Spain: last few days at work before the holiday break

Tuesday Ingy and I went to work at around 9:00 am as usual however we didn't do much work. Tuesday was their Christmas party day. We didn't have classes because of other events planned for the day. All the kids came out and sat in the entrance hall next to the decorations and waited for a christmas song performance by a group of girls from the town. They school was decorated so well. The parents of the kids are so amazing. I couldn't believe how much time and effort they put into decorating the school for the holidays. I thought they went all out on Halloween but the decorations they made for Christmas were amazing. They were also very creative. They made a nativity scene and had a stone wall on one half of the set. They made it using styrofoam. One of the mothers used a soldering iron and melted away parts of the styrofoam to give the appearance of individual stones. They then spray painted it and made it look like a real stone wall. They spent 2 weeks getting all the decorations put together and set up. I was really impressed on how well everything looked.

Nativity Scene

More decorations

Even the fire extinguisher was decorated

Once they got all the kids into the main hall a group of girls came out and sang christmas songs to all of the children. They played for about 20 minutes and after words the kids all went back to their classrooms. At this point Ingy and I were bouncing around from class to class saying hello. One class we stopped in was celebrating a birthday of one of the children. We helped cut the cake and hung out for a bit.

Waiting for the Christmas music

fighting for the best seat

Christmas Concert

Ingy was playing train with the kids

Birthday Celebration

A few kids having fun with my iphone

After the concert, each class went to the cafeteria to eat churros and chocolate. I imagine most people know what churros are. Basically a fried donut in the shape of a long string that you dunk in warm melted chocolate. They are really good, but so rich I can only eat a couple before collapsing from a sugar high. The kids however ate them up like it was they last thing they would eat. After the kids gave letters of what the wanted to christmas to the 3 wise men. They all know who Santa is in Spain, but he isn't the main man during the holidays. Usually children get a present on christmas day from Santa, but the bulk of their presents come on January 6th. This is the Feast of the Epiphany when the Three Kings arrived in Bethlehem. For Spanish children this is the most important day of the year when they wake up to find that Los Reyes Magos (the Three Kings) have left gifts for them in their house. One of the parent's dressed up as one of the Wise men to take the letters and give them a small book to tide them over until the 6th. There are 2 white kings and a black king. The lady dressed as the black king, decked out in a biblical outfit and even painted herself black to fit the role. Some of the kids were scared, but most were excited to give their letters to the wise men.

about to get chocolate wasted

waiting to give their letters to the wise men

kid giving his letter to the king

After the school day was over we headed to a co-workers house for a potluck. Everyone from the school hung out for a few hours to eat and drink. There was a lot of good food and Ingy and I both had a great time. We went back to the school for a minute after because my co-worker was giving us a ride back to Sevilla. The kids were back and were all dressed up to perform a little nativity scene skit that night. It was a really fun day and Ingy and I both had a great time.