Camino de Santiago and a trip to Hungary and Serbia

Hello!

It has been a whirlwind last month!

We cycled the Camino de Santiago from Granada to Santiago de Compostela. Photos and stories in my facebook album. I am hoping that link will let you see all the photos and descriptions even if you don´t have facebook.

After our cycling trip, we went to Hungary for a few weeks for a music course and a concert that Nathan was singing in. We had a wonderful time visiting with some Hungarian friends that we met while they lived in Victoria last winter, and even got to attend their wedding!

We also snuck in a quick trip to Serbia to visit a very good friend of Nathan´s in Novi Sad.

Now we are already back in Spain. Nathan has a concert in Granada, and then we will go back north to collect our bicycle and then continue the next stage of our cycling trip!

And now a few more photos and best wishes to you all!


Budapest

Sometimes there were English version of menus... most of the time our Hungarian friends had to translate for us. This was a particularly interesting list of items we could order....

The Esterhazy Palace where Haydn worked for 20 years!

The little garden where we had breakfast with our friend Aliz and Zoltan while we were in Fertod

Novi Sad, Serbia!

Back to Hungary where our stop was the tiniest quietest train station we had ever seen :)

Us at Aliz and Zoltan´s wedding in a tiny town in Hungary. The lamp post made us feel like we had found a tiny piece of Narnia in the middle of a pretty Hungarian forest :)

Vacaciones con la familia

Hola!

Over the last few weeks we had the pleasure of having Nathan's parents and brother with us in Spain. It was wonderful to be able to share some of the places and experiences that have been part of our adventure thus far, as well as do some entirely new things together. Our time together was also a way we chose to remember Nathan's grandfather, who passed away several months ago. We dedicated our time together to his memory.

Nathan and I arrived in Madrid a few days before his family was scheduled to arrive, giving us the chance to get over our jet-lag and do a little more planning for the family vacation. We had also managed to plan our arrival in Madrid just in time for the Festival de San Isidro (the patron saint of Madrid), International Museum Day, and a very important soccer game (Madrid vs Barcelona for the league title).

All of these events meant there was lots to do and see! Despite our rather zombie-like state, we took in a fireworks show 4 nights in a row, enjoyed free entrance to several museums, and got to witness a crazy city-wide street party because for the first time in 2 decades, Madrid won the league title (and considering the rivalry they have with Barcelona, this was an even bigger deal...). The ENTIRE CITY was on the streets for HOURS. We were staying in a hostel downtown and there were so many people that it was difficult to walk anywhere. But we were impressed with how orderly the party was - mostly people seemed to just be dancing and singing another round of "Campeones!"

And then, just as we started to feel like normal people, awake at normal hours again, it was time to head to the airport to welcome Nathan's family to Spain!

MADRID

We spent our first few days in Madrid in an apartment close to the Puerta del Sol plaza, downtown. From there we could walk anywhere in the downtown core within 20 minutes, which we figured would be nice if/when anyone needed to have an extra nap during the first few days. However, everyone seemed quite determined to beat jet-lag as quickly as possible... with as much caffeine as was necessary... and so with the help of many a  "café con leche" we actually spent far less time in the apartment than we expected.

We spent a full day at the Prado Museum, stopped in at the Reina Sofia Museum to see some Picasso, especially the "Guernica", went shoe shopping (at least, Darlys and I went shoe shopping...), visited the Royal Botanical Gardens, and tried out a few different restaurants, and more than a few cafés. :)

GRANADA

From Madrid we drove to Granada in our "medium-sized rental car" that I had reserved... which somehow transformed into a 9 passenger van when we picked it up... A bit large for the 5 of us, but we certainly weren't crowded... :)

In Granada we stayed in an apartment about 100 meters from where our apartment had been. It was fun to be in the neighborhood of Realejo again, especially so that Nathan's family could get a true sense of what it had felt like for us to live there.

We had all sorts of adventures in Granada. We had a picnic with some of our Granadino friends, we did lots of walking and wandering around the city, we visited the museum exposition that my colleagues at the U of Granada currently have on display at the Caja Granada Museum of Memory, shared a meal with Joaquín and his family, went for tapas, took a segway tour of the city, and, of course, we visited the Alhambra.

The Alhambra, an Islamic palace and fortress constructed primarily in the 9th and 11th centuries, is absolutely beautiful. It is said that when the Catholic Kings finally conquered the Moors, they were shocked at how detailed and delicate the design of the palace was. They had assumed that it was just another typical fortress, but upon entering they were amazed at the delicate ceramic, sculpture, and woodwork that makes the palace something out of a fairy tale. Nathan and I had visited the Alhambra before, but we were happy to visit it again. The Alhambra is made up of palaces, fortresses, towers, and many beautiful gardens. We were all impressed and amazed that Darlys climbed EVERY tower. (It is clear that even a replaced knee is no match for the determination of my mother-in-law. :)

SEVILLA

During our week-long stay in Granada, we did a day-trip to Seville (it's about a 2.5 hour drive from Granada). Nathan and I had not been to Seville before, so it was something new for us too.

To arrive at our parking destination, our GPS sent us through the center... which in a 9 passenger van is not the easiest thing to do. Streets in most Spanish cities are narrow, and feel especially narrow when they are packed with people. But Nathan did a great job of patiently wading through the crowds in our massive vehicle and we soon were able to leave the vehicle behind to explore downtown Sevilla on foot.

After lunch in an outdoor terrace, we visited the Archivo de los Indios (Archive of the discovery and exploration of the New World), then Seville's spectacular cathedral, and then walked along the river for a while.

The Seville Cathedral is the largest gothic cathedral and the third largest church in the world. It was good that we had planned at least an hour to see it because there is so much to take in! We also enjoyed climbing to the top of its bell tower (up all 35 ramps and 17 steps) to see a great view of the city.

TOLEDO

Following our week in Granada, we spent a few days in Toledo. Again, this was a new city for Nathan and I, and there is something enchanting about this city. It is extremely hilly, with extremely narrow streets, and there is something very charming in its character that makes you feel like you are in a small town.

Part of the charm was definitely in the lovely apartment we stayed in which was right downtown. From the front door you could see the view of the mountains and within a few minutes walk we were right downtown.

Sword-smithing, jewelry design, marzapan, and art, especially for the artist "El Greco" (the greek of Toledo) are a few things that Toledo is famous for. We had fun doing a lot of window-shopping (and admittedly, some real shopping), although in the end Chris decided not to buy a suit of armour and sword, as cool as that obviously would have been. ;)

We took in a tour on the tourist "train" that took us through the city and out and up to several great miradors (look-outs) to see the cityscape. And then, of course, we visited the Toledo Cathedral. The Cathedral has several works by El Greco as well as its own fantastic architecture and history. Chris even managed to casually join a German tour group to get the whole story in German. :)

After a few nights in Toledo it was already time to head back to Madrid for our last night all together. In Madrid we had one more great meal together, including a round or two of pacharán, with a toast to "los abuelos".

It was a lovely trip overall, and bittersweet to say goodbye at the airport. Thank you Marvin, Darlys and Chris for visiting us and making our time together so special!

CAMINO DE SANTIAGO

And now, on to the next adventure! Nathan and I leave tomorrow morning, early, to start our bike trip. For the next two weeks we will be cycling the pilgrimage route from Granada to Santiago de Compostela. After this 1,000+ km pilgrimage, we will then switch gears for the next adventure - a two week trip to Hungary for another singing project of Nathan's!

Wishing you blessings and peace and beautiful summer weather,
Candyce (and Nathan)

Chilean Adventures

Hola! It seems hard to believe it, but we have already gone to Chile and come "home" again to Spain. We are now in Madrid, soon to head back to Granada, with Nathan's family along with. :)

But before I get into the latest adventures, here is an update on our trip to Chile.

Teatro del Lago
Nathan spent a week rehearsing at the Teatro del Lago, which is a new theater in Frutillar (close to Puerto Montt on the map below). The project included 60 or so musicians (choir, orchestra, and soloists). The first concerts were performed at the same theater, followed by another concert further north in Temuco, and finishing with a concert in Santiago. I flew in to Santiago in time to see the final concert in Santiago and then we had a few weeks to explore Chile before flying back to Spain.



As always, this music project was a great opportunity to make new friends and new connections. By the end of the project, Nathan had been invited to stay with multiple different people in Santiago as well as elsewhere in Chile and in South America. :) We were delighted to get to spend part of our time staying with these new friends in Santiago as it is always nicer and much more interesting to stay with locals rather than in hostels.

Santiago is a huge city, but it has a good metro system so it is pretty easy to get around. Everyone we met was very friendly, but the one big drawback while we were there was the smog. As Santiago is in a valley, smog is easily trapped. There were some days where it was so hazy we couldn't see the surrounding mountains, so we were looking forward to getting out of the city so that we could breathe a little easier.

We stayed pretty close to the Santiago area during our time in Chile. Some of the highlights were visiting the Isla Negra (one of Pablo Neruda's houses), seeing all the colors and murals of Valparaíso (World Heritage City about an hour away from Santiago), and camping along the coast in Pichilemu at an awesome little campground (Pichilemu is famous internationally for its surfing championships).

Chilean Spanish
I was very curious to see how Chilean Spanish sounded to me, after spending an extended time in Spain, and especially in Andalucía. Chileans are famous for speaking quickly and "eating their words" (which means dropping syllables or final consonants). However, we were pleasantly surprised that our "training" in Andalucía had us well prepared. Chilean Spanish seemed to be no more difficult than understanding the 'Andalú' of Granada. :)

However, vocabulary was another thing. It was fascinating to once again be at a stage where we would pick up a menu and hardly recognize/understand a single thing on the menu! Many vegetables and fruits have different names in Chile, and Chile has many special food dishes that, of course, have their own special names as well.

Some vocab or expressions were the same as in Mexico, and it was funny for me to have to revert back to vocab that I have been working so hard to replace with vocab from Spain. :) So many words that Spaniards have corrected for me, that I then had Chileans re-correcting me back to the original word. Sigh. ;) For Nathan the new words were just new, as his vocabulary was strictly from Spain.

Chilean Food
Chileans seem to be really into sweet food, at least when it comes to beverages and breakfast. We stayed at a hostel with bed and breakfast and were served, not only bread with a variety of jams and sweet spreads, but also cake, sweetened fruit juice, jello, sweet yogurt and fruit!

We enjoyed sampling a few Chilean specialties such as Completos (fancy hot dogs that come with a ton of different vegetables and sauces, usually heaped with some kind of guacamole), Empanadas (pastry stuffed with pretty much any combo of vegetables, meat, chicken, seafood, and cheese), and Mote con Huesillo (a drink made from peach nectar that also has a small canned peach and a good serving of boiled wheat, which is like barley... which might sound strange, but was actually delicious!). We also ate a LOT of avocados, which are called "paltas" in Chile. The mother of the couple we stayed with in Valparaíso gave us a couple of paltas off of their tree. Seriously, this has been a good year for avocados. :)

Pichilemu
Our original plan had been to go surfing at Pichilemu, as it is world renown for it's surf. However, we were there just in time for some of the biggest waves they have seen this season (as it is currently fall, nearing winter in Chile)... and as we met a few locals who were fairly good amateur surfers who were NOT surfing because the waves were so big... we decided my one weekend worth of experience, plus Nathan's one weekend from 8 years ago or so, was not quite sufficient to brave the waves. We'll have to go sometime this summer in Spain, as we have been told summer in Spain is good for beginners as the waves are always small. :)

The advantage of the big waves was the opportunity to watch the professionals surf them! We rented bikes one day and cycled out to Punto de Lobos, the spot with the biggest waves where there are usually people on jet-skis accompanying the surfers to rescue them if they fall.

Return to Spain
We finished off our trip in Santiago once again, and had a lovely last gathering with all of the choir friends who live in Santiago. We tried to convince our friends that we had become very tanned while we were at the coast... and we were heartily laughed at. Even though it was true!! But in Chile we are both extremely "rubio", and apparently our change from very white to still quite white wasn't very noticeable. ;)

We then flew back to Spain! Landed in Madrid with a few days to try to get over jet lag and prepare for the visit from Nathan's family. But I will save our Madrid stories for my next post.

Overall Chile was lovely and the culture of hospitality and warmth was one of the strongest impressions we had of the country. It is not a cheap place to travel (prices are very similar to Canada actually...), but worth seeing for sure. Who knows? Maybe Nathan will get invited to do another project at the Teatro del Lago and we'll have another excuse to come back one day.

Love and blessings,
Candyce

Off to Chile!

How the time is flying!

A lot has happened in the last month. Nathan finished his choir project in Germany and Tunisia. We made a brief and unexpected trip to the United States for a family funeral. And amidst Spain’s extravagant preparations for Holy Week, we packed up the apartment, had farewell visits with friends here, and then left for Chile!

To be more accurate, Nathan left for Chile and I am currently leaving… Nathan has been in Chile for the last week and a half and I am writing this blog post from the airport in Madrid while I await my flight :)

Chile Choir Project

Nathan has reported that the project in Chile has been fantastic so far. The music-making is at a very high level, and he has been enjoying getting to know new friends and contacts. Most of the people in the choir are Spanish-speaking, and many are from Chile. From the sounds of it, we have several invitations from his new friends to stay for a night or two in their homes while we travel in Chile.

Spanish Colds

One thing I have NOT been enjoying in Spain, is my apparent susceptibility to colds and flus here. Maybe the strains they have here are different than in Canada? I don’t know, but I have spent way more time sick here than I have in years! Definitely an unromantic aspect of living abroad! This last week I was suffering from another wicked cold, but I am thankful that my health has returned just in time for my flight to Chile!

Surprise Party

Our friends very sweetly threw us a goodbye party. Our friend Loli had been organizing a night for the 3 of us to get together, and due to my cold and a bicycle trip we were trying to plan, it was not easy for her to drag out a commitment to a specific date and time. However, when we walked into the café/bar and saw a big group of our friends, we suddenly understood why Loli had been so aggressively insistent that we hurry up and confirm our plans :) We feel so blessed to have met so many wonderful people here.

Next Plans

We will be spending the next 3 weeks or so in Chile, and then we will fly back to Spain. Our time in Spain isn’t over, but our time living in Granada has come to an end.

Only a few days after we return to Spain, we will welcome Nathan’s family who are coming to visit us :) We are looking forward to spending a couple of weeks with them and introducing them to Spain!

Following the McDonald family visit, we will start our long-awaited bike trip, first destination Galicia!

I will try to write again soon, especially as I have many photos to share of Holy Week. La Semana Santa in Spain is super intense. But I will save my stories to go along with the photos :)

Wishing you a blessed Easter!
Candyce

Surf y Planes

Hello! I am writing today from our sunny living room, with the terrace doors open wide to let in the sunshine and warm spring air :) It seems spring has arrived and we have more of this delightful weather to look forward to!

It has been an exciting last few weeks! Namely, that Nathan heard back from another audition and has received an official invitation to do a project in April... in Chile! After mulling it over for about 2 seconds Nathan sent his acceptance and I bought my plane ticket. :) We didn´t think there would be a Chilean chapter in this Spanish adventure, but we are pretty stoked about the addition of Chile to this year´s plans! We will be in Chile for about 3 weeks before we will then head directly back to Spain! (We still have an epic bike trip around Spain planned for the summer, so we definitely have to come back for that...)

Germany Update

Nathan is still in Germany and is enjoying the Bach festival & choir project very much. He has had the chance to reunite with some World Youth Choir friends as well as meet many new musicians and conductors. Several of the choristers are also going to the project in Chile, so Nathan will get to sing with  them again next month :)

The festival has published a few videos of the concerts on youtube. Click on the link below if you´d like to check out one of the concerts (around the 5 min. mark they zoom in on Nathan´s section):

Bachwoche Stuttgart 2014: Werkstattkonzert 2 -- Fürchte dich nicht

Surfing

Another fun adventure that happened recently, is that I went surfing! I was invited to go on a girl´s weekend with some friends in the province of Cadiz, and with Nathan away in Germany it seemed like a good opportunity to try something new and keep myself busy :) The plan was to take 3 surfing lessons, 1 paddle surf lesson, and spend one afternoon on horseback at the beach. The horseback riding sounded amazing, the paddle surf sounded cool, but I must admit I was pretty nervous about the surfing. Strong waves are intimidating, and I´m not that great of a swimmer, but the weekend sounded like too much fun to pass up.

And I am glad I went! Seriously, surfing is awesome. In Zahares de los Atunes the waves aren´t huge, but they are strong enough to make surfing possible. And it turned out that we didn´t even need to be in deep water. Generally if you fell off your board, all you had to do was to stand up as we were usually in water no deeper than your waist.

Surfing is very physical exercise (mostly because you have to fight against the waves to get far enough out so that you can catch a wave at the right moment) and requires a lot of balance and focus. And maybe it´s my background in gymnastics, but I loved the balancing aspect. It is a really neat feeling when you are lying on your board, and then suddenly a wave lifts and pushes you forward. And in that moment of acceleration, all at once you push up, put your feet in place, and stand! Sometimes the sheer surprise and delight of being on your feet on top of a wave is distracting enough that you immediately tip and plunge back into the water (at least that definitely happened to me more than once ) but there are also those moments where you keep your focus, you are perfectly balanced and suddenly you feel like you are soaring! By the end of my first lesson I was standing up and was totally won over :) By the end of the weekend I was catching enough waves that the instructors told me I could officially call myself a surfista :)

The paddle surf and the horseback riding was also fun (it really is delightful to trot along the beach on horseback... as a bonus the afternoon was clear enough that we could see the hazy outline of the African coast!), but I was surprised that overall what I enjoyed most was the surfing. :)

And now a few photos to share with you:

Paddle Surf! I´m the one on the far left.

Horseback riding :)

The weekend included accommodations at a shared house so we had access to a kitchen and dining room too which was nice.

The photos are all by my friend Ana María Bola and she made the above collage as well :) It´s worth clicking on the collage to see it in its full size.

Love to you all!
Candyce

Los Candyces

Hello! It has been a while since I last wrote! I hope you are all doing well in your various parts of the world :)

We are doing well and continuing to enjoy our time here in Spain. :) We have been on a few excursions and adventures over the last month, and Nathan is preparing to go to Germany at the end of the month for a choir project. It is hard to believe that we are already half-way through February!

Below are a few random stories of the past month to share with you :)

El mejor aceite del mundo, según Joaquín...
Olive oil is big here. Spain produces, consumes, and adores olive oil. Olive oil here is like wine - it is delicious, cheap, and there are an infinite number of flavors. I think I´ve written in the past about how olive oil is literally poured on everything here. As a dairy-free person, the change from milk and butter in everything to the obsession with olive oil works for me, although there are some days where we think longingly of some of the hippy/health options we have at home. The food here is definitely richer than what we normally consume on the west coast in Canada :)

My friend Joaquín told us a while ago that every year he drives out to a little village close to Córdoba where they produce the best olive oil in the world, and that we were invited to come along as he planned to go sometime in January. And with such a claim to quality, we obviously had to go :)

Baena is the name of the little village (under 2 hour´s drive from Granada) and it has one of the largest co-operative factories for producing olive oil in the country. Upon arrival, not only did we have the opportunity to buy oil, we were also given a tour of the whole factory, from the grinding, pressing and spinning to the bottling and labeling. It was neat to have the chance to learn about the process, and fun to skate through some of the rooms that have a permanent residue of olive oil on the floors. We bought 2 litres of fresh oil for ourselves (pressed and bottled only 15 days earlier), but in total our group (Joaquín, the two of us, and a couple of other friends) bought over 80 litres of oil! (A year´s supply for several families... but this still seems like a lot of oil to me!) We then went for lunch at the co-op´s restaurant (where we they serve their own oil, of course, along with fresh bread) and then for a walk around town and finally to the museum (which was an experience in itself as Joaquín, as artist and professor is probably the most ideal friend to have along at a museum if you want to learn and understand more about what you are seeing).

And while we haven´t sampled enough olive oil world-over to make an absolute claim, we can attest that this olive oil is pretty amazing! Mildly sharp, slightly sweet, with a fresh floral fragrance... you can taste and small why the oils are compared with wines here!

Voluntariado
A new thing we have been doing lately is spending one evening a week volunteering with an organization called Mirame, that works with autistic children and youth. Once a week we head out to a suburb of Granada to spend 4 hours hanging out and playing with kids aged 3 - 15. It is a creative and social time for the kids (we play games, do crafts, sing and dance, play outside if it is not raining) and also gives a much appreciated break to the parents of the children.

There are always several staff who are there plus enough volunteers to have one adult per child. Previous to joining this volunteer group, we didn´t know much about autism, so it has been really interesting as we get to know these children and learn from the other staff and volunteers in how to best relate and interact with the kids. This week we will actually be taking a course that Mirame offers to learn more about autism and support methods.

The volunteer evenings are definitely intense. The children do not stop for a moment. And the energy required to engage with them to encourage them to learn and connect is also very intensive. But the love and acceptance these children show is quite awe-inspiring. When you receive a hug or smile or cuddle from one of these kids who struggle to connect emotionally, it is very very sincere. We are looking forward to learning even more about their world in our course this week.

Los Candyces
As foreigners, especially foreigners with difficult-to-pronounce names (as most names are in another language) we have talked and laughed about our names a lot. Normally we introduce ourselves using a Spanish-style pronunciation of our names (NAH-tan y CAHN-dees) because if we say our names as we would in English, Nathan´s name gets repeated back as something like NA-ee-than (which is pretty close) and I just get bewildered stares as if I just said something in Japanese. :) Both the vowels in my name are extremely Canadian, so literally no one has been able to say my name as it is pronounced in Canada! In fact, if I am speaking Spanish and try to say my name with its normal pronunciation, I can hardly even do it. It breaks too many language rules, especially when it is in the middle of a sentence!

One interesting name tradition in Spanish is how names are pluralized. When speaking about a family using their last name, e.g. ¨the Johnsons¨, in Spanish you say ¨los Johnson¨. However, if you are referring to a couple you also have the option of using the girl´s name instead of the last name. For example, David and Ana can be ¨los Ana¨. It is also possible, of course, to just call them David y Ana (and, in fact, that is the more common thing to do).

However, due to the fact that both of our names are a bit hard to say (and our friends especially try to say our names as we would in English, instead of just using the easier Spanish-style versions), two of our closest friends started calling us Los Candyces (los cahn-DEE-ses) and this has caught on in our group of friends here. This also includes an English joke of pluralizing the name, as grammatically speaking they should just say Los Candyce, in addition to allowing them to change the accent placement, as it seems cahn-DEES is easier to say than CAHN-dees.

Since we normally go by Nathan´s last name in Canada, it has been fun that we can go by my name here! :) We get a kick out of hearing someone announce that ¨los Candyces¨ have arrived, etc.

And now, some photos:

La Romería de San Cecilio
(festival of the patron saint of Granada)

At the festival they were giving out handfuls of beans (habas) for free since they are in season at the moment...

View of Granada from the Abbey where the festival was celebrated.

Nathan went on a mountain bike trip with some friends.

 Cycling in the province of Córdoba :)

A hike with some friends in the hills above Granada.

Los Candyces

Part of the hike was through, of course, more olive groves.

Chatting and enjoying the view.

Another beautiful view of the Sierra Nevada

We hope you are all doing well and that you are having a great winter! Time seems to be flying by very quickly this year. We will all be in spring before we know it.

Until the next time!

In peace,
Candyce (and Nathan)

El día de los reyes

Now that the holidays are past, and it is back to ¨normal life¨ (...we´re still in Spain, still only working part-time, still spending most of our time studying whatever we want to learn... so it´s not exactly ¨normal life¨ but the fiestas de navidad have come to an end ;) we have been reflecting on some of the delightful experiences we got to share this Christmas.

One difference that I find fascinating is that the Church calendar is so mainstream here: public holidays and festivities coincide with church festivals. And, according to the Church calendar, Christmas starts on Dec.25th and continues until Jan.6th (Epiphany / el día de los reyes). Of course, there are people in Canada who follow this calendar (many of you who are reading this blog, in fact), but there is a different feeling in the air when EVERYONE is on the same page. 

Throughout all 12 days of Christmas (because there literally are 12 days from the 25th to the 6th) there was such a festive atmosphere in the city. And not just people trying to hold on to Christmas a little longer, but the complete understanding that Christmas obviously doesn´t end until the Day of the Kings. No one takes down their decorations, everyone keeps singing villancicos, and no business, school, or university resumes normal hours until after Jan.6th. 

And then on Jan.5th, the final celebrations of Christmas begin to welcome the 3 kings who arrive with presents not only for baby Jesus, but for ALL of the children.

We had the opportunity to go with friends to a celebration at a small convent here in town. Every year a community group prepares a surprise presentation for the nuns, including a play with carols. The play (which many children took part in) was delightful with a very animated retelling of the Christmas story which especially emphasized, of course, the arrival of the 3 kings with their gifts. As the kings entered they showered the crowd with candies and caramels (we were a pretty packed crowd as it is a small space) and then the children (and even some adults) had the chance to sit on a king´s knee and ask for what they wanted for Christmas.

After the kings left (explaining that they needed to go take a siesta before the parade and their very busy night ahead of delivering gifts to all of the children in Spain), everyone squeezed into the dining room to share in a potluck lunch/comida, and then more carols/villancicos. The nuns requested carols in different languages from all of the foreign students, and so Nathan and I sang one or two in English, a friend from Poland sang one of her favorites, and then we all joined in many more in Spanish.

After that celebration we went to a mass, and then to the Cabalgata, which is a massive parade that it seems the whole city turns out for, followed by fireworks, and a dinner among our friends. And then, just as we finished supper, the local neighborhood parade of kings, surrounded by a fairly impressive brass marching band, marched right down our street! So cool! With the crowds at the Cabalgata we had to watch from a distance, but from our third floor balcony we had a perfect view of the local Realejo parade :)

And with that final parade, that finished off our Christmas celebrations :) 

While we certainly missed spending the holidays with our families and friends in Canada and the US along with some of the beautiful traditions that we normally participate in at home, a Spanish Christmas was definitely worth experiencing. :)

We hope you are all keeping well and are refreshed and looking forward to all things to come in this new year!

Love,

Candyce (and Nathan)

Some Holiday Photos:

Advent Wreath :)

City Street Decorations

City Decorations

Nathan´s birthday cake

(Chocolate Black Bean brownie Cake, with Raspberry Filling and Avocado Fudge Icing)

The church where we went to a mass on Jan.5th

La Cabalgata Parade

A better view from higher up...

More fun at the Cabalgata :)

The parade in our street!

View of the snowy Sierra Nevada from the terraza of a friend´s place :)