It wasn’t until Brittany and I were sitting across the table from each other attacking gifts for Kaitee or Jon with Santa Christmas Paper and tape that I shockingly remembered, “I didn’t get to do this last year.”

It’s lovely being home for Christmas after missing a year.  All the little traditions seem more important, each of my cousins more precious, and each Carol more Beautifully sung.  I had the honor of leading Christmas Carols today at the Webster Party.  It happened a bit randomly, but a few of the smaller cousins were eager to perform and hold the microphone.  Gabriel with his song made up on the spot… beautifully sung, but the lyrics were a little random. And the Brooks twins coming to hold my hands and wanting to sing.  Finally we decided on a few kid favorites and all of the small ones flocked around the mic wanting to hear their voice over the speakers.  A Chaotic yet precious memory.  My experience last year was irreplaceable, and I was blessed to be in Germany with Martina and her Family, but it is good to be home.

I looked at her, a little perplexed.  “It’s the headline of my new blog post.”

Ah man, she beat me to it, the girl who rolled her eyes at the idea of keeping a blog going beat me to the punch.  So now it looks like I’ll have to update my blog again.

Now that I’m not in Spain, I’m going to have to remake large sections of my blog, possibly rename it, but it was good therapy to keep it going when I did, so I’ll keep it going.

So this one goes to Kaitee, my lovely little sister, whom I love dearly, and is pushing me to keep my promise.  I love you sis!

The next game I watched was the Spain Switzerland Game. This is where things got a little crazy for me.  Now, the USA had already played and tied with England, but everyone here was telling me it was a fluke.  But watching the Spain team lose, who I thought would be  a shoe in, was weird.  France was the next team to lose, and today, Germany lost to Serbia. I watched this one in Piscis, surrounded by German Erasmus students, all with their faces painted, and a few even wearing Liederhosen.

Getting home from the game, I found myself in a predicament.  The USA was playing Slovenia at the time, and I couldn’t find the game on TV, so I found a live radio broadcast online, and listened to the game alone.  I’m turning into a futbol fan as I speak.  First half, Slovenia was up by two points, and I was thinking, ‘Well, that’s it, it’s over.” But no, oh no, no, no.  We came back and ended up tying the game 2-2.   At this point during the games, The US is actually doing ‘better’ than some of the top European teams. I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of the games turns out!

It’s sad coming to the end of the year here.  I love my friends here, they feel like family, and I once I leave, I don’t know when I’ll see them again.  The best I can do is to enjoy the time I have left here, which is what I have been doing.

Not Cap de la Nao, but it's American counterpart, Cape Flattery

Today, for example, I went into Xavía (or Jábea) with Juan; Juan’s girlfriend, Yulia; Christian; and Alexis, a friend from the school.  Xavía is famous for its tourist beaches and beautiful bays.  Alexis, who was our ‘guide’, took us a little farther south to begin with to see Cap de la Nao, which is one of the Eastern most points of Valencia.  It was like seeing Cape Flattery’s Spanish twin.  So cool!  After, we went to a very rocky beach nearby that was in a small cove.  Yulia and I both agreed that it was so incredibly exotic, somewhere you might expect to wake up in a dream, yet here we were in real life.

It’s interesting while traveling you have these moments where you only expected them out of a dream, and yet there you are facing them.  For me, I experience these awesome moments, then I see someone’s laundry hanging from the fourth floor window, and I’m reminded that my dream is somebody’s day-to-day life.  And after talking to my students, I realize I get to live their dream when I’m home.

I guess that’s something I’ll have to remember when I get is how exotic and strange my day-to-day life might be for others.  The fact that maple syrup is at our table for our ‘huge American Breakfasts’ or I might say ‘soccer’ instead of ‘football’ are both things my students and friends find incredible.

I’ll be home in a week. I’m not ready to leave yet. The thing is, I’m more then enough ready to start something new and challenging.  I have all these new ideas floating through my head about what I might want to do when I get home. I miss keeping up with my family and friends, and feel like I’ve missed out on so much of what’s been going on.  And I’m forgetting vocabulary.  But going home means leaving my friends here.  It almost feels like when I go home, I’ll be leaving home.

However, only the idea of returning to my beloved Gandia could entice me to spend another year apart from my even more beloved Family.

SOOOOO, while I don’t know what I’ll be doing, where I’ll be living, or if I’ll even have a job…. I do know where I’ll be for Thanksgiving 2010, and I will be getting Better-Than-S*x cake for my birthday. So, how do you like that?

The scary part  is that I don’t know when will be the next time I’ll be back here in Spain or in Europe for that matter, so I had better make the most of my last 2 months while I can.  I’ll honestly miss it here.

La Mezcleta in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento in Valencia. This particular day was the best!

Fallas, the biggest holiday in Valencia, starts celebrations on March 1st with the first of 19 Mezcletas.  A Mezcleta is a huge firecrackers demonstration that is usually in the city center and is always at 2 PM.  I was able to see it 3 different time from 3 different spots, and it is pretty cool!  It is so loud that they suggest to leave your small children home to protect their hearing.  The only problem is that everyone else wants to create their own Mezcletitas afterwords, so they light firecrackers all day irregardless of time and place.  After a day of this, I was completely on edge. I understand why some people leave the area during this particular holiday.

This was the winning Fallas of the week.

The word ‘Fallas’ is a Valencian word for ‘bonfire’ and that is really the big focus of the holiday.  It began as a huge bonfire to burn nonreligious articles (think Renaissance book burnings). Now, the different Fallas groups build huge statues commenting on current local or world issues out of wood, paper, and other flammable materials.  There is a week long celebration, fireworks, La Mezcleta, and a contest to see which is the best.

On Thursday night, which was the second to the last night, there is a huge fireworks demonstration along the river, it was pretty intense, and the streets were absolutely packed. It’s called the Nit del Foc… o Noche de Fuego.  After the last rocket blasts off and the crowd has stopped cheering the street parties begin.   I had gone this night with Christian, his birthday was the next day,  and we found ourselves in a street that was absolutely jam-packed with party people.  There was a DJ and lights, I can only imagine what the neighbors think.

Nit del Foc

The crowded streets besides the river after the show.

The Flowered Virgin and her fan club.

What would any Spanish Holiday without some sort of tribute to the Virgin Mary?  In the Plaza de la Virgin, which is behind St. Mary’s Cathedral, all of the Falleras (Falla’s Princess)  bring flowers as a tribute and place them on a huge wooden structure  in the center of the plaza.  This is the only wooden structure in Fallas that is not cremated at the end.

Calle de Luces, Street of Lights

My favorite part of it all was the Street of Lights.  In the Rusafa Barrio, there are some of the largest Fallas, and they have draped the streets in lights, have music playing, and there are a ton of vendors there too.   For me, to see those huge structures in the streets was otherworldly… like I was living in a cartoon. But with the lights, and then kids running around with bubble guns, it was absolutely magical!

Of course the big moment, to see something burn!!  I’ll admit to being a bit of a pyromaniac, so of course, I was looking forward to this all week.  When Friday arrived, I was pretty beat.  I had been in the city three time already by then, and had been out till 7 am the night  before. But, my friend Sydney was coming into town to see me, and to see la Crema (burning)  so I got back on the train and made it to the city one last time.  After finding Sydney, we met with my friends Noah and Vincent to eat (Chinese… typical Valencian food, right?), and then see the burning!!  Vincent has some  friends who are Falleros, so we went to see this one burn.  We watched as they took pictures of the group, poked holes in the structures to ensure it would burn quickly and dramatically, and then we waited for the arrival of the firemen.  Once they arrived, it was time to start the show.

From the original to the destruction to the bonfire.

The week of Fallas was something I’ve never seen or experienced before in my life.  Something that represents just what Valencia is.  Over all the people are easy going,  but maybe it’s because they get a chance to air  out their grievances, and then burn it to put it behind them.

Yesterday my roommate Juan asked me if there was an expression in English to say you, emotionally, want 2 things, but can only have one.  At the time I couldn’t think of a very good one… To want the best of both worlds, to have your cake and eat it too, to be of two minds… I’m not sure if there is one particular expression to describe this.  I told him however the poet can best describe it.  Anyways, I knew exactly what he meant. It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.

I still don’t know what I want to do next year.  I was pretty sure I was coming home and going to eat Turkey for Thanksgiving with my family, take my cousins trick-or-treating, and eat a big ol slice of Better-than-S** Cake on my birthday. I would love to do all those things, more than you might ever imagine.

Things are now confusing.  I was told last month that I would be considered last as a 3rd year applicant, and it seemed impossible that I would be placed back at the EOI de Gandia.  So, I had decided to go home and stay… However, today I went into the office to repay a loan from last month, and Virginia, the school’s Director, asked me if I wanted to return to the school next year.  Apparently they can request me, if I get the job.   I told her about the email I had already received, and she immediately got on the phone.  They want me back.  If I am accepted, and if I can get re-assigned to this school… I might stay here another year.

But I don’t know. I was really looking forward to spending time at home, eating good food with my Mom and sisters, and shopping in stores that carry clothes that fit.  I want the best of both worlds.  I want my Better-Than-S** Cake, and eat Paella too.  I want to go hiking through Mt Rainier’s glorious forests and afterwards sunbathe on the soft sands of the Mediterranean.

This is what I’ve decided… as of now I guess.  I don’t even know if I can come back, and it doesn’t hurt to try.  I’m going to submit my application this week.  The teachers and students all want me back, and I would feel bad if I didn’t reapply.  However, my parents are coming on Thursday, so I will have some very good advice and support on whatever I decide to do from them… I hope.  Their opinions are the ones I will take into account.

I’ve said this before… Only God knows where I’ll be next year…at least somebody does, cause I haven’t a clue.

I’ve mostly been hanging out.  Friday night I watched both new Batman’s at the Fort with Mar, Natalia and Christian.   Saturday Pierre had invited some of his classmates over and he made Crepes for everybody.  So good! I’m glad I live with roommates who cook.

This week is going to be kind of slow at work.  I only work Monday and Wednesday, and being exam week, I had only one class Monday.  My clases particulares were canceled today, so I’ve been hanging out at the apartment, getting my photos published… when you have time to post a new album, you know not a ton is going on.

In good news, I think I’m losing weight!  It was the first thing Brittany pointed out when she got off the plane, and a student pointed it out yesterday.  It was so sweet of her!  Monday was also International Womens Day, which I would normally ignore, but my roommates both wished me a good day. Things are slow, but not horrible.  Just not a whole lot going on… however then next few weeks are bound to be crazy.

Brittany Sitting in the warm Spanish Sun.

Saturday, I took her to the ‘Mercadillo,’ or flea market, where I knew she would have a great time.  At the mercadillo you can find just about anything you could ever want or need.  Suitcases, clothes, jewelry, car parts, perfume.  Some legit, some not so legit.  There was even a booth of bike parts and clothes!  I stopped by to check things out.  We were going to go straight to the mall after, but we took the wrong bus, so we ended up back at home.  At least we got to ride the big accordion bus.  We came home, ate, took a quick shower, napped, and then took the correct bus back to the mall.  We didn’t do a ton of shopping, but did enjoy our time at H&M.  I was unfortunately feeling feverish and cranky, and combined with being an impatient shopper, I wasn’t a very good buddy for Brittany.  Sorry Sis.

Sunday was a ‘recovery’ day, a day of rest.  A chance to sleep in, eat good food, get better settled in the Apartment, and get to know my roommates a little better.

La Mezcleta in Valencia

On Monday, back to Valencia to actually explore Valencia.  We met my friend Noah for some tapas and then Churros con Chocolate.  So good!!  After the food we went into the Plaza del Ayuntamiento to see the Mezcleta, which are the fireworks used to celebrate Fallas.  Everyday till the 19th of March, they will light 5 minutes off of the loudest firecrackers in this plaza, to the cheers of the city.  A man showed us how to keep our jaws unlocked to protect them from the sound.  It worked!  but so loud….  Brittany and I walked all over the city, trying to find museums, but discovered instead that all museums are closed on Mondays.  Not good planning on my part.  When we came home, we went straight to Christian, Mar and Laura’s flat for a nice steak dinner we’d been planning forever!  Nice big juicy steaks!!

My sissy and I at the Denia Castle

Today has been pretty busy as well.  Brittany and I went with Anna this morning to Denia where we saw the castle on the hill there.  Afterwards, Anna treated us to some very traditional, very delicious Paella and other types of Spanish food.  So good…!!  Unfortunately, Brittany has a bit of a cold, so hopefully tomorrow we’ll take it easy so she can enjoy her last day in Spain healthy, and not be dreadfully sick on the flight home.

It’s been good having my sister here with me!  I’ve really missed my family, and having someone here reminds me why I have to leave this summer.