Christmas and Vacation

I am the world's biggest slacker. Sorry I've taken such a hiatus from writing. Yeah, a "hiatus", that's it! Anyway, we've just celebrated our first Christmas away from home, and though it was different, it was good nonetheless. I'll start with my schools' pageants. For weeks, each school prepared songs, acts, and other goodies to be performed by each grade. There were some days were I didn't even teach because the whole class period was devoted to the preparations. Anyway, they did well. Little kids singing is always cute (even if it's in Catalan and you can't understand what they're saying!) and older kids singing is always funny. Here, they don't really have Santa Claus, or "Papa Noel." Instead they are given gifts by The Three Kings (wise men). So, instead of leaving cookies and milk out, they leave carrots (for the camels) and shots of whiskey (for the Kings)! Another thing I found interesting is that during the pageant, the kids would dress us as the Three Kings, but one would always be in Blackface. It was a bit shocking at first, but I guess it's just a different culture and history. On the last day of classes I celebrated with the teachers at each of my schools. I went to Corpus Cristi first. We all gathered together and exchanged a Secret Santa. Here, they call it "Amigo Invisible" which literally means "invisible friend." I got a really nice scarf, and gave a bag of "Luz de Luna" tea and a nice mug. As soon as we were done exchanging gifts I hurried over to where the other school was having their party (of course they scheduled them for the same day, around the same time). I got to the restaurant a half hour late, but they had only just begun eating their salads (sometimes the long meals can work in your favor I guess). We had traditional paella with shrimp and mussels, and then paella negro, which is made with squid. It is cooked with some of the ink from the squid, thus "black paella" and it is DELICIOUS. I loved it. Dessert was equally delicious. And, oh! so much wine and champagne. We also traded Secret Santa gifts. I gave a 4 gig flashdrive to the technology teacher (he like it a lot, his other one is only 1 gig). I received a bottle of really nice Mallorcan white wine with a bag of roasted almonds to eat with it. It was really pleasant, and the teachers are opening up a bit (I imagine that I am too). They were all impressed when I wished them a "merry Christmas and a happy new year" in Catalan. 

Christmas was nice as well. We all wish we could have been home, but know we were thinking about y'all! It was really nice talking to some of you. Anyway, we woke up and exchanged gifts. Nikki bought me a really nice sweater and I got her a coat. The rest of the day was rather relaxing. That evening we ate a big dinner. For appetizers we had deviled eggs and homemade spinach and cheese dip. For the main courses we had a roast, veggie lasagna, glazed carrots, mashed potatoes (with garlic, green onions, and a local cheese), and gravy. For dessert we had homemade banana nut bread. It was amazing. We miss y'all! Nikki and I are off to Zurich this evening. We'll be there for a few days, then on the 30th we'll take a train over to Paris and stay there until the 4th. We'll fly from Paris to Frankfurt where we'll have an afternoon, and then return to Palma that evening. So, visiting 3 countries in 10 days seems pretty sweet! We'll take lots of pictures and (try to) update the blog as we go!