My train for Pucol left at about the same time as my parents, and I watched them until mine left. My friends Jonny and Lidia (who taught me Spanish my senior year at Pleasant Hill) picked me up, and we had lunch, where I met Jonny's parents for the first time. I really was impressed by how beautiful the entire family is. I helped his mother make the dinner for Nochevieja, the Spanish celebration of New Year's Eve. Unfortunately, I was a little too tired to eat well. I managed to stay awake to play some pool and eat the twelve grapes at midnight that correspond to the chimes of the Puerto del Sol clock in Madrid, at least. I actually breathed a sigh of relief as 2008 ended, once and for all--in a variety of ways, it had not treated me well.
After a very late breakfast the next morning, we went for a walk at the Pucol community beach. It was so lovely; somehow I had managed to live the previous three months with the sea out my window without actually visiting the beach. Sad. We ate after we came back--and I was once again flummoxed by how hard it was to keep up with how much my hosts ate. In the evening, we watched movies, one of them in English to give me a break. It felt good, because even though I appreciated the amazing amount of Spanish practice I was getting (Jonny's family was very patient with my many speaking errors), it just feels nice to hear something in your native language every now and then. A charm that transcends culture and language, though, was in watching Lidia's baby girl Sofia look at the world with her big, beautiful brown eyes, discovering it for the first time.
Lidia and I had a bit of an adventure the next day, taking us to various parts of Puerto de Sagunto in a frustrating attempt to accomplish things that refused to be accomplished. Although Lidia apologized for the frustrating morning, I was fine, because it was an excuse to spend more time with Sofia. We had a nice, generous lunch at the house of Lidia's parents, who invite me over on Sabbath from time to time. Afterwards, Lidia's mother gave me a huge pannatonni that kept me fed for about two weeks after I got back to the school. After dinner back in Pucol, I was lulled to sleep by the warm fire and peaceful harp music playing in the background. . . it was wonderful.
For Sabbath, I enjoyed making some mandarin juice for breakfast before heading to church. I enjoyed Sofia's Sabbath school class; it was cute. After a very, very long church service, we had lunch at the house of some of Jonny's parents' friends. It was lavish with food typical of Madrid. It was so good, so filling, that I couldn't eat for the rest of the day of socializing. Eventually, my head hurt so much from processing so many conversations in Spanish at once that I went back to Pucol with Jonny and Lidia to defrag my brain with a film or two in English.
I had enjoyed my time so much there that I found myself almost unconsciously trying to stretch out breakfast so as not to leave too soon. I enjoyed the crepes Jonny's mother had made very much, as well as the rich chocolate. I kissed Lidia, Sofia, and Jonny goodbye, and they drove off into the rain. Jonny's parents took me to the school, but it wasn't open yet, so they called Ana Fernandez, one of my teachers. She let me stay in her house until the dorm opened, even served me a good lunch of tortilla espanola. Then, I returned to a dorm that was empty save for my friend Tristinn and I to await the coming of the next quarter.
First, though, we had the fun of attending the parade in Sagunto for Three King's Day, also known as Epiphany. How fun! Not only was there music, lights, and all manners of marching, but also candy and small gifts thrown out to the crowd. The children were almost more fun to watch than the parade, for all their bright smiles and how their parents held them up so they could see better. Three King's Day is the gift-giving holidy here in Spain, not Christmas, so it was fun to watch how that worked.
What I learned from the people I stayed with over New Year's until returning to the dorm was what good hospitality looks like. I am incredibly grateful to them for that, and can only hope to be able to show the same kindness to others who will need it of me later on.
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