Mi Vida Extraña: Feliz __________ (choose one: Cumpleaños, Navidad, Año Nuevo)!!!!!

Caye and her friends.
And that's Arancha holding Caye.


I decorated. Like it? And that little boy in the picture is actually a girl. That's Lola.

Well, this is mostly just going to be a picture post because there's a lot I didn't write about and it's too late to catch up. In November Cayetana turned 1 year old. We had a big party where all of Mayra's friends came with their children and it was loud and a bit chaotic. We made cupcakes that are really muffins but Mayra didn't understand the difference. And it was really hard because she doesn't have measuring utensils. So the first time I tried making cupcakes, they were AWFUL! So bad. But the ones for the party turn out fine. It helps that we found boxed muffin mix.
Anyway, when I first got here I made myself 2 goals to accomplish before her first birthday. The first was to teach her how to walk. She mastered that about a month before. The second was to teach her how to say "Mama." I am not at all exaggerating when I say that she said it for the first time on the morning of her birthday. Mayra and I were so proud of her! And now it's pretty much the only word she ever says. But sometimes she says "hola" "agua" and "bye."
Well, not a whole lot happened after that. Mayra's birthday was in December and I made a super cute card with Cayetana's picture on the front and on the inside I traced her hands and feet. Mayra loved it and showed it to all her family when they came to eat dinner that night and it's now on display in the living room. I feel like a little kid who just got her artwork put on the fridge!

She wasn't cooperating for the Xmas tree
photoshoot....

My favorite part about Christmas is the tree!
Except Jesus of course.

I can't really remember anything that happened until Christmas Eve, which is called Noche Buena. We all went to Mayra's parents house for dinner. I don't really remember what we ate. I just remember seafood and bread. And Mayra's dad or brother or someone tried to get me to eat a shrimp and I said no thanks and Mayra said, "It's cause she doesn't eat anything that has eyes." Which is very true, I have a hard time with that. Especially since one time a shrimp eyeball fell out and mixed into my paella. I love the taste of Paella but lose body parts and eyes tend to suppress my appetite a bit...

I know, lame bathroom mirror picture.

The Brunette, the blond and
the redhead!

After dinner Virgi and Mayra and I got ready to go out dancing. We left at about 12:30!! I was already pretty tired! We left Cayetana with her parents and I have no idea where Julian was. Because earlier that week Mayra locked him out of the house and I didn't see him until about a week later. It was really awkward.
Anyway, we went out dancing until about 6:30am!!!! We met a group of out-of-towners with a really awkward older relative and another slightly less awkward and slightly younger relative and two very attractive not awkward and not old brothers. The taller one talked to me for a while and I found out his name is Mario. He spoke English pretty well. Mayra later told me that he's a fireman. His brother, on the other hand, resembled Ryan Reynolds and he was a personal trainer. I think he said his name is Roberto but I had already christened him "Spanish Ryan Reynolds" so that name is what stuck for me.

The man in the green is SRR.
Too bad you can't see his face!

Mayra made me take a picture with
the creepy man (men). I guess she
didn't think he was creepy.
I may be smiling, but I was really uncomfortable.

The next week we went out again for New Year's, Noche Vieja, and we saw them AGAIN! But this time it was in the light and SRR didn't look as much as Ryan Reynolds anymore. That was a bummer. But he was still cute! We talked to them for a few minutes but they were coming as we were leaving. And I was glad to get away from the creepy, older, married relative who was staring at me creepily. Which I won't go into because my dad reads this blog and I don't want him to get all fatherly and come assault somebody and get us both deported for life.

       Anyway, Virgi and I went to another club alone and Mayra went home with Julian (who was allowed to come back home now). This club sucked a lot. The people all seemed like high schoolers and the music was not very good and my feet hurt. I was glad to go home at 6am. I slept at Virgi's house but really I just wanted to finish reading The Hunger Games.
      Then the week after that was the night of the 3 kings, or Los Reyes Magos. That's their big Christmas celebration day with presents and what-not. The 3 kings came to town and the streets were FILLED with people. They walked through the streets lead by dancing men on stilts with giant sparklers!
        When we got home Caye "opened" her presents and Mayra gave me a really nice bag since I don't have one to take all my things to church. It was very nice of her.
          Then yesterday I wasn't able to get a ride to church so later in the day I went for a walk be the river with Mayra, her sister, Arancha and all of the kids. IT WAS SO PRETTY! But, of course, I didn't take pictures.

Then we went to McDonald's but I didn't eat because I was fasting, which they think is so weird. So, I just played with the kids in the little playhouse area. We played cops and robbers. And then Matteo, who's 5, tried to pants me....... awkward.... So, that's been the passed 2 months in a nutshell. Now, here's some pictures.

I've complained many a times about how the blog is terrible for picture layouts so here are a few pictures that I couldn't get to fit in above:

This is Arancha's 7 year old son, Nacho.
He's my favorite of all the kids.
Don't tell the others that!
I teach him and his sister English every Sunday.