For Scotlaaaand!

The last time I checked, I'm still in Galicia and not Scotland, but surely the Galicians are down with the Scots because they share a Celtic heritage. My roommate is a wee Scottish lass, thus last Saturday we celebrated Robert Burns Day. It's a patriotic day for the Scots, in honor of their most famous poet. So here in "Little Scotland" Stacey & Lauren prepared some traditional dishes for our friends to try. Meeps and tatties (carrots and mashed potatoes) with canned haggis sent direct from Scotland, all covered in a delectable mustard sauce. For dessert was homemade shortbread in a fruity, homemade whipped cream. And because it's Scottish, just about everything was "flavored" with whiskey. I admit I had my doubts about the tastiness of haggis, having sort of an idea of what it actually contains. Au contraire, everything was delicious!

Everyone decked out in red, black, and tartan!

To finish off a Scottish weekend, Lauren, Stacey, and  I watched Braveheart. Freedoooooom!! 

Guess it's time for an update. Things have been happening, but nothing tremendously out-of-the-ordinary. Lugo feels comfortable. This weekend I went shopping for "rebaixas" sales. We spent 8 hours in the mall. I was dragging by the end, but made it out alive, having spent only 21 euros on 3 items. Score!

Last week I hosted a bilingual game night. Hopefully everyone else had as much fun as I did, and we can make it a weekly tradition. There were 9 of us, about half Galician and half English-speakers. Looking up party games online produced some interesting results, including the egg game. Five people get eggs, and you tell them 4 are hard-boiled and 1 is raw. Then they have to crack it on their forehead one by one to see who got the raw egg. Ironically, only the Spaniards participated in this game. The joke is that they are all hard-boiled. Whoever goes last wins if (s)he is brave enough to crack it on his/her head. So wearing plastic bags as bibs was all for nothing. Hopefully they weren't too disappointed.

In addition, we played hide-n-seek. In my 2 bedroom piso. A classic, although obviously after one round we ran out of hiding spaces.

Aaaaaaaaand Gallego class is finally over. 8,75 final grade. Toma ya! Y eso que falté bastante jajaja.

Guess it's good to be back

To be honest, waking up in Lugo after spending 2 dazzling weeks in Donostia gave me kind of a bajón (the blues). Because Donostia is like Disney World. Except unlike Disney World, you can imagine yourself living there long-term and it being just as wonderful. Not only do I lack a "family" here in Lugo, but my best American friend is still out of town, and my flatmate is also out too. Yeah, I cherish my alone time, but it was getting to be more lonely than enjoyable.

But last night was a good time, because I did 2 things I haven't done since I was in America.
1. Play wii.
2. Drive a car.
With some of my Spanish friends we had dinner and then did Wii singing and dancing. Almost all of the songs were in Spanish, and  I only knew one of them (too pop for me, I guess), so I ended up doing one in English and one in Spanish of which I had no clue. Classic. On the way home, my friend randomly suggested I drive home. And he was serious. Automatic transmissions are really uncommon in Spain, but luckily for me he has one. Next step in adapting to España is learning to drive a stick-shift. :)

Today was my first day back at school. It was actually reassuring. First of all, to have obligations isn't so icky, especially since I only work one day this week. Secondly, all the teachers were in a good mood, despite vacation being over. Everyone was giving besos and saying "Feliz año," even the teachers I don't really talk to. A lot of them wondered "How did you get back?!" thinking I went home to the -50*C temperatures of eastern America. But alas, I came grudgingly from the warmer Donostia. Now that I'm back to "the usual" in Lugo, I guess I'm pretty glad. 

Urte berri on! New Year's in Donostia

Seeing the clock strike midnight on New Year's Eve tends to be a family affair in Spain. Maybe it's because they're used to eating dinner late with their families anyway, and partying all night with friends. Whatever the reason, I'm just glad I had a family to count down with in San Sebastián. The night started off by once again, caroling at my host family's door. They must've known to expect something, because they answered the door with cameras in hand. By 9:30 we were all settled for a family dinner of salmon, oysters, and what I shall term "crumpets," with plenty of champagne to start off the festivities.

We had a little extra time between dinner and midnight, so four of us played Parcheesi (I would've lost if we had finished) and Marga prepared the grapes for the magic moment. And by prepare, I mean sort out 12 grapes for each plate, and not remove the seeds. At 11:55, the seven of us huddled around the TV like I imagine most families were doing, and with the sound of every bell supposedly ate 1 grape. I say supposedly because Lila started laughing and couldn't finish; Amaya was making sure she wasn't choking; Luis was too busy taking photos; and I was surprised by the seeds and thus had a few grapes in my mouth when the chimes stopped. But they were all at least in the process of being eaten, so I consider it a success!

After Spaniards everywhere (I mean, in Spain) finished their grapes, the fireworks began. Not organized, community-sponsored fireworks, but random people from seemingly every building shot off some sort of firework. It was both impressive and nerve-wracking. Cool because there were fireworks, but alarming because there was no control whatsoever. In fact, the roof of a house in a nearby town/neighborhood Trintxerpe caught on fire probably due to fireworks. Article from El País

While other young Spaniards (including my bro and his girlfriend) continued the party in all-night events called cotilliones, I was in bed by 2 AM. Good decision for the new year.