Christmas this year was really interesting, as I had not the slightest clue what to expect. Here they celebrate January 6th as the Day of the Three Kings, so there's still another holiday left.
We set up our artificial Christmas tree a few weeks ago. I have to laugh as it only took about 20 minutes, compared to a good six hours at home. Living in a small apartment makes it hard to have a big tree, as there is not much room. I was caught off guard when I was sitting down one day eating breakfast, to find my American Family's Christmas card in the middle of the tree. Do those usually go there??
In general, there are not as many Christmas decorations here as compared to the states. Decorations. Lights? Madrid may possibly be the most lit up city on planet Earth.
Myself and other exchangers went on a bus tour to see the lights, which was phenomenal. It could explain the reason for such a high electricity bill, as my host family can not afford to put Christmas lights on our tree.
School wasn't too exciting. Wednesday the 22nd was our last day, with Thursday being a Christmas party at the school. Again, half my class decided that there would be nothing important Wednesday, so our classroom had the number of kids there was on the day of the strike. Everyone I talked to wasn't going to the Christmas party Thursday, so I didn't go either. We received a Christmas card from the school, which really confused me- One, not everyone is Catholic, and Two, since when does the school give the students anything? Strange.
We don't return to school until Monday the 10th, after the Day of the Three Kings. I am looking forward to a long break, as school ends sometime in the middle to end of June. With me leaving July 1st, I think this is the longest amount of time I have left in Spain with no school.
Christmas Eve my host family's family came to our house for dinner. We ate a "fancy" dinner with everyone together. At midnight everyone at once got up and greeted each other with the Spanish greeting (two kisses on the cheek) which confused me at first, as I did not realize it was midnight for quite some time. Everyone just got up at once.
Next we opened gifts, (1 per person minus a few of my host siblings) which was a bit strange, as I am used to waking up and then opening gifts. That ended the night as everyone slept in the next day. Again, very strange for me to do nothing special on Christmas day itself.
Let me add a side note that there is no snow on the ground, and the grass is very green. It hasn't gotten cold yet, as I would compare this to the end of October or so in Minnesota. Awesome, actually. It's nice to go a year without the disaster mess that snow brings, but at the same time snow gives the season something that is missing here...
Currently I have no plans for New Year's Eve, but I've heard it is a tradition to eat grapes the last... 12? seconds of the countdown. Not Sure.
More Soon,
-mb
Group picture of students credited to Catherine.
No comments:
Post a Comment