Frosty the snowman....in Valladolid!

Just a little note: It snowed today for about 2 hours in Valladolid!!!

I was with some of my 1ESO students, who were practicing their plays in the auditorium, when we walked outside into the school's courtyard and it was snowing!!! I couldn't believe it. I mean only once in a blue moon does it snow in Valldolid; it normally doesn't get cold enough to snow. Apparently, today being at -4C, it was cold enough to snow! If you couldn't tell by all my exclamation marks, this little bit of winter made my day. It snowed more in La Victoria, the neighborhood where my school is in, than in the city center and the snow stuck to the ground for a little while.

When we walked into the snow, the students were so excited (as was I, of course) that they started twirling around and trying to catch snowflakes on their tongues. I had my camera with me, so I ended up taking pictures of them. They turned out pretty great. I won't be putting pictures up of the students, since they are so young, but I'll share them with everyone when I see you, if you're interested.

Here are some pictures I took of the area around the school.
Snow covering the leaves.
More snow!
Me by the school. You can see some snowflakes on the top of my hair!

Yeah for snow!
Celeste

Palenica....Valladolid's competition

Hi Everyone!

My countdown to going home is now at 7 days!!! I'm ecstatic to be home and see so many of you! And thank you to everyone (Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Dad, Lizzy, etc) for all your comments. I always read them and love to see what you think. Love to all of you!

So last Sat. Dec. 12th, Miriam, one of the history teachers, invited Amy and I to go to Palencia with her for part of the day. She had a class to teach there from 12-2, so we left Valladolid around 10.30am and then arrived there an hour later. Amy and I walked around the center of the town during Miriam's class. It was really cold, but the city itself is very beautiful, so it was nice. There isn't anything to do in Palencia, but we decided just to look around and we saw several churches and the main cathedral. All which were beautiful. They are Gothic architecture, which I love.

It was nice just to see another city in Castilla-Leon. Of all of Spain, I really love the region of Castilla-Leon the most because it is where Spanish and Spanish culture was born. Also, you see every bit of the culture all around you; the art, architecture, music, etc. It's so lovely.

In plaza mayor there was a giant manger scene, which everyone was crowded around. It was actually really nice looking and of course, baby Jesus wasn't there yet. Before we met up with Miriam again, we had a little coffee and shared ideas for Christmas lessons we are going to do with our students.

Around 2.30pm Miriam met up with us in Plaza Mayor and we went to a "meson" which is like a restaurant from medieval times (but it's just the style and layout of the restaurant). We ate some very typical castilian food, which I have forgotten the names, but one was toasted bread with tomato and garlic rubbed on top and then a slice of jamon serrano placed on top, another was beef, but a rare cut of beef with fries, salad and the other plate was a large slice of toasted bread with tomato, onion, chicken and pine nuts on top. It was a very good meal. We were there for about an hour and a half.
I found this building to be very beautiful. Notice the Spanish flag.
Amy, Miriam and me in the restaurant in Palencia.
Christmas tree! It got me itching to be home.
Amy on a very cool and modern bridge that goes over la Pisuerga river.
La iglesia de Soledad, the simplicity and smallness of this church just took my breath away.
La iglesia de San Pablo, another beautiful Gothic church.
Statues that are to represent university students-interesting.
Iglesia de San Miguel, the bell tower was incredible!!!

Around 4pm we headed back to Valladolid and Amy and I went shoe shopping. It was a very nice day. Hope you enjoy the pictures! I quite like them myself.

With love, Celeste <3

Dec. 8-The Immaculate Conception: Spanish Style

The Immaculate Conception is a day celebrated by Spaniards almost the same way they celebrate Christmas. They visit their family, have a large dinner and EVERYTHING is shut down. Julio, Edita and Pacho (in Pacho's car) were planning to visit two villages up in the mountains of Burgos, about 2 hours away, for the day and they invited me to go with them.

We drove the two hours north passing through various small Castellano villages along the way that were so adorable looking. We even passed a convent that used to make one of the most famous chocolates in Spain. The weather was sunny, yet very cold.

The first village we visited was Santo Domingo de Silos. It was a very small village, situated on the lower part of the mountains near Burgos, that had a very large medieval influence. There we had a coffee and attended mass. As you all know, I am not Catholic, but I still enjoy seeing other religious services and finding the similarities and differences between protestant religions and those of other religions. Unfortunately, mass lasted a lot longer than any of us anticipated, but it was still nice to see.
Santo Domingo de Silos and some medieval homes.
The Plaza Mayor en Silos.
The bell tower of the beautiful cathedral in Silos.
Old medieval architecture.

After mass, we walked around the streets for maybe 15 minutes and then headed to another village for lunch. We ended up stopping in Pineda. This is a village that Edita, Julio and their children used to visit when they were kids. They showed me the home they used to rent, where they played, etc. This town was even SMALLER than the last and if you walk around for 5 minutes, you have seen the entire town. It is beautiful because it is on the top of the mountain and you can see another part of the mountain, which on this day had some snow on the top. It was very beautiful. Some of the homes were decorated for Christmas, there were children playing football (soccer) outside in a courtyard, and a few friendly dogs were wandering around. We ended up eating at a very old fashioned restaurant that was heated by a very early 1900's fireplace. The food was great and it was fun doing something different with the family.
Me with Julio and Edita in Pineda. Typical for them to not be paying attention to Pacho taking our picture.
Snow on top of the mountains in front of Pineda.
Some of the fun xmas decorations. This one amused me; Santa Clause (Papa Noel) climbing up one side and the Three Kings (they are who bring the gifts to the children) on the other side.
Pacho, Julio and Edita in front of a beautiful holly bush.

After lunch, we walked around a little and then got another cup of coffee because it was so cold. Then, we headed back to Valladolid. All in all it was a nice relaxing day. Even better, I was able to see more of Castilla-Leon, which is my goal by the end of my stay here in Spain this year.

Love, Celeste

Turkey Day and Madrid

Okay, this is long overdue. I'm sorry for the delay, but I guess I just got caught up with working and just being here in Spain. I know you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner and just to share with you a little, I did too.

Alicia, one of my coworkers and the one that I enjoy talking to the most, decided we should all get together and have a Turkey Day dinner. So each teacher/assistant made a dish to bring to dinner. We ended up having a ton of food, but it was delicious. Our dinner was a fusion of Irish/American/Spanish food. Because we had so much to eat, we decided to have a part 2 Thanksgiving dinner the next night. It was really fun and enjoyable to be with all the other teachers outside of the school.
Everyone enjoying their meal.
Most of the teachers around the dinner table: Me, Miriam, Teresa, Cristina, Amy, and Alicia.
Alicia preparing one of the dishes.

The weekend before, I went to Madrid with Amy for the day to enjoy some "American" niceties. We first looked around the main plazas because Amy had never been to Madrid before. As we did this, we passed a Starbucks and we HAD to stop and get a drink. It was so nice to have something from home (although I do kick myself for supporting such a large corporation). After we got a drink there, we passed through Plaza Espana (my favorite place in Madrid) and there we found a great flea market where I purchased a few earrings. It was nice to see all the handmade crafts. Anyway, for lunch we went to TGI Fridays, which was wonderful. Lastly, we went to see New Moon in English, which was a priority for us. :) It was a great day!
Me and my Toffee Nut Latte!
TGIF!!!
The flea market in Pza Espana.
Amy and I enjoying Pza Espana.
After we had seen New Moon. These are happy faces!

I ended up staying the whole weekend with Mayuka in the pueblo of Mostoles. We traveled to Madrid (a short 10 minute bus ride) to shop, walk around the different plazas and just enjoy the environment.

Hope you enjoyed this little snippet.

Besos, Celeste