband and son. But maybe that’s just because we’ve spent more time together? Anyway, several relatives came, making the group total around 15 or so, and both Olga and Jordi have so many nice relatives! :-) And so many of them were shocked and fascinated that I was from the US. :-) It’s just such a rarity here! A lot of people think I’m from England, and I always have to specify the difference. Heh heh. So with grandparents, parents, 20-somethings, teenagers, and young children, we had a great time sharing lunch together and talking. I also tried MORE new foods! :-) Baby eels, crab (well, I think I’ve tried that before in my life), some sort of really good porkchop things, more turrones and sweets, etc. And personally, I like eels over snails. :-P

And of course, there’s the tiò! Pau was SO excited! I even got to beat the log as well. :-) Olga (er...I mean, the tiò) gave me happy animal-printed socks, a cranberry bath set, and a set of chocolates. :-) I think the two things I missed the most that day were seeing presents under the tree (most of the people have a Christmas tree, but they never put presents under there) and then having some sort of family devotions with my family. But I WAS able to call home from Olga’s mother-in-law’s flat, pet her cute little dog, pet Olga’s cute BIG rabbit, and play the piano (owned by another relative). I hadn’t touched a real piano since being back home, and it felt soooo good!

And then another big highlight of the day was seeing the Pastorets play! We went to the Casal, which is like a big theater, and unfortunately had seats pretty far away. Add the distance plus unusual play vocabulary, and I wasn’t following the performance in Catalan very well. :-) However, Olga was there to translate everything, so it helped a lot! The play is somewhat complicated to describe, but I’ll try. It starts with two parents and a grandmother, all sad because the son left years ago and never came back (my thought was about the Prodigal Son). Two shepherds are in the house as well, and one is the comic relief in the play. He’s always tired, hungry, getting into crazy situations, etc. :-) Anyway, the grandmother tells the shepherds a story, and as she does, the son returns. Everyone’s happy and excited and then they all go off to church, minus the two shepherds. And that’s the last you see of the family. :-P The rest is of the shepherds dreaming about the story the grandmother told. The shepherds find themselves in the place the grandmother described, which take place just before the birth of Christ. Then it’s mostly about other shepherds (the “main” shepherd, the non-comic relief one, falls in love with a girl) and demons. Satan and his minions try to tempt people, kill Mary so she can’t have Jesus, and generally cause trouble for everyone. But in the end, Satan is defeated, the shepherds are happy, and everyone goes to see the Baby King. Then the very ending has the nativity scene with an angel (Olga’s niece! :-)) singing “Santa Nit” (Silent Night). There are quite a few comical characters throughout, and they had a real donkey and real sheep in there as well! There’s also singing and all sorts of stuff. And one of my favorite parts is just when Satan and the devils are jumping around and being evil...and suddenly an angel appears. The demons flee in terror, and Satan fall flat on his face in reverence. And a part better than that? When the devils were going to throw the main shepherds in the fire, and they called out Jesus’ name for help. With just the mention of the name Jesus, EVERY demon falls on their face in fear and reverence. What a visual picture! So anyway, my first time seeing Els Pastorets was great, and I was looking forward to seeing it again in Janurary!

Then Dec. 26^th-31^st was my traveling time. Another blog post!

On January 1^st, I had lunch with Jordi, Laura, and Quim at Laura’s parents’ house. Laura’s sister and her family came as well, which included cute little 14-month-old Andreu. I had more free food and tried yet another kind of snail (this time a snail from the sea, versus the ones from land that I tried at the Christmas dinner), which is still chewy and looks like a snail, and I also tried octopus, some sort of dried and sweetened dates that are amazing, and all sorts of other things that are good but less dramatic. :-) And that’s basically what everyone does together during the holidays. Talk and eat. :-P I was also able to play a small keyboard that Laura’s parents have, and I gave Laura all of the books my family sent. She gets so excited about English books for Quim and the school, and there’s nothing like a Half Price Books over here. Quim gets excited as well. :-) He loves the books “from la Sarah”! Anyway, it was another good day spent with friends.

January 2^nd was church in the morning and then Els Pastorets play round 2, but this time with Josep María’s mom (Carmen Torres). We met around 4 pm and headed to L’Espluga. I was able to see the sets, everything in the back, meet the cast, and everything! It was really neat, minus a few awkward moments of standing around backstage while everyone’s running around preparing for the play. And Carmen was so excited to show me everything. :-) EVERYONE I met was shocked and fascinated that I was from the USA. Haha! The music director studied near (or in) Chicago for about a year, and he knew more about Ohio musicians than I did! :-) It was so fun seeing Josep M. as a demon, his youngest sister as a little demon, and his other sister as one of the shepherd girls. During the actual play, I sat with Carmen’s parents and in-laws as well as some other friends. We were much closer this time, and I understood everything so much better after seeing it for the second time. They use live sheep in some parts, and one escaped and was wandering around on the stage during part of the performance. Haha! So fun. Anyway, I LOVED the play and really appreciated Carmen showing me everything. I also ended up seeing their flat because Carmen’s daughter tore her stockings before the play. So we went over there and picked up some more. AND I ate with the entire cast (at the same table as the director! Well, actually, it was with all of the adults :-)). Another fun and unique day!

Jan. 3^rd, I had lunch with Anna María and Oscar, which is always fun. And Jan. 4^th was actually a free day. :-) I spent that day trying to catch up on sleep, Spanish studies, and cleaning.

Jan. 5^th was one of my favorite days of all Christmas break. I met Olga and Pau (her son), and then we headed to L’Espluga to see the procession of the Reyes—the 3 Wisemen. It’s a tradition very unique to Spain, and every city and village does it a bit differently. Around here, the bigger cities like Barcelona and Tarragona have the 3 Kings come in boats and have elephants and everything. In Valls (where Laura lives), they actually come in the train! But the neat thing about being in smaller L’Espluga is that they (or part of the procession) come to each individual house to pass out the presents (given by families beforehand). Anyway, at first, it was kind of like a parade: the wisemen sat in carriages of sorts while their helpers walked alongside of them. Then they threw candy to everyone along the sides of the streets. And when I say throw, I mean throw! :-) I was hit several times by hard candies. Haha! Everyone then heads to a main part of town where the wisemen and the mayor speak from a balcony. After that, everyone heads to the Casal (the place where I saw the plays) to hear the kings speak (and say if the kids have been good or bad) and listen to a few children recite poems. It was great.

Eventually everyone headed home, and I ate with Olga and her family (including many I met from Christmas). We were told that the wisemen wouldn’t come until after 11, but they were there by 9 or so. Talk about chaos! Haha! Jordi, Olga’s husband, was scrambling around trying to give one of the helpers the rest of the presents he had hidden away somewhere, Pau was shrieking with excitement and was generally insane the entire evening because he was so full of anticipation, everyone else was passing out presents or taking pictures, and I just stood there grinning at everything (well, I was taking some pictures as well). I’ve read about this holiday in various Spanish classes, and it was so neat to experience one! I also received several gifts from the wisemen. :-) “They” (really Olga :-D) gave me a Mafalda sleepshirt (Mafalda is a very famous Spanish comic strip), a book in Spanish, and I also ended up getting a Quechua shirt. Quechua is the most famous sportswear brand around here, and basically everyone who’s anyone has something in that brand. :-) So it was fun to get one! It’s kind of like a combo between a fleece shirt and a sweatshirt. Anyway, it’s always fun to get presents...especially when you aren’t expecting any! After the “procession” of people left, we then looked more closely at the presents and had the famous cake that you eat for the celebration. Inside the cake is a small figurine of a wiseman and a porcelain bean. If you get the figurine, you get to wear the crown included with the cake. If you get the bean, you’re supposed to pay money. :-) I was able to keep them both afterwards just for fun. Annnnd...I think that’s about it for that day. Fun times!

Jan. 6^th marked the last day of Christmas break, and I went with Laura, Jordi, and Quim to go to Jordi’s parents’ house (I was there one before in October or so). We saw the gifts left by the 3 kings on the balcony and in shoes, and once again, I had something as well! :-) This time, it was a nice scarf. We had a fun day eating, opening gifts, talking, and watching Quim play with his new toys. He got a toy supermarket, and he insisted that every single person had to buy food so he could be the cashier. :-) Quim and I are also communicating better now since I understand Catalan more AND he’s learning more Spanish. On the way home, we all played a game where we had to think of different animal names in Catalan (sea animals, forest animals, etc.). I actually knew more than I thought I would! :-)

The following day was the first day back in school. Now, I’m with Olga! We have the 3^rd and 4^th graders in Solivella and all grade levels (well, minus the 3-year-olds) in Barberà. Now I’ve officially been to all four schools! Yay! I love them all, and things are going really well. Friday, Olga and I only have two classes, so we have the whole afternoon free. We ate out together and went shopping since it was the first day of the “rebajas,” which are significant sales after the holidays. Looking around at the long lines and crazed customers, I’d compare the day to Black Friday in the States. :-) It’s not QUITE as insane, but it’s close!

And after I thought my social holiday events were over, I ended up going BACK to L’Espluga that Sunday after church (the train stops off in L’Espluga, which is right before Montblanc) to spend the evening with Javi and his family and Carmen Vielba in Carmen’s flat. Another good time together! Carmen’s sister and family stopped by as well (she’s the one with the baby who stopped by at the Christmas dinner). I actually held the baby. :-) It was kind of fun because he was sleepy, so he just rested peacefully in my arms. Cati held him next, and he was eventually passed along to several people. Fortunately, he decided to cry and later spit up when OTHER people were holding him. BAHAHA!

Oh, and it was this Sunday when I for sure, for positive, and for certain heard more mousy noises in my flat. For whatever reason, I hear it the most on Sunday mornings when I’m getting ready for church. I can usually go about my life and pretend that the mouse is gone, but on that Sunday, I was almost obsessed with the thought of that mouse being in my apartment. Yuck! Anyway, two significant things happened during that day concerning the mouse. One, I was stressing out during the train ride to church. I just kept thinking and thinking about that mouse, and I really wasn’t in the mood to go to church. I started praying about it and decided that I needed to give that situation to the Lord. So I started making a mental list about that silly mouse. One, God is in control and mice are His creatures. Two, HE chose to put mice in my flat. Three, as repulsive as the mouse was to me, how much more repulsive would I be to a holy God were it not for His grace and salvation? Anyway, I think I truly put the whole situation in God’s hands that morning for the very first time. It was a wonderful feeling!

Now for the second part about the mouse issue. I’ve told a few teachers about it offhandedly, but I never told Javi and Cati about it. Why? I KNEW that Javi would freak out. :-) But when Carmen asked me how everything was going in the flat (she was a big part in finding this flat, so she’s always curious how things are going), and I just couldn’t say “fine” this time. As I looked around at these wonderful people who were all staring at me, waiting for a response, it just came out. “Well...everything’s really nice...I love the flat...but...I have...mice...” :-) Well, at least one more mouse! It led to a nice, lengthy discussion about my mouse adventures and what sort of traps/boxes are there currently. Carmen’s husband and brother-in-law both said that the best way to get rid of mice is to get a cat (SEE! I need a cat! :-)), and everyone was shocked that I was dealing with this problem. It’s just a rare issue around here (opposed to, say, farms). I could just tell that Javi was obsessing over the whole issue. :-D He also asked if they were small mice or actual rats. Whoa. Just try to picture what it would be like to be in your house and see a huge, live RAT come out of your wall. Yet another thing I have to be thankful for! As uncool as having mice can be, there’s NO way I’d live here if there were rats (which everyone agreed with me :-)). Anyway, the subject was eventually changed, and everyone had a good time talking.

Javi, Cati, and family eventually dropped me off, and with parting words to kill the mouse, I headed back to my flat, feeling happy to spend time with friends AND relieved that the mouse issue was out in the open. And guess what? It wasn’t even an hour after being home when...I found it. Mouse #2! I was on the couch and “happened” to turn around and look behind me. The cushions on the couch are higher than the back of the couch, and I randomly looked at the top of the backing. A dead mouse. Just laying there. It looked exactly like the dead mouse that Anne of Green Gables found in the tin can in the movie. I just lost it. Went crazy. Completely crazy! :-D After charging out of the room freaking out, squealing, and generally making a fool out of myself, I tried to calm my pounding heart and went back in the room. Maybe I imagined the whole thing? I had to be sure! I stood up on the dining room chair and leaned over to the same area again. It was definitely there and definitely dead! I was half rejoicing and thanking God for killing the mouse and half shaken up about the whole thing. There are three mouse boxes just waiting for a mouse to crawl inside, and this thing decides to die on my couch. Nice. There was NO way I was touching it, so I knocked on Rosa’s door and started rambling about what I saw. Finally, I showed her the mouse, and she told her husband about it and went to grab a plastic bag. So there we were, a 23-year-old American girl standing nearby making “Ew ew ew ew ew” noises and a grandmotherly lady sticking her hand in a clear bag, picking up the mouse, declaring that it’s not even dry (so hopefully it’s the one I heard that morning!), and then quietly chuckling at my freaking-outness. Haha! We’re assuming that it ate some of the poison in one of the boxes and then died later on. However, for what it’s worth, I also stuck some Easter grass type stuff under the sink. It came in a pack of candy that I was given for Christmas, and I figured that if it can harm dogs and cats, maybe it would kill a mouse. It was probably the poison that did it (or maybe it just died of starvation because I hide everything!), but I’m keeping that stuff under the sink just in case. :-) I then told Cati and Carmen about it at school (I get to see them in Barberà! Yay!), and both were relieved and happy for me. And they BOTH wanted to make sure Javi knew. :-) Cati said that Javi was really worried about the whole issue, and Carmen told me that Javi couldn’t believe that I was dealing with this problem in the 21^st century. Haha!

So! Minus my travels, which will be in another post, that pretty much sums up my Christmastime in Spain. Wonderful people, special events, trying new food, getting several presents, and officially getting rid of Mouse #2. Oh, and Rosa gave me a Spanish book as well! :-) God has been so good to me, and I’m truly glad that I experienced the holidays here.

Thanks for reading, and posts about Madrid travels and the new schools will be coming eventually. But not until I start getting some blog comments! AHAHAHAHA! :-)

Happy 2011!

Sarah

Christmastime: church edition

There were two major Christmas events in the Lleida church, and both were in the evening (Sat. Dec. 18^th and Sun. Dec. 19^th). Originally, I thought I wouldn’t be able to make either one because the last train leaves around 6 or so. However, guess what? A bus leaves at 9 at night on the weekends! I wasn’t too excited about wandering around Lleida at night to head to the bus station (a good walk from the train station AND a lot creepier-looking that the bus station in Tarragona), but after talking to Eli about the two events, I knew it would be worth it. Eli (short for Elisabeth) even offered to have me spend Saturday night at her house! I declined, but I was touched and grateful for her offer. Anyway, I talked to my family Saturday afternoon and then headed to Lleida after that. Unlike Christmastime at Valley Chapel, we sang NO Christmas songs AT ALL during the month of December. I think they save it all for the Christmas events. :-) So I was really excited to hear some Christmas songs!

I originally sat in my usual spot near the back when Miriam (there are two Miriams: the sweeter, quieter engaged one with the family where I’ve eaten lunch before, and then the boisterous, fun Miriam who’s the daughter of Pablo, the man who leads the singing. The fun Miriam is attending a university in Barcelona, so she can only come to church sometimes) and the girl from Mexico (I have her name written down somewhere. It begins with an I. :-)) waved me over to sit next to them up front. It was fun chatting with them, and like typical Spain, the concert started late. :-P I’m sort of used to it though; Valley Chapel runs on Spanish time as well! Anyway, I was a little concerned because I’d have to leave at a specific time in order to catch the bus. But the concert soon started, and MOST of it was FANTASTIC. There was an eclectic mix, that’s for sure! Traditional Christmas carols, flamenco guitar, a band that can only be described as Christian rock (my least favorite part. Most weren’t even from our church! Boo! They came from a different church, and the vibe was SO different that the music I hear in Lleida. It gets a little rocky, but nothing like what this group played. Bleck.), two young girls playing the recorder, some piano and violin specials (classical music, too!), accordion duets, carols for the whole church to sing, etc. Some also read poems or funny stories. The slightly odd thing was that several songs weren’t “Christmas songs”. Some were just general praise songs, and others were classic hymns in Spanish (How Great Thou Art, etc.). Not a big deal, but a liiiittle disappointing if you were aching for Christmas music. But I still heard and sang some, and I was a bit sad to find out that I would have to leave before the program ended. But I definitely did NOT want to miss the bus (but I had Eli’s number in case something went wrong :-)) and would be able to hear more the next day.

I ended up being pretty early for the bus, but waiting around wasn’t a big deal. It was also late. :-P So I could’ve stayed longer at the concert! Oh, well. Better safe than sorry, right? Anyway, everything went well, and I was back in Montblanc by 10:30ish or so.

The next day was the church service, which is always a blessing, and I spent the afternoon with Eli and her family. That family has especially been so kind to me during my months here, and it’s always good spending time with them. It was there when I tried my first paella...a seafood one at that! I’m just not a big seafood person, but I managed to eat the little lobster thing that was staring at me with its eye sockets. The rice itself was really good, and all sorts of odd seafoodish things were in it. :-) And dessert was really good...I was able to try turrón, which is a typical sweet eaten during Christmastime. Some is hard, kind of like peanut brittle, and other kids are soft...more like fudge. Polverón is another famous sweet, and it’s kind of like a powdery little cake of sorts. And finally, there are these chocolate-covered flaky breadstick-like things that are good as well.

After lunch (oh, I also stayed after the service and helped set up for the children’s program that evening. Miriam, Eli’s sister, was heavily involved in the program), Eli and I hung out at her house. She’s so nice!

And then came the evening program! THIS was the sort of thing I was aching to see! I sat with Eli (who had to leave early) and fun Miriam, and George and his girlfriend were behind me. Have I mentioned George? I have no idea if his name is really George or if it’s Jorge and he just said it was George. Anyway, he’s another great person at church. :-) He’s from South America and spent some time in the US, so his level of English is pretty good. And like most of the people here who know some English, he likes to practice with me. :-) He first introduced himself as “George, but not George Bush,” and often introduces me to other church members as George Bush’s niece. Haha! Random, but fun. Anyway, he and his girlfriend Elisabeth (yes, another Elisabeth) were behind me, and George suddenly gave me a Santa Claus hat. I noticed that quite a few people were wearing them (including fun Miriam), and I found out later that everyone wearing one was going to sing a collection of Christmas songs together. His girlfriend was concerned that George wouldn’t wear it for the songs, but he insisted that I should wear it for now and he’d get it back later. So for the first time that I can remember, I wore a Santa hat in church! Hee! It had a goofy blinky light and everything. And yes, they pulled it off when they had to sing. :-P

Anyway, the evening was filled with glorious Christmas carols in Spanish, skits done by the children, poems in Spanish and Catalan, etc. “Santa Claus” even came at the very end! :-) I think that was the weirdest part for me, both because it’s weird having Santa in church AND because Papa Noel isn’t really celebrated in Catalunya. It’s more of a central and southern Spain thing. But for whatever reason, there were several Santa references throughout the evening! Sometimes it bothered me a little, but most of the, I secretly thought it was kind of fun. :-P And the main focus was on Christ. Oh, I will never forget the excitement I felt when I sang Christmas songs in Spanish with this group of God’s people I’ve come to love. Another tears-in-my-eyes moment! :-) So between special songs, cute children’s performances, and then just fun, happy Christmas moments...it was a wonderful evening. And it finished at a normal time, so I was able to stay for the whole thing! SOO much better than the more “professional” event the day before. I’m glad I did both, but that Sunday evening event was what filled in my little Christmas-with-Christians ache. :-) A true blessing. 

Christmastime: school edition

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone! Thank you so much to those who have sent Christmas cards, notes, emails, or packages in the past few weeks. They always mean a lot to me, but this time of the year, it means even more. And being in a different country and experiencing my first-ever Christmas away from home and family made everything even MORE special!

I went from almost being caught up on my life via Blog World to being really behind. :-) So I’m just going to start writing and see where it gets me! Oh, and thanks to Big Sis Amanda for the previous update!

Christmastime was when I feared that I’d be the most homesick. Many auxiliares go home for the holidays, but I just didn’t see the point in spending the money for TWO extra plane tickets, dealing with jet lag all over again, and spending a few days with my family and my work-consumed, retail-manager sister rather than use the time off to experience Spanish/Catalan holiday traditions and travel.

For the schools, the other English teachers and I had our “Christmas meeting” on Dec. 1^st to organize and plan everything. Cristina, the substitute teacher for Olga, wasn’t there because she wasn’t feeling well, and to be honest, the meeting felt so much more light-hearted. :-P Cristina’s nice, but we’ve just never been able to talk together very much. When she found out that we wouldn’t be working together because Olga would be back by then, I think she just kind of didn’t see the point in getting to know me well. Anyway, Laura, Andreu, Elisabeth (the one with the injured hand), and I exchanged ideas on Christmas songs, crafts, movie clips, and activities we could do with the kids. I think it was the most fun I had at our weekly meetings! Laura and I had a pretty good list of possible Christmas songs from the previous week, so we just needed to narrow down the possibilities. Elisabeth had a Christmas book for her son that she brought with her, and we ended up picking a song from there called “When Santa got Stuck Up the Chimney” for the 1^st and 2^nd graders. For the 3^rd and 4^th graders, we chose “Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas” (my suggestion! Yay!), and Andreu found a song called “I Wish it Could be Christmas Every Day” that would work well for the 5^th and 6^th graders (for them, the song has to be a bit more trendy and upbeat to make them interested and happy :-)). And finally, we changed the lyrics of “Oh Christmas Tree” for the little ones. Elisabeth thought of the line “Star and bells, and presents, too” and I was suddenly able to use my weird and generally pointless-but-clever skill of making up lyrics to different songs within seconds. I blurted out a “And ornaments of green and blue!” and we had lyrics that could work for Catalan 4 and 5-year-olds. :-) Andreu originally wanted the whole song to be:

“Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree! How lovely are your branches.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree! How lovely are your branches.

Oh Christmas Treeee, Oh Christmas Treee,

Oh Christmas Treee. Oh Christmas Tree.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree! How lovely are your branches.”

:-P Haha! We had so much fun, and it was especially good to see Andreu and Laura getting along better. Andreu’s lyrics and antics had all of us in tears of laughter, and there was such a spirit of unity among us. This was going to be so much fun!

We picked various crafts and activities that more or less corresponded with the songs, and we had a little over a week to focus on Christmas activities in the schools. The songs were our main focus since they’d be sung in front of all the parents at each of the schools on Dec. 22^nd. I was a little concerned about being the “English expert” and not knowing two out of four of the songs, but they were really easy to learn. And they’re so fun! :-)

We also had to make up motions and dance moves for all of the songs. Each school would have their own party, so the motions could be a bit different with each teacher, but we tried to keep things similar. And I just love singing songs with the kids. There’s something about combining my interest in language, kids, and music that just makes me feel in my element.

The movements are hard to describe in a written format, but I do have video clips of all of the songs. Posting them is another issue, but maybe someday! :-) But each song turned out so well, using ideas from Andreu, the kids, and me. My absolute favorite was the 5^th and 6^th graders in Solivella. There are quite a few artistic people in that group, and the performance was fantastic. The best part? There’s a fun saxophone solo in the middle of the song, and Ricard, a sweet, quieter boy who had an operation on his legs and would be in a wheelchair for a few weeks, was chosen to be the “saxophone player”. The kids closest to him wheeled him towards the center, and he pretended to play the solo. It was such a sweet way to make him feel special and not awkward about being in a wheelchair. On a side note, it was touching to see his classmates care for and watch out for him. They didn’t baby him, but there was always a student or two who made sure to help him if he needed it.

The Santa/Chimney song for the 1^st and 2^nd graders was a big hit...both for the students and the other teachers! :-) The Christmas Tree song for the little ones was OKAY, but remember, we had the wiggly and distracted Solivella kids. :-) It was cute, but a lot of work! Then there were the little ones in Rocafort. Marc would sometimes sing and other times be a terror, and Sanae and Xènia did well, but their little voices only carry so far. :-) The two cutie 3-year-olds of Rocafort joined us for that song. Ali and Ilhem. Of all the 3-year-olds in all of the schools, I know those two the best now. Ilhem is ALWAYS giggly and happy, and Ali is such a little people-pleaser. They both are on my mental list of “kids I want to sneak into my luggage and take home with me”. :-)

Every year, apparently, a special music teacher comes to one of the schools and leads the children’s songs. This year, he (Dani) was in Barberá. Since Cristina/Olga teach in Barberá and Solivella, Olga would be with the kids in Solivella for the Christmas program (oh! Yes, Olga came back from England, and it was soooo good to finally meet her! She was my first contact from the ZER Conca, and we’ll be working together after the holidays. More about her soon!). Andreu and I were then placed in Rocafort (both of us were hoping for Solivella, but there wasn’t a choice. But Rocafort turned out to be a LOT of fun!). Laura, then, had Pira.

And the schools were so beautifully decorated for Christmas! The arts and crafts teacher worked really hard with the kids, and their hard work paid off. So many cute and fun decorations throughout the buildings! I especially liked the ones that were unique to Catalunya. Specifically, the tiò. What’s a tiò? I shall explain...:-)

First, it isn’t a tío, which is “uncle” or “dude” depending on the context. Put the accent on a different letter, and you have tiò: something very specific to Catalunya. According to the dictionary, it’s translated as “a log for burning” or, for Christmas, “a log that yields presents when beaten by children”. Say whaaaat? Yes, that’s correct! :-) Just picture a log that’s carved/made to look like either an animal or else just a happy log with wooden legs. Each tiò is different. Some look like pigs, others look like dogs, and most just look like...well, happy logs with wooden legs. Each tiò has a blanket over it (like where you might put a saddle on a horse), and the tiò “eats” different food during December. Orange rinds are the most common, but I’ve seen pear peelings, other fruit, etc. Generally, the food sits there in front of the tiò until a parent, adult, or teacher sneaks it away without the children seeing. And for the kids, wow! The tiò ate the food! :-) Then on Christmas Day, adults put the presents under the blanket when the children aren’t around. When you gather the kids together, each kid has a stick, and everyone lightly hits the tiò while singing/chanting a rhyme in Catalan. After one final “Carga TIO!” the blanket is removed to reveal all of the goodies left by the tiò. :-) Now, growing up in a family that never celebrated Santa Claus or the Easter Bunney, I have issues with deceiving kids for the fun of it. However, I have to say that the whole concept is really cute. :-) The older ones know better, but they still enjoy it. And the little ones get SO excited about everything! So anyway, each school had a tiò, and many of the handmade decorations had pictures of the logs as well.

Andreu and I were in Solivella for the “trial run” of the Christmas program, and all of the songs and poems (English, Catalan, and Spanish) were so fun. And during the 5^th and 6^th graders’ song in English when Ricard played his “solo”? By the 21^st, he was able to walk (but with braces on his legs), so he sat in the wheelchair for all of the song, suddenly stood up, walked to the center, and fake-played his little heart out. Perfect! If the reaction in the rehearsal was anything like the real deal, it was a huge success. :-)

And on the bright side of being in Rocafort, we were able to work with the 3^rd and 4^th graders (some of students who are under Laura...Rafa, Vero, etc.) and their Holly Jolly song. Andreu and I made up a few more motions for the song, and the students knew the lyrics perfectly.

Finally, the 22^nd came. The big day! The kids in Rocafort started out the day by making beautiful Christmas crafts, and the teachers just kind of wandered around, chatting and helping the kids when needed. Javi also came by for a little bit in the morning and then later for the actual program (knowing him, he drove around and went to all four schools that day!). And I’m not exactly sure where he got it, but Javi kept carrying around a yellow rubber/squishy bean-filled chicken with him that whole week. Being the tolerant person I am, I patiently stood there as he stuffed the goofy chicken in my face. :-) He did it to several other people that week, but few tolerated it. :-D Haha! Anyway, Javi and his chicken eventually left for a few hours, and the other teachers and Rocafort kids walked through the small village of Rocafort to deliver letters the children had written to the 3 Kings (wisemen), specifying what they wanted for the day of the Reyes (Jan. 5^th/6^th). It was fun walking around with the kids and seeing where they lived (they dropped off the letters to their homes, trying to do it without their parents seeing). We had such a delightful time, singing the songs that the kids would be singing in front of the parents, making up songs about Javi and his chicken (seriously! Pepe Pollo is the name of the chicken. :-P), talking about what traditions we have in the USA for Christmas, etc. It was during that time when I knew for sure that I was happy Andreu and I were placed in Rocafort that day!

We also had snacks back in the school (chocolate and a pastry with powdered sugar), and I gave the kids some stickers that Mom and Amanda had sent in a package. They were so excited! The scratch-and-sniff stickers were especially a big hit. :-)

And then the parent slowly started to trickle in. The children did so well in their songs and poems (even restless little Marc!), and I did my best to take videos of everything while helping lead the English songs at the same time. Ha! It was after the singing when I saw my first tiò being hit. :-) The children went to another room to chant the song to the tiò, and Nùria and Anna (two Rocafort teachers) quickly put the gifts under the tiò’s blanket. The oldest ones did it first, lightly hitting the log while singing, and then removing the blanket to get the goodies. The excitement of the event definitely increased as the ages decreased! The younger the kids, the more shrill and joyful the squeals were. And the cook in Rocafort got something from the tiò as well. :-) Afterwards, the parents headed home, and a few of the children stayed to eat lunch. Andreu and I hung around for awhile, practicing a song we’d have to sing for the dinner that evening (ha! Sooo much more on that later!), and I also talked to the kids who were still around. Somehow, I ended up telling them that I knew a little Catalan, and ever since that day, Vero makes me say sentences to her in Catalan. :-P Actually, she’s just like the other teachers in that regard; I think it amuses everyone. Anyway, I was able to impress everyone by declaring that I’m wearing a red sweater, asking what they did Saturday night, etc. Haha! And after many hugs and holiday wishes, Andreu and I headed out to go to the teachers’ Christmas dinner in l’Espluga de Francolí. But that’s another post!

Let’s see...did I cover everything I wanted to for the schools? I think so. Just on a side note, the 22^nd concluded another “term” for me. When classes start up again on Jan. 7^th, I’ll be in Barberà (the only school I haven’t been to yet!) and the 3^rd and 4^th graders in Solivella with Olga. However, because the “break” was a lot more natural this time, I didn’t tell the kids that I’d be switching yet again. :-) I’ll be with them again in March though! It’s just uncertain if it will be with Andreu or Elisabeth. Poor Elisabeth’s hand has turned into a very complicated, long process of healing. Regardless, I had a great time in Solivella and Rocafort, and I’m looking forward to new adventures soon!

This and that: catching up on random events :-)

One Friday, I went to Lleida to do some shopping and see the Seu Vella (the old cathedral). It’s really neat, and I was able to get in free because I have a special teacher’s card that allows me to see cultural things in Catalunya for free. Woo! Anyway, there’s a castle as well, but for whatever reason, I wasn’t allowed to see it. I couldn’t figure out if it was closed for construction reasons, or if they just didn’t allow the public to see it. Regardless, I climbed the bell tower. That’s 238 very narrow and winding steps! :-) Now, I DID climb over 400 steps up to a bell tower in Florence with Katie, but those steps were much safer, bigger, AND there were several “breaks” in between the climb. But in Lleida? Nope! It was quite intense, especially since I was carrying a bag of clothes I had purchased that day. I had no idea how intense the journey would be when I first started, but by then, I was determined to finish it. :-) Fortunately, unlike crowded Florence, I was the ONLY person climbing these steps! I made it to the top, praising the Lord that I didn’t fall to my doom on the tiny stairs, and looked out to see an amazing view of Lleida. The river, the castle-like place where I was standing, everything! Truthfully, I find Lleida to be a rather...um...not attractive city, but from up there? Wow! It was great. Well-worth risking life and limb, but it’s not something I plan on doing again. :-P Because of that, I REALLY wanted a picture of myself up there. Traveling alone really isn’t so bad, but the most annoying part is not being able to get pictures of yourself without either 1) asking a stranger, 2) doing that awkward and vain-looking self-portrait thing, or 3) finding a tall and stable surface and take a timed picture. Since no one else was there, option number 1 was out. I tried option 2, but I just can’t do those self-portrait things well at all! Finally, option 3 dawned on me, and I found the perfect spot, right in the middle, to take some timed photos. So I now have proof that I was there. :-)

Another Lleida adventure that I wanted to share was the train ride home after eating lunch the first time with Eli, Miriam, and their family (the nice family from church). Before that day, I had always taken the 3:45 train home. However, since I was with them, I took the later (and last) train back to Montblanc that day. I was confused to find TWO trains, both pretty close to each other, advertising that they were headed to Barcelona (the ultimate destination where my train goes). Which one do I take? The one that seemed to be the correct one had shut doors and no one around, so I checked the other one. No one seemed to know which was which (or if it even mattered), but everyone just went on that train. Okaaaay. I went on as well, and was worried when I discovered that it left a little later than the one I needed did. And the other train? It left at the time I needed! I started worrying that I took a completely random train and would end up in Barcelona at night or something, but I decided to see what would happen. It was then that the train guy announced that the recording and signs that say what the next stop is weren’t working. Nice. So now I was headed back in the dark, not positive I had the right train, AND wouldn’t know where it was stopping! However, the train guy said that he would announce the major stops, and one of those was a stop that was only a few villages away from Montblanc. So I knew that if worse came to worse, I could call Laura or Javi and see if they could pick me up from that station. I hoped I wouldn’t have to do that, but I was soon distracted by another problem: the train stopped working and the lights went off! :-) I still don’t know what the problem was, but the poor train conductor kept going in and out the door, apologizing to everyone via the speaker set, etc. Honestly, I wouldn’t have cared too much if only I knew I was headed to Montblanc. :-) To calm myself and keep from being bored (the lights did turn on later!), I listened to my iPod. I had it on shuffle, meaning that the songs randomly rotate, and guess what? The song that “happened” to be playing next was about rejoicing in every circumstance! Seriously! I couldn’t help chuckling to myself, and after a prayer of “Okay, God. I get it!” I had yet another divine opportunity to put my faith in the Lord...AND rejoice no matter what happened. And everything worked out. After about an hour of being stuck in the middle of nowhere, the train was running again. It stopped in Montblanc, and all was well. I found out later that there really ARE two trains that head to the same places on Sundays, just minutes apart. Huh! Random, but good to know, right? :-)

And finally, another Lleida adventure I wanted to share occurred on a Sunday morning before church. The train arrives about an hour before Sunday School starts, so I use that time to go to Pons, a little café nearby, to eat something and relax. If you’ve heard my stomach growl during church, you’ll know that having some extra time to eat a sandwich is a good thing for me. :-P I also get to see the same ladies who work there every week, and they now know what I’ll order. :-) It’s fun being a “regular” customer! Anyway, I also walk around before church, and this particular Sunday, I decided to walk in a direction I never had before. I bring my Spanish Bible with me to church, and it’s too big to fit in my purse. I also don’t have a Bible cover with me. What’s my point? Hang on, hang on. Anyway, I was walking around with my Bible tucked under my arm when an older guy came up to me and started rambling something about the Bible. He was speaking in Spanish, but he was talking really fast, mumbling, and also...well...was missing quite a few teeth. So it was a bit hard to understand him. However, he started telling me that Christ would soon judge the earth, and as I tried to tell him that I was a Christian, my brain was quickly trying to determine if he was saved, lonely and saw me holding a Bible, or else...um...a little crazy. I quickly realized that he wasn’t interested it discussing spiritual topics and just used that as a way to get me in the conversation (again, I was not-too-subtly carrying a Bible around). He then started telling me his life story, mostly about how he loves this woman but she doesn’t like him, how much money he makes post-retirement, and how he isn’t crazy. His words, not mine. :-) Traveling alone has really sharpened my “spider sense,” as my dad would call it. I think of it as my “creepy radar”. :-) Anyway, this particular guy was setting off my creepy radar big time, and I was quickly trying to figure out how to get out of this conversation. The poor guy probably has few friends and just wanted to talk, but after about 10 minutes, I interrupted his life story and said that I had to go to church (which was true). He then thanked me for listening, said I was really nice, and asked if I wanted to get a coffee sometime. Um...no thanks! :-) I left with a friendly farewell but a determination NOT to go over that way again. Haha. Like I mentioned before (and trust me, I’m about to mention it in other posts!), people just talk to me. Sometimes it’s fun, and other times...eek. Due to this situation, I carry my Bible in a plastic bag now. :-) I’m not “ashamed of the gospel” or anything, but I also don’t want a weirdo using it as an excuse to talk to me! :-P  

Tarragona: On Dec. 17^th, coincidentally the day my tourist visa from Chicago expired, I headed to Tarragona to pick up my official TIE: the card that has my photo, fingerprint, and NIE on it. I headed to the police station where I went in November, waited in a line, and easily got it. Yay! I’m legal, folks! After months of paperwork, I finally have the little card. Happy sigh. I also went to several bookstores and picked up the Spanish books I’d need for some upcoming exams, and then I wandered around in the open-air market to find a gift for the “amigo invisible” project the teachers do every year. It’s basically a Secret Santa, and I had Anna from Rocafort. Unfortunately, I don’t know her very well (well, I do NOW, but then, I didn’t), so the safest thing seemed to be a necklace. I can think of very few, if any, females who don’t like getting necklaces. :-) Anyway, I found a really neat one: silver with a white stone. She definitely struck me as a silver person over a gold person, and I was sooo tempted to keep the necklace for myself! :-P But I didn’t. I really like those Friday markets in Tarragona (see, the thing is, I love almost everything about Tarragona. I’ve only scratched the surface of what’s over there, but for some reason, I could wander around all day there), and you can get some pretty good deals. They’re essentially like yard sales in some ways (people trying to get rid of their junk), but I’ve found some neat stuff. :-) So anyway, Tarragona Day was a success!

And one last random thing I wanted to share but haven’t had time yet. Actually, I just never knew where to put it! It’s the Spanish/Catalan greeting. If you know anything about Spanish culture, you might know that kissing each other on each cheek is the general concept of how people greet each other over here. Well, it’s true. :-) I’ve officially kissed and been kissed by more people in the past three months than I ever have in my life. Male, female, old, young (well, not TOO young), married, single...everyone does it! It’s definitely done when you first meet someone, and then people do it at other random times: if you haven’t seen each other in awhile, if you want to thank someone, and then if you’re generally really happy to see someone. I have no problem doing it with females (it’s the same idea as hugging someone back in the States), but it took me a looong time not to feel awkward doing it with guys. :-) I still don’t know if it’s weirder kissing married guys or single guys near my age. But like many things here, it’s only awkward if you make it awkward. I had a taste of it in Mexico, where the custom was to kiss someone on one side of the cheek (again...male, female, married, single...the whole deal). But doing it on “both sides” is a bit different. And now? Frankly, it makes you feel loved, welcome, and special. What would just be a handshake or at most a hug in the States is just so much happier and warmer over here! And I mean, you shouldn’t take it the wrong way. There’s nothing weird or romantic about it. It’s just the cultural greeting! So don’t be surprised if I greet you with two kisses when I return. :-P It was hard not to do it after 5 weeks in Mexico, so imagine 8 months in Spain. Yeah.

Okay! I think those were the main random things I wanted to share. Onward to more Christmas and travel posts! Coming soon to a blog near YOU!

A Holiday Update on Sarah--from the Sister in The US :-)

Hello all! Several people have mentioned to me that they haven't seen any posts from Sarah in awhile, so I thought I'd take it upon myself to update her blog for her. :-) She will probably post in a couple of days...I hope! Her family is also impatient for an update from her. :-)

Sarah has been doing well, just very busy, she spent the majority of her Christmas break traveling to some of the major cities in Spain. She spent Christmas Day with a teacher friend and called home for about 30 minutes. She continues having an amazing time there and I know she loves getting emails, cards and packages from home. They really make her day. :-) I know many of you don't do facebook, so I thought I'd give you her status updates from that last couple of weeks, it will give you some idea of what she's been up to. :-)

December 15

"received THREE Christmas cards in the mail today! :-)"

December 19

"What's better than singing Christmas songs? Singing them in church with fellow believers. What's better than that? Singing them in Spanish with fellow believers! :-)"

December 22

"Package from home + a successful and adorable Christmas program at school + observing Catalan and Spanish traditions + free junk food + Christmas dinner with most of the teachers + several presents + being with some of the best people in the world + trying snails without gagging + laughing + having an amazing God + Christmas decorations from a sweet and caring landlady...equals one of the best days EVER. :-)"

December 24

"In MY part of the world, it's already Christmas! Bwahaha! :-) Merry Christmas, everyone. Be sure to enjoy it, make it count for eternity, and above all...don't squander it on Facebook! :-D"

December 26

"is in Madrid and saw the Prado!"

December 27

"It's official: Toledo, Spain is WAY cooler than Toledo, OH. :-)"

December 31

"had a great time exploring Madrid, Toledo, and Segovia! I've also decided that I'm going to live in a castle when I grow up (but one with central heating). My big sister is going to live in a palace, so then I can visit it (uh...I mean, HER, of course!) whenever I want. The End. :-) Happy New Year, Facebook Friends!"

"Oh, and I officially declare 2010 to be the Year of Engagements, Marriages, and Babies. I've never had so many friends experience one or more of those three life changes in one year! I think I'm getting old...:-)"

Those are just a few of the highlights from her part of the world. Hope you enjoy the snippets and I know she'll be posting details of her trips and her Christmas soon! I believe her plans for tomorrow and Tuesday were still sketchy last we heard and the 5th and 6th she will be spending with teachers, I believe one of those days are a major holiday in Spain, she's really looking forward to it. Too bad I can't remember what day it is though! :-)

Hope you all have a wonderful New Year!

~Amanda~