Welcome to the end of trimester 1--hoorah!!! Yesterday Dec 22nd was the last official day of classes, even though Monday and Tuesday were really just Christmas activities and such.
Well it also happens that yesterday was also the BIG day here in Spain, for the national Christmas lottery. If you have never heard of it, or seen it, it is definitely worth checking out. It is not "just a lottery"--it's a full day of draws, with two huge spheres rolling out the winning numbers and the prizes. The tradition calls for some singing/chanting of the numbers by children from a specific school, who place the little balls on sticks mounted to this tray. I feel sorry for them, as they have to call quite a few and quite quickly too. The grand prize is 3 million Euros, which isn't the biggest lotto winning ever, but it's a big day with lots of tradition and highlights of people celebrating in the streets. Part of the culture here and pretty fun to watch. Check out this video on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1JkYoIDdbo
On Friday night, we went out for a staff dinner at a local restaurant, called La Bodega de la Montaña and had lots of drinks and raciones (shared plates) and relaxed and chatted.
Cristina, (who helps us keep the school nice and wonderful and clean), Paloma (reception and backup teacher) and Camilla (teacher)
Part of the British teaching contingent--Amanda, Graeme and Joe
William (owner boss-man), Merche, (head of admin) and Jessica (teacher)
Me, Craig (teacher), Urien (director of studies/teacher) and Cristina
Afterwards, we went to this local billiards place and I watched and learned to play pool for the first time. It was quite a big place and we took up a few tables, though some were more hardcore players than others. Then a few of us headed to a regular bar in the city centre for more chatter and better music, and by the time we called it a night, it was the wee hours of the morning.....the bars supposedly shut down around 6am..... Wasn't my goal to hit that marker, but we almost made it to closing...yikes! ;)
So Saturday was a bit of a washout, since Friday night/Sat morning was so long, but Ruben and I ended up experimenting and making two lovely yummy pizzas at his place for dinner, despite it taking forever since he doesn't know how to operate his oven. ;D
Homemade pizza!! Yummy but still can't get it thin and crispy...Desi?
Sunday turned out to be a lovely sunny one, so we got off our butts and headed out for a drive and more sightseeing for me. First stop, to visit the famous Nestle factory where Ruben spends his days analysing UPC codes... ;D (Or at least for the moment, he says...)
The Nestle factory in La Penilla
Then to some other towns in the area, to check out the beautiful surroundings and take in the lovely scenery and breathe in some crisp mountain air!
Typical Cantabrian-style home--with an arch at ground-level, and a nice wide balcony spanning the width of the house.
Who couldn't love the spectacular views from the valley? We met a local lady who was very village-like and lived in one of the small houses, and spoke with a gruff, and very distinct accent. Didn't understand all of what she said, but the gist of it was clear. She had never seen us before, and when asked about her house, reassured us that it was big and had heating and electricity and a fridge too--by golly gee! :D Lol. Also, she kept her cows and everything inside... I didn't want to be rude and take a photo, but was hoping she would invite us in to look around. No such luck, so I can just imagine how it must be a 6 story mansion dug into the side of the slope... ;D Lol
If it weren't for the different style houses, I'd swear this was part of the photos I took in Switzerland! Rain, snow, lush green slopes, mountains--or maybe you'd think this is Scotland!
Looking out into the Cantabrian valley from Esles
Snowy hills of Esles, with the sheep grazing on the green pastures....
So the holidays have begun for me, with work not in sight till January 11th--yay! In the meantime, the vacation period entails meeting lots of people, listening to tons of Spanish (and hopefully understanding most of it..), eating tons of food and celebrating amongst strangers. ;) The next few days will involve lots of baking and tidying around the house. One of my flatmates is going home to Tenerife for the duration of her vacation, and the other doesn't benefit from the extended days off, since she works in a supermarket that is open almost every day except the actual stat days....how sad.
Well here's to a few weeks of decent weather (crossing my fingers really tightly...), good company and fun (overwhelming too) experiences!!
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