Sofia Somewhere

Sorry for the hiatus but the holidays got the best of me and I spent the last couple of days visiting friends and relatives, having the most wonderful conversations, relaxing, and eating, of course. I'm back in Granada now; back at work and giving private classes and writing up entries for my blog. So without further ado, the next part of my holiday trip: For our next La Riojan adventure we headed to another nearby San Millán de la Cogolla , another nearby town in La Rioja. The village has twin monasteries: el Monasterio de Suso   y   Yuso , which is the birthplace of Castillian Spanish! Below is a replica of the books where the first words in Castillian Spanish were written. (The original ones are in the archives of Madrid). It was another fairly interesting tour - the parts Mar translated for us at least. It was a cold and winy day (as it was most our whole stay in La Rioja). At one point we looked out to the courtyard and thought it was rain...

After school let out and my roommates jet-setted off to their own holiday adventures, I settled down and waited for my sister Angela to arrive in Granada. She arrived on the afternoon of the 23rd and we took it easy making our own cozy Christmas celebration. After some last minute shopping on the afternoon of the 23rd and the morning of the 24th and Skyping with our family, we bought some groceries then settled down to hibernate in the apartment (since most everything would be closed for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day). For our Nochebuena , Ange cooked lamb chops and I made some mashed potatoes and then we paired it off with a nice bottle of red wine. We went to mass on Christmas morning, had some jamón and queso for lunch while watching a movie, and then had a big juicy steak for dinner. Just a simple celebration (especially compared to Christmas back home in the Philippines); I was mostly happy just to have some family to be with for Christmas. Christmas in our PJs :)