Spain with the familia

First off sorry for my lack of blog the past few weeks, first I was doing nothing then I was really busy...
So here is whats been going on.

December 18th:
The biggest thing of note was that the kids had their Christmas show for their parents and it was adorable.  First was the 2-4 year old show, then the 5 year old show.  I got to see both and I was so glad.  The interesting thing about Spain is that Christmas really is about Jesus' birth.  And even in a nonreligious school, they sing about it and decorate with nativity scenes. They also have some interesting story about people in ships and natives giving them different sea food because they can't find any fish (kinda made me think of Thanksgiving a little).

All in all the shows were so adorable and the kids had the cutest costumes.  And I'll just tel you, when I'm a mom and my kids have something like that, I'm gunna be a mess (as in I'll be bawling my eyes out haha).

December 19th:
We had our staff Christmas party for the school.  So Alice, Aisha, and I got all dressed up and went to the party.  It was wonderful.  Lots of interesting food, some I liked, some I did not.  Unlimited drinks. And dancing with a bunch of teachers and workers from the school.  I got to meet some new people which was pretty cool, and I used this party as a celebration for my own birthday.

The party went until 4am and then Alice and I went into town with some of the teachers.

December 20th:
When we got to town, everything was either closed or had a super long line, but we eventually went into this one bar where we found our friends.
Soon after my brother texted me saying he was at the bus station, so Alice and I went to pick him up and then we went home.

I slept until about 12ish and talked with Aisha and Alice until we decided to get pizza at round 3pm and finally Matthew woke up.

Later on I took Matthew into Almeria and we walked around and came back to my flat to have dinner.

December 21st:
On Monday I had work, so I left Matthew on his own to figure out something to do... turns out he did nothing. So I had him meet me after school and we rode into Almeria with my friend Maria.  We went to find the hotel he would be staying in (because my parents had not arrived yet).  We found it, checked in and then found a place to get some beer and tapas.  Then I had to catch the last bus home so we parted ways for he night.

December 22nd:
THE LAST DAY OF  SCHOOL!
It was a short day so the schedule was pretty screwed up, but basically I just got to hang out with the five year olds all day.  We watched the student teacher soccer and basketball games and soon enough it was time to go.

So I met Matthew in town and we figured out his bus situation because he had to leave that night :(

Then we waited for my parents arrival from Madrid.  They were driving so it was supposed to take about 5 hours... supposed to... Turns out the were heading to the wrong "La Perla" (their hotel) and it set them an hour off track.  But eventually Matthew and I found them as we were looking for them on the street because they were still a little lost.

After they got their luggage to the hotel we went to a restaurant and got some more beer and tapas and all too soon had to say goodbye to Matthew.

Then my parents drove me home and went back to their hotel.

(Come to find out when they left my flat they got a little lost and ended up in a tiny spot and had to turn around very carefully... this was the first misadventure in the car.)

December 23rd:
Eventually my parents made it to my flat around 11am and I made them breakfast, we packed lunch, and headed to the coast.  I took them to Carboneras and Mojacar.  Along the way we took a lot of pictures and they took a lot of selfies.  We saw some amazing views and listened to my dad talk about patatas fritas forever haha.  We headed back to my flat when it was starting to get dark and made dinner.

Then we went to a flamenco show.  The way there was... interesting.  First siri took us too the wrong place and we had to make a 10 point turn to get out of a tight road.  Then I tried to get us to the right place and ended up getting us to a sketchy part of town where we drove past a bunch of people who were listening to really loud music and had a massive fire blazing. Scary.  Finally we made it and we walked to the Flamenco place.  Luckily we got seats and were able to enjoy the show.

Then we drove back to the flat and went to bed soon after.

December 24th:
I took my parents to Granada this day so they could see somewhere more exciting than Almeria.  First we had lunch and then we walked around and saw the sites and did some shopping.  When it came time to find the car, we had a bit of a struggle.  But luckily I had looked at some of the streets on the way in so we found it after not took much looking.  Then we drove home.

When we got to the flat we had dinner and played some card games then watch some TV.

December 25th:
Christmas!
This was our chill day.  We opened the few presents we had, ate breakfast, took a walk, and drove to the beach.  Nothing to exciting, but I was so glad to have my parents here with me for Christmas.  Once we got back from the beach we made Christmas dinner, ate and played some more games.

  

December 26th:

This was our Almeria day.  First we went to lunch at a Moroccan restaurant that I had been to before then I took them to the Alcazaba (a moorish fortress in Almeria).  After that we came back to the flat to relax, because we had an early start the next day.

December 27th:
We woke up at 3am.
To drive to Madrid.
So we packed up and hit the rode at 3:30am. My parents were on standby for a flight at 10:30ish so we had to get to the Airport before then and drop the car off.

Once we were there they got their boarding passes, and I said a temporary goodbye (because the odds we not likely that they'd get on the plane). Then I waited for them to return.  After about 45 minutes I got the text that they made it on the flight :(  It was bittersweet because I knew they needed to make the flight, but I also really wanted them to stay with me in Madrid.

So I gathered my things and headed out in search of my hostel.

And that is where my next post will pick up, with my solo adventures in Madrid and Valencia.

Overall I was so happy to have my family here.  And although it made staying here without them even harder, I know being alone on Christmas would have been infinitely more difficult.  Love you guys!

Until next time...