Hello world! I apologize for my lack of posting – I’ve realized that I’ve been neglecting this blog quite a bit, but will do my best to post more frequently.
Here in Spain, we are currently celebrating Carnaval which is the festive season immediately before Lent begins. Carnaval usually incorporates circus elements and masquerades. It’s a HUGE deal! Last week, I worked with Vanessa with helping the students of the colé create masks – Lions, parrots, and cats. Within a couple of days the classrooms converted from students to roaring lions, flying parrots and purring kitties :p We also celebrated by dressing up in certain outfits. We were told what to wear by the ‘Meco’ – a clown set up at the entrance of the school.
- Monday: Wear a tie
- Tuesday: Wear your jacket inside out
- Wednesday: Wear or paint your nose red
- Thursday: Wear a wig
- Friday: Students wore their costumes to school
As I said before, Carnaval is a big deal – this is especially true in Cádiz. Luckily for me, Lindsay and Mariam live in Cádiz and I was fortunate enough to celebrate it with them! Friday morning, I boarded a train that would take me from Santiago – Madrid, from Madrid – Cádiz, totally a whopping 11 hours of travel (woo hoo)! But it was definitely worth being able to spend the weekend with M and L! We decided to have a relatively low-key night in order to save our energies for Saturday’s festivities. Our night consisted of wine, tapas and talking about anything and everything. Just like old times. The next morning we made our way downtown to walk around, eat sea urchins, listening to chirigotas, and get an idea of what our night would be like. Cádiz is absolutely beautiful! The sun was an extremely nice change from the Galician rain 🙂 The sea urchins had a very strong sea taste and were quite difficult to eat. I didn’t particularly enjoy it, but had to try it! Chirigotas are groups of people who dress up and sing songs about current topics – usually in a humoristic manner.
As 8 PM rolled around, we began to get ready. Mariam’s boyfriend, Andrés and his cousin Leo came over to get ready with us. Costumes were as follows:
- Lindsay – Flamingo
- Mariam and Andrés – Smurfs
- Leo – …… I don’t really know what he was? (see pictures)
- Me – Chicken
I had such a blast with everyone. The night was filled with dancing, drinks, and music.
Kids Garden
Kids Garden celebrated by dressing up as classes – Los Mayores dressed up as Mickey and Minnie and Los Pequeños were fresitas and music notes 🙂 Sooo preshhhhuuuus!!!!!
Adventures in Spain 