I hate getting sick. I now have had a cough for the past 2 days and it won’t leave me alone. It’s taking all my energy and it needs to leave! If you know of any remedies please let me know…so far I’ve been using honey, lemons and water to try to get rid of this.
Moving on, before I was stricken down by this horrible sore throat, I had been keeping myself busy. Well as busy as one may get during a vacation. Last time you heard from me I was recovering from New Years eve so let me update you on what’s been going on.
After 2 days of rest, well plus half a day of cooking a cleaning, my week started back up as normal, kind of. Monday I had 3 conversation classes and ALSO went out for a big event in the middle of the town. In the plaza they were having a fundraiser for cancer with a HUGE cake. Well not quite 1 huge cake but rather a ton of smaller ones all adding up to 300kilos (600lbs) and over 144 meters (about 470ft) long. The cake is called Roscon, which is a circular cake (although the dough is much different than cake in the US) filled with cream in the middle. Along with the cream in the middle they hide “prizes” – like little toys and candies, so its wise to take small bites. The whole idea is that there are 2 important “finds” inside the cake. The king and the broad bean. What happens if you find one or the other? If you find the king- you “become” the king and get to wear the crown that comes inside the box. If you find the broad bean on the other hand you get to pay for the roscon for the next year…essentially its bad luck. For the fundraiser roscon I didn’t find anything inside…but the next night I had roscon again with Teresa and the family, I found a little toy-LUCKILY it was just a little fish and not the bean. It would have been a little hard to buy the roscon if I was in the U.S. although a great excuse to come back and visit … |
| the unlucky broad bean |
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| my fish and witch found inside |
Now for the fundraiser they ended up making the cakes straight and then spread them out over tons of tables in the shape of a…well, rectangle. I suppose that’s much easier than actually making a gigantic roscon…although I would have really liked to see THAT! They also hid candies inside… So my friends and I waited in line, good thing we got there early because the line got super long. We all ate our cake and one of our friends found one of the candies that they had hidden inside. After all that excitement I had to head back home for another class. The next day I had some more classes in the morning and later, after some lunch, went on a 2 hour walk with a new friend. We walked along the trail that they have here that goes through multiple towns. Needless to say, we didn’t quite make it to the next town but next time I will try to make it that far…although that will be at least a 3 hour walk (there and back). On the trail, called the ‘Via Verde,’ we saw some beautiful sites including a graveyard, empty fields and also some horses! Considering that in southern Spain there is not much green anywhere it was a nice change. The rest of that night I just rested since I was exhausted from the walk…obviously I need to get back into my exercise routines.
So anyhow, the parade continues through the town, pelting people (some were nicer than others) with lots hard candies and toys and confetti. I mean LOTS of candy…(from what I’m told) this year not so much but just a few years ago, after the parade, the streets were literally coated in candy and wherever you walked, there was candy. This year there was still a lot of candy on the ground but you could manage to find ground to walk on to avoid making your shoe sole out of candy.
Now back to the floats, mixed among the floats are 3 distinct and very important ones- those of the 3 kings. These floats are the ones that give out the most candy and toys so the kids (and adults) go crazy when they go by. The whole idea is that they go through the town and in the end they come to the center of the town (the big plaza) where there is a nativity scene set up. From there EVERYONE is in the town center while the 3 kings go to the nativity scene to deliver their gifts to baby Jesus. All these festivities last from about 7:30 (when the parade starts) until roughly 11:30/midnight (when the gifts are delivered to baby Jesus and all the floats leave). People leave the event with bags full of goodies- I guess everyone likes free stuff. By the end of my night I had my purse and pockets full of candy and the bottom of my shoes covered in it, confetti all over my hair and in my clothes (found plenty more confetti when I took off my shoes at home) and my throat was killing me.
Early that day I had also had classes, a lunch out with a friend from the school and her family, dessert with Teresa and her family and THEN the parade…I’m sure all that talking did NOT help my throat one bit.
The next day was the 6th. This is basically Christmas day in Spain because during the night of the 5th, the 3 kings come to deliver presents to the children. The next morning the children come down to find all their presents under the tree!
Oh and I should also mention that TODAY, the 7th of January, is the start to all the SALES!!! They have huge semi-annual sales here that are supposed to be crazy. I have decided to keep myself indoors and away for at least the first few days…while all the crazies run around the city buying clothes.
Tomorrow I will be headed to Cabra so look forward to an update about that!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!
They really know how to celebrate in Spain and Europe. Actually the celebrations have just begun there. Get ready for Carnival, feria, and about 100 other reasons to make it through a 2 day work week. Viva el Ponche!
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