One day you wake up,

and you realize that the life you've been dreaming of is the one that you are living and then it dawns on you that your only real problem in life is deciding what to start dreaming of next. I wish everyone could see it like this and forget about the day to day nonsense and just start to enjoy. So my New Years Resolution (one of them) is to not talk about money, not complain about the weather and stop worrying about non-existent issues and instead save the energy for more important things - my thesis for example ;)

I took a little road trip earlier this week up North on the Costa Brava to a small town called Roses which is very close to the French border and people in the town actually speak French as well. It's so beautiful. It's like the perfect mix of geography, climate and culture. Nearby is where the artist Salvador Dali was born (in Figueres) and his Museum is there, which I visited. The mountains seem so close, the water is clear and the beaches are fantastic. There is a gorgeous national park there and a lot of protected wetlands area where no traffic or development is allowed and so the scenic drive along an ancient Roman route is very nice. It's only about 2 hours from the city. Here are some photos of the trip :)

See you all in T-1month <3

Dali Museum in Figueres
Outside of Dali Museum in Figueres, the small gold things are supposed to represent the local bread rolls and the eggs? Well.... I'm not sure.
Roses in the Pyrenees
Beach in Roses

This is a small lookout (or prison) where people were hiding during the Spanish war, because it was so close to France people were hiding in caves to escape persecution and to move into France.
This is part of the Park I was talking about that goes all along the coastline and at some points looks similar to the East Coast of Canada. Really, really gorgeous and so green.

Spanish Christmas

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a wonderful day with lots of wonderful food and friends. I sure missed you all but got to talk to some and the rest I will try to get a hold of this week!

Christmas here was very different this year. Christmas eve we had a celebration because this is the day which they really put the importance on in most of South America and Europe. So we had a fondue night (my friend Maricela, Nima and my roomate Nuno) and watched some Christmas movies :) The next morning I got up early, opened a few little things and then cleaned up before heading to the church where Maricela volunteers every day with the nuns to feed the homeless. So for 3 hours or so I helped to serve, clean and hopefully make a few days seem not so bad. It was sad, but I'm sure it's sad any day. And then I came home and started to cook! I convinced Nima to stuff/clean the chickens as I just couldn't do that and then we ate (much much later than I had planned hahah!) and watched some films on the projector at my old house. I'm still full today!!! So anyhow, here are a few pictures of the various events that have been happening. Thanks so much for everyone making yesterday so special even in Spain, you're always thinking of me and I hope you know I'm thinking of you guys as well.

Have fun boxing day shopping for those of you who are brave enough to head to the malls and for everyone else, just relax!

<3

Christmas Eve Fondue!
Mmmmmmm!
Christmas Dinner
Chicken, shwartzies, potatoe salad and green salad

Nima and I putting Hannah and Henrietta into the oven!

This is the Portuguese dinner that I told you about a few weeks ago, thought you may want to see my roomates!
Left is Nuno and second from the Left is Rafael, the other two are friends of Nuno :)

Portuguese Dinner

Well it was a busy weekend, I imagine for everyone, with Christmas being so close now. Here on Friday my roomate Nuno made us a portuguese dinner of Bacalao (cod fish) which is done in 3 ways, 2 of which we tried (one fried, one in the oven). It's prepared with potatoes, eggs and fish and I actually ate a surprising amount considering I normally don't eat fish at all! It was something new and interesting, not my favorite but not bad either :) And thennnn on Saturday night was Ciro's Birthday party which was alright but I came home quite early because I was so tired! Then yesterday night I went to see a new Justin Timberlake movie which I thought was fantastic (not everyone agreed haha) and then a nice Catalan dinner after :) So yes! What an eventful weekend, but it was really nice! Now I am planning Christmas here for my friends and roomates and hoping to have a feast which is at least close to as good as the one we had for Thanksgiving, I'm not sure if I can recreate it myself though! At least we will have cookies... !

Today I have spanish class which I have very successfully procrastinated studying for while cleaning all day and doing other miscellaneous things. I'm in vacation mode, what can I say! And then in January as Nuno says "I'm going to change my life" hahah and start pretending like I have a full time job again - my thesis! The writing begins and in February I hope to gather enough data that I can be ready before classes start again in May. So we'll see if we can uphold this resolution! Waking up early is a key part of this, which I'm okay with, but I think he will have problems!

Well I hope everyone is staying warm, getting healthier and glad to see that my family FINALLY put up the Christmas tree ;)

Love to everyone!

PS- I have been receiving mail for a week, thank you so much, I can't tell you how exciting it is! Miss you all a ton!

Christmas Baking

Dear Everyone, I would love to tell you all about what I have been doing but today I was a bit busy as you can see so I am totally exhausted! BUT! My Christmas Baking is almost done and I'm trying really hard not to eat it all myself! I'll write more tomorrow :)

<3

*Snow in Spain *

I saw it! I touched it! I (kinda) liked it! No, actually this past week had 2 national holidays in Spain on Tuesday and Thursday and Nima suggested that 4 of us take a little road trip to a mountain valley called Vall de Nuria. So bright and early we got up, ran into a few little snags in the beginning but by 10 we were on the road! It took about 2 hours to drive there and then you arrive at a really small village called Queralbs and you take a cremallera (train) to the top of the mountain. At the top there is a very small ski hill (which is not really open yet because the snow doesn't really come until January/February) a horse stables, tons of hiking trails and of course a monastery where they found a very old and strange figurine from the 12/13 century and it's their little symbol now. It's quite the spot. We stayed the day, I learned to play parchisi over hot chocolate and lemon cake and then we braved the super cold temperatures (2 degrees) to go walk around outside a bit! I'd like to go back one day when I can actually snowboard, maybe in January. Here are some photos of this trip! And actually if you look on the map we were VERY close to France! I knew that Spain was small - but this really showed me just HOW small it is! I couldn't believe that in that short of time we were almost there! They pack a lot of things in a small space!




Well for today that's it, but I DID hear that someone got a new friend? Someone to scare away unwanted pests? Can't wait to see Gracie!!!

xB

Caganer & Caga Tio

I thought I would take this opportunity to share a few things with everyone about Christmas in Spain. #1 - I'm very sorry to say but I won't be mailing anything home for you all this year, not because I don't love you ;) But in fact because I love you TOO much and the box I prepared was very big and heavy and in the end I decided it could wait an extra month until February! So I'm sorry, please don't take it personally.

#2 - Caganer - There is a strange obsession with poop in their christmas traditions. Here I will take a few things from Wikipedia to help explain this little figure. Traditionally it is a little pilgrim pooping, but of course now you can find everyone, including Obama, Shakira, Footballers, everyone!

"The caganer is a particular and highly popular feature of modern Catalan nativity scenes. It is believed to have entered the nativity scene by the late 17th-early 18th century, during the Baroque period...and some reasons for the figure

• The Caganer, by creating faeces, is fertilizing the Earth. According to the ethnographer, Joan Amades, it was a "customary figure in pessebres [i.e. nativity scenes] in the 19th century, because people believed that this deposit [symbolically] fertilized the ground of the pessebre, which became fertile and ensured the pessebre for the following year, and with it, the health of body and peace of mind required to make the pessebre, with the joy and happiness brought by Christmas near the hearth. Placing this figurine in the pessebre brought good luck and joy and not doing so brought adversity."^[6]
• The Caganer represents the equality of all people: regardless of status, race, or gender, everyone defecates.
• Increased naturalism of an otherwise archetypal (thus idealised) story, so that it is more believable, more real and can be taken more seriously.
• The idea that God will manifest himself when he is ready, without regard for whether we human beings are ready or not.
• The Caganer reinforces the belief that the infant Jesus is God in human form, with all that being human implies."

#3 - Caga Tio - Once again let me have Wikipedia help with this one! I took some very interesting pictures of this event happening at the Christmas Market the other day that I will try to put up tomorrow. Instead of lining up to sit on Santa's lap? They line up to hit a giant log with sticks and afterwards they get a candy! Hahah , so amusing for people who don't know the tradition.

"On Christmas day or, depending on the particular household, on Christmas Eve, one puts the tió partly into the fireplace and orders it to "shit" (the fire part of this tradition is no longer as widespread as it once was, since many modern homes do not have a fireplace). To make him "shit", one beats him with sticks, while singing various songs of Tió de Nadal.

The tió does not drop larger objects, as those are considered to be brought by the Three Wise Men. It does leave candies, nuts and torrons. Depending on the part of Catalonia, it may also give out dried figs. When nothing is left to "shit", it drops a salt herring, a head of garlic, an onion or "urinates". What comes out of the tió is a communal rather than individual gift, shared by everyone present."

Well, that seems to be it for today! This week has 2 Holidays (Today and Thursday) so most of the city has of course, taken the liberty of taking the ENTIRE week off! I hope to get out and take some photos of the lights around Pl. Catalunya and the temporary skating rink they have set up there! Hope everyone is having a great week! Less than 2 weeks til the big day!

<3

Christmas Decorating!

As soon as I moved in I made a trip for some decorations. Here are a few photos of what I have so far! I also have a gingerbread house I'm waiting to put up and would like to get a few more things :)


PS- This is my new room! Great huh? Super bright, lots of space and fresh air. I love it!
This may be as close to snow as I get this Christmas!