December Puente

Ah, the Spanish puente--a long weekend. We've had quite a few puentes this year, although the majority have fallen on a Friday, when I conveniently don't work (a "first world problem": Woe is me, I can't take the day off because I already have that day off). The remaining long weekends I've spent either sick in bed or furniture shopping. Fun.

Now that things are settling in and I've spent a whole week without harboring some virus, Álvaro and I decided to travel out of Madrid to his pueblo in Garrucha.

Wait, what do you mean "his pueblo"? Time for a Spanish culture lesson.

Begin Culture Lesson

As it turns out, many Spaniards have a pueblo, that is, they have a home in another city where they usually spend summers or long weekends. In essence, it's a vacation home without the stuffy uppercrust connotations. Unlike in the US, a second vacation home doesn't seem to be limited to the upper class. In some cases, the pueblo is a small village where their family is from. To be fair, I'm not particularly knowledgeable on the subject. In any case, travelling with a Spaniard to their pueblo is a great (and relatively inexpensive) way of getting to know the country.

End Culture Lesson

We went to Álvaro's pueblo in Garrucha, a small fishing village on the coast of Almería. It's a 500+ kilometre drive from Madrid, so we left midday on Thursday to arrive before sunset. Now, escaping to the beach in the middle of December sounds pleasant in theory. Warmer temperatures? Sunshine? The Metiterranean coast? Great! Of course, many of houses in Garrucha are built to endure blistering summer temperatures. The inside of his house was maybe 10 degrees colder than the outside, which makes a difference when it's 50-60 degrees out. Additionally, Garrucha caters to summer tourists (many who flock from the colder climates in England), so many buildings and restuarants had closed for the season, leaving behind only the gypsies. In other words, it's not the best place to travel in the winter.

Wool coat at the beach? Yep. You can't see it, but there is totally a rainbow behind me.

Found a jaw at Playa de los Muertos. I wanted to take it home with me but I settled for this photo instead.

Cold. So cold.

Complaints aside, I really enjoyed the weekend. Friday was cold and cloudy--a shame since I was excited to see the famed blue-green waters of the Metiterranean. Still, we drove down the coast along a protected natural park and took in the sights (mostly from the heated comfort of the car).

So much wind

Saturday, the sun came out and the temperatures warmed up. Unfortunately, Álvaro slept until noon, and by the time he got dressed and packed his things it was time to leave. 

Yep. Perfect weather

Looks like I'll have to go back in the summer!

The Holidays

It's December already? Have I really been in Spain for almost four months? Where has the time gone? Admittedly, I haven't had much to update in the past month. I am finally settling into my life here. The apartment is slowly starting to feel like home. I'm meeting new people and building new friendships. Slowly but surely things are coming together, and hopefully this travel blog will have some actual travelling.

Unfortunately, I've spent November nursing various illnesses. Yes, in my last blog update I was battling a rather nasty common cold. Not three days after recovering, I developed a persistent cough and once again I was sick. OK, bad luck on my part. At least that time I enjoyed a full week of good health before coming down with what I assume was a mild case of the flu. During the last month, I spent the majority of my free time in bed. It doesn't exactly make for an interesting post. What can I say? Kids are germy.

Hopefully my excessive handwashing will reward me with good health and allow me to actually enjoy my weekends. In the meantime, here's an update on what has happened:

• Elections. Since Spain is nine hours ahead of California, I opted to sleep during the election results. It's a bit surreal to wake up the next morning and not know who won. 
• Huelga General (General Strike). Spain loves to strike. We've had three or four in my time here, but this was larger than most. Stores closed, the metro ran at 30% capacity, students stayed home. We auxiliares still had to go to school, although we literally had nothing to do. I spent the first 3/4 of the day browsing my iPod, and the last hour watching a movie. 
• Thanksgiving. How does one spend a traditional American (or Canadian) holiday in a foreign country? Unlike Halloween, Thanksgiving hasn't become popular with Spaniards. Moreover, common foods like pumpkin puree, whole turkey, and cranberry sauce can be difficult--not to mention expensive--to find. My apartment doesn't have an oven, which makes preparing the majority of these dishes impossible. Thankfully, Madrid has a fairly large American immigrant population, and some bars/restuarants offered Thanksgiving dinners (for a hefty price). So, we went out to dinner and gorged ourselves on an all-you-can eat turkeyfest. Sure, we didn't get to enjoy the smell of food cooking, or the leftovers the following day, but we did eat pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie makes the world a better place.

So now the Christmas season is upon us! The cold weather has set in, the leaves have [mostly] fallen from the trees, and the Christmas lights are up and lit in the city! This will be my first ever Christmas away from home, so this year I'll have to improvise some of the holiday traditions. I can't bake cookies or roast...well, anything (again, no oven), but I can [attempt to] make eggnog and mulled cider/wine. Our tiny apartment cannot accomodate a full-sized tree, so we're making due with a teeny tiny artificial one. Hey, at least it's fiber optic.

Assuming the Spanish postal system works as intented (packages can take a week or several months, depending on the day, current air speed, the phase of the moon, etc), I should still have presents to open the day of. Unfortunately, I expect to wait hours and sacrifice my first-born child to collect said presents from customs (whose office is conveniently located in Mordor). Ah, the price I'll pay for a sense of normalcy. Thankfully I can at least use my American bank account to order gifts from American stores (Amazon, Target, etc) to be shipped to my family. The wonders of technology.