Noche Buena, Feliz Navidad, and Noche Viejo

Well, Adam and I have almost made it through this year's holiday season. There were hard times, but overall, the Lord has provided dear friends here to visit with and enjoy their company. We were able to Skype with our families on Christmas Day, see my niece open her Christmas presents, and received both the packages our families sent in the mail to us! We realized this was the first Christmas where we were not involved in our family traditions. Usually, the Saturday (or two) before Christmas, the Yarbrough side (Adam's mom's side) has heavy appetizers, spends time together, and lastly, the main tradition, sing "Twelve Days of Christmas" with each person singing a different day. No one wants to get Partridge in a Pear Tree. My family has mixed up the traditions lately with spouses coming into the mixture, but lately, we've stayed with my family on Christmas Eve, opened presents together Christmas morning, enjoyed a big brunch, and just chilled the rest of the day. My mom's tradition is always to stay up super late (i.e. 3-4am) wrapping presents; however, we still seem to get things in garbage bags occasionally despite her staying up late :)

So with all those familiar things far away this year, we looked to doing things to be different. Both Adam and I commented that we tried to think of it as a "normal" day. While we were not trying to forget the meaning of this day and why we celebrate on Christmas, it was a way to cope without family. So...our agenda this year consisted of a candlelight Christmas Eve with the pastor's, of our church in Alcala, family (the Brown's) and his 3 daughters. We had tapas (a lot of seafood items - I munched on veggies and Hidden Valley Ranch dip - non-existent here in Spain and in both of the parent boxes!), sang Christmas carols, and just chatted. Adam and I opened our gifts (practical yet good) together on Christmas morning then baked homemade Oreos (Mamaw P's secret recipe) and delivered them to our neighbors. We were able to chat briefly with two of the families we delivered to - Blas & Asun and Eva, Adrian, & Lady. Blas and Asun have a "lively" chihuahua named Toolie (not sure if the spelling is right but that is the way it is pronounced). More seriously, Blas has been in and out of the hospital with hip surgery, an infection, and a dislocation of the same hip. He was in bed that afternoon when we delivered but I was so glad to be able to visit with them, even if I only understood half of what was said and we talked about general things. We ended Christmas day back at the Brown's enjoying a Christmas ham, potatoes, and pumpkin pie, and had our church service in the evening where played Maria and Jose (Mary and Joseph). Adam and I had about 10 minutes to memorize parts in Spanish in which we were going around to various people in the congregation and asking for a place to stay ("teneis un sitio para nosotros?"). We had a great Christmas Day of different, but good things.

While we celebrated in a quasi-American, quasi-Spanish way this Christmas, Spaniards celebrate slightly different than in the US. "El noche buena" (Christmas Eve) is the biggest day for family celebrations for Spaniards (not 12/25). Families usually go to the town of their parent's house, attend a midnight mass, and fix a big meal after mass and usually stay up visiting until early in the morning (i.e. 4-7am). Christmas Day is then spent sleeping in and recuperating from Noche Buena. Even Christmas Day, very few gifts are opened, maybe one or two, while the big gift giving day is El Dia de los Reyes (January 6th), yet to come. The next upcoming "festivo" is "Noche Viejo" (literally translated - Old Night) or New Year's Eve. Here a big race is organized in Madrid (the San Silvestre, which we will be taking part in) and later at midnight Spaniards pop 12 grapes in their mouth, one for every ding of the clock at midnight. This sounds like an easy task but many have mentioned it is quite difficult to do. Grocery stores even sell cans with 12 grapes in them especially for the occasion.

It has been interesting learning other culture's traditions especially their holiday traditions. While I missed my family greatly this year, I am thankful to have been here and experienced a Spanish "navidad". It is memory I will never forget.

Finals and Christmas

Today marked the last full week of class before Christmas break. Being in Spain @ ECA is my first real "school environment" I have actually been in since college. I have always envied Adam and his two weeks of break while I drove to work every day to bring home the bacon :) So, now I have the privilege to experience the academic breaks so longed by all the business world.

This week wraps up my semester long class of Practical Math. We studied salaries, taxes, loans, budgets, credit cards, insurance, investments, resumes, and wrapping it up with interviewing skills. My five students have been patient with my "first year teaching" woes and probably laugh at me constantly behind my back (even though I try to face them most of the time). It's ok though...I'm preparing "revenge"...jk. But no really, I have to make the final exam, and I do feel a little evil. I guess this is how all my teachers felt when writing the final exam. Mwah hah hah...100 multiple choice...take that!

There is something rewarding about writing exams though. Even though many individuals will argue that they are not the best way to measure intelligence, I do feel they do a good job of evaluating my teaching ability and the student's comprehension. I really get sad when a student misses a question that we've gone over many times, and it reminds me of those days when I hated walking into a room and taking a test. One of my greatest college memories happened during my Accounting 101 final. Now you must know some background about this class...it was taught by my favorite professor of all time - CJ Skender. It was a class of 400 at 8 am every M, W, F. And to top it all off, our exams started at 7:00am so we could have 2 full hours to take our exams. It was nerving and crazy, so imagine how a 100 multiple choice final exam made you feel at 7:00am. It was my last exam before going home to Christmas break, my stomach was a wreck...I was so nervous. I really wanted to do well on this exam. I entered the 400 seat auditorium promptly at 6:50am to review a few more things before taking it. Upon opening the doors, the Carpenter's, "Merry Christmas Darling" blasting, and I start laughing. My mom sings this song loudly every time it's on the radio at Christmas time. She's even called and left a voice message of the song. Upon hearing that, my nervousness went away and I silently thanked CJ with all my heart for making me feel less nervous. I ended up with an A- on the exam - thanks to the Carpenters and a great professor.

While I'm no where near the teacher CJ was, maybe next Tuesday will be a good day to pull out some Christmas music before the exam...

Thank You Spanish Constitution Day!

Today and tomorrow we have off school due to Spain's Constitution Day. This day began in the late 1970s after Spain's dictator, Franco, died and more freedom entered into the Spanish culture. Franco was a very oppressive leader and held tightly to the Catholic church, even requiring individuals to join the church to own property, vote, etc. After his death, many Spaniards ran quickly away from religion due to its association with "oppression". Today, you can see the effects of this in Spain, as modesty, morals, and outlooks on life are deeply centered in "do what makes you happy"/ self-satisfaction. While people are seeking to satisfy their desires and what makes them happy, they are still searching to replace a void that can only be filled spiritually by the God that created them.

Adam and I are seeing this so much here in Spain. Individuals do not feel as if they "need" God as they are good people. It's easy to get caught up in this mindset, especially in developed countries. We see so much of what our hands produce that we lose sight of the God behind it all. But we can not forget the hand behind all the blessings. Without God, none of these things would be possible.

Lately, I have been involved with conversations with our neighbor who is Jehovah Witness. He has asked me point blank what I believe. My stomach drops every time he asks me, not because I don't want to give an answer but because all of this conversation is in Spanish. You take for granted the ability to share you faith in your native language. You have phrases and concepts that are known and easy to communicate. This is completely different in another language. So each time, I silently pray for the Lord's words (in Spanish) :)

I am learning that to be prepared you must study. So that's what I must do - not to debate but to clearly provide an answer and share the Gospel in whatever way the Lord provides.