im dreaming of a white christmas...

The past few weeks have been both emotional and exciting. I experienced my first Hanukkah which was educational and delicious. I have learned about Christmas traditions in Spain; for example, they generally do not receive gifts until the Three Wise Men come on January 6th. Kime and Zack came back to visit, which was lovely as usual despite their sick state (food poisoning at their previous farm). Oh, and the Christmas lights in the streets were finally turned on which makes Motril look somewhere in between tacky and beautiful.


(homemade manora, Latkes & applesauce! yum!)

However, what I have not had the past week is snow. Or skiing on the stuart trail. Or stollen made by my wonderful mother. Christmas carols playing while I eat breakfast. Or opening up a decoration to put on our advent-calendar-tree every day. Cafe Del Mundo coffee. Or snuggling with Tuuli in my warm bed while looking out into a winter wonderland. This is called: my 1st experience of being homesick in a long time.

^ Just to show a few images to express how much i miss home....

To distract me from this feeling of seriously missing my family and Alaska, I have my adorable students who are excited to do and make Christmas activities. I was remembering all of the things we did at Bowman and I was wishing I had the energy and materials to do these things; Gingerbread houses, ornaments for our parents, making snow men, etc. However, apparently next week the Three Wise Men come to the school to hand out candy to the kids...that should be fun to see. I arrived to the preschool classes with a Santa hat and said "Who am i??" and they answered confidently, "...Heidi..." No, sillys, "SANTA CLAUS!" It was too cute. I attempted at having my 1st graders send letters to Aunt Janet's class but it was a much more difficult task than I had anticipated. I have been playing Christmas Bingo with my private lesson -- that is a whole other story I have not elaborated on yet:

So, my new private lesson: three sisters, ages 5,6,8 named Reyes, Mar & Lola. They are a lot of work, but they make me happy. I teach them for an hour Monday - Thursday and I do my best to help them learn English despite their young age and different levels. They are SO adorable but they are still little girls -- SISTERS -- who compete with each other and whine a lot. I started teaching them because my friend Bernardo decided it was too much for him... however, I assume I am going to be paid as much as he was and it is not enough but I am okay with that because lets face it, I have the time and it is quite rewarding. Plus, they are just so cute!! take a look for yourself:



Kime is back again just 2 days after she left (after her last gig fell through in Cadiz) and it is great to have her. Last night we snuggled, made homemade Spanish hot chocolate, and watched Love Actually. It was a wonderful!

Me, Bernardo & Kime!

So although I am missing home, I have so much to be thankful for here in Motril and ALSO so much to look forward to: NORWAY!!! I am so excited to see Anna (of course) and Oistein -- who I havent seen in over a year and 1/2!! And of course Oisteins family, the Tronsleins, and Anna's friends! Only 5 more days.

In case you forgot how cute the Barnwell girls are: (this is hilarious, thanks for the idea jessi)
click below
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/KGknL7de3Ek31uHx