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