Halloween:
            Although there was no school and I traveled to Germany for Halloween, children still celebrated the day before. A few decorations had been put up around the school the previous weeks, and we did art projects and learned Halloween vocabulary. On the day before Halloween, instead of having afternoon classes, the school had an assembly. As part of the decorating the weeks before, the children painted and carved pumpkins, as well as, made witch’s brooms. On the day of the celebration awards were given to the best witch’s broom. In addition, Pepe, the English professor made Oreo and licorice spiders and the children read Witch’s Potion poems they had created. After the assembly the smaller children watched a movie and the older ones had the afternoon free to play outside. From my understanding Halloween was celebrated similarly in Spain as what I experienced in Germany. People dressed up but mostly as something scary, dead, or zombified. The word on the street is that “Caraval” is when people really dress up in the typical fun, crazy, slutty costumes.

 

 

 

 

Magosto
            A few weekends later we had a very similar afternoon at school in celebration of Magosto. Magosto is an Ourense holiday that celebrates the chestnut. The holiday usually involves churizos ( Spanish sausages) and roasted chestnuts, both of which we had at school for lunch, and then spent the afternoon playing games. However, during the weekend the celebration typically takes place in the mountains. So Saturday morning a few friends and I made the trek with our wine, our chorizo and our chestnuts and headed up the mountain. Halfway up we stopped and shared a bottle of wine (you know, to lighten the load). When we got there, the mountain was filled with students, bonfires and booze. We enjoyed lunch overlooking the city the wandered around making friends with a few locals. We spent the entire day visiting, drinking, eating, dancing, wandering around the mountain, and practicing REAL LIFE Spanish. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Thanksgiving

            While thanksgiving isn’t a very celebrated holiday in Spain, a few of us auxiliaries decided it wasn’t going to stop us from feasting. On Wednesday night about 10 or so gathered for a potluck style Thanksgiving.  There was music and wine, drinking games and food. Just like any normal thanksgiving celebration. But because we had a Canadian, an Irish man, a few English girls and some Americans, it was a hodgepodge of food. We enjoyed poutine, sweet potatoes, chicken, couscous, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, deviled eggs, corn, green beans and of course apple and pumpkin pie. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas-

            Christmas is arguably the best time of year (despite feeling broke, cold and fat)…Spain was no different. Everything was decorated in Christmas lights, stores were offering their Holiday discounts, and a giant tree was put up in the city center. In school things were very similar to America, as well. Children were practicing their skits and songs for the annual Holiday performance, they listened less than normal, and everything was covered in glitter and glue from the many Christmas crafts. While many of the things felt the same, there were a few notable difference about Christmas in Spain, the most important being the day of the Three Magic Kings (Tres Reyes Magos). Santa Claus (Papa Noel) is a fairly new addition to the Christmas tradition in Spain. Originally, the three kings brought gifts on January 6^th.  Now, most children receive gifts both from Santa Clause on Christmas and the Three Kings on January 6^th.  I informed my teacher that while they are not celebrated specifically in the US, they are a part of the traditional story of the birth of Christ so we aren’t totally out of the loop, in an effort to prove I wasn’t an ignorant American…. then he asked if I knew their names (they had names?!). Another difference I found was that instead of hanging stockings to be filled by Santa they leave their shoes either under the tree or on a shelf to be filled with a toy.  Food seems to be fairly similar with a turkey dinner and lost of desserts but here in Galicia seafood is also very popular around Christmas.

            In class I taught my kids the important things such as how to write a letter the Santa telling him what you want, how to sing a few songs (that was painful), and of course Ugly Sweater parties! On the last Friday before break we had a Christmas program. This included the songs they learned in English, Spanish and Gallego, skits, recorder and xylophone performances, and a lip sync by a few of the 6^th grade girls. Adorable right?...not so much. Now don’t get me wrong, I loved the concept. What I didn’t love is that there are only 71 students and the program was 3 hours long!! But to be fair, my misery was my own fault…

The night before a few of the other auxiliaries and I had a Christmas party, which included everything from puppychow and a gift exchange to excessive drinking and a Santa costume. Of course we went to the bars around 1 am and I excused myself from the club around 4:30am, as my professor was picking me up at 9:30. The next morning I had to rush to finalize all my packing for x-mas because I was leaving right after school. Because of this I didn’t have time to eat breakfast…therefore the combination of a Christmas hangover, hunger, thirst, three hours of elementary students’ singing and recorder playing did not sit well.
            All that being said, I’m still happy I was able to experience a Spanish Christmas program. And finally at 3 we were able to eat lunch. We had prawns, ham and chocolate. Because my flight left early, I had to miss out on beers with the teachers, but I suppose it was worth missing since I was getting to go home for the American holidays!