Grapes for the New Year

No Spaniard would ever think about ringing in the New Year without eating 12 grapes. Instead of the 10 second countdown in Times Square with Dick Clark, they have the 12 second countdown in la Puerta del Sol with Carmen Sevilla. Why 12 and not 10 you ask? For the 12 months of the next year, of course. There are 12 bells and with each bell you have to eat one grape. That's easy, you say. Not true. The first 4 or 5 grapes are easy, but by the time you get to the 7th or 8th one you start giggling and snorting grape juice out your nose. Very few people are talented enough to have swollowed the 12th grape after the 12th bell. Most people have their cheeks full and are still chewing. I'll let you know how it goes! Happy New Year!

Friendship

On Christmas you call the ones you love. Apart from family, I called Julie. In my ripe old age I've learned that friends normally come and go. It's rare to have a friend that's always there and that you know you can trust. Most of my friends have come and gone. Sure, maybe we email once every 6 months...but the friendship drifts off. But of all the friends that have come and gone, there is one who has always been there and will always be there. Julie. I feel honored to be her friend. We've been through high school, college and camp together. Some might consider our friendship odd or distant, but nothing could be farther from the truth. We understand each other in silliness and in silence. She's one of a kind. I'm one of the lucky people who can say they have a true friend.

Noche Buena

Having my parents here with me and all I completely forgot to send Christmas cards out. Please forgive me. Here are a few shots of our adventures. Have a very Merry Christmas and remember why we celebrate.


Nativity Scene in Obradoiro Square


Cathedral


Holy Cross on the roof of the Cathedral


Jose and I on the roof of the Cathedral



God's Promise


Mom and Dad


Sunset Portosin

Fogar do Santiso

Last night Jose and I took mom, dad and Sergio to Fogar do Santiso. It's a really fun restaurant... a wooden shack with cobwebs hanging from the ceiling...no forks or plates...good music, lots of people, and the "Queimada", which is a typical Galician alcoholic drink. They put the alcohol in a big cauldron with coffee beans, orange peel, and lots of sugar...then they burn the alcohol out of it. We had a blast. Ate octopus, squid, and pork ribs. Drank cinnamon liquor. Listened to Galician bagpipes. Drove away the "meigas malas" (bad witches) with the Queimada...it's a fun Galician tradition. Here are some pictures of the event.












Tomorrow's another day...

The Parentals

They're here! They're in Madrid! I can almost touch them! Yes, my wonderful parents have made it safely to Spain for Christmas. I talked to them last night and they're doing great...jet lagged, but great. They're spending two days in Madrid before coming here. They'll be here in Santiago on Friday. In the meantime I still have to work, but soon I can play. It's been a year since I've seen them, so I can't wait for them to get here. Well, I'm off to work. By the way, these pictures were taken on our trip to Italy in the summer of 2003. I'll put some more pictures of our trip on another post.

Security Blanket

This is me and Michu's favorite blanket. You can most likely find us in this position everynight...either reading, studying or watching TV. It's not enough for Michu to just sit on top of the blanket in my lap...oh no...she has to get under it. She and Paco have knock down, drag out fights to decide who gets to sleep under THE blanket. Seriously, I'm talking hissing, scratching and fur pulling. They don't like just any old blanket. It's has to be THIS blanket. I agree with the cats...it's the best blanket ever. $19.99 at Target. Bought it in 1999 before I came to Spain. Best blanket ever.

Christmas Cards

Now is the time of year when families all over dress up the kids and go out in search of the perfect Christmas card picture. I remember it well. Our best Christmas card pictures were taken when we were goofing off. It's funny how, to get that perfect picture you have to go through 4 rolls of film (luckily digital camaras have made things easier). Flash didn't go off, someone had their eyes closed, red eye disease, someone was caught gold digging, angry faces saying "hurry up already!" And then, Ahhh, the perfect pìcture. Beautiful smiles, lovely pose...the perfect family has been captured perfectly.

It's funny how families all over search for perfection. You never get real life Christmas card pictures in the mail with everyone in their PJs and messy hair and no make-up, or kids with dirty faces, or frowns. Everyone's always clean, dressed up and smiling. We want people to see perfection, but what makes us human and not robots is our imperfection.

I think everyone has received the typical Christmas card LETTER too. Oh you know what I'm talking about...we've all gotten a good laugh out of them. My sister even fell into the trap of writing one last year! Which I got a kick out of, but I still love her. Every year my family got a Christmas card letter from the same family updating us on their perfection. "Well it's been a wonderful year. Sarah decided to follow her dream of traveling the world, Bob is now working from home, and little Ronnie spends all day pursuing new technological advances." What really went on was that Sarah got kicked out of college and became a truck driver, Bob got fired and now stays home with the kids, and little Ronnie is glued to his PlayStation all day! It seems like we've always got something to prove. Always trying to keep up with the Jones'.

The Cleaver's were not a real a family. A real family is one that's faulty and flawed, but based on love. A real family is not always successful in life. A real family is one that has trials and struggles, but that sticks together. The world is full of real families that are flawed, who are just trying to fool everyone.

José pointed out to me the other day something that is so true. He said he didn't understand why sending Christmas cards was so important. Why is remembering to send a Christmas card to the neighbors so important, but we've never even invited them over for coffee. No one has seen the 'Johnsons' in years or ever cared enough to call and see how they were doing, but if they don't send us a Christmas card...the friendship is over! It doesn't make much sense does it?

I'm not saying by any means that we should stop doing these things, because, heck, it's a Christmas tradition. I love getting a good chuckle reading the Christmas letters as much as the next guy! But I do think we put too much importance on petty issues. Instead of trying to cover up our family flaws and sugar coat them, lets embrace them. Our imperfection is what makes us beautiful and God's grace is the only thing that can cover them.

In the meantime, here are some of the past Edwards' Family perfect Christmas pictures! I have to admit...they are perfect pictures...even if we aren't.

The Hunt

As most of you already know, Jose is a historian in his free time and he writes books. He's written 4 books and hundreds of articles for magazines and newspapers. He could spend hours in an old archive searching through old documents and be having the time of his life. Something that sounds dreadful to me, but Jose loves it. It's his passion. He'll come home after a long afternoon in the archive and tell me that he discovered something that only he knows. That's what he loves the most...researching and discovering something that no one else knows. He doesn't really like actually writing books, he loves what's behind the books. He loves the smell of an old archive, the dust on the boxes, the occassional insect that been hiding in the stack, the mystery behind the puzzle pieces, putting the pieces together and above all...the hunt.

I've learned from Jose that investigating is much more than just looking for and finding documents. It's all about being able to interpret what you encounter, finding the missing links, and continuing to research those links until all the pieces of the puzzle come together.

It's an adventure. With his last book, Lobos Acosados, about German U-boats sunken off the coast of Galicia, he had to go to Germany and investigate. Oh, and what an adventure it was! He didn't speak a lick of German and their English was shaky. He went to a small town outside of Hamburg, Germany and spent a week in World War II archives photocopying. The janitor who worked there turned out to be Gallego! She helped him out a lot. She even went to the store for him and bought him food so that he could continue researching.

Needless to say, he does this for the passion...not the money. They don't pay non-fiction very well, so he can't dedicate all his time to writing and investigating.



Today he came home, after his traditional morning coffee in the café below reading the newspaper, with newspaper in hand and a big grin on his face like a kid Christmas morning. Someone had written an article about Lobos Acosados. "The historian, Jose Antonio Tojo Ramallo, assures us in his book, Lobos Acosados, the best work ever written on naval battles during the Second World War on the Galicia coast, that if Spain were to participate in the conflict, Ferrol would have a submarine base much greater than that of France."

So even if his books don't get paid well, his work never goes unnoticed. And the satisfaction he gets from the hunt is more than money could buy.

Running on the Spirit... and Coffee

Since Monday I've been teaching English 10 1/2 hours a day and 4 hours on Saturday trying to push forward my December classes so I can take vacation time hile my parents are here for Christmas. I have to keep up with this schedule until December 16. I'm only on day 3 and already struggling. Coffee seems to be my friend these days. I get home at 10 PM grab a quick bite for dinner and jump in bed, just to start all over again at 8AM. Right now my students are doing a listening exercise so I'm using the down time to write this. Jose's been really sweet lately. He made me 'chocolate con churros' last night when I got home. But this is all starting to wear on me, and coffee only goes so far! I'm losing my voice, my mouth hurts from enunciating and going back and forth from English to Spanish, and my back is breaking from standing up all day. So I've decided to turn to the Spirit to keep me going, keep me awake, and not turn me into a Jello Jiggler. Well, I'm off. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Exodus 15:2
The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my victory. He is my God, and I will praise him; he is my father's God, and I will exalt him!

The Great Escape

Ever since I can remember my dad has wanted a sailboat. Every time we'd see one his eyes would light up and he'd say, "Court, I'm gonna get a sailboat one of these days." He's got the passion...he just lacks the boat and well, sailing lessons.

There's just something about the open ocean that attracts us. I have the same passion my dad has. It's not so much the actual boat, rather the greatness of the ocean that I love. I love everything about it...it's beauty, it's mystery, the life it contains, it's expansion, it's powerfulness. Something so amazing could only be the work of God. One minute it's as calm as a bathtub and the next it's strength and fury explode. The ocean's a world that's bigger and more complex than the land and over half of it has yet to be explored.

That's why I chose to study biology and oceanography. That's why Jacques Cousteau was always my hero. And that's why I take pictures of boats. Boats are our outlet to sea...our great escape.

Thanksgiving Volume 2

So I was feeling a little down about not being able to make Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. I realized I had to do something. It would have been my first Thanksgiving EVER not doing something. So I went out today and bought some turkey breast. Nothing special, but Jose and I sat down and celebrated together.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is not a big event over here in Spain. I wonder why?? Hmmm. Normally I buy a big turkey which I have to actually order at the grocery store, because there's not much of a demand for them. I cook my big Thanksgiving dinner and have friends over. I've done this every year since I've been here. Some years have turned out better than others...I have yet to find the right potatoes to make mashed potatoes that don't look and feel like paper paste!

This year I'm not making the bird, though. My parents are coming for Christmas and in order to take off from work, I have to make up all the classes I'll miss before they come. So that means no time to cook Thanksgiving dinner this year. I could do it on Saturday, but then it wouldn't be the same...not like anyone over here would notice, though!

I just talked to my sister, Ashley, on the phone. She's fixing Thanksgiving dinner for my parents this year. The bird is in the oven, she's peeling potatoes, my dad made pumpkin french toast for my neices and nephew and my mom is just relaxing playing with the grandkids...which feels sort of strange for her.

I love Thanksgiving. It's makes my mouth water just thinking aobut it! Mmmm. It's not just the food, though. I have great memories of being with my dad and sister, playing football in the yard...well passing the football..."playing" is a strong word. Watching the Redskins on TV. Having my brother, Brian, practice all his Walker Texas Ranger moves on me. Watching my mom do whatever it is she did with that nasty little bag of giblits. Helping make the relish tray. Pulling the wishbone...which never broke because it was too moist. Taking the picture of what always looked like the Adams Family. The day I got promoted to the big persons table! I always felt like a reject sitting on the little stool at the munchkin table. And sitting by the fire eating leftover turkey sandwiches.

I do have a can of pumpkin left over from last year...maybe I'll make a pie on Saturday and buy some cold cut turkey to make sandwiches. Oh well. Here's a picture of my sister and I many Thanksgivings ago.

The Two Marías

Years ago there were two little old ladies here in Santiago. Both named María. Even though they weren't totally with it, the town loved them. You see, the two Marías were in their 80s but they thought they were in their 20s...really. Everyday they would wake up, put on their make-up, do their hair and head out on the town. They usually went to the Alameda to strut their stuff and try to pick up men! They would whistle at cute college passer-bys and every once in awhile give a little wink. Well the whole town knew about the two Marías and so the college boys would play along. Their response to the whistles and winks would be a smile along with a "Guapa!" Which means beautiful. These two spunky ladies passed away before I got the chance to meet them, but at least I got to take my picture with them!

Un Domingo Cualquiera

I know it must seem like we're lazy over here, but when you think about it's the way it should be! All the stores are closed on Sundays. It's a true day to rest. Jose and I were talking about it over an Estrella Galicia in a bar given the name "42".




About a month ago all of the small businesses were faced with a decision...whether or not stores should open on Sundays. The answer was immediate...NO. Everyone decided against it. No making a quick run to the grocery store for milk or spending the afternoon Christmas shopping at the mall, no noisy jackhammers or cars honking in a hurry. Just the sound of chatter and laughter. A meeting was called and the decision was unanimous...Sunday is a day to rest.




Now this of course does leave out the cafès, bars and restaurants. But they close on Mondays, so that the rest of the town can enjoy time together with family and friends and have a place to reunite on Sundays. Whether at home, in the park, or in a bar (here bars are actually family places...they're not pool halls or anything like that!)

I saw the most amazing thing while we were sitting in bar "42". All of the tables were full and a young couple didn't have anywhere to sit, so an elderly couple invited them to sit down at their table. Complete strangers sat and talked for 30 minutes. I'm sure that if it were the hustle and bustle of a Monday or Tuesday, the young couple wouldn't have had time to sit and chat. But they had no stores to visit or chores to do, so they slowed down and enjoyed the company.




Come Monday everything changes. The jackhammer starts up again, the cars honk away, people push and shove on their way to work, and it's back to the daily grind. But I think everyone should take time to just slow down and enjoy the people and things you're thankful for.