As some of you remember, one of my main goals after I graduated from college in Iowa City was to high tail it out of that state and get away from the snow. I hate being cold and I don’t like wearing five layers and then still be freezing and waking up early to dig my car out of the snow. Pretty much the only thing that I like about the snow is it makes for a nice Christmas Eve. You can snuggle up with a blanket and a hot drink and watch a movie or read a book. But it’s only nice if you weren’t planning on doing anything that day anyway which, never actually happens. Anyway, I’d had enough after my last winter in Iowa. So I figured, hot dog! I’m moving to a Spanish island! What better way to avoid snow than on small piece of land in the Mediterranean Sea. Ohhh how wrong I was. A few weekends ago it SNOWED. Big time (for Palma). There was even about a week leading up to it; the excitement was palpable. On Wednesday, everyone was so happy and telling me with huge grins on their faces that Palma was going to get snow. I met their child-like happiness with a face that would’ve made the Grinch proud. I was definitely not looking forward to snow; but, then again, I didn’t really believe that it would actually happen. The weather is wrong nine times out of 10, why should they be even close this time? They were SPOT ON. For once.
I woke up on Saturday morning to see humongous snowflakes dive-bombing (falling gracefully toward) our apartment. Amanda and I just looked at each other with disgust-filled eyes. Once I got past the fact that the snow had found me on my island paradise, I warmed up (but not literally!) to the fact that hey, we could get a snow day out of this! Apparently they cancel school if it snows because no one knows how to deal with it and “no one here has snow tires” (Um…how much snow were you planning on getting..?!) Too bad all our snow happened on Saturday and Sunday. That was just not my weekend.
I looked on Facebook a few hours later, around 10 am, and one of our teachers had already uploaded about 60 photos of the snow. She lives on the outskirts of Palma and it had snowed about 4 inches where she was. She was on cloud nine, as she had never seen that much snow in Palma before, or maybe in her life. I’m not sure. The last snowfall that actually stuck to the ground a little bit was in 1985 and one comparable to this one was in 1956 (this woman hadn’t been born yet). She got up at 4 in the morning, realized it was snowing, woke up her sister that lives next door, and started taking photos. At FOUR in the morning. I’m glad they enjoyed it, because I was sitting, freezing in my apartment, pissed. At any rate, the snow’s melted now and we’re back to sunny, albeit, chilly, skies. Let’s hope that was the end of it.
A few weeks ago (Feb 16 and 17) I took part in Carnival at my schools in Campos and Palma. Carnival reminds me a lot of Halloween in the US; everyone dresses up elaborately and there’s a big party at school. I went to Campos on Thursday, rather than my usual Fridays, to participate in their Carnival celebration and parade. The teacher I work with has an extra costume that I borrowed, I was a ladybug, and she also invited me to have lunch with her family at her house in Campos since it’s about an hour outside of Palma and we’re going to be there for the whole day. Carnival and lunch were fantastic. Her parents were really welcoming and I got to meet her sister and infant nephew, Marc. For lunch we had some type of soup; it had home-grown potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, pork meatballs and what I was told was ox. It was delicious and I went back for seconds. Of course, before the meal even started, we had olives and booze. Typical. I tried Martini liquor, a strong but tasty beverage, before the meal and then chased with wine during. I was pretty relaxed by the end of lunch to say the least. After, we had dessert, which was a cake topped with apricot halves and powdered sugar, and coffee (would I like a shot of cognac in mine?), I was stuffed and ready for a nap but we still had to go back to school for the parade.
The three, four, and five year olds and their teachers all took a walk around Campos up to the main plaza in town. They were all dressed up; some were superheroes, princesses, Formula 1 drivers, the whole shebang.
I had a great time, and I’m really thankful the opportunity to work in Campos was given to me. The town itself is very different from Palma, I don’t think I’ve heard two words (that weren’t directed at me) in Castellano, they ONLY speak Mallorquin. I’ve already picked up a few essential phrases in Catalan: Has fet pipi? (Have you gone to the restroom?) Seu bé (Sit down properly) and Menja (eat (your snack)). More to come, I’m sure!
