doner kebab

Since I'm a posting maniac, I thought I'd keep going since I missed a bunch of days during the Christmas vacation.

Dan and I walked around today and looked at some shops. The women here wear jean that look like dress pants and I found them for 8 euros. Her shop was closing and Dan asked if they hemmed them and she said for 3 more euros they can hem them. I decided to come back later to get dressing jeans.

Rebajas (sales) should be coming soon and since my wardrobe is about 8 years old, I will hopefully have fun looking even if I can't buy.

My dear friend Lynsi sent me a Christmas package full of goodies. I was so excited for paper, gel pens, a Christmas tree grow kit and much more. She is very thoughtful and it makes me miss home even more so!

Since I titled this doner kebab, I must share that I had this for lunch. I am so full, but it was soooo good. I highly recommend indulging!

grapes

So, I've heard the Mexicans ate grapes for New Years, but I looked on Wiki to find the answer of why Spaniards do it as well. This was their answer:

Spain
The Puerta Del Sol in 2005 New Year's Eve

Spanish New Year's Eve (Nochevieja, or Fin de Año) celebrations usually begin with a family dinner, traditionally including shrimp and lamb or turkey. Spanish people believe that wearing red underwear on New Year's Eve brings good luck. The actual countdown is primarily followed from the clock on top of the Casa de Correos building in Puerta del Sol square in Madrid. It is traditional to eat twelve grapes, one on each chime of the clock. This tradition has its origins in 1909, when grape growers in Alicante thought of it as a way to cut down on the large production surplus they had had that year. Nowadays, the tradition is followed by almost every Spaniard, and the twelve grapes have become synonymous with the New Year. After the clock has finished striking twelve, people greet each other and toast with sparkling wine such as cava or champagne, or alternatively with cider.

After the family dinner and the grapes, many young people attend New Year parties at pubs, discotheques and similar places (these parties are called cotillones de nochevieja, after the Spanish word cotillón, which refers to party supplies like confetti, party blowers, party hats, etc.). Parties usually last until the next morning and range from small, personal celebrations at local bars to huge parties with guests numbering the thousands at hotel convention rooms. Early next morning, party attendees usually gather to have the traditional winter breakfast of chocolate con churros (hot chocolate and fried pastry).


Since one of my favorite things to do is watch the ball come down in Times Square (I even remember sitting by myself in my apt watching 2000 come in), but I'll be in bed when the US turns to 2009...so I'll miss the ball.

Happy new year y'all! Miss you!

Dan's View

Dan has a bit of a different view on the holidays if you are interested in reading his blog.

http://benficafiend.blogspot.com/

I didn't mention New Years. Well, we bought some sparkling wine to pop since we haven't been invited to a "celebration" (except the 55 euro/person one). Maybe we'll invite others to our home to celebrate, but there really isn't much going on here that I know of yet.

Christmas in Portugal

We left Mérida on Friday Dec 19th. We took the old highway so we didn't have to pay tolls and so we could enjoy the scenery. Mary and I blasted songs from the 90s to which Dan and Alex cringed...I think. We also listened to Christmas songs from Sinatra and Elvis, but it was still hard to get into the Christmas spirit.

Portugal was gorgeous for our entire trip. Even though it is the rainy season, there wasn't a drop of rain. A man even started a fire that got out of control because of the dry ground.

The first coffee was unfortunately not Delta, but we started at the bottom of good tasting Portuguese coffee (which blows away anything you can get in Spain!) and worked our way up to the best, Delta! A toasta mixta (an ironed toast with ham and cheese) was also ordered and we went from there.

The first dinner in Portugal was at a place that Dan's parents recommended. I had Bacalhau com natas (salted cod with cream...a Portuguese traditional dish), Mary had meat on the spit and Dan got a beef steak with mushrooms in the most wonderful sauce! We started out eating well!

The next morning we took them to our favorite coffee shop for some real Delta coffee with milk! The pastries were a bit lacking since the workers were preparing big fancy cakes for Christmas. The pastries only got better!

As you can tell, this posting is all about food...

We went to the coast for seafood. My favorite is arroz com marisco (seafood rice) which was fantastic!!!

We had mall food one day while shopping, but that was unenjoyable because the amount of people was insane due to Christmas.

I ate a traditional Portuguse stew that I've never had, but it had blood sausage and a pig's ear in it, so even though it tasted amazing, it wasn't my favorite due to the strange contents.

Speaking of not the best, Chinese food in Portugal is better than what you can get in the States! Unfortunately, one of our favorite places turned out to not be very good. I was so disappointed, especially because we told our guests that it was better than in the States. I still got shrimp in a pineapple boat with fresh pineapple. I was for sure the "winner" of that meal!

My favorite restaurant is in Sintra, a gorgeous city with palaces, a castle and much more quaint things to take in, but it is also a tourist trap. This restaurant was so enjoyable, but I ordered the lower class meat than what I usually order, and I realized that 2 euros is worth the tenderness of a beef loin!

We ordered roasted chicken to go a few times because it is so amazing in Portugal! They put on piri piri sauce and have crispy chips to create the perfect meal.

We ended our trip with a stop at an Indian restaurant. Yumm! Portugal has amazing cuisine!

Christmas was funny. I never felt in the Christmas mood because we weren't with family. Even though we had a sing-a-long and played lots of Christmas music, it just wasn't the same. Mary lit some candles and we had some wine (from a vineyard that we toured) in goblets, while eating onion soup. Yes, everything was closed, so we raided Dan's parents' cupboards for soup.

Overall, I had a wonderful time! It was relaxing and perfect! I miss my family, but I look forward to enjoying many future Christmases with them!

I hope all of you enjoyed Christmas! I look forward to a good New Years! I'm hoping I can set some short- and long-term goals for 2009. School starts on the 5th, so I will relax during this last week!

As to Mary and Alex, I enjoyed your company so much! Thank you for all your generosity! The amber ring is perfect! Hopefully you are able to relax (at HOME) before you start back at your work! Cheers!

Sevilla and Mérida

On Dec 14, Dan and I caught the bus to Sevilla (Seville in English). We met our friends there and enjoyed food and more food! There were a few interesting sights like the cathedral and plazas as well, but our main focus was tapas!

I just have to mention that we ate at a "Mexican" place and Mary ordered "habanero peppers". I thought she was crazy because they are so HOT! The tapa that came out was jarred red and green peppers. Nothing hot, but it made a good joke throughout our trip!

Our friends had been traveling all over southern Spain when we met them, so we didn't see all that Sevilla had to offer. That was fine with me because the food was fantastic! Did I mention the food yet?

On Dec 16, we picked up our rental car and drove to Mérida. We were able to get a car for 150 euros for 11 days which is unheard of. Thank you Hertz!

I knew our guests were a bit weary, so we took three days to see the town's sights. We rested and ate some good food and they cooked for us...Jucy Lucys. Thankfully I did not burn myself, but enjoyed BEEF (not veal, which the Spaniards eat) and cheese!

We returned to a Christmas package from my parents. It was a cheese, sausage, jam, cake, etc platter from Figis! Yumm! The "Standing Ovation" Platter deserved a standing ovation! There is nothing better than cheddar cheese from WI while in Spain!

After Spain, we ventured to Portugal...
next posting!

So much to write

I have so much to remember and blog about. Our vacation to southern Spain and Portugal was so amazing, but I can't type it out on my iPod. Soon I'll be posting about my fun Christmas adventures.

ADD and audio books

No, I'm not ADD, but I definitely lack the discipline of a good attention span. I'm getting better (school helped a lot!), but I have a long way to go before I can truly pay attention for a good period of time.

So, I wanted to read Pride and Prejudice over the Christmas break, but I decided that I needed a huge break from reading and decided to get audio books instead. iTunes has a great selection and I got A Christmas Carol and Around the World in 80 Days for $1.95 a piece. A Christmas Carol was just over 3 hours and yes...I spent the day captured by the book. I was able to hang a bit of laundry and play a few games all while being completely engrossed in the "book". I enjoyed it immensely and I can't wait for the other that happens to be over 8 hours.

We are off to Sevilla (Seville) tomorrow. I'm very excited, I just don't feel like getting robbed...especially my ipod, but I want to listen to my "book" on the bus. I guess we'll see.

Free!

I ended the quarter with success! There were days in which I felt that this was too much and would have to quit or negotiate with my professors, but NO...by the grace of God...I was able to finish and finish successfully!

As I was organizing my desk and bookshelf...getting everything set for the next quarter, I was reminded of the Christmas season. Yes, the lights are up in Mérida, but it still doesn't feel like Christmas. Maybe it's because I'm not going to be with family, maybe because there is no snow...I don't know...it just isn't Christmasy. Last year we were in Brazil and it for sure didn't feel like Christmas, even though we were with family.

Well, I watched a sermon again and they had this little video from Advent Conspiracy. It challenges Christians to exam how Jesus would like them to celebrate Christmas. One of the ways is by spending less on gifts that people don't need and giving to this organization to provide clean water to those who don't have any.

I was compelled by this. It's not just this organization...we can give (not just $$) to so many people that are in our back yards. Our time...wow...how delighted I am when people give me their time. It can be isolating and when I receive and email or letter or phone call...it is amazing! I'm not even in NEED...real need.

May Jesus open our eyes to see like He sees. Lord, what are we to do with our material possessions, our time, our energy?

St. Eulalia of Mérida

First of all, I have to say I finished my Physiology final and aced it! How exciting. One final tomorrow and then I am officially on vacation.

As for vacation, the Mérida peeps have had quite a week. As I pasted Dan's posting below, it was Constitution Day last Saturday (celebrating Franco's death) which they hold off till Monday to celebrate so they can have a day off. Then, today is St. Eulalia Day, the patron saint of Mérida...so everyone has off again. I'm sure no one showed up to work yesterday because that would be quite a break in the fiesta.

We did see fireworks last night and saw the parade of pilgrims. It's all kind of freaky to me...worshiping a saint. People walk miles and miles, just to pay homage. I have photos, but they are on my cell and didn't turn out very well.

Jesus Loves Me

So yesterday I copied Dan's blog to tell the story of our weekend and the weekend of non-stop partying. Today they are celebrating Saturday's holiday, but I sat and studied most of the day. Not too fun!

A couple of weeks ago, my Romanian friend asked if I could teach the children "Jesus Loves Me" in english. I agreed, but said it would have to be in two weeks. I printed the lyrics to give to her and found her. She said it would have to be another day, but asked if I could help her. I agreed, but didn't realize that I was agreeing to help out with the children's program...you know...those one's INFRONT of the church. OH NO!!! Soon I was up on stage and helping. She sang songs with the kids and then sang Jesus loves me...but she wanted me to sing it in english. I shook my head no. I feel badly about this action, but I was already so uncomfortable.

Soon I will be teaching the children the english words of the song. Hopefully they won't make me teach the entire congregation :)

Dan's Blog

Dan sums up my thoughts so eloquently! The following is from Dan's blog:

"So that all happened last weekend: fast-forward to this weekend (the week flew by with writing and writing and more writing, but the details of that activity are by no means worth discussing). This weekend, a couple of friends who are living in Madrid came out to visit us in the quaint countryside, which gave us a rare opportunity to visit a lot of the archaeological sites that I haven't been able to visit and photograph properly since we got here. I am hoping that at least some of the pictures that I took will turn out to be useful, but more importantly, we managed to drag our visitors to nearly every monument in the city in just two days. This is promising news for our Salamantican friends, whose visit later this month will prove a VERY welcome break from my upcoming days of toil and tedium.

See, here in Mérida, and maybe in Spain more generally, they have this thing called a fiesta. Back in the new country, we think of a fiesta as a chance to get together with some of our friends and celebrate. But note that we think of it as a punctual event, which has a finite slot of time (or at least a beginning, with perhaps a more indefinite end in the not-too-distant future) in our busy schedules. Thus, a Friday fiesta will only on the rarest of occasions bleed over into a Sunday afternoon event. By contrast, life in Spain seems to be a single, never-ending fiesta. Sure, people do occasionally go to work in the morning, which interrupts the party for a while, but breakfast comes soon enough, and lasts long enough, to remind them what life's really all about. Just as the average person is getting settled back into the tasks of "work" after desayuno, the clock tower strikes 2 or 2:30 or 3, and off they all scoot to their homes. The lunch section of the fiesta is a pretty serious one (not that desayuno isn't a biologically-mandated necessity, it's just not as intense as lunch), lasting between 2 and 3 hours and including the consumption of large quantities of everything, occasionally followed by a time of rest and relaxtion often referred to as a "siesta" (which I suspect may in fact be a simple mispronunciation of "fiesta"). The lunch hours are often interrupted later in the afternoon by a return to work, but the afternoon work hours are only long enough, as a rule, to inspire a hunger and thirst that can only be quenched on the way home by a visit to a tapas joint. Once the reveler has again staved off immanent starvation, he or she heads for home, where, the hour being advanced beyond 9 pm, dinner is just beginning to materialize. Since it's still just a little too early to dine, perhaps the entire family gathers to roam the streets with the countless other party-goers of the city, window-shopping down the walking streets and spitting their sunflower shells (or tossing their chestnut shells, now that it's the season!) all over the ground. The luckier partiers will arrive in the Plaza de España at just the right time to score an open table at one of the four corner cafes, and will thus be able to kill another hour in anticipation of dinner - over drinks and salty snacks.

So that's life on an average day. But now imagine that you don't have to work at all on Saturday, because it's an official, calendar fiesta. Since that fiesta happens to fall on a Saturday, you naturally can't be expected to have to undergo the pain and suffering of a normal "work day" on Monday, can you? Of course not. Then, imagine that Wednesday is the official fiesta of your town's patron saint, say Santa Eulalia, for example. Why in the world would anyone show up for work on Tuesday, since they've already had Monday off? They wouldn't. So what you're looking at here is a five-day weekend. Not bad, right? That's what I thought, anyway. But as it turns out, I was wrong. You see, the standard work week is really just a series of interruptions that are imposed on the fiesta that comprises real life. So a five-day weekend is really just a return to what should be, whereas the normal two-day weekend is more reasonably a set of concessions designed to prevent the rest of the world discovering how life really ought to be lived."

60 and sunny

Yes, the sun has come out to show her beautiful face! I haven't seen her in awhile. It's been so drizzly here, but the clouds did warm it up to the 50s and now it's 60! Too bad it is the evening because now it will only get chillier.

I thought the rain would stop today, so I did another load of laundry. Well, I was wrong and had to hang them inside and our living room floor is now wet from the clothes and the humidity outside. So strange.

My studies are going slow today. It's taking me forever to read Physiology, but hopefully I can finish tonight because there is a Fulbrighter and her friend coming in from Madrid tomorrow to spend the weekend with us. It will be nice to have company, but not great that it's the weekend before finals. Hopefully I will get a lot done this evening so I'll be able to enjoy the weekend!

Prayer

I have never been able to discipline myself very well to pray consistently (whatever that means). I definitely do not have the gift of intercession, but I do have a passion within me to call on God, even if I don't do it consistently (that is the word of the day I guess). Singing is the best way for me to communicate with God, but many times there is a need to find a place without distractions (really hard for my undisciplined mind to stay focused) and pray for those I love and for those who drive me insane.

It's much easier to pray for my friends and family than for those who I don't care for (what a revalation! hee hee), but my prayer life has been struggling this week. I actually feel much freer from school, so maybe I don't feel the desperation that I did before. I never want to use God as my bag of magic tricks...call on Him only when I NEED something. I also don't want to get stuck in the same old prayers.

There is an amazing written out prayer, "A daily prayer for freedom"by John and Stasi Eldredge in their book "Captivating". I have to admit that it is very lengthy, but it's based on the scriptures and I find it amazing! It takes discipline to read each word and pray it with my heart and not just say the words to unconsciously pat myself on the back for a good job well done.

That brings me to another thought. Prayer can definitely be looked at as "accomplishing a Christian task" for the day. I never want to compare myself to what I think I should be doing. Of course I need to stay disciplined, but not live under guilt for not doing something. Guilt slips in so easily and that is not what God wants.

My discipline as of late has been to just be aware of God at all times. To consistantly (there's that word again) be aware of His presence; to know that He is always with me. I want to always abide in my refuge, the shelter of the most high God. There is such a comfort in knowing that God is always with me, and easier to talk to Him when He's just there.

Ps 91:1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

Ps 25:4-5 Make me to know Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me...

Slowly but surely!

Yup, I can't believe it is almost over. I've gotten the hardest things done and now I have two exams left to complete! Yup, hard for me to think that exams are easier than papers, but I am unable to write well.

I'm going to the ladies meeting at church tonight. Dan and I both figure it's the only way I'll get full-on Spanish without relying on him to translate...so here I go to explore my compensatory skills (sign language--hee hee!). It doesn't feel as if I've learned anything in Spanish, but with the high school Spanish background, I've realized I understand a lot more than I did when we moved here. Getting past the accent, double L (ll is "j" not "y") and the lisp (I mean "th") was the first part, now I need to strengthen my vocab and skills in conjugating verbs!

online classes

People always said to me, "oh, I don't have enough discipline to take an online class." Well, these classes are a bit more structured than other ones since everything is due the same time as the in class people. There is one thing, I don't have to watch the lectures when they take place.

I handed in my two big papers and I usually get motivated when I don't have a lot of work hanging over my head. Well, I was tempted to "skip" class (my last one mind you) and do something else. Now really, what would I do? It's cold outside and Dan is working, so thankfully I put that laziness aside and am blogging while others are on a break. A four hour class is killer...but again...it's my last class until January!

back to reality

Yup, the weekend was a hit full of food and traveling. We had a great time with my in-laws! We ended up driving to a couple towns. Trujillo and Zafra.

Trujillo is this medieval town that would have been wonderful if it was warmer. We froze, but enjoyed a bocadillo.

I would love to go back to Zafra. It was a mix of all the centuries. Very beautiful, but again, cold and it was hard to walk around much with the freezing wind.

I had to work on my papers a bit while they were here, but yesterday I worked all day on them and they still aren't that great. I have a test tomorrow morning, so I will not be working much on them today.

Time for me to study. (I'm sick of writing that!) I'll be done on the 11th!