AHHH

Happy Christmas Eve!!

I should be in Paris right now, but I missed TWO flights yesterday--a really long story that I´m really not in the mood to explain. I will just say that not a single thing went my way, and for that I paid the price. Six hours wasted at the airport, and another 120 Euros for a new plane ticket tomorrow.

Worst of all, Nicole had to spend yesterday alone in Paris--probably one of the worst places to go solo, especially during holiday season. I´m an asshole.

But what´s the use in dwelling on the negatives? There are a few silver-lined clouds to this unfortunate situation. Now I get to spend "Noche Buena" (as they call Christmas Eve here) with my family, which is pretty nice. Instead of the usual big lunch, we will have a dinner. I am not sure what this dinner entails, but I do know that it still includes the seafood apperativos, because I saw them sitting out on the counter this morning. Octupus on Christmas Eve? Only in Spain. For dessert we will probably (if I´m lucky) have some Christmas sweets. There is a plethora of special treats that are reserved only for Christmas, such as "polvorones" and "turròn". Polvorones are crumbly almond cookies that come individually wrapped, for the purpose of pressing them between your palms before eating so they don´t fall apart. The name must come from the word "polvo", which means dust, because thats sort of what they look like--a little bar of dust. They are very rich and extremely delicious. For the last two weeks at school, they have been served after lunch, and for this reason my pants don´t seem to button. Turròn is another almond sweet, although it can come in many different flavors. It is a small hardened piece of nougat traditionally flavoured with honey and almonds, and be careful--you could easily chip a tooth on this thing!

Well, I am off. Merry Christmas to everyone and I miss you all tons!