This is me, on a Thursday.

1.10.13

I don't really have anything monumental to write about today, but that's actually one of the reasons I wanted to write.  The majority of my days here are just regular days of the week, and maybe my few followers wouldn't mind hearing about normal life in Lugo.  And if you do mind, then consider this a purely selfish post, because someday I might want to go back and read it ;)

My first couple days back at school went well; having to talk about a holiday for 8-12 hours in week is really a great way to get you over it.  I am perfectly content to wait an entire year for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas to come back, because, frankly, school made me sick of talking about them.  But it was nice to see the kids, and the teachers, and to hear about how everyone spent the holidays here.  Here are some things I learned about Christmas and New Year's Eve in Spain:

- On Christmas Eve (Nochebuena), it's traditional to eat a lot of seafood.  This is because seafood is very expensive, so it's included in what is supposed to be one of the "best" meals of the year.  I am all for adopting this tradition ;)

- Some children get presents on Christmas morning, but not all.  Even some of the ones who do don't necessarily get these presents from Santa Claus.  Traditionally, children receive their presents on the morning of January 6th.  They are brought by the three kings on the night of the 5th, and, instead of putting out stockings, small children customarily leave out their shoes to be filled. (Nowadays it seems like a lot of children get presents on both days, and they seem very OK with this.)

- The night of Jan 5th (Epiphany Day Eve? lol), there is also a parade in every city, town, and village in Spain.  It's called la cabalgata, and the three kings are featured in it.  Candy is thrown to the children, and also small presents/trinkets.  One of the students at my school told me that, in the small village where he is from, parents/relatives will give the presents that they have for the children to the mayor in advance, and then at the end of the cabalgata, everyone gathers in the main plaza and the kings read each child's name off a list and actually give them their gifts "in person."

- There is a cake, called a roscón, that is only eaten on Jan 6th.  It has little figurines of the kings baked in it like "presents" and there is also a bean hidden inside.  The figurines are treats, but, apparently, whoever eats the slice with the bean has to pay for the roscón! haha.  I saw a bunch in the windows of pastelerías, but I didn't realize what they were:

- On New Year's Eve, I mentioned eating grapes.  12 grapes are eaten at midnight here, one on every stroke of the clock.  The people in my conversation group at the language school also told me that it is good luck to have only your right foot on the ground while eating the grapes.

- Something else I learned from the adults in my conversation group is that it's good luck to drink champagne with something gold in it (like a piece of jewelry), and/or with lentils (dry and uncooked, I presume, hehe) in it.

- Multiple Spaniards have told me that it's good luck to wear new red clothes on NYE (especially if they were a gift), and especially to wear new red underwear.

Interesting.

Today has been mostly lazy, like the majority of my weekends spent in Lugo.  But I have decided to start trying to resume my exercise, so I did go down to my little Río Rato path for the first time in a long time.  While I was hiking up to a lookout point, I saw a peacock:

 I have no idea what it's doing there, but it has it's own little enclosure and peacock-house, and some goose neighbors.

Also, I acquired another private lesson today! Hoo-rah.  All I had when I came back to Lugo was the conversation group on Wednesday nights because Iria is about to go to Ireland, so I've been on the prowl for more.  This "clase" would be with a 6 year old boy, and would also hopefully be pleasant & adorable.  I'm still going to print out some ads tomorrow morning and go put them up near the university and some colegios in the afternoon, though.  I also tried posting an ad on the University of Santiago website (as advised by a friend, because there is a campus here in Lugo), but the only thing that came of that was a personal trainer who wanted to exchange workouts for English lessons... I was considering this, even though it's not really what I'm after (i.e. money) but it turns out he lives in Santiago. Qué lástima.  But here's hoping the prosperous part of 2013 can start now! ;)

Here are some pictures of what nature looks like in Lugo right now: