school play <\/a>tonight which was very nice, with grades k through 5 each singing a few songs with the older kids giving us the history of each song.\u00a0 It was held in a large auditorium and we said hello to everyone we know (like two people).\u00a0<\/p>\nDecember 14, 2007.<\/u>\u00a0 David had another game (soccer) this evening.\u00a0 Anne went and his team won 6-3, their first win since the first game and against a team that beat them 8-0 a few weeks ago.\u00a0 Revenge is sweet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
December 15, 2007<\/u>.\u00a0 Started planning our trip to the south of Spain.\u00a0\u00a0 Anne and the kids went to the ice rink, which was reported to be incredibly crowded and thick with people.\u00a0 Not fun, but Barcelona city ice skating.\u00a0 It’s getting pretty Christmassy around here, even though they don’t celebrate Christmas the way many Americans do (with gifts and Santa) and in fact call our version, which they are beginning to adopt as a result of too much TV, Navidad Americana.\u00a0 There are Santas hanging from ladders, balconies, and lots of other places.\u00a0 The Spanish don’t even give gifts until January 5, the Tres Reyes holiday.\u00a0 Christmas is some sort of religious holiday — more on that as I find out.<\/p>\n
December 16 and 17, 2007<\/u>.\u00a0 I have a very nice hair cutter, Josep, who loves to travel in France.\u00a0 He told me about some good places to visit and thinks the French are great in that they love a good conspiracy, especially if it is really old.\u00a0 Examples are Opus Dey, which most people know from the movie The DeVinchi Code.<\/p>\n
We had lunch today with Dan and Amy at the Four Cats.\u00a0 After we visited the fair in that neighborhood next to the Cathedral of Barcelona outside the Cathedral, in Pla\u00e7a de la Seu and Pla\u00e7a Nova which featured all sorts of people selling typical Catalan stuff for Christmas.\u00a0 Then it got interesting.\u00a0 Apparently, there is a contest among Spaniards to have the biggest and best creches.\u00a0 That means, you start with the baby Jesus and go from there and there are NO limits.\u00a0 After they add the traditional figures, they add a figure called the Caganer.\u00a0 This is a person taking a dump — I kid you not.\u00a0 The theoretical reason is this is a way the person fertilizes the soil (I think they soil the place, but…).\u00a0 This is usually a\u00a0little porcelain gnome-like figure with his trousers down, defecating somewhere in the nativity scene. Children enjoy looking for the little guy, who is often hidden among the more traditional items.\u00a0 Nice.\u00a0 I’ll take some photos.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If this isn’t enough, Tio de Nadal<\/strong> or Caga Ti\u00f3<\/strong> is a\u00a0log, painted with a smiley face and cared for from after El Dia de Inmaculada, which is December 8. Then, either on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve (it varies), the children beat the log (and throw him into the fire, if they have one) and sing songs enticing it to ‘shit some presents’. Spanish speakers among you should note that ‘Caga Ti\u00f3’ does not mean ‘Shit Uncle’ – ‘ti\u00f3’ is Catalan for ‘log’.\u00a0 Again, nice.<\/p>\nDecember 18, 2007<\/u>.\u00a0 I went out on the bike today and was pretty cool but it was good to get out and spin.\u00a0 The roads were moist so I was extra careful.\u00a0 We’re off to take some photos for the above stuff…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
December 12, 2007.\u00a0 I can’t believe this is week 17.\u00a0 It really feels like we’ve only been here\u00a0four months.\u00a0 I’m thinking I’d like to get a white German Shepard when we get back since Rocket needs a friend and our house is probably trashed anyway. December 13, 2007.\u00a0 Anne’s Birthday.\u00a0 She’s 34.\u00a0 How time flies.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uhlfelder.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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hing and scoffs at material things (unless they are polyester) can be given as a gift.\u00a0 I thought, we’re in Spain, how about one of those pig legs that last a few months in the kitchen stinking up the place — you know, go native.\u00a0 Funny, but ultimately a waste of money and too many unwanted side effects.\u00a0\u00a0 We’re been buying sweets and chocolate like they are going out of style, so that seemed like it had been done.\u00a0 Flowers, definitely and check (over a douzen).\u00a0 So, what did I come up with:\u00a0 some really nice cheeses from Cataluna and some Iberic gournet ham.\u00a0 What a romantic!<\/p>\n