It's the holiday season...

And I've been celebrating!! As you know, Thanksgiving is of course just a Canadian and American holiday, so the Spanish don't really know anything about it. But, we decided that we would have a Thanksgiving dinner of our own! Jane and Jess are the only ones who have an oven (I didn't at the time), so they hosted the dinner and cooked the turkey and stuffing. Everyone else brought the side dishes, and it ended up being quite a feast! I cooked a green bean and corn casserole and made a cheese ball, and everyone LOVED both of them! The casserole was the first dish to be completely empty :). We also had mulled wine, potatoes, sweet potatoes, a few Spanish dishes, pumpkin pie and Spanish cookie cake, and let me tell you, I was stuffed. There ended up being people from eight different countries there...how cool is that?? The United States, Canada, England, Ireland, Turkey, Spain, Germany and Italy. I thought it was Thanksgiving at its very essence...and therefore America as well! We had a wide mix of foods and a melting pot of nationalities. I absolutely loved it.

(pulling the wishbone!)

In addition to Thanksgiving, the Spanish are celebrating a few holidays this weekend as well. I'm currently on a "puente," which technically means "bridge" but the Spanish use it to describe a long weekend. December 6th is el Día de la Constitución, which is their Constitution Day, and then the 8th is La Immaculada, which is the holiday that celebrates the Virgin Mary and her immaculate conception. However, the 4th of December is also a holiday in Alosno, so they just took Thursday off too to make an extra long "puente"! Therefore I'm currently on a 6 day weekend. Awesome right? To celebrate el Día de la Constitución, on Tuesday my school had what they call a "hachas," which is basically a big bonfire. Here's a video!

For the puente, Rachel, Miriam and I are going to Granada! There are a few more of our friends going as well, so it'll be one big group trip...I'm super excited! Because this is such a popular weekend to go, La Alhambra might be sold out...we're trying to figure out tickets currently. I went when I was studying abroad, but it was so incredible that I would LOVE to go again, so let's all cross our fingers! 

Of course, in addition to everything else, IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME!!!! The Spanish Christmas candy is out in all the stores, the street decorations have gone up, and my absolutely wonderful, amazing, beautiful, "cariñosa" mother has sent me a package with a "regalito" to open each day until I come home for Christmas, which is the 17th!!! I am SO excited to come home, and opening a present each day brings me that much closer to my departure!

That's it for now I think, but I'll write about Granada when we get back! Love you all!!

I've moved!

Hi all! I'm so sorry for the long absence...I've been moving and transitioning to a new flat!! Sudden, I know. Here's the story.

Last Monday, Regina (my flatmate) told me that the people who were renting from her mother just suddenly up and left. So, to help out her mom financially, Regina and her brother Patrick were planning on moving into the flat. The whole time she was explaining this, I was thinking "AhhhhhWhatamIgoingtodoI'llhavetofindanewroommatebutwhatifIcan'tthenI'llhavetopaythewholerenthowamIgoingtoafforditI'llhavetomovealsobutwhowillhaveaflattorentatthistimeoftheyearWhatamIgoingtodoAhhhh!!!!!"
But then she informed me, "And you can come live there too of course, if you want. There are four bedrooms."
WHEW!
Thank goodness. She explained that the flat was bigger, still close (Avenida Italia), the rent was the same but we wouldn't have to pay the water bill, so also cheaper! Sounded great to me. So this past weekend (I literally had less than a week to get used to the idea) we moved to our new place. The move was difficult, since I had to carry my stuff from the old place to this one (about a 10-15 minute walk, three different trips with help from Rachel), but I finally got everything moved in. My room is actually about the same size (a shoebox), and there was only a bed and a broken wardrobe in it, but I've adjusted and now I'm quite happy and cozy in my new home. We also didn't have internet until TODAY, which is why I'm just now writing about it! But I'm writing from my bright and colorful living room, which leads out to a balcony with a pretty good view. I live closer to Kedaro and both of my private classes, but most importantly, I live closer to my friends! I can now skip on over there in about three minutes. The post office is right across the street, and the market is across from the post office! Oh, I forgot to mention...this place has an oven!!! My new address is Avenida Italia 15 1D, 21002 Huelva, Huelva. Write me!!