December (and the Beginning of January) in Review

How can it be that I haven't written here since November? November feels so far away. Here I have long days and short weeks. So here's a brief review of a very busy month and a promise to at least try to write a little more. Also no pictures because I just don't have the patience to upload them right now.

• My sister had two ballet practices. It was fun to see here with her makeup and costumes. At one performance she got to wear a really pretty white tutu, at the other she was dressed as a fork (Beauty and the Beast). The Beauty and the Beast show was really cute. It was based off of the movie and they used the movie music. I actually really genuinely enjoy watching ballet and the girl who played Belle was very talented.
• Both of my siblings had Christmas performances at their school. These included songs in English which I enjoyed more than anyone ever should. Ricky had to dress as an elf and a major sulking session ensued, but he came around when all of his friends looked ridiculous too.
• I got to go to Cuenca for a weekend. Cuenca is a city about 6 hours south of here. A girl from my exchange program invited a group of us to come visit and stay with her. The city is really beautiful and much more modern-feeling than the rest of the country. We had a great time.
• I baked an apple pie from scratch with no measuring and used an oven that doesn't work properly. It was for our YFU Christmas party and somehow it came out great, a true Christmas miracle.
• Virghy turned nine on the 19th. We had a dinner and cake with some of her friends. I gave her some money and a keychain with a picture of St. Louis.
• We had a big cookie-baking day. I love Christmas cookies and they don't make them here. Virghy was a big fan of the idea and helped me the entire day. We watched the Grinch twice. That night all five of us got together to decorate the cookies. Everyone kept saying that there were so many, but they were all gone three days later.
• Christmas here is a much more religious event than in the U.S. Essentially everyone is Catholic and I'm in Catholic school, so there was a lot of nativity scenes and kids reenacting the birth of Christ. Children here do not believe in Santa.
• Christmas eve we went to my uncle's house with all of my dad's brother's and their children. We had some extremely heated games of Uno (Virghy had gotten the cards for her birthday). There was an exchange of presents between the uncles and cousins. My uncle gave me a teddy bear, which I thought was really cute. We decided to name it after his crazy dog, Nena. Everyone stays up until midnight and hugs. 
• Christmas morning we opened presents. My parents had asked me what I wanted and I said a reading lamp (still a nerd). For the record, I love my reading lamp. My grandmas gave me a really pretty bracelet with silver hearts and tiny silver keys. For my gifts I did a portrait of each of the kids. I gave Ricky some movies and Virghy a Calico Critter set I had had my family send me. My grandmother had also sent along gifts for them, a bank and baseball for Ricky, and for Virghy a Rainbow Loom, which makes bracelets out of rubber bands. All the gifts went over quite well and I spent a good part of the day with Virghy on Youtube looking up different patterns to use with the loom. I got to skype with my family back home while the opened presents and I opened some presents that they had sent me. It was really nice.
• New years eve is a huge deal here and one thing I will miss next year. The tradition is to build a sort of effigy that you burn at midnight. We spent three days making Mike Wazowski from Monster's Inc. out of chicken wire and foam. On New Year's Eve day we put it out in front of our house and stopped cars for money, another tradition. I got to wear a pink wig and collected seven dollar's worth of nickels. That night, young men dress up as women and dance in the street, the cars give them money. The whole city is a party and we walked all over the streets just to see all that was going on. At midnight we burned Mike. Fireworks are legal, even the big ones. At midnight the entire sky was lit up. I didn't know where to look and everyone was laughing at how excited and amazed I was. Everyone hugs each other and wishes a happy new year.
• We went back to school and that was a bit rough after vacation, but I like my classmates so it's alright. A lot of other small things have been happening. I feel like I'm always busy. A few days ago the other American student, Sarah, finished her semester and went home. It's weird to think that she's back and this year is very nearly half over. I should write a more reflective post about that soon, but no promises. A week from today I am leaving for a tour of the coast with the YFU group. I am so excited!