Holiday in Spain

When we think of “The Holidays” we usually think of traditions, times spent with family and friends, snow and cold, shopping stress, and eating way too much for way too many days. But when you are somewhere where the traditions are different, where your friends and family are thousands of miles away, where there is no snow and little cold, you are forced to embrace the traditions that surround you and to start your own. You must find cheer and love in the ordinary, in the things that are new and different, and you must laugh

So here is a list of holiday goodies, memories, new traditions, laughs, uncomfortable situations, etc. that have kept me smiling even through times when I missed everything that usually makes the holidays “The Holidays”.

1. Watching the Spanish lottery on Christmas Day as children sing the numbers that are drawn and the whole spectacle is broadcast on all television channels for 5 hours. And wathing it again when it repeats for the second big lottery on the 6th of January, Reyes Magos.
2. Being invited to a Christmas Day family barbeque in the ‘country’, sitting outside the entire day in 60 degree weather while eating a variety of Spanish meats and cheeses, and drinking rioja.
3. Listening to people directly translate Spanish colloquial phrases into English, the result of which is phrases like these:
- I broke myself on the skin of the apple (meaning: I laughed so hard I cried)
- What such a bad boy! (yelled at the tv during a soccer game when a player missed a shot)
- Let’s go to the Tit-ery. (In Spanish, a tea house is called a tetería…)
4. Going to countless Zambombas (parties where you sing Christmas songs) and learning to play the pandareta (tambourine). The best was when one woman decided it would be even more effective to bang to pandaretas together, like clapping.
5. Receiving packages in the mail from loving friends and family…even if it was lost in Spanish Correos for over a month
6. Joining in the Spanish tradition of having a nativity scene (they are literally everywhere- public schools, banks, laundromats, cell phone stores, etc.) and making a it out of things we found around the house…The three kings are made of toilet paper rolls with Kleenex head dresses, Joseph is made of paper and looks like he has a broken neck, and Mary loses one of her cardboard legs if she is moved. The camel (a plastic dinosaur) is carrying a stick of incense and a gold chocolate coin. Also, to follow the Spanish tradition of having a ‘viejo cagon’ (the old shitter- represents the simplicity of daily life) we have added some brown chunks of paper and a piece of chocolate in a moon shape to the scene.
7. Leaving the house at 1am to go to a New Year’s party and getting home at 8am.

8. Sharing the New Year with Caitlyn and enjoying her friendship here for more than a week : )

9. Being on vacation from the 17th of December to the 7th of Janurary, then going back to work for one day which is then followed by a three day weekend
10. Getting my nose pierced : ) just in time for New Years. And this time it actually worked.

11. Going to the Reyes Magos parade, being in the front row, and ordering Emily to get down on her hands and knees to collect candy off the street while I held up our bag to catch the ones being chucked through the air.
12. Receiving a pair of Turkish Eye earrings (for good luck) and purchasing a pair of Hand of Fatima earrings (to repel the evil eye)
13. Using Spanish grammar/sentence structure to describe things in English, and thinking it sounds right. For example: I will go put myself in line (Voy a ponerme en la fila). Have you put together your suitcase? (Has hecho la maleta?). That would be a casuality ( Sería una casualidad…meaning a coincidence.) I have accostumated…(from the verb acostumbrar…and this while I was writing one of my grad school application essays).
14. Keeping as pets two little caracoles, snails, in a nutella jar in the window.
15. Having friends, with all the kindness in their hearts, make hamburgers with cheddar cheese for dinner because they think we eat one everyday at home.
16. Saying hello and goodbye with besos, one on each cheek
17. Seeing the Christmas light in Madrid! (Puerta del Sol)

18. Being able to reminisce with new friends after only three months of experiences together (remember when…the four of us went out for tapas and ended up with an 83 euro bill which we now call ‘ la gran follada’ …when I asked for a medio kilo (over 1 pound) of churros…when the goat climbed the ladder and pranced around in the street on Christmas Eve and Emily though they were going to kill it…when we had a kitty and the kitty had bugs…when everyone ate a wonderful Thanksgiving meal together for the first time…)

So although it was different, although it lacked most of the things I associate with the holidays, it was a wonderful experience to spend this season in another country. Even though it was at times uncomfortable and with many language and cultural barriers, Emily and I (and Caitlyn while she was here) had an incredible vacation that had nothing to do with presents or commercialism. It was all about experiencing new things, finding joy where some would find sadness, and laughing laughing laughing with thankfulness in our hearts at everything that Spain gave us the opportunity to experience.

But with that said, I really did miss you all. It wasn’t the same without you.