Cuba? Mexico? Why not!

I'll be home for Christmas...just 3 days late.  I think I might win an award in the "nightmare travels" category, because my trip from Sevilla to Phoenix was horrendous.  It would take writing a novel to describe my adventures, but I'll do my best to summarize: Due to bad weather, my flight from Madrid to Paris was cancelled, which resulted in missing my flight to Atlanta.  So after standing in line for 6 hours (please just try to imagine standing in an airport line for 6 hours - no sitting, no eating, and just stressing about your next flight), I finally got my turn to reschedule my flight. Because it was the holidays and the weather was bad everywhere, there were no flights to the USA or Canada until Christmas Day. Unacceptable. So, I stayed the night in Madrid and then flew to Havana, Cuba the next day. I'm not going to lie - I was pretty scared to go to Cuba and have to spend a night in the airport there.  So after a 10 and 1/2 hour flight, we landed in Havana.  I spent a sleepless night in the smokey, dark, cold airport in Havana, and then flew to Mexico City the following morning.  Of course that flight was delayed as well, so I ended up sprinting, yep literally sprinting, through the airport in Mexico City to catch my next flight.  I barely made it, and we flew to Hermosillo, Mexico.  Then we FINALLY flew to Phoenix, and I can say I've never been more glad to be on American soil.  After 72 hours, precious little sleep, wearing the same clothes, and only eating airplane food, I finally made it home for the holidays. :)

A Volei Christmas

So after my Christmas party in El Cuervo, I went back to Sevilla to celebrate the holidays with my voleibol team. We went to a few bars in Triana (the neighborhood next to mine), and then to Sara and Maria's apartment, where some very entertaining Spanish karaoke and dancing ensued. The party lasted until about 4 am, at which point I was exhausted.  Over 14 hours of Spanish-style partying in one day...phew!

Salud!

JuanMa, Maria, and I.

Mi equipo de voleibol.

Vero, Pablo, and Ale.

Alicia, Sara, and Maria.

Christmas in El Cuervo

Today we had our staff Christmas party in El Cuervo...and let me just say, it was a feast like I've never seen! We went to a little restaurant near the school called Kubala.  We were there for over 5 hours, and the entire time, plate after plate of food were brought out - and of course endless Spanish wine and beer as well. :)  Everything from Spanish ham and cheese, shrimp, pate, fish, chicken, pork, chorizo, croquetas...and then when I was stuffed, the waiter came back to take our entree orders. I couldn't believe it!  The conversation and laughter never stopped - it was amazing.  We also exchanged our "Amigos Invisibles" gifts, which is something like Secret Santas.  Then we had our coffee, dessert, and chupito (dessert liquor)...wow, I was stuffed.

Afterwards, some of us went to a local bar - including the director of the school. Spaniards sure know how to celebrate! Another round of drinks, some dancing, and lots of laughing.  I'm honestly not sure how long the party lasted because I had to catch the train back to Sevilla to attend my volleyball Christmas party, but it was an experience (and meal) that I will never forget!

My friend Puri and I.

Yep, those are all ham legs - an obligatory sight at every good Spanish bar.

Toasting the staff and holidays.

Ana and I.

Pepe (director of the school) and the girls at "Challe Cafe & Copas".

More of the after-party at Challe!

Christmas Cookies

I had Annie and Maggie over to my apartment today to bake Christmas cookies. We shopped for ingredients yesterday, which was interesting as many items are really hard to find here, such as powdered sugar and almond extract. In any case, we finally were able to find all the ingredients...or suitable substitutes. :) Many places here also don't have ovens, so we had to do our baking in my toaster oven. Funny! It was a slow process, but luckily we had Christmas music and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "The Grinch" to keep us entertained. And in the end, we had delicious sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, and chocolate-peanut butter cookies as a reward!

Annie and Maggie commencing baking with a Noel Spritzer.

The little toaster oven that could...

Frosting the sugar cookies.

Anisada

La Navidad in Spain is a wonderful time of year. The city is beautifully decorated, and there are parties and celebrations galore. Today, my friend Abraham hosted an "anisada" - which is a Christmas party during the day with food, drinks, Spanish Christmas carols, etc. The name comes from the liquor "anise" which is typically served at all Spanish parties this time of year.  So after you have snacked on tapas and wine, it's time for dessert and anise. Anise serves 2 functions: first, it is obviously a dessert liquor.  But in Spain, they also use the Anise bottle as a musical instrument to accompany Christmas carols. You simply take a piece of silverware and strum it against the corrugated design on the bottle - and voila! You have music.

Anyway, the weather today was beautiful, and our little party was on a terrace right in the center of town.  My friend Agu is an incredible chef, and we had everything from typical Spanish tapas to potstickers to sushi. It was amazing! I thoroughly enjoyed my first anisada.

Aranoa, Abraham, and Agu in the kitchen.

Agu, Inma, me, Aranoa, and Vero enjoying the terraza.

Just a small sampling of our delicious food. Sushi!

The first anise toast...

Abraham leading the first round of anise Christmas carols.

Abraham and I.

Another Letter

I have about 4 or 5 girls in my classes that write me letters every week in English. They think it's the coolest thing, and I actually think it's a great activity because every time they write to me, I write back to them (in English). They love it...and I do too, because the letters are priceless! I'm actually starting to run out of space on my bedroom to display them all! Anyway, I already posted the first one that I received, but this one was too funny not to post as well. So here goes:

HELLO! I love you, eres she la mejor teacher. She is descripcion, y good looking, she is tall, she not beard. I not glasses and frecless. You nose big and ears, you mouth big. I LOVE YOU! Eres la mejor teacher!  - To firm: Laura B.

So in case you didn't catch that, she was describing me. Luckily, I don't have a beard (phew!). Nor do I have glasses or freckles. However, I wouldn't say I'm all that tall...and I'm not sure what to make of my big nose, ears, and mouth! Yikes! Well, despite all of my disproportionate features, she still thinks I'm good looking and the best teacher...  :-)

The Letter

The wall in my room, covered with letters and drawings from my nieces/nephews and the kids at school.

Spanish Birthdays and Karaoke

Today was the birthday party for my friend Maria, whom I play volleyball with. The party was at Sara and Maria's apartment, and as usual, I was the only American with a bunch of Spanish volleyball-playing girls. They had a delicious array of Spanish tapas and vino...not to mention the best chocolate tarta (torte) that I have ever eaten. After eating, drinking, and singing "Feliz Cumpleanos", a lively round of Spanish karaoke ensued (a small shout-out to my family: it made me think of you! You would have loved it!). Most of the songs were in Spanish, but every time an English song was chosen, the girls thought it was only appropriate that I sing. The best for me, however, was to listen to them sing in English...it was classic!

Sara and I

Chani singing "YMCA" - with backup dancers

Helena and Veronica singing, while Sara and Maria dance along