These past two weeks have been pretty quiet and that's the main reason I haven't been updating my blog. I really enjoyed New Year's Eve and chose to spend it with my younger host brother. My host parents left for a party at 1am but before they left, right before midnight, Abuelita, my uncle Miguel, my family and I all went down to the salon where we set out some snacks and drinks. A few minutes before midnight, we went down to the bottom flight of stairs in my house with each of us holding 12 green grapes in our hands. When we heard the fireworks go off exactly at midnight, we began our ascent to the terraza. With each grape you ate, you made a wish for each month of 2014. Once on the terraza, we watched the fireworks go off in the Plaza for awhile before going back down to the salon. In the salon, papá poured us each a glass of pink strawberry champagne and we went around giving hugs, kisses, and New Year's wishes. With the wine, some of us made little toasts to the New Year and we all dumped some of our champagne in different places on the floor to "give back to the earth and bring happiness for the new year" as Abuelita told me. New Year's Day was a holiday so no one had to work. It was a lazy day of movies and sleeping for all of us with the exception of a family lunch with homemade soup that my Abuelita made.
Another day that is commonly celebrated here is the Day of the Coming of the Wisemen. On Sunday, January 5, we didn't go out for our normal Sunday lunch. Instead, my host parents made lunch for us. That was new for me but it was a yummy lunch! (: The following day, we were going to dance and have some more celebrations as a family but Nico was tired from returning to his tennis practices and both of my host parents had worked a long day so we ended up sleeping instead. However, the next morning Nico and I both had our Christmas stockings full of taffy candy that mamá and papá had put there. (They don't fill the stockings on Christmas Eve or Christmas, instead for the day that the Wisemen brought gifts to the baby Jesus.)
I've enjoyed some movie days with my friends and Adrianna, the other exchange student, as well as several nights of trying to get some sleep only to be "annoyed" by my little brother. He sure has fun teasing me! In addition, I had the chance to spend an afternoon with the two French exchange girls from Santa Cruz who were on vacation in Sucre with their host families and I attended a going away/15th birthday party for one of my cousins. She's heading to Brazil for about a year to do some kind of work and to attend a Christian youth gathering. I also got information on my Bolivia tour! 7 other exchange students and I will be going on our tour of Bolivia the 20th of January, so I'm getting ready and looking forward to that.
Other than that, it's been pretty normal. I've been going to my tai bo classes, helping Nicolasa, spending time with my host family, and walking around the city in my down time. I'm really loving the weather here. I'm used to the annoying summer heat and unbearable winter cold of Nebraska, but here it's etiher warm or chilly. On sunny days it can get a little hot but not too bad. On rainy days it get's a little cold, but that's my favorite kind of weather! I like being able to wear a warm jacket and a scarf every once in a while. (:
Adrianna, Alizée (French exchange student), me, and Nonoo (another French exchange student)
Our New Year's Eve snack table and champagne that my host dad is pouring
My host cousin and her dad dancing for her 15th birthday
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