September to December
Sorry I have been a bit lapse with my travel blog, I have had quite a busy few months though. I have moved back to Salamanca and am working as a teacher for children and adults. I am still learning Spanish although at home with a self-study course and not back at the university. Despite that, I am still living in the same residencia “Pinzones”, with my friends.
This is a typical lesson plan and lesson for me.
As most people presume, there are lots of fiestas in Spain and the end of the year was not short of them. A few of the best, in my residencia, included a ‘back to school’ fiesta and of course, a Halloween party!
During November, my friends Holly, Pippa, Mercedes and I all went for a day trip to Madrid, we saw the plaza mayor and took the subway but I have to confess the real reason we went was to shop!
I was also lucky enough during November for my lovely Calafornia girl Jeanette (JD) that I met in Cambridge, to come and visit me! We had a lovely weekend together, with lots of tapas and fun.
Towards the end of November my best friend in Spain amazingly got married! The bachelorette/hen party was angelic and the wedding was even better! Holly also bought a terrapin called Timmy Pepe Juan Diego or Mr.T for short. He’s super cute!
During December, the sad time arrived again to say goodbye to lots of people, who’s term was coming to an end. Two of my lovely friends Elena and Yasmin threw a Christmas dinner party for us all as a chance to say goodbye to all our girl friends. We did a secret Santa and it was a great night.
At the end of December, it is a Salamanca tradition for all the students to have a mock New Year (as most of the students will not be together for actual new year). This was an incredible night with over 40,000 students celebrating. The plaza mayor and most of the streets off it were packed full of people but luckily my friends and I secured a spot right in the middle for the countdown at midnight and the fireworks and music. At midnight on actual new year it is a Spanish custom to eat 12 grapes in the 12 seconds of the countdown, but because Nochevieja isn’t real New Year, grapes are substituted for sweets!
Noche Vieja Video!
2011 was a really great year and I hope that 2012, the year of the dragon will be really fabulous for everyone too!
¡Feliz Año Nuevo!
