Second Christmas Break Blog

Hey everyone, I hope you had an awesome New Year's Eve!! I yet again have a quick internet connection, so i'm uploading more daily updates combined into one big post.

enjoy!


Weds, Dec 31st
New Year’s Eve, in Spain! We spent most of the day lounging around, eating, and wandering outside a bit. We went to the royal palace, and saw the old downtown area. That evening, Daniel ran a 10K, and so we went downtown to watch him pass by. There were something like 40,000 participants, and many of them dressed up in fun costumes for the race. I got some great pictures of the sprinting smurfs, a running case of beer, plenty of Scotsmen, and lots of other very inventive costumes. We then walked back to the apartment, through the streets of Madrid, which had been cleared of car traffic for the race (very eerie). After that, we headed down to Abuela’s (Hope’s mom- Abuela= grandma in Spanish). She treated us incredibly well, and filled us beyond what I thought humanly possible with food. She had roasted an entire suckling pig, and we ate pretty much the whole thing. At midnight, the Spanish tradition is to eat 12 grapes in the 12 seconds after midnight, and if you succeed, you’ll have good luck for the rest of the year. I, of course, succeeded (I have a large mouth). By 2:30, pretty much everyone was beat, and couldn’t eat another bite, so we hit the hay.


Thurs, Jan 1st
I personally slept in until about 1. I was not, however, the last one up! Still full from the previous meal, I skipped breakfast and lunch. We had been invited by Abuela to one of her favorite restaurants in the outskirts of Madrid, so, we all got dressed up, and met the entire family out at this restaurant. The food there was also fantastic, although no one could eat very much. Afterwards, we went out for coffee at this HUGE restaurant in the area, which used to be in Franco’s personal hunting grounds, so now its surrounded by a huge nature reserve with lots of deer and wild boars, which walk right up to the fence. Went home afterwards, and packed.

Fri, Jan 2nd
Got up early, (8) packed up BUP, and got on the road to France. It took almost 10 hours to get up to southwest France. There, we met up with some old friends, who used to be our neighbors in MD, and who’s kids have become my little sisters. We got in late, had a fantastic late dinner, and a really nice reunion. (the girls are all grown up now, it makes me feel really old...)

Sat, Jan 3rd
Got to sleep in a little, had a nice breakfast, and then went out into the back yard to clear out the bushes and trees. The Ras’ live in a huge old farmhouse that they’ve restored, and still have a lot of yard, so, after sitting in BUP all the previous day, it felt really nice to be outside, and active. I also got to play with fire, which always makes me happy. I didn’t really make a New Year’s resolution, but I figured, if I had made one to be more active in 2009, I had already done my entire resolution just on Saturday. Stayed up for a late dinner (and s’mores,) and got to bed late.

Sun, Jan 4th
Slept in a little, groaned my way outta bed (I was much sorer than I thought,) and made my way downstairs. We decided to go out to a couple little old French towns in the area to be tourists. It was nice and cold, so we bundled up, and wandered around, and got some great pics.

I'll be home either the 5th or the 6th, and will most likely be able to post pictures then, although I am going to try to post them now... we'll see..

-seany