MERRY CHRISTMAS!

So I know it is now a little late but I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

Connor has finally arrived in Spain after some long and weary days of traveling. His flight arrived into Madrid on Wednesday the 22nd at 9:30am. It would have been much easier for him to fly into Malaga or Granada but I guess we weren't really thinking about the easiest option when he booked his flight - we were more concerned with the price. So, I did not want to leave him to navigate the airport, metro and bus station by himself so I went to Madrid to pick him up. I went to Granada the night before to see some friends and caught a 1:30am bus to Madrid. Now, wouldn't you think that a person might be tired at that time and would probably sleep on the bus? Yes. Did I sleep at all? No. :-) I think it was a mixture of excitement, nerves, adrenaline, etc. I looked around several times and noticed that I was the only soul on the bus that was awake. I arrived in Madrid at 6:30am and made my way to the airport to wait for Connor. I thought I might be able to sleep a little at the airport but alas that did not happen either. Connor finally got in around 10am and it was a happy reunion. It's amazing how long 3 months can be. We then made the trek back to the bus station via the metro (it takes about an hour to get from the airport to the bus station because you have to make a change on the metro).
Here is Connor happily riding the metro!!

The weary travelers waiting at the bus station

We arrived at the bus station to see that there was a bus to Granada at 11:30. It was currently 11:15 am. So why did we end up having to catch a bus at 2 and wait 2 1/2 hours? There was only one seat left on the 11:30 bus. Ugh. So we waited and waited. The only thing that made the wait ok was that my mom sent Christmas cookies with Connor and I may have indulged in a couple of them. After a 5hr bus ride and a couple of hours of sleep later, we finally made it to Granada around 7:20 only to find that the 7:30 bus to Motril was already full. Feeling pretty defeated, we had a beer at the bus station and caught the bus to Motril at 8:30 and ultimately arriving in Motril around 10pm. Tad graciously came to pick us up at the bus station and he and his girlfriend (who is also visiting for the holidays) had dinner prepared for us!! Point of the story: It was a LONG day for both Connor and myself.
Here are my friends with Connor and myself on Christmas Eve

And another random one of Connor and me

For Christmas Eve, we went to my friend Bernardo's house in Motril. His family was so kind for letting us invade their family meal. I wanted to bring them something very traditional of Christmas in the US and lucky for me, my mom had sent me vanilla extract (because they don't have it here) and I was able to continue with my culinary ways and baked Christmas cookies for his family. Connor was a great help with the cookies. The challenging part was making frosting without powdered sugar. I was able to find a recipe online which directed me to make a thick paste with flour and milk and let it cool and then add a ton of butter, sugar, and vanilla. I added a little bit of cream cheese to kick up the flavor. It wasn't perfect but turned out much better than I thought it would.


For dinner on Christmas Eve, the first course was one of my absolute favorites.....seafood soup (ok, so there was definitely some sarcasm there). Bern's mom knew that Connor and I don't like seafood and so she gave us both just broth and spared us having to eat oysters, shrimp and who knows what else. There was also bread, jamon serrano, and cheese on the table. Next course was a pork roll with a yummy sauce and then these potato pancake things (made especially for Connor and myself and we were the only ones that ate them). For dessert, we had cheesecake and Christmas cookies and we also drank the bottle of champagne I had brought for them.
Bern and Emily

Bern, his mom and his sister - aren't they an adorable family?!

The group on Christmas Eve

Bern's aunt on the left and mom on the right. They are beautiful women.

Christmas day was very relaxed. Connor and I watched Elf in the morning and were able to talk with our parents. I was finally able to open the many presents that my mom sent with Connor. Connor plays a great Santa Clause!!!! She is simply the best mother there could ever be. She bought me some new clothes, CD's, a book, a new vera bradley duffel, a bracelet, socks, a necklace, and tons of candy! It was so exciting to be able to talk with my family via skype and open my presents.
Today, we did something very Spanish and went to my friend's cortijo (cottage). I was excited for Connor to experience it. My friend Bern made 'migas' which is a very traditional Spanish dish made with oil, garlic, water and flour. You cook all those things and it becomes a very crumbly, bread-like mixture. I think it's really good.
Bern cooking the migas

Here is the finished product "migas"

Emilio was in charge of cooking the meat (bacon, sausage, blood sausage and filets of pork

Here is a picture of the table all set

Here is a nice self-timed picture of the group

The group all sitting around the fire


One other picture I can't forget to include is my ridiculous outfit that I wore to school on Tuesday for Christmas. My mom had sent me these Christmas socks and I just had to wear them to school. I also had on a bracelet with bells. The kids and teachers loved it.



I brought in treats for the kids and the teachers (I made apple pie, peppermint bark, and rice krispie treats). I tried to dye the rice krispie treats red but they turned out very pink. The kids were skeptical and I even had to try one before they would. However, after they tried them, I received comments like "you should stop being a teacher and be a chef" or "you can bring these every day, Emily." Some of the teachers told me that I would be a "buen partido" one day which translates roughly into "I will make a man very lucky and will be a good wife" haha If anything, being in Spain has made me more domestic, that's for sure.

Here is one of my 4th grade classes with their Christmas tree made of hands

Again, like with the last post, I have a lot of videos I want to post but they will not upload. I took a video of the kids singing "we wish you a Merry Christmas" and "the 12 days of Christmas." They are absolutely precious and I wish I could share them with you.
Connor and I are off to Granada tomorrow to explore and then to Barcelona!! Can't wait. Love to all!

Christmas Part I

Well, I guess I will start my Christmas blogging now even though I know there will be much more on the topic in the days to come. I have spent the last week explaining how Christmas is celebrated in the United States. The main differences that I have been able to see between an American Christmas and a Spanish Christmas are the pastries - Spaniards eat things called "mantecados" and "turron". Mantecados are pastries which come in a variety of flavors and resemble a very crumbly cookie. Turron is something similar to fudge. And here is one of the perks of being a teacher and never having tried these pastries before......

However, after looking up a recipe for "mantecados" and the absurd amount of butter one needs to use to make them....I think I'll be sharing my wealth of mantecados!
One other difference in the way Christmas is celebrated is that the Spanish people celebrate the coming of the Three Wise Men on January 6th. This is the day they normally open presents from family. They also have big parades in some cities. For the most part, the celebrations are the same (plus or minus a few details).
This week, I had two of my classes make a Christmas tree by cutting out their hand prints on green card stock and assembling them as a tree. They are both 4th grade classes.
Here is the tree that Pilar's class made

Here is the tree that Arturo's class made....we had to spill the presents onto the side of the wall!



Other than giving me a ton of sweets, I have also been receiving other gifts from students.
Here is a gift from a girl in one of my 5th grade classes....she had folded a piece of paper and inside was a "silly band" (they are becoming very popular here and kids wear them by the 20's on their wrists....I think my collection is nearing 20.

Here is a sign that a boy made me in the same 5th grade class


This present was my favorite by faaarrrrrr. One of my 6th grade English classes was getting all packed up to leave class today and a boy approached me and sheepishly handed me a piece of paper and this is what it was.....

Here is a close-up of the message!

How adorable is that?!! I absolutely love it and it is certainly hanging on the refrigerator (for once, something that I didn't have to color as a decoration for our apartment).
I was trying to upload a video of my students singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" but it isn't working :-( I'll keep trying!

CHAPERON

After being the student for 19 years, I was finally gifted with the opportunity to be the all-powerful CHAPERON on a class field trip! YAY!!! This may seem like such a simple and meaningless gesture but for me, it only solidifies my position as a teacher and an authority figure in the school. Now, there was a downside to this adventure...I normally wake up for school around 9ish (hitting the snooze a few times here and there) but today I had to wake up at 7:45!! It has been so long since I have woken up that early. I was the first person out of the piso today and all of my roommates commented that it was so unusual.
Anywho, the trip was a tour of the town to see the history of Motril. It wasn't all that thrilling because as my bilingual coordinator explained to me, the people of Motril did not do a great job of preserving the history and the buildings. We made a route of things that "used to be." It was still fun and I will share some pictures with you from our adventure.

The kids had maps and had to mark each point where we stopped to talk. I believe this was point #2.


The Spaniards celebrate the coming of the Three Wise Men on January 6th and have big parades. We stopped into a cultural center where there was a big display dedicated to the celebration of the Three Wise Men. Here I am with the costumes.


Here is a self-timed portrait of the entire group....yes, I am the jolly-green-giant on the right :-)


One of the highlights for the kids (and for these children, too) may have been when we stood right by the window for a daycare as one of the stops and children in the daycare would not stop banging on the windows (I even saw some licking the windows....oh kids do the darndest things!)


This is a random picture but it just killed me to see a grand piano all covered up during the holiday season when I want nothing more than to be sitting at a piano and playing and belting out Christmas Carols!!


Here are all the kiddies lined up like duckies!


Here is Antonio (my bilingual coordinator) explaining to the kids about the old Arabic water system.


I have been doing Christmas things with the kids all week but am going to wait until next week to do a post about it. I have to gather some more blogging resources!!!

I simply love Spain!

Well, after all of the excitement of the Thanksgiving dinner, my life became kind of dull (just as I expected it to) and hence why I haven’t written in a while. So this post is going to be some of the reasons why I LOVE Spain.
1. MY WORK SCHEDULE - This week in Spain, Monday December 6 and Wednesday December 8 were national holidays and so we all had those days off. So, I normally work Mon-Thurs and this week I only had to work two days :-)
2. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION - Spain’s public transportation is so efficient and convenient (now I must add a disclaimer because I am not knocking the public transportation of the US but it’s just that I haven’t really ever had a need for it). I can’t tell you how nice it is to decide to go to Granada to visit some friends and to be able to look online and find a bus that leaves every hour from Motril to Granada. It makes my life so simple.
3. GREAT FRIENDS – I know that you have heard me talk a lot about Juan Carlos and that is because he is a great friend to me.
Juan Carlos and I this weekend

This past weekend, Juan Carlos invited me to spend the weekend with him and his parents. I have been to Juan Carlos’ house before but I had never met his parents. There were so nice but very hard to understand. They are both from small villages in Spain and have very heavy Andalucian accents. His dad was a riot. He wanted to know all about the US (unfortunately, most of the time I end up feeling like a fool for being so ignorant about the history and sometimes even current issues of my country). I told him that he most definitely needs to meet my roommate Tad (who studied History and Social Studies to become a teacher at U of M). His face lit up and he told me to bring my roommate to meet him. His mom is a great host. She made certain I was never hungry. She always made coffee and toast/croissants for breakfast. On Saturday, she made Canelones – which are an Italian dish made with noodles stuffed with meat and topped with a cream sauce and cheese ( I feel myself getting fatter just writing about it). Later that night for dinner, she made us all kinds of fried delicacies…French fries, chicken nuggets, pork that was breaded and fried. Then, to top it off, she made a tortilla (like an omelette) with ham and cheese. Then on Sunday, she made paella with meat! Not to mention that at every meal she also put out tapas – chorizo, murcilla, olives, chicken, bread, mushrooms. I ate more than I needed to for a whole week in just two days. Juan Carlos and I went out with some of his German friends one night. They were fun and it just amazes me when we can all be in a bar and have three different conversations going on in three different languages (English, German, and Spanish).
If only I were in this picture, then we'd have Spaniards, a German and an American.

By request of Juan Carlos, we also did something cultural. He found an art exhibit at the Palace of Charles the 5th at the Alhambra. It was celebrating the 100th anniversary of Henri Mattise’s visit to the Alhambra.
Here is one of Matisse's paintings

Neither of us really cared for the art work too much but it was still fun to walk up to the Alhambra and do something different.
Here are pictures of Juan Carlos and me with a great view in the background from the Alhambra


We also walked around Granada a bit to do some shopping because he and his friends are doing a secret Santa gift exchange. He has to buy a gift for a girl and so he solicited my help. The lights around the town are amazing and in one of the plazas there is an ambulatory market for Christmas. It was so awesome.
Here are some traditional Spanish pastries for Christmas

This is the Corte Ingles all decorated with snowflake lights (Corte Ingles is the closest thing I can come to finding a store like Macy's in Spain!)

More lights in plaza Bib Rambla

I am so in love with Granada. I think I could go there every weekend and never tire of it.
4. REUNITING WITH SPANISH FRIENDS – So I was in Granada from Friday – Sunday and then came back to Motril. I had to work on Tuesday. On Monday night, I got back in touch with a good friend from Granada. After work on Tuesday, I asked him if he had plans for the night and he and his friends (most of whom I already know) were going to hang out and he invited me to come! So I hopped on a bus on Tuesday night (refer to #2 – why I love public transportation) and he picked me up from the bus station and off we went to have tapas. It was so strange to see them after 2 ½ years because it felt like I had never left (minus the fact that I had to fill them in on my life and it was a lot of work to tell them everything in Spanish!)
Here is the group while we were out for tapas

Me with Abelardo and Javi (the two from the group that I know the best. aren't they so handsome?)

The next day, Abe Jacob and I went out for some afternoon tapas and some tea afterwards.

Well, after two rough days of work (that's a joke) it's the weekend again for me. I don't really know what I will do. Tad is in London so it's just the girls here in the apartment.
Love from Spain <3