Christmas Time in Mérida

After being away from Mérida for the weekend I was very happy to have this entire week off from work. Not only did I completely pick up my room, but even had some time for fun activities.

Tuesday night myself, Kristina, Christina and Sara got together to have a little cooking party. We

decided to make Fried Eggplant with Honey.

We'd had it as a tapa at couple of places outside of Mérida and knew we could make it just as well. After breading the eggplant (berenjena) we sauted / fried it in Spain's favorite product, olive oil. Then we drizzled some honey (miel) on top. I also made some honey mustard to go with it, delish! The main course was a carbonara pasta..equally delicious-thanks Kristina!!

Every Wednesday myself and the other auxilliares go to a place called Cerveceria 100 Montaditos (translation = little bites) a bar / cafe that sells little bocadillos / sandwiches. Imagine a little baguette (about the size of the palm of your hand) with jamón o queso o pate o anchovies on it DELISH. On Wed it's even more amazing because they sell all the montaditos for 1 euro (as well as cañas and vino too). So we had a bite there, then moved to anther cafe near the Plaza España because we were waiting to watch fire works that were being sent off for the Santa Eulalia Holiday (the patron saint of Mérida).

There are lots of Christmas lights up on the main streets in Mérida adding to the Christmas Vibe. Wed night was especially Christmas feeling as there were many people out and about to watch the Procession of the a statue of Santa Eulalia. They do a Parade through the city and when it arrives at a cetain part, the fire works being. They set the fire works off near the Roman Bridge, and the fire works were actually really quite good! Then we decided to take advantage of the fact that we didn't have to work the next day because of the Santa Eulalia holiday enjoyed some yummy chupitos made carmel liquer and topped with whipped cream, After having a couple of those it was time to call it a night.

The next morning, British Kristina treated us to a Full English Fry Up breakfast- eggs, sausage bacon, tomato, mushrooms. We also had some Mimosas... a very fun Brunch. Later that night we showed our friend Blanca how to make chocolate chip cookies. It was really fun to see the reaction to us measuring butter and things by sight- rather than weighing/ measuring it out. The cookies were really good, even though Spain doesn't really have chocolate chips, a crushed up candy bar does the trick!

Friday was the big day of our Christmas Party, I even woke up early to make sure I had time enough for everything. I was in charge of picking up decorations for the day and the best place to go for that sort of shopping is the local Chino Store - Imagine a super market / dollar store where you can find anything. I ended up buying a tree, some lights and ornaments as well as gold garland and green wrapping paper to wrap around picture frames and then hang on the wall. The decorations were pretty fantastic. For the "party" we had a spread of typical Spanish snacks (jamón, cheese, bread chips/crisps etc) we also ordered tapas from a local place and enjoyed Mulled Wine.

We had a pretty good turn out considering our pool of friends in Spain is still on the small side! Overall the party was def a success and I even enjoyed the fact that we listened to Christmas Carols (villancicos...which I normally hate!).

I've learned to expect the unexpected and thus the fact that on Saturday we went out for some tapas and a couple of drinks turned into an awesome all day/night excursion, did not surprise me. We ate at a place called Lizarran and from there went to watch our friend Cody, another auxillar, play Basketball. His teammates are super nice and some had even come to our Christmas party the night before. After the game we went back to the same restaurant and enjoy a few more pinchos before heading out to one last place. I was in bed by 3, a early night by spanish standards, but I was ready for sleep for sure.

Going back to work tomorrow is certainly going to be a bit rough but I am excited to teach about Christmas. Craazzzy to think this time next week, I'll be on a plane home...HASTA PRONTO!!