Thanksgiving Month

It's been a couple weeks, and Thanksgiving is technically over (though not in my heart!), so I thought I'd update on what's been happening! 

School has been basically the same, I'm still very much enjoying myself and also considering returning next year. I found out last week that if I want to renew with CIEE, I should tell them I'm considering it by December 15th. Of course, I thought that this meant I had to absolutely commit to another year by then. Thankfully, as I found out today, that is not the case. I only have to give a noncommital nod. But the thought of having to decide this so soon has got me thinking. I really love this job, I love these kids, and if I keep up the good work, it is extremely likely I'll be placed with them again. I don't know how I feel about staying in Madrid, big city that it is, or about being out of the country for another year, but I do know that, since I want to travel in the summer and having a placement would make it easier to do that, it's something I need to seriously think about. So I'm making my mental pros and cons list and we'll see where that takes me. 

Because November is over, so is National Novel Writing Month and... I made it! Again! (Except I finished one day late because of Thanksgiving... shhh). So now to the editing phase. This is actually the first novel I've wanted to reread about doing it during Nanowrimo. The other two I could not even think about afterwards, I thought they were so bad! So that's a good sign, I think. 

And then Thanksgiving! Oh man, was that fun. I was in charge of roasting the "turkey" (chicken: they don't sell whole turkeys in Spain normally, and that's expensive anyway), and the pecan pie. First, the drama. Pecans aren't really a thing here. You have to go to the "posh" grocery store (like maybe a whole foods or something in the U.S.?) to get them, and even then, they're still in the shell. I don't know if any of you have shelled a cup worth of pecans before, but it is TOUGH! It hurts your fingers! And it's really difficult not to eat them all! Then, brown sugar (also really important for pecan pie) can only be bought at, apparently, Taste of America. (Actually, Steve found unshelled pecans there too, for 17 EUROS!) They also don't sell pre made pie crusts, or roasting baskets, and I had never dealt with a whole chicken before (at least that I had to cook). So all in all, it's a miracle everything wasn't ruined. The pie was decent, the chicken wasn't too dry, and everyone went home full and a little drunk. We met at Hannah's, Steve, Melanie, Sam, Begoña, Iñaki, and Hannah's fellow auxilar Shromsfionvsdf (don't remember her name). Hannah made pumpkin pie, green bean casserole, and garlic mashed potatoes. Steve made a killer sweet potato casserole (he also joined in the pecan brown sugar grief with me), and Melanie made stuffing and gravy that worked perfectly together. Sam brought the incredibly important vanilla ice cream and wine. Iñaki brought salad and wine. Begoña brought sparkling cider. We basically had enough bottles to each drink out of one instead of using glasses. We didn't, but we could have. 

So having all the traditional (except for the turkey) foods, even without the family, really made the holiday special for me. 

I went to the open market on Sunday and got some new shoe-bootie things and a black, suede slim jacket for like 15 Euro so. 

So this week in school we're starting to wind down with new work and review all the units we've covered so far. Today, I started on a Christmas mural outline that the kids will get to color in and put themselves onto. It's pretty awesome, as the kids watching me draw it kept telling me ;) 

So yeah! If I think of anything else important that happened in the last couple of weeks, I'll edit or something, but Thanksgiving pretty much covers it.