¡Feliz Navidad!

I'm a few days late, but Merry Christmas everyone! Can you believe that there are only 2 1/2 days left of 2011?! Then it's the big "2012." :D Most of the past week has been Christmas break. Last Thursday I got my report card for the first trimester of school. I failed all my classes except for P.E., English, and "Proyecto Integrado" which I'm not even sure what class that's for. Lengua maybe? I'm not too bummed -- I know I'll do better next trimester. Poco a poco. Check it out.

If you get 5+ it's passing; 0-4 is failing . . . I think. But THERE IS 0, and as you can see, I have no 0's. I did get 10 in English: perfecto!

I know I keep saying this, but I WILL write a blog post about Spanish school soon.

As it turns out, there was school last Friday but no one in Bachillerato goes. Score. Good thing, because on Thursday night I went to a Christmas party for the Rotary Club of Estepona. Aren't we all pretty?

Saturday was Christmas Eve, which is celebrated in basically the same as Christmas day is here: food and drinks, family, gifts, and.... yeah, that's about it! Pretty good, right? On Christmas Eve I went to my Aunt Lola's house with Paola, Abuelo, my "cousin" Rafa (who is staying with us for Christmas break), another family, and a family friend. I think there were nine of us total. It was nice to have lots of family around, and the food was pretty good too. Being Spain though, we started dinner around 9 pm, and left the house aound... 1 am? or was it 2? I'm not sure, but it was late enough for me not to remember.

On Christmas day I went to Malaga with my Rotary counselor, Juan, and had Christmas with his family. There were so many people there, but I loved it! Lately it hasn't felt like Christmastime at all, but being with so much family made it seem a bit more real. I especially loved Juan's little niece and nephew. We played some Mario together and built race tracks and it felt so normal. The food on Christmas day was delicious, and there was so much! I'd tell myself: Okay, that was so good, but I can't do more. Then they'd tell me: oh, there's two more courses! By the end of the day, I didn't think I would ever be able to eat again.

Juan's family taught me how to cut jamon (ham)!

Juan's family at the table

Since Christmas I've mainly been hanging out with my friends, Rafa and his friends, running, and relaxing. Because Spain has the The Day of the Kings on January 6th, school doesn't start again until January 9th!! Talk about a nice break. I'll write more on The Day of the Kings (as well as some other holidays here) when it comes around, but until later, I wish you all a Happy New Year!

Lots of love,
Josie