View from a classroom in Oliva: My iPhone does not do it justice.
School is going well. The kids learned about Thanksgiving last week. In reality, Thanksgiving day passed pretty quickly for me (despite being reminded of the holiday each day in class). It was hard for me to be away, especially since Thanksgiving is a holiday I enjoy more than Christmas since all my family gets together for it. The kids enjoyed me trying to explain pumpkin pie and candied yams. I guess marshmallows are not as popular here and especially not popular over a vegetable. Each day I talked about Thanksgiving, I was reminded of how much I would miss by not being home. Oh well, this is my one time to be in a different country for the holidays. Jerez is starting to look and feel festive:
Can’t wait until these come on at night
On Monday, I watched a very important football game in Spain. Unfortunately it wasn’t the World Cup, but it was still pretty great: The Clásico: Barcelona vs. Real Madrid. The Clásico is as big of a deal in Spain as the Super Bowl is in the U.S. These two rivals only play each other twice a year. We found a bar to watch the game while we could still sit and order a beer.
Barcelona won. The score was 5 – 0. I was watching it with a friend who was a Madrid supporter. I felt bad for him, while at the same time I didn’t care. It was similar to watching Mizzou and KU. Sure, I usually have a preferred team based on sport, but sometimes I just feel like it’s a win-win situation. I don’t bleed football like the locals here, but I do enjoy watching.
On Tuesday I got a haircut. Got a fun new cut at a salon here in Jerez. I was forewarned about the Spanish mullet. GLAD I escaped that style. Our landlord took us to a salon where she goes. The stylist gave me tons of layers, but I like it. A needed change for my upcoming trip to Berlin. I have a six day weekend this weekend (puente) and I’m off to visit a VERY good friend in Germany. Never been there, but I know I will be enjoying some schnitzel, beer, holiday markets and snow. So much snow.