Day 22

sausage anyone?

What. A. Weekend.

I don't really want to write too much. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves but I will preface the weekend with this brief disclaimer:

"The content of this post is not suitable for children. If you are currently pregnant, easily moved to sickness, or sensitive to animal cruelty you are advised to scroll past the next few groups of photos as these are not for you. Please understand that the following event is prohibited by most of Spain, however, some cities somehow get away with this 'tradition.' Don't say you weren't warned."

So. The city of Navaleno host less than 1000 people and every year the celebrate an age old tradition of killing a pig and raffling off parts of pork (of a different pig). This is supposed to be a tribute to the old days when this is how you had to eat.. kill the animal, make a meal but now its become so sort of hooplah that must be shared. But first, Welcome to Navaleno!

the hotel

our room

The little one to the left tells everyone at school i'm her cousin

the 2 on the right were my roommates for the night.. i didn't get much sleep

It rained a lot of Saturday but it was still a very nice town. We stayed at the quaint little hotel and pretty much the whole family came with. Then we met the pig. His name was Rabocho. Po lil Rabocho.. didn't even know what was coming.. (SN: apparently the black pigs are the good meat so somebody was about to come up!)

part 1: name the pig

part 2: prep the fire to "clean the hair off"

step 3: hold him down, stab the stomach and collect the blood for some sort of "soup"?

oh yeah, it's alive, by the way.. and screaming

Step 4: freak out... then turn away. but this wasn't much of a better view

s/n: this is how they make sausage in case you were wondering

Step 5: drink a lil bit.

Step 6: clean/burn off the hair..ps. it was still squirming at this point..

Step 7: Finish the drill..

hang it to dry? then eat pork.. needless to say, i had fish for lunch and beef for dinner..

........................................

OK it gets a lot LESS gruesome from here.. be glad blogspot would let me upload the video.. smh

ok so after lunch, we went out for drinks and kareoke:

It started off harmless enough..

Then they started to drink..

Then it was my turn.. They played "time of my life" from Dirty Dancing.. and thats my jam

..i may have gotten carried away #kanyeshrug. believe it or not, i was very sober.. haha.

Jorge got a bit camera happy now that he's taking a class. I had to lay down the law. This is my "HEY, get that camera out my face" face..

Then bar dinner and bar #2.. after that, i was exhausted so I stayed with the children while they adults went back out for round 3.. those crazy kids haha

...................

THEN ON SUNDAY... as everyone recovered from their hangovers.. we went hiking. prepare for a plethora of loveliness.

at the top..

at the bottom: (no worries.. i didnt actually hike DOWN this part, thank God)

so after allllll this.. i came home, showered, and crashed.. Most of my body was pretty achy. then school this morning. Needless, to say, my body is still recovering from the over exertion. I'm not sure how much good I was today at the school.. Anyway, teaching English is tricky because they are learning British English which is quite different from American English. I'll make it up to them on Thursday. OH and one of my teachers broke her shoulder skiing...remind me never to try that. smh

In the meantime, I shall munch on my girl scout cookies (the thin mints anyway seeing how none of the others managed to make it here...) and read up on how to put in my own perm. But don't worry, I'm only doing the edges.

till next time.

Peace.love.and rockets.

.autumn.

Day 18

feliz cumple.

SO.

A few posts ago I mentioned Ismael's birthday. Well it was yesterday, and yes, it was the party of the year. There was cake, junk food, soccer, and lots and lots of kids. Prior to the mayhem of preparing for the party, Ismael opened all his gifts from immediate family and myself (a barcelona soccer team piggy bank WITH money inside, yes thank you.) and then we hurried off to their "club house type place" to set-up for the party.

It's not a party till something goes wrong and today of all days Ismael decides to have some sort of diarrhea-esque stomach issue all over the bathroom toilet. I walked in there like "what is that smell?" He looks at me like "whats up? whats the problem?" which means, theres a problem. I walk in the bathroom to see $#!t all over the toilet. REALLY?! Well, let it be known that I am nobody's parent and will not be responsible for tending to any bodily fluid that came out of anyone that isn't immediately related to me (and this comes with the stipulation that their parent is not available). So I did what any self-respecting au-pair like myself would do.. "Eva, we have a situation that you need to tend to." so she comes over to the bathroom takes a look, shakes her head, and looks at this boy who's still looking like "Whats up?" This woman is no fool. She immediately checks his pants and guess whats all over his pants, underwear, and even his WHITE button up.. yeaaahhhh.. i'll leave that to your imagination. But she kept her cool.. patient woman, that Eva because a n****a like me woulda had it out with that boy in that bathroom.

so i scurried to the house to round up a whole new set of clothes to get him cleaned up before the people arrived and Low and Behold, by the grace of God we managed to get everything out but the smell.. Oh well, can't win 'em all.

Then the kids arrived and the chaos began. It was actually not that bad. they had a great lil area for them to run around so I actually didnt have to interact with too many of them but all their parents did want to meet me since all they've been hearing about is the American girl teaching in the schools.

Started off quiet enough with some fütbol outside

Then it was time to feed the little monsters

they just kept multiplying and asking for stuff.. smh

Then the cake.. Look at 'em.. breathing all over the cake with their hot, little kid breath

i bet he spit on it blowing it out.. needless to say, i didn't eat any lol (i'm such a snob lol)

Then they kick all the kids out and its the real food with the adults fully equipped wine beer, wine, and cigars. this part was very nice minus the smoke.

All in all, good party, good people, great day.

THEN TODAY: Day 2 at the school and believe it or not, i had so much fun! It's hilarious seeing the behavior difference from 1st grade to 4th grade. I'm so tickled because the little kids are like wild animals.. i'm so serious.

any Recess lovers out there?

Its funny because people are constantly asking me "how do they do this in America?" I tell them, I can only speak for Georgia, and really only Lawrenceville at that. Its hard to explain how the US is like 50 little countries operating under one large government.. (#kanyeshrug) i just make stuff up and sound like I know what i'm talking about haha.

Furthermore, now when the students stare, I wave. Its because the know and love me and usually want to say hi :).

Now when the parents and other adults stare, I give them the stink eye like o_O "Problem?!" because its getting old. Kids have a natural disregard of manners when it comes to staring but adults, you know better.

All in all. i love it here. Eva tells me i should consider a life here lol. She says all i need for dual citizenship is a son. "Oh is that all?!" well sign me up then! lol.. sike

but seriously. love it. i've picked out my apartment and everything haha.. she even told i could set up shop here teaching English and make bank because I'm a native speaker. I'm like "for realsies?!" well if America doesn't pan out for me, i'm chuckin the dueces and moving to Spain haha.. but seriously.

Ok thats all the rambling i have for now. While you sit in anxious anticipation for my next post, I leave you with some love I received today.

apparently they are convinced i arrived by boat..or rainbow.. i dont know.. lol

this one says "My love Autumn" haha!

aw. cute right?! yeahh.. ok till next week.

peace.love.and rockets.

.autumn.