“Is this real life? Is this going to last forever?”--THE END

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

DAY 15. THE LAST DAY OF MY EUROPEAN ADVENTURE. The end of a chapter and what a great chapter it was. I was a little sad that it had finally come to an end but i was also excited to get back to my comfort zone: my bed, my shower, cereal for breakfast, and privacy. Some thing you just can’t get on a vacation.

While the parade to celebrate the 3 Kings was yesterday, today is the actual holiday and the day when the kids get all their presents. Some families will give out maybe one or two presents on Christmas but everything else is saved for today. Very different from America. The cake above is called a Rascos de Reyes cake and it is very similar to the King Cake of Mardi Gras. They also hide a baby in the cake as well as this bean thing. If you receive the bean it is your responsibility to buy the cake the next year. If you receive the baby it brings you good luck for the year. The cake is always in this oval, circle shape but you can buy mini or individual cakes as well. The stuffing in the middle can change to chocolate nata, vanilla nata, or something else entirely. I really wanted to try one but I wasn’t wiling to buy one because i didn’t want the fruit stuff on the top.

We checked out as late as possible and tried to pass the time by having a lond breakfast at a cafe but because of the holiday EVERYTHING was closed so we were running out of things to do. Finally I just said I would pay the extra money to go home now rather than waste time doing nothing here. At least back in Valverde i can unpack, do laundry. read in peace, sleep, ect. We got to the station at 1p and the bus left at 1:30p so we didn’t have to wait that long. To pass the time I told the girls about the CLIFF game but if just wasn’t as fun with them. They didn’t know as many celebrities as I did so it was kind of limiting. We got to Huelva at 2:30p and caught the 3pm bus to Valverde so again not that much standing around time so that was excellent. It started to rain on the bus but I didn’t really care I just wanted to get home.

At 4:10pm January 6, 2010 I officially came home to my freezing cold flat. That was a LONG 15 days. I am 100% happy with my decision to go on the Europe trip instead of going home. Yes I missed my family and little traditions but I gained so much more on this trip; two life long friends, a brain full of memories, and half a bag of candy. Don’t worry I graciously donated ALL of my candy to Pocho’s English class. I maybe had four pieces in total. It is now January 12, 2010 and Pocho still has candy left even though she gives a piece to ever student she has EVERY day hehe

Now its back to saving my money, creating activities for my tutor sessions, finding ways to exercise throughout the week, cooking every single meal, and my freezing cold flat accurately name “the ice cube”. Ah, the good life.