The Catch-Up Blog

I know, I know, I have not written in so long! I am working on getting my Rome blogs together for you - but let me warn you that they are super long because I have so much I want to share with you! But, I figured that even though all of this will be out of order, I would catch you up with my Christmas and time back in Spain and then just have the Rome blogs make a late debut!

So, Erps-Kwerps Christmas in Belgium was great! We actually slept in, which is not something I do very often on Christmas - but seeing as that there are no toddlers or young kids, everyone got their beauty rest. When Owen (the baby) finally woke up we decided to eat a quick breakfast and then watch him open all his presents! Christmas is so much more fun when you have excited kids! Unfortunatley, Owen, who is only 14 months, didn't really understand the concept of presents. While he had about 20 presents under the tree, he was more interested in the wrapping paper haha! Natalie helped him open a little tractor that he could ride that made noise, and boy was that a mistake. First present opened was his last - he played with that thing all day! As a result, all of us adults got many more presents to open! I got Owen's cute clothes and his shopping cart to open- hooray hahaha - what I always wanted ha! In between riding his tractor around he would grace us with his presence and tear off a bit or two of the presents we were opening. I bought him an xylophone that looks like a caterpillar. I was pretty stoked about it - and he seemed to be too, for the 10 seconds he played with it before he went back to his tractor ha!

After presents we started the cooking! Natalie and I manned the kitchen while Beau worked on deep-frying the turkey outside. The dinner was delicious - but of course I missed my Grammy's dinner! Intermittently throughout the day, soilders showed up to have a plate of food. Beau is the police cheif for the Army Police in Brussels so he invited his guys over to have a proper Christmas dinner when they got thier breaks. It felt like a really full house and was great! Natalie and Beau's friends, Ryan and Kayla, also came over for dinner. They stayed after and that's when the fun began! We played Jenga and Taboo for hours! Oh it was a blast. I haven't played games like that in a long time and it was so competitive - boys against girls - so we had a great time! The pure concentration of Jenga and the shouting guesses of Taboo were enough to make anyone have a good time, but to top it off, we were all drinking beer from this huge BOOT they have. It is very popular in Germany to drink beer from a glass boot, and Natalie and Beau have the biggest one I have ever seen! Supposedly, the Germans came up with this idea in WWI when thier soldiers had nothing else to drink beer from before thier battles - and so came Das Boot. It was pretty funny considering the boot was about a third of my size!

Another funny part about the Belgium Christmas is the lack of Christmas lights. The cities put them up, but people never put them on thier houses because electricity is CRAZY expensive here. Instead, they hang these Santa Claus' out thier windows or from thier roofs to decorate. We saw these everywhere haha.

The day after Christmas, we were planning on going to Amsterdam but Natalie and I decided to stay home and just relax. We didn't even do anything - just watch movies, but after all of our trips around Belgium and then Christmas it was nice to relax. Natalie even took a nap - something she said as a mom she never gets to do! Sitting inside all day must have gotten me a bug though, because by nighttime I was feeling kind of sick and by the 27th in the morning I didn't even want to get out of bed. I missed the trip to Cologne, Germany and laid on the couch all day, trying to rest up for Rome the next day. Bless her heart - Natalie brought me home some cough drops, Dayquill and Kleenex! On the way to recovery!

Now, normally I would tell you all about Rome here - but it will be mulllllllltiple blogs, so I will skip right to when I came home!

The last day in Rome, we woke up early and headed to the airport. Upon arriving in the terminal, I was told my Alitalia flight had been cancelled and I needed a new ticket - CRAP! They ticket lady typed and typed for about ten minutes looking for a new flight for me and didn't say a word in the process. I noticed that in the US, when there is a problem, the customer service person is constantly reassuring you that everything will work out - not the case in Europe. I was going crazy, but she found a flight that was even quicker than my original! Hooray! I landed in Bilbao right on time and thought whew, I didn't even have to speak a lot of Spanish yet! After 2 and a half weeks of English, I wanted to ease back into my Spanish. That didn't turn out to work very well when the airline LOST my baggage BOOOO. They lost half the flight's luggage and as we were all standing there waiting for our bags, a little lady came out and said - oh thats all the bags - dang it! After the long line, I explained, in Spanish, what my suitcase looked like, my address yada yada. This mishap caused me to miss my bus to San Sebastian and I had to sit around the airport for another hour til the next bus. Needless, to say, I was not too excited to be back in Spain! Being back is nice but when I first arrived it was weird. When you go on a vacation and you think, oh I am going home now, you think you are going HOME - but when I got here, I realized, wow this is really my home now! Kinda weird.

I got home fine, got my suitcase the next day and had some treats waiting for me at the apartment! My friends, Gina and Crystal had sent me a Christmas box with goodies - the best being See's Scotchmallows - my FAVORITE! A whole box! Since I was already into my Spanish I spoke with my new roommates and organized my new room (pictures to come soon.) The day after I got home, guess what we had - SNOW! I had heard all about the snow in Washington and was super jealous, so as a treat I got a day of snow here! They haven't had snow here for about 5 years so you can imagine how excited everyone was. It was so crazy to see the beach covered with snow (crazy people still surfing in the ice cold water too), palm trees covered with snow, people riding thier bikes through the flurries and busses pulling over to defrost thier windows. The roads were fine, so I made it to work alright, but boy was the bus cold! A bunch of my kids didn't actually come to classes that day because thier parents knew this snow wouldn't last and let them miss school to play in it. As they suspected by the next day the snow was all but gone. I managed to eat quite a lot of snow before it all melted and was happy with the weather in San Sebastian for once!

Now it is back to the rain, no suprise. I am getting back into the swing of things now with my first full week. Everything seems to be going great. I started a book when leaving Rome called Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (the same guy who wrote the Da Vinci Code) by Tom's recommendation and as soon as I got back to Spain that was all I wanted to do - read read read. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a page-turner! After my fervor for reading I wanted to keep it going and bought the Da Vinci Code, read the whole thing in one day and then watched the movie from my work! By reading 2 huge books in one week my roommates are under the impression that I am very intelligent (muy inteligente) haha. I thought it was a great way to rest up and do something fun at the same time. The weekend brought a lot of reuniting with my old roommates and friends :D

Overall it has been a great time back - except for the fact I still dont have internet at my house! I think we will get it next week, so keep checking back. I have submitted to writing blogs at the locutorio (internet café) across the street. This will have to do for some time!

Besos!
Amanda

Back to the Grind

Hi everyone! I can't write much, because I am in between classes, but I wanted to let you know I made it back to Spain fine! The internet in my apartment isn't going to work until next week I think, so I can't write about my fabulous time in Rome yet, but beleive me, when I get the internet, you will have lots to read about! I hope your New Year's are all starting off well :D

Here is my new address if you wanted to change it from the old one:

Amanda Gonser

Calle de San Francisco, 18, 5º drcha

20001, Donostia-San Sebastian

Guipúzcoa, España - Spain

Will write more soon!!!!

Besos!

Amanda

New Year, New Me!

Well, looking at the year in review, quite a lot has happened to me in the last 12 months. I have successfully lived in one of the biggest cities in the world and tried to do and see everything I could; I lived in one of the smallest apartments in NYC and still loved it; feel into this amazing job by pure luck and in one month completely changed my life by moving to a country where I wasn't exactly an expert at the language but managed to come out alright; I learned that I have much more patience with kids than I ever thought I would and that my silly personality makes me a pretty decent teacher; I have made friends with people from all different countries and have learned snippets of everyone's languages; voted from overseas in our historical election and of to see the international impact that the USA really has on other countries; travelled to more countries in 3 months that I have been to in my life so far; figured out that even though I always got A's in English classes, there is still quite a lot of English I don't know (like the present perfect auxillary verb in this paragraph or something crazy like that); and last but not least, I got to share all of these great experiences with you in my blog - something I have never done before as well!

If you would have asked me last New Year's Eve if I thought I would be in Rome for 2009, I probably would have laughed and said no way, but alas, here I am. It has been a crazy year full of a lot of change - but most I would say is good! My life changed from a 9 to 6 job that I didn't like at all in a city that I have always dreamed to live in into an adventure, complete with weekend roadtrips to different countries and new vocabulary words everyday in a city I have never heard of before I got this job (probably the same for you huh?)

I normally don't make New Year's resolutions because I never keep them, but this year I have some that I think are really attainable: 1) become a Spanish expert, 2) visit Paris, Germany, Portugal, Netherlands and other countries to get the most out of my time over here, and 3) keep up with my blog to keep you entertained and also so I can look back on it in 40 years and see all that I was lucky enough to experience. Do you have any New Year's resolutions??

About to sign off, but just one last thought: they say that what you do on New Year's Eve foreshadows how your year will go. I am currently in Rome, just leaving from Brussels and am headed to Florence tomorrow... if that is any indication of 2009, I am pretty excited about the coming year and hope you are as well!

Happy New Year - Feliz Año Nuevo!

Baci (Italian for besos)!

Amanda

An Erps-Kwerps Christmas

Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas and Zorionak! I can’t believe it is another Christmas, and most of all, I can’t believe I am not home! I have never missed a Christmas and this one that I do miss, Washington gets tons and tons of snow – so I am pretty jealous! Not only do I not get to spend Christmas with my family, but I don’t get to eat coffee cups of snow all day! Not like I am really in a bad situation – I am spending Christmas in Brussels, with good friends, who are the closest thing I have to family on this continent.

It was a true blessing that they are here and that I am able to spend the holiday with them. On Christmas Eve we baked a bunch of cookies, chocolate chip, triple chocolate, turtle cookies and of course, home-made sugar cookies and we decorated them. We stayed up late and decorated the house, so it feels very Christmasy too. We also watched Christmas movies, played games and got to open one present. It is a tradition in Natalie’s family to open one present on Christmas Eve – and it is always Christmas pajamas, so they got me some pjs that we will all wear tomorrow morning while opening presents!

I have been listening to Christmas music for a good month now and finally realized how sad the song ‘I’ll be Home for Christmas’ is. I always thought that it meant that this guy was coming home to his family and to prepare everything so it is Christmassy when he arrives, but if you listen, you realize that he says he isn’t going to make it home: ‘I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams.’ I have a hard time listening to this song now, and even writing about it makes me teary-eyed because this sad song has become my life! I am truly lucky to have this amazing experience for the holiday, but I feel like something is missing because I am not with my family.

I hope that they know that I am thinking of them alllllll day and wish that I could: hear The Night Before Christmas, open a Nutcracker and stand next to my life-sized one, take 3 cars to Grammy’s house, make the gravy for dinner, sit at the kid’s picnic table, help pass out presents, sing Jingle Bells at the family reunion, play in the snow, listen to Christmas music in English on the radio, have my sisters wake me up Christmas morning, have Christmas rolls with jam not butter and last but not least, get socks as a present!

Christmas Day will be fun-filled here in Erps-Kwerps (the city where Natalie and Beau live). Natalie and Beau have invited some friends over and we are having a huge American Christmas dinner! I think it is going to be a very memorable Christmas!

I hope that you are having a Merry Christmas as well, wherever you are reading from :D

Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Zorionak, Zalig Kerstfeast (Dutch), Zalig Kerstfeest (Flemish), Joyeux Noel (French)
Amanda

Ice Sculpture Festival in Brugge!

On Tuesday we packed up the car again and headed this time to Brugge - a Belgian city about one hour away from Natalie's house. Just like Brussels, it has been very well preserved and is still in great condition! Not only is this city very old, but it is also a canal-based city and is sometimes called the Venice of the North. The main canal that runs through the city is the Dijver Canal - here is a shot of the canal and some of the buildings on it. It is a pretty romantic city, and with the Christmas season was fun for shopping around as well. We poked in the various Christmas markets - picked up a cute hat and dried fruits. Also saw some ice skating in the Grote Market - the main sqaure - and had some waffles yet again! This time we didn't add any crazy toppings, just had the plain waffle and appreciated it for its deliciousness and pockets of sugar inside!

I also finally found my Belgian Christmas ornament. Since I started travelling a few years ago, I have made it a tradition to buy a Christmas ornament everywhere I go and someday when I have my own tree, I will be able to decorate it with all of these different ornaments and each will have a special story. This one is lace, which is something Belgium is famous for and will remind me how lucky I was to spend a Christmas here.

The main point of going to Brugge, besides from seeing another adorable Belgian city, was to attend the Snow and Ice Sculpture Festival. It was this awesome festival that is put on every year in a different European city and this year's theme was Ice Magic. Walking into the exhibition was like walking into a freezer - well probably because it was, and they only kept it at 23º which is a bit chilly. As soon as I got in, I was amazed. I have seen documentaries on ice sculptures and have even seen an ice sculpture but this was a whole different realm. The Ice Magic theme kind of tied into Harry Potter and we saw sculptures of skeletons, cats, gnomes, books, wizards, cats, potions, kings, and so much more - and of course Harry at the end! I wouldn't even know where to start if someone said to make a wizard out of ice...or even how to make a book! I read that they use over 300,000 kilograms (651,500 pounds) of ice and 400 tons of snow to put this exhibition together. Over 40 ice sculpting artists come in early November to start constructing this place from all over the world. Not only were there sculptures but an ice slide. You know me, I had to go down it! So, Natalie and I climbed our way to the top with all the little kids and slid down...and found out ice is pretty hard and very cold haha, something we could have figured out before. Here is a pic of me, laughing out loud on the slide! On top of the cool sculptures and the slide there was an.....ICE BAR! I have always wanted to go to one of these. The whole bar was a block of ice and the bottles of liquor just sit there! We all got a shot to commemerate the bar and to help us warm up a little bit haha. Those poor bartenders, working there all day must freeze! At the end there is a little restaraunt and stopped in and warmed up with some hot chocolate!

I can't believe it's almost Christmas Day - my vacation is going SO quickly! I feel very lucky I get to spend a Christmas here :D I hope you have a great Christmas Eve!

Besos!

Amanda

Leuven - Another Belgian city!

Today was pretty relaxing - slept in until 11:30am and hung around the house until about 1pm. Beau and Natalie have a Ninentdo Wii so we have been spending a lot of time bowling, skiing, hula-hooping and more! We downloaded Super Mario Brothers yesterday - the original - and Natalie and I played it until 3:30am last night, kind of like we were in the 6th grade again! I beat the game this morning, and probably screamed louder than I ever have because I finally beat this game that I have been playing since I was like 6 years old. Pretty exciting part of my day haha.

Other than Nintendo, we headed to Leuven, a Belgian city about 20 minutes from Natalie and Beau's house. This city is the capital of the Flemish region of Belgium - (Flemish is a mix of Dutch and German). It was founded in the 800s, so obviously has some history! We were only in the city for a few hours - just time for some shopping and grub - but I managed to learn a little about the city and take some pics!

After parking we walked along the river that runs through the town and Beau told us that it is the water that they use to make Stella (a very popular beer in the States). Of course we ended up at a pub and drank some. Turns out that Leuven is home to Anheuser-Busch, so it's a pretty big beer town. I also tried some cider beer and raspberry beer :D Mmm Mmm delicious.

In the main town square, I saw the best building ever! Well, I am sure it is normally pretty, but it was decorated for Christmas, and we know how much I love decorations, so I thought it was fannnnntastic! When I saw it, I thought it was some amazing church, but turns out it is the Town Hall of Leuven that was completed in 1469. It is basically the original, although most of Lueven was ruined with a bomb in WWII. Also in the square were street performers - a mime, trampoliners, jugglers, and silly other street performers - as well as this acticity where you can put on a heavy coat and run through a whole line of chimes and it sounds like a bunch of bells going off at the same time - random but true!

We did a little bit of shopping, mostly just poking in and out of the shops and taking silly pictures with things like this - a life size nutcracker. Well I guess it isn't life size for everyone, but for me it is! We also found someone's bike and thought it would be fun to jump on and take pictures....luckily the person didn't come see us while we were having a photo shoot on thier bike. But we thought it was so fun because on the front of the bike is a little headlight - something I have never seen before. While we were walking down the cobblestone road, we were headed towards a church and with the Christmas lights, I saw this picture - one of the stars from the Christmas lights hanging above the street matched right up with the top of the spire of the Church of St. Peter. I just liked it and thought it was neat :D

We then grabbed some dinner and then headed home for some more Nintendo Wii hahaha. I am not sure what tomorrow holds, but I am sure it will be fun! Hope you are enjoying your snow (everyone in the entire state of Washington probably has more snow than I have seen in my LIFE! JEALOUS!).

Besos!

Amanda

Brussels for the day!

Hi hi! I got here safe and sound - hooray! Natalie and Beau live in an adorable brick house that is all decorated for Christmas and even has a fireplace! Beau's parents are here to celebrate Christmas with us as well so it really feels like a big family. Natalie and Beau live about 20 minutes outside of downtown Brussels so this morning we had a delicious biscuits and gravy breakfast and then headed down to downtown to see the sights.

Passing the European Union building on the way into downtown, I realized how important this city is and why it is sometimes called the Capital of Europe. Not only is it the capital of the EU, but also NATO! Not only is Brussels an important city for government, but they also have such a mix of people living there - in fact they have 3 national languages (Dutch, French and German), but basically all of them can speak English too!

We started off in the Grande Platz (Grand Place) which is the biggest plaza/square in Brussels. It is huge and is surrounded by old, beautifull gothic and baroque buildings all built on worn cobblestone roads. It was built in the 13th century as a market and still hosts concerts and festivals - and this month it housed the Christmas Market - over 240 Christmas cabins. Not only was the Christmas market in the Grand Platz, but some of the most popular Brussels sights help close in the square. One is the Hotel de Ville (Town Hall) which looks more like a church. It was built in 1402 and has magnificent carvings on the outside of many different nobles, saints and other figures sculpted into the side of the walls. It is now one of the more popular places in Brussels to get married - probably because it is gorgeous right?! If you look closely you will see that the tower on the building is off-centered, and because of this, is known as the crooked tower. Supposedly, the architect, when he found out of this miscalculation that he jumped off the top of the tower.

Next we continued walking around the old part, peeking in shops and checking out cabins of the Christmas market. Walking down the street, we stopped to check out Brussels favorite claim to fame - Manneken Pis. This is a statue of a little boy peeing into the fountain, which is meant to symbolize Belgiums humor. Because it is Christmas, Manneken Pis was wearing a Santa Claus outfit. It is customary, because so many heads of state visit Brussels, that visiting dignitaries bring a costume of thier home country for Manneken Pis to wear. I guess he even has an Elvis suit - obviously an important part of America haha - and now has more than 200 costumes! Manneken Pis is a statue of Duke Godfrey III of Leuven when he was 2 years old. Supposedly, the troops of his country were battling against the Berthouts and hung the Duke in a tree to encourage them and he eventually peed on the Berthouts from the tree. They eventually lost the war, and the troops thought it was so funny so they created a statue about it. It is pretty funny - not something you see very often!

Of course in Brussels we had to had to had to get a Belgian waffle! There were SO many choices of toppings but after much contemplation I decided on strawberries, whip cream and chocolate mmmmmmm. I was lucky and got to also try the carmel one and a banana/chocolate/whip cream waffle too! The waffles aren't like regular waffles but they have little pockets of sugar in them, so its super super sweet and insanely delicious! I checked into the origins of the waffle and it turns out that they came from wafers - which were made by wafer irons. Nowadays we have waffles and have waffle irons! If you look closely at this picture of me, you will see a little smidge of chocolate on my tooth. Now normally I would take a new picture but we all thought it was so funny and I decided it kind of adds to the integrity of the photo - really shows how tasty it was hahahaha. I couldn't eat the whole thing, partially because we had just eaten breakfast and secondly because it was ridiculously huge and it had more whip cream than I have eaten in my life!

With some more shopping up next, we stopped off at the Galeries San Hubert, which is a glass-roofed mall and that has chocolate shops, restaurants and clothing stores. It is the first shopping mall in all of Europe and looked so pretty, all decorated for Christmas! We even stopped into the Newhouse Chocolate Shop. Belgium is known for chocolate, and the best chocolate is supposed to be in Brussels. On top of this, Newhouse chocolate is supposed to be the best chocolate in all of Brussels, so you can imagine how delicious it was! Of course I got one with caramel...mmmm.

We also stopped off at Delirium Café, one of the most famous bars in all of Brussels. It has 2004 beers from all over the world! It serves of course a bunch and bunch of Belgium brews, but I chose a girly beer - the Delirium Apple beer on tap. The place was decorated with a bunch of old beer memorabilia of all different types of beers! Sad but true and very European, there was even a children's table where kids could order pop that came in a bottle that looks like a beer bottle - out of control.

Last but not least was the Royal Palace. This is where the King of Belgium lives and you can tell he is in the country when the Belgian flag is flying on top of the palace. So, as you can see in the picture, the King in in town!!! It is basically like the White House for the Belgian King. I guess there are select days that you can enter the Palace and see it, and the most amazing room is in the Mirror Room. I guess the entire ceiling is decorated with green Thai jeweled beetles. They are dead beetles that are very rare but have an amazing shiny shell, and the entire ceiling is decorated with them which makes for a huge luminous green ceiling!

Tonight we are staying in and making some spaghetti and guess what I get to drink: DR PEPPER! I am estatic! They are buying me a whole case and I can't wait to drink it! It's funny the things I miss hahaha! Tomorrow I think we are headed to Cologne, Germany for a Christmas ice sculpture contest! I will of course write more, but wanted to fill you in a little bit about our day today!

Hope you had a great Sunday!

And kisses in the 3 languages of Belgium - Bises (French), Kussen (Dutch), Küsse (German)

Amanda

Off to Brussels :D

Well, it's finally here - Christmas Break wooo hoo! I am almost ready and in about an hour will be catching my bus to my flight to Brussels :D The week was rather crazy with lots of classes, moving and seeing all of my friends before we all leave for the break, but now that vacation is here, I am glad I packed in as much as I could. I hope you are all having a good holiday season so far! It is finally starting to turn into Christmas here - they are decorating more and more each day - sad because I am leaving ha! Figures

Anyways, have to finishing packing my suitcase (haciendo mi maleta) and then I am off!

Besos!

Amanda

La Navidad está en puertas (Christmas is just around the corner)

Well, I successfully moved apartments this morning! All I have left in my current apartment is my suitcase for my trip! I even had to eat McDonald's because I moved all my food to the new place. On my way back from Mickey D's I saw this lady with a Chritmas tree on the back of her bike leaving the outdoor market- I loved it! I am bustling around and am headed to work soon, but wanted to tell you a little bit about my holiday experience here so far!

As you might have guessed, Christmas abroad is quite different from Christmas in the States. In Spain, Christmas isn't the most important day of the holiday season. It is merely a day to have a big dinner with the family. The big holiday is Epiphany on January 6th. With the recession, I am not even really getting to experience a full Basque Christmas because they cut back on decorations and parties, but I have picked up on some of the big traditions and wanted to tell you some of the special things I have learned.

Olentzero - The Basque people don't really have Santa Claus - it seems to be more American than anything. Instead, they have a man named Olentzero (kind of pronounced like O-lan-chair-o) who is basically the equivalent to our Santa. The name Olentzero in Euskera means 'times of the good ones'. The story goes that Olentzero was a mythical figure who lives on a mountain before Jesus was born. He saw a bright cloud one day and knew that Jesus had been born and wanted to let the people in the town at the bottom of the hill know. He was the person who brought the news of Jesus' birth to the townspeople and returns every December 24th to bring gifts to the people. Like how we hang our stockings, kids here clean thier shoes and put them in front of the fireplace for him. Olentzero is a coal miner, which is the reason that good kids get presents and bad kids get coal here (why does Santa give coal??) All over the Basque Country, you will see figurines (here is one in the pic), puppets and huge blow-up toys of Olentzero in his peasant outfit with a charcoal-burnt face or a pipe. On Christmas Eve, the people of each village take thier Olentzero figurines and run them through the city asking for candies and celebrating.

Día de los Reyes - This is the main day of the holidays for the Basque people. Christmas is really religious here and is similar to many weekends where you have lunch with your family. But, Day of the 3 Kings is the most important day of los Navidades. On this day, the 3 Kings brought Jesus gifts and nowadays it is the day that children get gifts. Normally, adults do not exchange gifts and children really only get a few gifts. It is definitley not even as close to how commerical it is in the States. Tradition says that the 3 Kings: Melchor, Gaspar and Balthazar respectivley represented Europe, Arabia and Asia and brought Jesus gold, frankicense and myrrh. Because of this, before the Spanish people go to bed, they polish and leave thier shoes for the 3 Kings to arrive and leave them presents. Also, people during the holidays dress up as the 3 Wise Men (like we have Santa Claus) but they visit schools, orphanages, etc to visit the kids. I didn't know about this day til about last month and had already bought my ticket home from Rome to Bilbao. When I bought it, I thought, wow this is a SUPER cheap flight and that I must be really lucky. Turns out, it is one of the biggest holidays and I happen to be flying on it, which explains the low low price - it's basically like flying on Christmas Day at home...which NO ONE does!

···· Special Note - each family picks which of these they celebrate. This week in my classes, I asked my kids to tell me what they celebrate, and some celebrate only Olenztero, some celebrate only 3 Kings and some celebrate both.

Turrón - This is the famous Spanish Christmas dessert that is super popular but only available for the holidays. During the rest of the year, it is pretty scarce and hard to find. It is basically a nougat made of honey, sugar, egg white and some sort of nut or fruit. History says that turron (pronounced like two-ron) was created by Arabs in the 15th century. Supposedly, it became popular in Spain when King Felipe II took a liking to it and served it at his special gatherings. The same has stayed true to today and it is served at family gatherings during the holidays. I think that some of it looks like a thick peanut brittle haha. I am waiting til I get to Brussels to try some with my friends :D Here is a picture I got from the internet just so you can picture it.

Christmas Lottery - Something that blows my mind is this huge lottery that started going on about a few weeks ago. Lines and lines are outside the lottery office every day to buy a ticket at this lottery that is the largest in Spain. All of Spain sells tickets and the pot is so big that you would be instantly rich if you won. The winners are announced on December 22nd and this signals the beginning of Christmas for the Spanish people. Too bad I'm not Spanish...otherwise I would buy a ticket and hopefully win! The lottery is called el Gordo (which basically translates to the Fat One, which I guess means its a HUGE prize ha). The winning numbers are announced by a childrens choir who sings the numbers as they come out of the old-timer lottery cage.

Doce Uvas de Suerte - 12 Grapes of Luck - This is a tradition for New Year's Eve (nochevieja) in Spain. Eventhough I won't be here for New Years, I think it is a really interesting tradition. When the clock strikes 12 midnight on New Years Eve, Spainards eat one white grape for each of the 12 chime of the clock. They say if you are able to eat them all before the last bell you will have good luck for the whole year! This tradition started in 1909 when the grape growers overproduced and had a lot of extra grapes and needed to get rid of this surplus, so they thought this idea up and it really caught on! They say that each grape represents a month in the year. The big celebration happens in the Puerta del Sol (remember the center of Spain - from my previous blog about Madrid) - kind of like Times Square. When we were in Madrid told us that some people cheat and that there are some stores that sell peeled, seedless grapes in a can of 12 and it makes them really easy to eat all 12 quickly for good luck hahah!

These are just some of the things that I have learned about the holidays! Eventhough it is very different from the States, it is still a time for family and love. :D Here are a few words that might be interesting to you:

· Merry Christmas - Feliz Navidad or Zorionak (in Basque) - and here is the Kursaal (our convention center) light up with Zorionak!

· Christmas Eve - nochebuena

· Season's Greetings - Felices Fiestas

· Happy New Year - Feliz Año Nuevo

· present - regalo

· nativity scene - belén

· Christmas songs - canciones de Navidad

· snowman - muñeca de nieve (muñeca means doll)

· gingerbread - jengibre

· Christmas tree - pino (because it's a pine tree)

· carta de Navidad - Christmas card

Well, it is off for work for me - more Christmas arts & crafts for the day! I hope you have a wonderful week and found this blog kind of interesting :D

Besos!

Amanda

Quick Update!

Hi everyone! I know it's been some time since I wrote a blog, so I thought I would catch you up real quick. This week is crazy busy! I have successfully found a new apartment and am in the process of moving stuff over everyday, because I am going to have my last day in my current apartment be Saturday - that way I won't have to pay rent for the two and a half weeks I am travelling. No worries if you sent something to me and I don't get it before I go on my trip - I spoke with the people at the office and they told me they will still call me if I get any mail.

I went over yesterday to get the keys and turns out there is another Spanish person, a guy from Bilbao. His name is Iker (pronounced like e-krrr (like brrr but with a k), so I was happy to know another Spanish person will be there. There is one vacant room, and maybe I will get lucky and another Spanish person will move in so I will be FORCED to speak Spanish all the time.

Other than that, my week is just full of Spanish classes, English classes, dinners and coffees with friends and packing for Brussels and Rome! Not much to report, just busy busy busy!

I hope that everyone is having a great week! I will write more later this week but just wanted to say hello :D

Besos!
Amanda