aventuras de alyssa

I had a very low key week after Munich because I was utterly exhausted. Monday was a blur, Tuesday I had all three of my tutoring lessons and I have a new student – a two year old girl (this is going to be interesting!!!), and Wednesday I watched a bunch of Netflix at home after doing some planning for school and planning for my parents’ visit! Also, Wednesday at school, we had a presentation about Europe Day, which was on Thursday. It’s the celebration of the day that the European Union was formed. There’s currently 28 countries in the EU, TBD if that’s staying the same with the Brexit nightmare. On Thursday, I visited the school garden with my Spanish class and the guy who takes care of the garden had us help him plant some peppers. He then smeared mud all over our hands and arms! We were laughing hysterically! We spent the last period singing and dancing to the EU hymn and taking a school-wide photo with all the students in their makeshift shirts and yellow stars to represent the EU flag! Here’s a glimpse of it:

After school on Thursday, I met up with Teresa and Andrea to hang out for a few hours. I’m so lucky that I have them! On Friday, I went to school because I’ll be missing the Thursday that my parents come to visit. I went with Luis to one of my 6th grade classes and then with Sandra to 2nd grade English, which was so cute!! They had a ton of songs and dances in order to learn the material and we sang a rendition of I’m a Little Teapot about a fat snowman.

Every day at school since I started, I go to the special education room for a snack and coffee during the midday break. I’ve grown really fond of all the women there and I’ve been tutoring the PT, Lola, as I’ve mentioned before, as well as her son. On Thursday, I was about to leave the room for class and Lola stopped me to tell me that her son had been writing his list of best friends and that I made the cut!!! I’m so thrilled!

I didn’t have too much to take pictures of during the week, so please enjoy these snaps of Tordesillas in the beautiful weather we had this week 🙂

On Saturday, the birthday festivities began! I went for a vermú with Juanjo and Rosa – a vermú is like our happy hour, but at 1 pm, and is only like 1-3 drinks at different bars. We went to a place that has my favorite tapa, potatoes with aioli! I’m going to have to make these back in the states because they’re so yummy! After our little vermú, I took a nap to rest up for the party my friends were throwing me, since I knew we’d be out late (if last time we really went out was any indication, till 5 am!).

Andrea picked me up and we walked over to Teresa and Claudia’s house. They hosted the party in their basement, which is the designated party room. When we got there, all of my friends were there and there was a TON of food set out. Tony made me guacamole special because they know how much I’ve been missing Mexican food, especially guac!! Teresa made me tinto de verano drinks (red wine with lemon soda, can’t remember if I’ve described this before). When it was midnight, Teresa brought out the cake, which was INCREDIBLE. Teresa and her parents made it from scratch (see pic below) – it had multiple layers inside and was absolutely delicious. We had some troubles with pictures, so I blew out the candles three times and everyone sang Happy Birthday in English, Spanish, and a new Spanish birthday song that I didn’t know, about me being a wonderful person! It was such a perfect way to ring in my 25th year.

After enjoying some cake, Andrea and Teresa brought out the gincana, which is a scavenger hunt! I had to figure it out and read every clue out loud in Spanish to test my skills. Some of the things I had to do included:

• Guess the number of Spanish provinces there are – there’s 9! I got this one right
• Dance the Macarena
• Hit down a piñata filled with candy
• Say a tounge twister (trabalenguas) in Spanish – tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal – I was able to do it successfully!
• Post a photo on Instagram with the hashtag #postureo, which means poser and is a running joke everyone has about people who stage photos for Instagram
• And more!!

At the end were my presents hidden in the fridge! It was such a fun time!! After wrapping up the gincana, we played some drinking games – a Spanish version of Kings and I taught everyone how to play flip cup! At 3 am, we head out to the bars only to find them completely empty, which didn’t stop us from staying until like 4:30 am, dancing, and singing! It was the most perfect 25th birthday!!!!

On Sunday, my actual birthday, I slept in and was surprised with gifts from my host family when I woke up! They got me such cute things, including a Captain Marvel bobble head because they know how much I love her. In the afternoon, Rosa and I went for a walk down by the river and had a coffee at the restaurant on the river. It was a beautiful, sunny day. My host family planned a party with both sides of the family at “El Refugio,” which is a wine cellar/party room that they have in Tordesillas. It’s extremely old and really awesome, but also always very cold! I don’t have too many pictures from the party because I forgot to take some, but here’s what I have:

We had a ton of food, two cakes, and then the families surprised me with a book of the history of Tordesillas and they left me a lovely note, signed by everyone (even 2 year old Elena), in the book. I almost started crying! I’ve said it a thousand times, but I can’t believe how lucky I am to have been placed with this host family. I couldn’t be more grateful!

After the party, we all went to have a coffee and finish up the day. I can’t have imagined a better birthday and I’m excited for all the adventures 25 has in store for me! ❤