Christmas in the South & Nochevieja en España (New Years in Spain)

So the first semester at Harvard came to a close for Allison (I spent a total of about 5 weeks in Boston from September until we left for Christmas). My time as you know from the last blog was spent on airplanes (I did time in Singapore, Mongolia, Korea, UK, Argentina, Brazil, and I am sure I am forgetting some other country I visited along the way and of which I saw nothing).

Allison on the other hand spent her time taking classes and doing her practicum (aka Full Time Job) teaching at a school in Cambridge. Allison, I think learned the most from the weather….mainly that this New England weather stuff is not the South when it comes to the winter. Up here in these parts it is a whole new ball game.

On the 16 of December we caught a flight out of Boston heading to Atlanta where we would spend the break with Santa and Mrs. Claus (aka Allison's Dad and his wife Susan) and my family in the ATL. Thanks to our familys for putting up with us (mostly putting up with Allison...she is so difficult) and letting us homeless people stay at your homes, it was great to be with all of you.

This time down South allowed us to visit friends, get presents, and also attend the annual "Greer Christmas Throw Down", which is a fun time which includes caroling, dinner, and gift exchange among other things (Brad & Sam, as always Thank You, A Good Time Was Had by All, I think!!!).

Every year in January my company (Interpol for those of you who read this blog) hosts a kick-off event/meeting in some foreign locale, this year it was going to be in Barcelona, Spain. Since I used to spend time in Spain, I thought it would be a great idea to take my wife to meet my friends in Madrid and Granada. So off we went on the 29th of December 2007 one of those fun overnight flights to Madrid.

In Madrid, we spent New Year's Eve with my friend Jose Luis, Javi, Elena, and a group of their friends. We were able to see Madrid and learned new ways to bring in the New Year.

1. Enjoy a wonderful 10 course home cooked gourmet meal. (Jose and Javi made a great meal that could have been in Gourmet Magazine. Is that where you all got the meal from?)




2. Eat 12 Grapes in Record time (Spanish people have had a long tradition of eat 12 Grapes while and watching the clock in Puerta del Sol in Madrid (Spain’s Time Square). When the clock strikes midnight, every has 12 grape ready to put a grape in their mouth each time the clock chimes and they must finishing eating them by the time the clock stops chiming. This is really funny to see people frantically stuffing grapes into there mouth before the chiming ends. The clock is shown on TV and the whole nation watches (interesting side note: Commercials right before and right after midnight cost about the same as the commercials during the Suberbowl).




3. Run outside with Suitcase, which mean that you will travel a lot in the coming year…..I should have stayed out of that one. Jose & Javi live on the 20th Floor (ok, not the 20th Floor but it felt like it)….actually the 4th or 5th floor of an very old cool building in the center of Madrid….with…..and this is the important part……with No elevator. So we ran down (easy part) and then took pictures and then went back up (hard part).




4. Threads & Ribbons (this was several different colors of ribbon stitched together that you are supposed to keep in your wallet for the year to bring you good luck, I think Allison took ours....that is why she is doing so well at school).
   

After a good time in Madrid, Allison and I caught a train to Granada (were we rode passed where “the rains fall mainly on the plains in Spain”, yes, Chris likes bad jokes) to spend some time with Madeline and her children Muriel and Evaristo (Muriel and Evaristo thank you for sharing your time with us and inviting us everywhere....Evaristo-thank you for showing us a bit of the night life in Granada, actually, I take that back). We were also invited to have lunch with Irene and her family, a wonderful person, with a huge heart (ask Allison how she likes murcia...what a trooper to try new things).

If you have never been to Granada, you are missing out. It is truly a beautiful place.

Allison and I were very lucky to have our own personal tour guide in Madeline, who was not only a pleasure to be with but a wonderful host. She showed us all around Granada (The Alhambra, The Palace of Charles V, Granada's Cathedral, and The Albaicín to mention just a few of the places), she provided great stories, showed us great views, and shared with us wonderful Tapas. We also went to the country side to see a very interesting exposition of the history of olives and there impact worldwide and in Spain. Simply, we had a wonderful time in Granada…..Madeline…..Thank you!!

From Madrid we went on to Barcelona for my meetings with Interpol. Where we tried to see everything we could in two days. It was great and I highly recommend the following if ever in Barcelona: Sagrada Familia (crazy cool church that was started in 1882 and will not be finished until 2026), Parque Güell (gets my nod for one of the coolest parks), Ciutat Comtal (tapas Barcelona style…while not Granada, it is a great place, we went there 3 times), Las Ramblas (great place to take a stroll), and a whole bunch of other things that I can not remember (we are happy to bore you with pictures…just ask)

Thank you to everyone who took us in, showed us around, and made it a trip to remember.

Also, kudos to my wife for never saying anything when I talked about her to my friends in Spanish (oh yeah, she does not speak Spanish…..Really, Alli, I only said good things about you!!!)

Also, I forgot to mention that in my planning the trip, I failed to realize that the semester at Harvard did not actually end until after Allison's return from her Christmas break. So Allison had to do several papers while we where in Spain and worked on one the entire flight back while I helped with research (ok, so I slept and watched movies while she worked). Her hard work paid off with 4 As and B+..

…More blogs sooner or later…….Probably later as I have to remember January and what happened that month. Or maybe I am trying to forget since we moved apartments (One apartment down…..2 to go till summer).