¡Feliz Navidad!

¡Feliz Navidad! Merry Christmas!

Where do I begin? This week has been incredibly busy. I had my last week of classes before the break. I also taught my last 3 English classes for the year 2006 (and got paid as well, yay!). The week seemed to last forever, though. Tuesday felt like Friday; Wednesday felt like Friday; Thursday felt like Friday; Friday was Friday! By the end of the week, I was definitely ready to have a break.

While most of the week was just boring school stuff, I did get to do some fun things: I met with my Tandem partner for a Coke (too bad I don't like Coke, but whatever) and my Spanish class had a shortened Christmas class on Thursday. We learned about Christmas in Spain and tried some Spanish Christmas-time specific treats. One very culture-specific treat was Turrón. It comes in many varieties (chocolate, egg and stuff, nuts and stuff, etc...) and always comes in the form of a small brick. We tried the original kind, Turrón de Jijona (Jijona being the place where it was first created supposedly) and I must say... it is very bland. Also, either Wednesday or Thursday I met with Elias, a guy from Sweden, and went to a Canadian girl's house for dinner (her name is Pinesap). After, we went and played some Foosball. Pretty dang fun for a weeknight!

Ok, on to the weekend, which was a ton of fun and very busy. Saturday, I was invited over to Ana's apartment for dinner. There I met three Moroccans, one of whom is actually in one of my classes (which I didn't know, because he never goes to class hehe)! I will try to get together with him over the break to work on the labs for the class we have together, Digital Logic.

Sunday, Christmas Eve, I got together with some people that I didn't really know too well for dinner. It was great!

In the group picture, from left to right, are Darja (Slovenia), Madeline (I hope that is her name, Holland), and Sebastian (Sweden). Sebastian made Swedish Meatballs, Darja made fried chicken breasts, and Madeline made potatoes (and helped with the other dishes). I brought stuff to drink and snacks... and bought a lighter for the candles on the table. I am so helpful. A guy came later, Tom from Germany, but apparently I forgot I had my camera and as such have no pictures of him. After the five of us ate dinner, which was large enough for 10 people, we walked to the center of the city to the Cathedral for midnight mass. The walk took almost an hour, and we ended up getting there only 30 minutes early. We hoped we would get a seat... and we did. Actually, we had our choice of many good seats. Most people didn't arrive until mass had almost started, but by the time it did the place was packed. Not really anything to special about the midnight mass, but they do have a tradition that I don't remember seeing in the US: they go up at the end and kiss a wooden baby Jesus.

Christmas Day! I talked to my Aunt Kathy at around 4 am MST (shame on you for staying up so late young lady), and around 6-7 am MST I did a webcam chat with my mom's side of the family. I got to see them open presents, and they got to watch me! There was my mom, dad, sister, Grandpa Doc (John), Grandma Edy, Uncle John, Aunt Kathy, and my cousins Justin, Miles, and Justin's girlfriend Angie (did I spell that right?). So, here is a picture of what I got for Christmas!

Pirates, sudoku, and candy. Oh my! Also comics, movies......

That night I invited some friends over for dinner. Ana's was sick and couldn't come, so it ended up being myself, Valentino, Javi, three of Javi's friends (Andreas (Greece), Pau (Barcelona), and Ana (Valencia)), and my new roommate Marian (I think that is his name anyway... oops). Which reminds me, I forgot to say on here I got a new roommate. He is Romanian, 32, and doesn't speak Spanish. Anyway, back to Christmas.

I decided to cook a Turkey, garlic potatoes, and garlic bread. So, get ready for the pictures!!!

 

Turkey in oven, potatoes on stove, garlic on cutting board.

Turkey process. The camera flash makes the meat look very white.

Left-to-right, top-to-bottom:

• Happy Customers, starting at lower left and going around table: Pau, Javi, Marian, Andreas, Ana, Valentino.
• Pau and Javi apparently laughing at me cutting the turkey.
• Marian attempting to explain something to Valentino... hilarity ensues.
• The table halfway during the clearing process.

So, there you have it, my Christmas in Valencia. Not too bad considering I had no plans whatsoever last weekend! This week I will be taking easy, and working on a bit of homework, seeing as finals are at the end of January, and I haven't had too much practice with the material during the semester. For new years I might go to a club, or go to Javi's house... not certain yet.

Topic of next blog... the Year (or actually, 4 months) in Review!!! Check for it between Dec 31 - Jan 2.

Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the house...

Not an Erwin was stirring...

Ok, so that bit isn't true... I was stirring quite a bit more than usual this week.

For starters, I went to a "Jeans Party" on Tuesday night. It was a joint December birthday party for 4 Italians, and it was held at a bar called Platò. I met up with Nils and Robert before the event, got to see Robert's apartment, then we headed to the party. When we got there, not many people were there. It was around 11:30... and in Spain, noone goes out before midnight. Soon, more and more people came. I was only going to stay until 12:30, but by the time I finally checked my watch it was almost 2 am! So I decided to head out... throat burning from the smoke, I headed home for a much needed sleep.

The next two days I finally started back up with all 3 of my English classes. I was really excited to see my students... they hadn't seen me since my haircut, so they kept asking, "Wasn't your hair longer?"

Thursday I received two big packages from my parents and Aunt Kathy! Yay! I got presents, food, and a mini Christmas tree and decorations!!! I was extremely jolly the rest of the day.

Thursday night I had a few people over for dinner at my place. Jessica, Nils, Minna, and Tiina came. Dinner started at 9:00... Tiina showed up at 9... the others at 10:30. Hehe, those 3 certainly are turning Spanish.

Saturday I was invited to a Christmas party... and I completely forgot about it! I feel really bad too... time to send an apology email.

Sunday I went to Jessica's apartment to exchange photos and eat Apple Pie. Both were tasty, yet the pie was much easier to eat. Jessica, Nils, Minna, and Valentino ended up being there that night. It took a very long time to get everything exchanged, since we were transferring wirelessly and all downloading from multiple computers at the same time. But it seems to have worked out, and now I am running low on hard drive space :)

This is a sweet picture of me that I never had before!

Now, here I am. One week from Christmas, and still have no plans. I will be contacting people like crazy this week to try and figure something out. Luckily, I am starting to learn of more and more people staying here over the holidays.

Think of me lots over the holidays, and know that I will also be thinking of you (yes, even you, though not as much as the others). Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to all, and to all a good Monday afternoon.

*Note* Letters from me have still not been sent out. I have many addresses, but if you would like some form of written communication from me, send me an email or something to give me your address. Thanks!

Christmas in two weeks?

Here I am... in Valencia... with temperatures in the 50s and 60s... and I am realizing that Christmas is only two weeks away.

Not only does the temperature make it hard to believe, but the lack of what I normally associate with Christmas doesn't help... such as Christmas trees. Sure, they sell Christmas trees here, but plastic never has the same smell as a living tree.

I also haven't decorated my apartment (which is totally my fault). :( Sad Dan

However, I went out last night with Jessica, Nils, and Minna. We met at, of all places, Starbucks. I had a chai tea... yum! We sat in there and talked a mix of Spanish and English for a while, then we decided to head on out. Walking outside, in the cold, an seeing the lights decorating the city, I started to feel a bit o' the season creep up on me. Jessica pointed out something too, that I otherwise might have overlooked:

That's right, palm trees with christmas lights!

Today, even though it isn't snowing, and I there isn't the scent of pine in the air, I am starting to feel a little bit more of the Christmas spirit. Finally!

Some other pictures from last night: Nils, Jessica, and me... I thought I took a picture of Minna, but it was not to be found today... sorry!

Other events this past week: Keese, a guy I met in the Quads and in Text & Critics class, came to visit Spain and to do some climbing. I was luckily able to meet up with him one night while he was here. He is currently studying abroad in Germany, and to me sounds like he is having a good time. Although both of us agree that we so far have not done much different from what we would be normally doing in the US. He climbs and does outdoorsy stuff... I sit at home and play computer games... the usual :)

That's it for now... this week I have alot planned... let's hope I follow through with it all: bowling, friends Birthday party thing, dinner at my place, Christmas party, etc... wish me luck!

Mmm... food...

No, this isn't a post about the wonderful food they cook and eat in Spain. This is about the mediocre food I cook and eat in Spain. Should have lived with a Spanish family, maybe...

Before I get onto the food, a couple of other important events: I joined a program called Tandem, where I meet with a Spanish person to practice English (for my partner) and Spanish (for me!). Right now I have only one partner, but I may get another soon, just to double up on practicing Spanish. My partner's name is Paula. She studies Telecommunications. We went to a Jazz concert to meet... but it wasn't very conducive to conversation, seeing as music was being played, so we left to talk at a bar. We ended up talking about formal dances and chivalry... apparently, quite to the contrary of what I had originally thought, guys and girls around my age tend to be very equal about things. She told me that girls buy guys drinks all the time, and that it is very odd to see a guy open a car door for a girl, or pull out a chair, even when on a date. They don't have the PROMs and TWIRPs like we do in the USA, but they have seen such dances in movies... and they are not certain what to believe. Is there really a king and queen of the dance?

Anyway, back to the food. One thing to note is that (whether it be due to the humidity or whatever) food gets cold really quick here in Spain... which does not bode well for a slow eater like me. By about the time I put the food on my plate, it is already starting to feel "barely warm." I need to find some way to counter this...

All food is in chronological order... the days don't really matter that much, however. Enjoy your viewing of Dan cuisine... and remember to never ask me to make dinner when I come back to the states :)

Left-to-right, top-to-bottom:

Pasta, beef chunks and peas, store-bought home-cooked lasagna.

Pork chops and fries.

Really hard to cook turkey bacon.

Chicken and salad and apple and bread and juice, chicken and peas, burgers.

Now don't worry... even though most images don't have fruits and veggies, I have an explanation. I eat those usually while I am waiting for the meat to cook.

Well, that is it for now. By the way, while writing this I was eating beef and ketchup in a bowl... kind of a makeshift meatloaf... except not very good (why did I decide to put in garlic powder?). Tune in next week, for more insane stunts! Well, just trying to make my blog exciting.