We have 9 doors.
…and I love my graffiti outside of my house. I think it’s a turtle, but Madi thinks it’s a bug, but the rest think it’s two people.
I have 16 chairs.
There are 4 floors I am on the 2nd floor!
We also have lots of plants
Merry Christmas! ….sorry this is so late!
What did you get for Christmas? Did the three kings come on January 6th? In Spain they celebrate the three wisemen, not so much Santa! So some things are different. For example, like when we worry if the chimney is big enough for Santa, they worry if the door is big enough for the camels!
Also, in Spain they don’t give carrots to the reindeer, they give water to the camels.
The kings do like to give books though, so some things are the similar
For the three kings day I got these super cool erasable pens, that actually work really well, and lots of candy! The candy was delicious!
What did you guys get for Christmas? Talk to you guys later!
-Madi
I was so still. I love henna.
Henna is a beautiful picture.
I had to wait two hours until it was dry.
Many a good conversation were had on the 8.
la mezquita
My family and I went to Cordoba with my grandparents for 2 days, did you know that my grandma and grandpa came to visit us! We went on a high speed train, it’s the second fastest train in the world. The train was so smooth even though the train flies through Spain.
When we were there we saw la Mezquita-Catedral de Cordoba or in English the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba. They have small arches that have the pattern of a candy cane made of marble, jasper and granite. It was so dazzling and magnificent.
Also when we were in Cordoba we saw a horse show and we saw horses gallop and do actual dance performances, and listen to this, after they took a bow. In the show they also had flamenco dancing, it was awesome. The horses even balanced on their hind legs and one also jumped in the air and went so far!🐴
It was all incredible!
-Madi
Hello. I tried to skateboard. Madi holded my hands.
Ellie did a cool trick. Whoosh!
I did that. Did you see that little girl? That was me.
Did you see me counting? How I got down was I sitted on my bum.
I love you. …farther than the moon. ….all the way to space. …and farther than that. …and back.
LoLo
Los Tres Reyes are a little bit like Santa in Spain. Los Tres Reyes is Spanish for the three kings. They celebrate the three wisemen more than Santa.
How they celebrate them is they have a big parade with the three kings in one of the front platforms and they through candy to all of the kids to catch! It seemed like a fun idea so we went!
The only problem was that all of the candies were hard so if one of the candies hit you in head it hurts! But it was worth it for everything they had from candy to all types of different people from fairies to dancers to people playing the trumpet and drums!
When the parade was over all of the kids bags were full! This was such a fun thing to do, I am so happy Mom and Dad let us go!
Photo from our balcony.
Everyday LoLo wakes up and drags herself upstairs. When she see’s the Alhambra she screams “Mommy, Daddy! Come Look! It’s the Alhambra!!” You would think it would get old, but it doesn’t.
The Alhambra has three flags. It is very beautiful. …and I love the Alhambra so much.
Maybe you could come here and visit us and we could visit the “Alumbra” - Lolo pronunciation. We can see it from our house. …and maybe you could come to the Alumbra with us? And you and your parents could and live with us in Granada and look at the Alumbra, and look in the Alumbra.
When I look at Alumbra I see a little window right at the top of the big square that is gianter than the others. There are lots of windows. It has a little brown door that I can see. There is lots of plants under it. There are yellow plants. There are green plants that are trees. There is green grass and brown dirt.
Inside the Alumbra there are beautiful gardens (Generalife). There is also a little tunnel.
The most beautiful thing is that everybody on the Alumbra. I can see them and they can see me.
The caves of Nerja are caverns that cavemen used to live in thousands of years ago.
The caves have rocks that look like icicles dripping from the ceiling. Being inside felt like being in a mine, looking for gold. The stalactites and the stalagmites look like something you would see in a movie.
The caves were found by a group of friends exploring in the forest. One of them slipped and found themselves in a mine. They left because the found a human skeleton. It turned out to be a caveman skeleton. They left early.
The old drawings in the caverns were all painted red. One of them looked like a vase, but apparently it was a seal. I am telling you though, it looked like a vase.
The caves were incredible. My favourite thing I saw was the dripping rock icicles.
We saw an incredible bridge called “puente nuevo” in Ronda. Puente Nuevo means new bridge. That is silly, because it is not a new bridge. It is nine hundred years old. It should be called “puente viejo.” That means old bridge. They have a puente viejo but it is not as impressive.
Puente Nuevo has two little arches and one huge arch. It is terrifying to look over the edge. It feels like being on the top of the carousel. …but maybe a bit worse.
Puente also means long weekend. We went to puente nuevo, en un puente, por supuesto.
If you watched that video you would see Lolo trying to make a wish, it took four tries to get the coin in the fountain, by then we were all laughing.
So far I have baby-sat only for my sisters but I am excited to be able to baby-sit for other people in Canada when I get back. My first time baby-siting was in Spain. I have baby-sat four times and so far no trouble! I think it is because I took a baby-siting course.
When I baby-sit them we play games, paint pictures, watch movies and read stories. I feel so responsible because I am able to take care of two kids. I love it! It’s really awesome.
-Madi
In Spain ice cream is called helado.
There are heaps of helado in Granada. That makes sense because it is sooooo hot in Spain. I don’t think there is one person in Spain who does not know what helado is.
On every street there is at least one ice cream shop. Helado is also really cheap, two dollars. My favourite ice cream is piña. Dad’s favourite ice cream is hazel nut. Mom’s favourite ice cream is vanilla. Madi’s favourite ice cream is kinder and Lennon’s favourite ice cream is chocolate.
-Elliott
I built a haunted house with my class as a fundraiser to be able to go on a camping trip.
I was a actor in the haunted house but actually the definition of being a actor is sitting on your knee’s for four hours, screaming in Spanish and holding on to people’s ankles. Then we made them drag us until the folks ran away screaming “ayuda” - that means help. They looked like they were running for their lives. They were terrified.
We raised one thousand dollars!
-Madi
My friend Jimena is very nice. You pronounce her name like this “Hee-men-a”.
We are together 24/7 in school. She taught me a handshake named o-mi-nu-play. We can do it as fast as someone playing the drums quickly. We play card games together in the commodore, which is where the kids eat after school.
Jimena plays the drums and she dances flamenco. She can play very intricate beats. Jimena is Spanish, and she helps me with my Spanish. She doesn’t make me feel like I am annoying. My Spanish is effective but not well spoken. My Spanish is improving, because I am with her and speaking Spanish. Jimena tries to speak English with me.
She make’s me feel at home.
-Madi
Yesterday I was invited to a birthday! I played with my best friend Alejandra. We played try not to laugh. I made everybody laugh in ten seconds. The birthday party was in a park just outside the city. It was incredible. There was a zipline and a steep cliff. Some of the kids found a snake. Did you know that Spain has poisonous snakes? I didn’t touch the snake.
When Ivan’s Mom and Dad called everyone for cake, all the kids ran as fast as they could. I think everyone wanted to get the vanilla cake. I had the chocolate cake. It was delicious. We also had roasted chestnuts - super rico.
There are a couple of cool things about birthdays in Spain. They always have the parties in parks, and everybody is invited. I had one of the best times in my life, and it made me feel like I really belonged.
In the end this was one of my all time favourite birthday parties I have ever been to.
-Elliott
We played against the boys team a couple weeks ago, but I wanted to write about it on the blog. We did an amazing job, blocked most of their shots and won by twenty points. Whoop.
In Spain we have a tradition where the winning team does a victory dance at centre court, and the losing team must accept their defeat, look solemnly at their feet, and say “bueno partido.” Our team dances a lot. While we are dancing, I giggle through the whole thing, and our captain tells us that we should look mad like warriors. I giggle.
