2008.

Well well well. Look what we have here.....it is 2009, sneaking up on us like a lion stalking its prey.

For my family, two thousand and eight was an emotional and life-changing year. We lost two members of our family, I got my license, Gideon was Bar-Mitzvahed, Ruby has been on this earth for a decade, and of course, I moved to Spain.

My New Year celebration here was not very interesting. I ate the 12 grapes in 12 seconds and then kissed about 50 people on the cheek in less than 2 minutes. I was then invited to a "party" thrown by Mila´s 14 year old niece. The party consisted of 7 people at her parent´s house in a shed/bedroom that was not attacted to the house. When the Nintendo didn´t work, the 7 guests began to question me about California. It was a flashback to Hannah Feldman´s middle school parties. No illegal substances, a half-assed game of spin the bottle that ends on the first spin, but mostly just feeling like an adult.

Christmas was more fun. After everyone ate large amounts of turkey and I had eaten my salad, the music began. The whole family sitting in a circle playing guitars, singing, and dancing. That lasted until 6:00 am.

One would think that the holidays here are done, but that is not true. There is still the 6th of January, which is more like American Christmas. The three kings bring presents in the morning and the festivities last for two days. One of Mila´s nieces (age 7) asked me which king was my favorite. I had NO idea what she was talking about, and answered "King Felipe V of Spain". She looked at me blankly.


What else? Oh yea! I went to Granada for 3 days. It was awesome. The Alhambra is amazing and I had enought luck to be able see everything. I remember two years ago, in a Spanish class at Tam, my Spanish teacher showed pictures of Granada and we spent about a week learning about it. Little did I know that in two short years, I would be over looking the whole city as cold rain made the castle steps slippery.

I hope everyone has a healthy and happy 2009!

Violetaaaa

p.s. check out photos below