Sofia Somewhere

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 :)

As the city has getting ready for Christmas, so has my school. We had a little belén  and a Christma tree set up by the main entrance. This December, the school also had a small Christmas card making contest. The cards could either be in Spanish, English or French (which is the other language taught in the school). There were a lot of really nice ones and several extra creative ones. Strangely, there was also one Valentine's day card and one Grandmother's day card.

As Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevadas, during winter time, it is cold . The temperature has been getting lower and lower, though some days we're blessed with relatively warm weather (but still cold), around 14º-16ºC. It's normal now for it to stay below 11ºC, and so far I've only encountered -1ºC for the negatives, and just the once. On particularly nice days the sun comes out, and it's strong so we get a little bit of warmth. But winter also means the start of Christmastime and it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas here in Granada. We had been seeing the Christmas lights being set up all over the city for about a month now, but they lit up for the first time around December 6. (And they'll light up each night until January 6, the Feast of the Three Kings). All the major roads and the bigger side streets have their own design of Christmas lights, and they really are very pretty. They make the city quite festive.

After exploring Sacromonte on Saturday morning, we headed back to the city center and had a hot chocolate break in a charming jazz café, Bohemia . I had to head home a little early unfortunately due to a stomach ache. But come evening  I was feeling much better and Lyle and I cooked some nilagang baka . We found pechay at the mercado and we were able to make the dish taste great. :)

On Saturday morning we headed out to explore Sacromonte , one of the barrios of the city, best known as the gitano or gypsy neighborhood. Sacromonte gets its name from Sacromonte Abbey , an abbey which stands at the top of Mount Valparaiso . Valparaiso was the old name of Sacromonte. The name was changed to Sacromonte ("holy mountain") because of the holy relics of San Cecilio which were allegedly found in the Santas Cuevas (Holy Caves) in Valparaiso. San Cecilio also happens to be Granada's first bishop and patron Saint, and on his feast day there are huge celebrations most especially in Sacromonte. It's quite easy to get to Sacromonte; the "entrance" is on the  Camino del Sacromonte , and the start of the road is marked by a statue of  Chorrohumo , who described himself as "King of the Gypsies." Chorrohumo was a gypsy patriarch who guided travelers around Sacromonte telling them stories of the gypsies and of the Alhambra. Chorrohum...

This past weekend was a long weekend or as they call it in Spain, un puente (literally, "a bridge"). Monday, the 8th, was a holiday - the Feast of the Immaculate Conception or la Inmaculada -  and it was an extra special puente for the Spaniards since Saturday, the 6th, was a holiday as well - Día de la Constitución Española  (Constitution Day) or la Constitución for short. As the name suggests, it's the day when Spain approved its new constitution marking the country's transition to a constitutional monarchy and democracy. Since the two holidays are celebrated each year, this special long weekend even has a name: Puente de la Inmaculada . If the 6th falls on a Monday and the 8th on a Wednesday (or a Wednesday and Friday respectively), they get a 5 day weekend. I'm not sure what happens though if the 6th falls on a Tuesday and the 8th on a Thursday! It's a pretty festive weekend; a lot of families go out of town (Granada in particular was packed with visitor...

So yesterday was Thanksgiving, and for one of my English classes I did the presentation on Philippine holidays and festivals since we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in the Philippines. To introduce what I was going to talk about, the teacher went on to ask the class what day it was. (Note that I alternate Week A & B so I see this class every other week, but I didn't see them 2 weeks ago since they had a conference to attend). Teacher: So what day is it today?  Student 1: November 27.  Teacher: Ok, yes, but it's the 4th Thursday of the month. What happens?  Student 2: Sofi comes! We all had a good laugh and it was a fun way to start the class. And after my presentation they all gave me a round of applause which was surprising, but nice. It felt good to be appreciated, especially by the older students. Although Spain doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, I do have an American flatmate. So a couple days back Elisa and her friend Katie planned to host a Thanksgivin...