Making the Pilgrims Proud

I dare say, Thanksgiving in Spain was surprisingly one of the best I have ever had.  It has been quite the roller coaster this past week with emotions.  The week started with me being very home sick (still).  Missing out on spending Thanksgiving at home was an awful realization.  But things quickly turned around when my friend Sara and I booked a trip to visit Rome in January!!  What better way to cure homesickness then by traveling right?! The week got even better when I was talking with Sara's Padre one night.  He was asking about the different food we eat normally for Thanksgiving.  I mentioned turkey and how we were lacking one for our Priego Thanksgiving but were settling on chicken instead.  He immediately whipped out his cell phone, made a phone call to a friend and then asked me if I wanted a female turkey or a male turkey.  (Apparently the female is more flavorful.  He explained this to me after I stared at him like a deer in the headlights.  How was the flexitarian supposed to know this?!) Five minutes later, I was informed that a turkey was being hunted for us along with cooked for us.

It was a Thanksgiving miracle.    

The highlight of my Wednesday was when one of my 5th grade students (a boy, mind you) asked me (in English--they're actually learning wooo!) if I missed my family.  I, of course, said yes, and he proceeded to tell me it was going to be okay, and he gave me a hug.  My heart melted.  

Thursday was the big day.  It was also the day I explained Thanksgiving a million times to my students.  This was a good teaching day because I had the freedom to do whatever I wanted.  I started in 2nd grade where I reenacted the history of Thanksgiving.  Yes, I made myself a pilgrim hat.  And a Native American headband.  And a boat, turkey, pumpkin, etc.  I don't think my students have ever seen a teacher wearing a "costume" or explaining something in this particular manner.  But I must say it was very successful.  Next my time was spent in 1st grade where I did the same thing.  After explaining the history vs. how we spend it today, I had them make Native American headbands for themselves.  They also had to write one thing they were thankful for on the headband.  And most of them wrote my name. My heart melted again.  Thank God for children.  

After, I moved onto 6th grade where I had the students play the roles in my narration of the history of Thanksgiving.  Once again, very successful.  For their activity, I had leaf templates.  They had to write the name of someone they were thankful for.  They then had to draw a picture and give it to the person.  This was a beautiful activity.  The students chose parents, friends, family, teachers, etc.  They were so excited to make leaves for everyone that they even turned down playing a game.  This is unheard of when it comes to kids.

Next I had 3rd grade and then 4th grade.  I had both grades play the roles in my narration and also complete the leaf activity.

Receiving some love from my 3rd graders

The day ended with me leaving school with 13 leaves.  It felt great to be appreciated.  

Thursday felt like the longest day ever.  This is mostly because I worked from 9:00-2:00, explained Thanksgiving a million times, food shopped, and then proceeded to cook Thanksgiving dinner.  You are probably wondering why I was food shopping on Thanksgiving day.  To start, no one celebrates this holiday so the stores weren't crazy with people.  I also didn't have to worry about the store running out of supplies.  And lastly, our Thanksgiving meal grew from four people originally to six people and then finally to ten people.  The night before all of the other Americans living in Priego decided to join in our celebration.  I also invited Sara since she had never celebrated a Thanksgiving before.  I arrived home braced and ready to take on the task of cooking a Thanksgiving meal. 

Thankfully, I did not have to worry about the turkey.  That would have been a disaster.

Keep in mind, Spain is lacking is several food Americans are used to.  Finding a lean cuisine is impossible.  Along with most prepackaged/prepared food.  Therefore, everything for our Thanksgiving was homemade.  I mean EVERYTHING.  For the pumpkin pie, I literally took a pumpkin and turned it into pumpkin puree.

Before

After

Canned pumpkin doesn't exist here.  Neither does premade pie crust.  I found the closest thing to graham crackers, smashed them into itty bitty crumbs and turned it into crust for the pumpkin pie.

Before

After

And finally, our last obstacle was the fact that we don't have an oven in our house.  So the pie (along with the rest of our feast) had to be no bake.  I prepared a no bake pie recipe my mother had emailed me.  After about an hour of slaving over this dessert, I finally was ready to store it in the fridge.  Then this happened...

Yep.  I dropped the stupid thing.  RIP pumpkin pie.  I was rather frustrated after this, so I took my anger out on the floors of our house and thoroughly mopped them.  Adding to the list of easy things Spain doesn't have.... They need to adopt the Swiffer.  Like now.  This whole mopping with an actual mop thing sucks.  And if you want to do it properly, you have to mop the floors not once, but twice.  When you live in a big house and all of the floors are marble, mopping is the absolute worst.  But I was cranky, and the house needed to be cleaned anyway.  After taking out my frustration on the floors, I showered.

SIDENOTE: I think one of the factors as to why I have been so homesick is because Priego is coldddd.  The houses are built to keep out the brutal heat of the Summers.  This also includes keeping out the heat during the winter.  Therefore, our house is very cold.  Did I also mention everything is marble?  In addition to this, our hot water hadn't been working.  We thought this was a normal thing since everything is Spain is cold.  So we continued to shower in cold water very quickly.  As the days got colder, so did our water.  It got to a point where I cried one morning while showering because the water was so cold it was literally torture.  Finally, I asked our landlords for help because it was day three without showering, and I was probably starting to smell.  They rushed over and fixed the problem with our water heater.  So now, we had HOT water! Finally.   Another Thanksgiving miracle.  

Back to Thursday... after mopping I took my first HOT shower.  (Alleluia!)  After showering I returned to the kitchen to continue cooking.  First I needed to peel 27 potatoes.  (Well this is something I have never done before.  Who knew peeling potatoes was so hard.)  

SIDENOTE #2: I hate cooking.  Don't get me wrong; I am a very good cook.  I just hate it.  I much prefer throwing something already made in the microwave or ordering food from somewhere.  However Spain has never heard of take out or making life easy when it comes to food.  This is probably a good thing, however for me, I did spend some time starving (my diet was bread and cheese only), before finally giving in to this whole cooking thing.  MOM & DAD-- I'm so domestic now.  You should be proud.  Disclaimer: While I may cook now to survive, I still plan on marrying a chef.  

After struggling through the potatoes I put them into their designated pot of water and moved onto the stuffing.  Once again, we don't have an oven.  So this was my first time attempting homemade stuffing on the stove.  I chopped up some onions (I'm getting really good at this), garlic, and celery.  I threw in whatever spices we had in our cabinet.  So really only salt and pepper.  (Spain doesn't have very many spices.)  Threw everything in a pot with some butter and chicken broth.  Mixed it.  And last added some cubed stale bread I had prepared a few days earlier.  Fifteen minutes later, ta daaaa, we had homemade stuffing.  My roommates were in charge of the vegetables so they prepared homemade, stove top, green bean casserole.  I meanwhile mashed the potatoes.  (Hand mixers/beaters don't exist here either, so really I pulverized the potatoes via spoon.)  After completing the potatoes, I ran over to Sara's house to help her carry over the turkey.  (I also met her new kitten she adopted off of the streets.) Finally with all of the food basically prepared, I cooked the gravy (thank you Mother for sending me gravy packets.)  (P.S. Spain has never heard of gravy before.)  

And finally.... it was time to eat.  But first... we had to figure out how to actually carve a turkey.  None of us had thought of that ahead of time.  Ten minutes of watching YouTube videos later, we attempted carving...

And NOW finally... we feasted.  I failed to tell Sara how much food she was going to be eating on this night.  She must think we are all animals because while she nibbled on each dish, we stuffed our faces with EVERYTHING.  

A random fun fact: a french girl is teaching in Priego too.  She was invited to our Thanksgiving and brought her puppy Ebi (the word for sushi):

On Thanksgiving day, we stuffed our faces, gave thanks, and enjoyed each others company.  But the best was yet to come...

FRIDAY was the better Thanksgiving for me.  On this day, I ventured over to a nearby city called Puente Genil where two of my good friends I met in Sevilla live-- Maura and Katherine.  My good friend Maggie was also there.  On this day, I attempted pumpkin pie #2, and I am happy to report that this one did not end up on the floor.

I also made my stuffing and gravy again.  

SIDENOTE #3: This stuffing recipe is amazing.  Both nights, the stuffing was a big hit.  I am never making any other kind of stuffing again.  

Maura and Katherine faced the same struggle with the turkey as we did in Priego.  They too, had someone hunt, kill, and pluck a turkey for them which they then prepared in their house.  (The Spanish don't normally eat turkey.)  Along with my food and the turkey, the girls prepared macaroni and cheese (made from scratch), sweet potato pie (made from scratch and AMAZING), mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce (made from scratch and also AMAZING), corn bread (made from scratch), asparagus, and cinnamon roasted almonds (homemade).  Everything was perfect and delicious.  For all of us, it was one of the best meals we had ever eaten.  Maybe because we slaved over it.  Or maybe because our bodies have been missing American food.  Who knows.  The entire meal was heavenly.  Maura and Katherine had also invited their two close Spanish friends-- Rafa and Gema.  This was their first Thanksgiving as well, and like Sara, they were shocked at the amount of food we had.

We ate until our stomachs couldn't fit anymore food.  We also showed Gema and Rafa some Thanksgiving traditions (breaking the wishbone!)  

After eating both dinner and dessert and talking A LOT, we decided to play the game "Taboo." For those who don't know, "Taboo" is the game where you are given a word, and you have to describe it to your partner and they have to guess it.  The catch is, you can't say any of the forbidden words so you have to be very creative when describing it.   However, this version of the game was in Spanish which made it extremely difficult for us Americans (mainly me) to play.  But it showed me that I do know a lot of Spanish because I was able to successfully play and both Rafa and myself tied for first place with Katherine and Maggie.

Yes, we used a wine cork for a playing piece.

Our Thanksgiving in Puente Genil lasted seven hours.  These are the girls that are my closest friends in Spain and spending time with them this Thanksgiving reminded me how lucky I am to have met them this year.  And of course, because they are wonderful people and know me so well, they got me this....

Another Thanksgiving miracle.

And finally, I spent my Saturday in Cordoba with Maggie.  I also was fortunate to be able to video chat all of my family back in the United States AND I finally got to Skype my butt head brother.  (I say that with all of the love in my heart.)

Clearly, he loves me.

Look! They have the same eyes!

I leave Wednesday for Francia!! I cannot wait!!!  

All in all, this weekend we definitely made the pilgrims proud.  It will remain as one of my favorite memories here in Spain.  I'm running out the door now to meet some friends, so I did not proof read.  I apologize in advance MOTHER.  Hasta Luego!

Spain vs. America II

As I quickly approach my three month anniversary of living in Spain (ew where has time gone?!), I feel it is my duty to share the differences I continue to find between the United States and Espana:

1. Sodium free salt.  Now here is something to wrap your head around.  

 2. Laundry has become my least favorite thing in the entire world.  In Spain, it is literally an all day process.  To start, the washing machines are vastly smaller.  So one load of laundry in the United States equals about three loads of laundry here in Spain.  And you would think that a smaller washing machine would take less time.  You are very wrong my friend.  I'm pretty sure it takes about two hours to do just one load of laundry.  Three loads X two hours each = AN ENTIRE DAY DOING LAUNDRY.  

3. Dryers.  To go along with the laundry theme... dryers aren't typically used in Spain either.  Therefore my clothes hang outside to dry.  I have yet to master this drying technique in this freezing cold weather.  (Any tips or tricks Spanish readers?)

 4. Miss Fedynich. In school, I am addressed as Kelly.  This is very different from the United States because it is considered impolite for the students to call their teacher by their first name.  In Spain, all of the teachers get called by their first names.  What's funny is that I think the students would have an easier time pronouncing my last name than my first name.

5. Work attire. In the United States, I am expected to dress in business casual attire for work.  I normally wear a dress, throw on some tights/leggings, put on a cardigan and scarf and call it a day.  If all of my nice clothes are dirty, I will unhappily wear dress pants to work that day.  In the Spain, you won't see any teachers in dress pants.  (Thank goodness I left mine at home.)  You also won't see them as dressed up as the teachers in the United States.  Here, they dress very casually for school.  Many teachers wear jeans.  

6. No Substitute Teachers.  A few weeks back, all of the schools went on strike.  Instead of coming to school, teachers went and protested in the streets.  Because teachers double as administration, they too were absent from school on this day.  This is when I learned that there is no such thing as substitute teachers in Spain.  A few teachers did show up to school, but it was their job to cover the classes that did not have teachers.  Because of this, most students didn't come to school on this day either.  Since then, I have had two classes where the regular classroom teacher has been absent.  Again, another teacher of the school has to come in and cover that class for the day.  From a kid's perspective, the students are missing out on the fun of ever having a substitute teacher.  I still don't have an opinion formed on this situation yet.  I will get back to you when I do.

7. Scratch off Lottery Tickets. I miss these, especially the crossword puzzle one.

8. Ham legs.  It is very normal to see the giant leg of a ham in people's kitchens here or out in the open in the middle of a restaurant or hanging from the ceilings.  They literally carve the meat right off of the leg.

9. Dogs.  Dogs here are truely living the good life.  They have about as much freedom as a human being.  Rarely will you see them on leashes unless it is around a main roadway.  They can run around and do whatever they like as long as they are home for supper.

10. Grocery Bags.  You know those little plastic bags you get every time you go to the food store that you use to carry your food?  Well here in Spain, I pay five cents for every one I use.  I now play this game of how much food can I possibly stuff in the plastic bag without it breaking by the time I arrive home.  

11. Pillows.  I am a big fan of flat pillows.  In the United States, I sleep with what I thought was a very flat pillow.  Upon arriving to Spain, I discovered that my pillow in the United States is hardly flat by comparison.  Here, I need three pillows to just equal my "flat" pillow in the U.S.  The pillows are also long and thin (like a body pillow.)  It has been rather difficult to find normal sized pillows.  Why Spain, why??         

12. Scarves. Now this is a difference I can dig... when it is cold, you are expected to wear a scarf.  The spanish believe that when you expose your neck/throat to the cold, you are inevitably going to get sick.  While I don't necessarily believe this thanks to my upbringing in the U.S. where scarves are less popular, I will happily oblige because scarves are one of my favorite things to wear. 

13. Tapas.  Free food with every alcoholic drink you purchase! And I'm not talking the tiny bread basket you get in the United States.  These are little plates of deliciousness.  I can have three drinks and get my entire dinner for free essentially.  Some places get very creative with their tapas while others simply serve you a sandwich, hamburger, or potato salad.  All in all, this is one of my favorite things about Spain.  Go free food!

14. No tipping.  This rule has saved me a great deal of money.  In Spain, it is not normal to tip your waiter or bartender.  They get paid a salary, so tipping is completely unnecessary and nobody in Spain does it.  

15. Spanish farmers.  Being that Priego is surrounded by millions of olive trees, I have seen my fair share of spanish farmers driving through town on their tractors.  What makes them so different from American farmers is the way they dress.  What an American farmer wears to church on Sunday is what a Spanish farmer wheres to work.  I guess olives aren't as dirty as cows?

16. Animal sounds.  To an American, a dog says, "woof."  To a Spaniard, a dog says, "wow."  It doesn't stop there.  The sound most animals make in Spain is different than the sound they make in America.  This video will give you more of an idea...

17. Sunflower Seeds.   I had no idea it took talent and skill to eat a sunflower seed until I came to Spain.  Here they eat sunflower seeds all of the time.  They eat them with grace and while also dressed to the nines.  In one swift move, they pop the sunflower seed in their mouth and a second later pop it back out while munching on the actual seed.  I on the other hand do none of the above.  I have yet to master the art of eating a sunflower seed and usually end up with bits of seed all over my mouth and fingers.  America, you're doing it all wrong; there is an easier and better way.  And as soon as I learn it, I will demonstrate on this blog.

The Homesick Blues

This past week, I have been feeling pretty homesick.  I think it officially hit when I realized I had to work on Thanksgiving.  You see, they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in Spain.  (You would be surprised at how many people don't know that.)  To them, next Thursday is just a regular day.  For me, it is a day where I spend the entire day with family, stuffing my face with DELICIOUS food, watching football, and giving thanks for everything I have.  As you can see, Spain and I vary incredibly on how we view November 28.  Spain (or at least Priego) also doesn't have turkeys.  So for Thanksgiving, the only potential/similiar option available is maybe a small chicken?  Cranberry sauce is also an item not to be found.  Along with brown sugar.  So our after work, freezing cold (did I mention its freezing here currently?), no football, Thanksgiving meal is looking pretty grim.  That's definitly the homesickness talking. 

Homesickness is hard to describe to anyone who has not experienced it.  The only comparison I have is, "that time of the month."  At some point in each month, almost every lady will randomly hate the world for absolutely no rational reason.  Homesickness is very similiar in that it happens randomly, and I find fault with everything around me for no reason at all.  It also makes you think irrationally.  For example, when you're homesick, you question yourself in why you would move to Spain like a crazy person?  Or if you can afford a plane ticket home right now.?  Or why are there no dryers in Spain to shrink your pants so they're not always falling down?!  Homesickness is also weird in that I don't think it would happen if I lived in Florida or somewhere else in the United States.  I think it only happens now because the option of going home isn't available.  Always knowing in the back of your mind that you can go home or that there is an end in sight prevents the homesickness from happening.  And of course, the holidays aren't helping the situation.

I do have to be grateful for the fact that Sara's family has kind of adopted me.    And that I adore each student I work with this year.  Today was "el dia de los ninos".  It was a very nice celebration my school put together for this international holiday.  (...An international holiday I've never heard of.)  Each grade level read a poem and then as a whole, everyone sang a song in Spanish and then in English.  They also made a collage of pictures of children which is hanging up in the school hallways as we speak. 

Bah I love Spain.  I also sometimes dislike Spain.  And at this very moment, I am already sick of the cold and it's only been five days.  Who knew Spain could be so cold??

P.S. I'm expecting Christmas Cards this year.  If Thanksgiving is this rough, I can only imagine Christmas.  Being surprised with mail will be greatly appreciated.  I thank you in advance.

(Calle Enmedio Huerta Palacio, 42
Priego de Cordoba, Cordoba 14800)

So many things, so little time

1. The vegetarian went hunting.

2. My old roommate got engaged?!

3. I used peaches to teach about the Earth.

4. I spent a day being a tourist in Priego.

5. I had my first Spanish cold.

6. I went to church

7. The Police Station in Cordoba is still worse than the DMV

8. First visitors

9. Priego is coldddddd

That is a brief summary of what has been happening in my life recently.  I will start with last, last Friday where as always, I had the day off from work.  I decided to be a tourist on this particular day because there are certain landmarks and sites in Priego I had not visited.  I started by walking along the mountain's edge overlooking the other nearby mountains. 

I wish this picture did the view justice.  The walk along the cliffs always manages to take my breath away along with it being so peaceful.  After that, I headed towards Priego's castillo (castle).  The castillo has been around for forever and is currently still in its original state.  (We're talking legit ruins.)  This aspect is cool because nothing has been redone or touched.  So you are walking within the same space as the people back in the day.  I managed to get into the castillo for free.  I think this can be attributed to my lengthy, friendly conversation with the ticket vendor.  I walked throughout the parts of the castle that were accessible.  My favorite part was the walk to the very top.  It overlooked all of Pirego and the surrounding mountains. 

After touring the castle, I headed to the Carniceria Real because my entrance ticket allowed me free entrance to this famous landmark too.  This building used to be an old meat market more or less.  The animals would come here to be bought and sold for meat. 

I personally did not enjoy the Carniceria Real.  Mostly because they were playing rap music as I was walking around which took away from the historical aspect.

At the end of the day, I headed to my Spanish friend's house (Sara).  I was spending the night because we had to wake up super early the next day.  Myself, her, and another friend booked our winter vacation to France (yay!) and then enjoyed a movie and wine night. 

SATURDAY: This is the day that the vegetarian went hunting.  No, not skeet shooting like I am used to; but real life, in the flesh, hunting.  To start, camo doesn't exist.  (Not that I had any camo clothing here with me in Spain.) But none the less, I brought with me to Sara's house some raggidy green colored clothing.  All of which was quickly ruled out my Sara's mother.  My fashion show ended with me wearing a mens button down shirt, green pants, a gray vest, a tan jacket, and of course, a hat....

I may or may not look like a scarecrow... 

Anyway, hunting was definitely... interesting.  Instead of being in the woods, we walked around an open field.  This "field" was HUGE.  We probably walked 5-6 miles.  We weren't hunting deer either.  In Spain, they hunt partridges.  And no, the partridges were not sitting in a pear tree.  There were some, however, sitting in olive trees.  There were also two dogs with us who were in charge of scaring the birds into the air for us to shoot.  So really, our job was pretty easy.  In total, we shot five partridges and a rabbit.  For all of the readers out there wondering why in the world a vegetarian would go hunting...

My belief is as follows: I do not not eat meat because it is killing animals.  Instead, I choose not eat meat because of all of the chemicals the United States puts in the meat (which are absolutely terrible for our bodies.)  If I watched you raise, kill, and prepare a cow, I would eat the beef because I know that it has no unnecessary chemicals in it.  Unfortunately, this is rarely the case, so I choose to just not eat meat. 

As for hunting, I am an animal lover.  So if we were shooting deer, I might cry.  But I don't like birds, so this particular hunting situation was ideal.

After hunting for five hours, we ended our day with a hearty meal of Spanish tapas and paella.

 SUNDAY: Had a lovely day.  Got my first Spanish cold.  (It was rough.)  Went to church.

MONDAY: Normal

TUESDAY: Normal

WEDNESDAY: The day of the peach.  This day, I was given the freedom to do whatever I wanted in my 5th grade class more or less.  AKA the teacher asked me to prepare a simple activity.  What I did next was rather shocking to both the students and the teacher.  I took this opportunity to choose an activity that would be forever engrained in my students' brains.  You see, within two days, the students were expected to learn the layers of the Earth, layers of the Earth's atmosphere, and the different types of water found on Earth.  In the United States, each of these is typically taught in 6th grade and takes about a week to teach and learn.  Because this was a lot of information to learn (in both english and spanish), I wanted to do something that was going to help them remember.  Therefore, I brought in peaches.  I had students pair up in partners and without any help, figure out how a peach was comparable to the layers of the Earth.
1. I don't think these students have ever done a science experiment before.
2. You should have seen their faces when they saw that we were using food.  (Food is for eating; not science class duh.)
 Anyway, after explaining multiple times that they had to be scientists and figure out how the two were similar, they finally understood and were successful in discovering that each layer of a peach (skin, pulp, pit, inner pit) is very similar to each layer of the earth.  (Since then, the teacher has not asked me to do another activity.)

THURSDAY: My old college roommate got engaged!  This is the closest one to hit home so far.  Congrats Allison!!!!!

FRIDAY: Trip to Cordoba.  This day I had to go to Cordoba to retrieve my Spanish Identification Card.  If you remember a month back, I spoke about being in Cordoba and waiting at the Police Headquarters for five hours just to submit my paperwork for this card.  Now it was time for me to head back, and I was not looking forward to it.  It was advised to go at 10:00am and pick up the ticket you need when waiting for your number to be called.  I then had to return at 12:00pm because that was the only time they would allow you to get your card.  I did all of this and even enjoyed a nice breakfast with some friends before 12:00.  Twelve o'clock rolls around.  I waited about 30 minutes this time before being called (not too bad.)  I approached the lady, gave her the information she needed, and was quickly informed that my card got messed up in the factory... And I had to return in a month...NOOOOOOO.

This is my card-- very similar to a diver's license.  If you notice, I circled the numbers under my face.  These numbers are extremely important.  In front of the number three, if you look really really close, you can see a faint black line.  That line is supposed to be the letter Y.  THEY JUST DIDN'T PRINT THE LETTER Y ALL OF THE WAY.  So technically my card is invalid.  Which is why I need to go back to this place AGAIN.  Definitely worse than the DMV.

I would like to add that everything that I have needed thus far for Spain has been impossibly difficult:

1. Getting my apostille in the U.S.  The office in Trenton misspelled my notary's name, and I had to redo the entire process five days before my VISA appointment.

2.  My cellphone here in Spain.  I had to switch providers because Vodafone was incompetent and could not explain why my phone wasn't working or fix it. 

3.  Our wifi didn't work for the first two weeks, and no one could explain why.  Eventually the company just gave us a new one.

4. I waited five hours at this Police building the first time around because they forgot about us.

There are many more things that have gone wrong, but these are the top four thus far.  Luckily, Cordoba has this AMAZING frozen yogurt place called SMOOY.  That definitely helped ease the pain.

SATURDAY: My friends Maggie and Ben came and visited on this day. I gave them the grand tour of Priego.  It took us only an hour to walk the entire town and see everything.  This day was the first official cold day in Priego.  So far it has been in the 60's or 70's here.  The weather on this day dropped to the upper 30's and 40's.  This was the first time so far I needed to wear a heavy duty winter jacket.  (Thank goodness I bought one in Cordoba the day before.)  After eating lunch and siesta-ing, we went out for drinks with my friend Sara and her friends Luisa and Mery.  After drinks, we visited the Flamenco Bar here in Priego.  Priego's flamenco bar is different than anything I have ever seen.  Here Men sit around tables and play guitar and sing.  Anyone can sing if they want and basically every man in the bar did.  It was the most authentic flamenco I have ever seen.

SUNDAY:  I said my goodbyes to Maggie who had to catch an early bus.  My bilingual coordinator along with some of the students invited me to come watch them sing at the mass held on this day.  So around 12:00pm I headed to church.  Again, being an American teacher here makes me the coolest thing ever to the students, let alone watch them perform in church, my coolness has reached outer space.  I was also the biggest distraction ever because throughout mass students would see me and wave.  The cutest thing was when they all came to where I was sitting to give me a besito during the "peace be with you" or "paz contigo."  After mass, I went with Sara to drop Ben off at the bus station at a nearby town (Alcadete).  We arrived early and drove around for a little seeing the sights.  After dropping Ben off, I headed back to Sara's for a DELICIOUS lunch.  Post lunch, I returned to my house where I spent the rest of the day huddled under the greatest invention ever-- a table with a blanket and a heater. Very common in Spain and very warm during this cold weather.  The United States should start having these.
 

               Priego's Center

 Priego's Fuente Del Ray

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Alcadete 
         

 The Church I attend in Priego

 

         Lunch at Sara's house

 

 The church I attend here in Priego

                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                     The Flamenco Bar

 

                                              Some of the men singing and playing guitar

 

                    Alcadete

 The greatest invention of all time-- coffee table heater

                                                                                                     Stay warm with the blanket and heater
 

The heater underneath