Hola Holidays!

from Meghann:

It's beginning to look a lot little like Christmas around our casa. Each year we wait until December to do any decorating or Christmas activities, so that Thanksgiving has its own time and we get a chance to relax between holidays. Also, the Christmas season in España seems to start a little later, probably because they continue to celebrate until Three Kings Day on January 6.

The holiday festivities on base are officially kicked off by the Tree Lighting Ceremony, which includes Santa flying in by helicopter. We missed this last year, but figured we should go this year since it's a Rota tradition and there are elves fast-roping out of a helicopter. 

The next day we visited our local viveros (what we would call a "nursery" in the States, which when you think of it, is a weird word for a place to buy plants) to get our tree. Our favorite way to get a tree is to cut our own, but we were just excited to get a real tree and the viveros had a decent selection.

Go Navy!

Bite Army!

Hope you had a good weekend! Two of Navy's biggest smallest (and furriest) fans got to watch their team beat Army for the 11th year in a row.

We watched the game at our casa with friends and plenty of beer, fatty snacks, and even some Hanukkah latkes. It was a perfect night of futbol Americano!

Chupitos (little drinks)

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in all of the excitement of living overseas and traveling to different places that we forget to share the details, the little things, that make living in España so unique.  

One of those little things is literally a little drink, what Americanos would call a shot, but the Spanish have a much better word:  chupito. 

Now, you can take a shot whenever (breakfast, if that's your thing). But here it's common to have chupitos after dinner. The waiter brings one for each person and they are normally something sweet, like limoncello, caramel vodka, or acorn liqueur. Everyone raises their little glass and says "¡Salud!" or "chin chin". It's a fun tradition and a great way to end a dinner with friends.

Internet = phone calls and zombies

 from Meghann:

When we moved from our first Spanish casa to the nuevo one, we figured getting our internet switched over would be easy. Ha! We must have forgotten that we are living in southern España (no offense, we love you Andalucia, but you are the land of mañana). So, to make a very long story (filled with lots of crappy Spanglish speaking and Google translating, yes, that's a verb when you live overseas) short, after 2 months without it, we finally have high-speed internet access again. And it is glorious!

Since we use Magic Jack (phone connected by internet) to call the States, this means we can catch up with our familias and amigos. 

Our crazy collection of phones, including our Euro-stylish orange one for the Magic Jack.

More importantly (just kidding!) we can catch up with current shows on bootleg television. Which led to this recent conversation:

Me: I think Spanish houses are better for the zombiepocalypse. 

Graham: Yeah, with the security bars.

Me: And the high walls. I think we would be better off here than in the States.

Graham: Definitely.

Not that we're saying it's actually going to happen, but if it did...

Can you tell which show we've become obsessed with? Any other fans of The Walking Dead? Are you also wondering how impossible it's going to be without another episode until February?! At least we still have Homeland.

Geneva, Switzerland

from Meghann:

It took a little while to blog about our Veterans Day weekend trip to Geneva - maybe because we are procrastinators, maybe because it wasn't our favorite city ever. There I said it. And it's okay. We're not sad that we went, neither of us had ever been to Switzerland and now we have (and we have heard that other places in the country are fantastic.) We would never know which places are our favorites unless we traveled and experienced as many as possible. Just because it wasn't a Paris or a DC or a Marrakech, doesn't mean that we didn't have a good time.

Geneva is a city known for international business, luxury brands, and wealth. Yes, it is expensive. But it did have some Swiss charm - sidewalk cafes, buildings covered in shutters and flower boxes, fountains, old stone architecture.

My little sister's big dia!

from Meghann:

 Today is my little sister and her husband's 1 month anniversary! I can't believe a month has passed since we were in Maryland to celebrate Catherine and Doug's wedding day. Like our other trips back to the States, we had a lot going on - spending time in DC, another friend's fabulous wedding, holing up for Superstorm Sandy with Dark and Stormies, getting stuck in the States because flights were delayed and cancelled. But this was the main event!

I took some photos while it was just us girls getting ready, before the photographer* arrived. This is such a special part of any wedding day and I think something that every soon-to-be-married lady looks forward to. The private girl time, hiding out from the boys, the mimosas, playing fun music, getting beautified, the moments before the dresses go on and the momentum of the day takes off. 

A little taste of España in Chestertown, Maryland. Cava - yum!

My pretty sister!

Playa + Italian-Style Veggie Soup

from Meghann:

Hope you all had a wonderful, family, friend, and food-filled Thanksgiving! And that your football (Americano) team won - both of ours did!

We were invited to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner (plus plenty of Spanish cava) at our friends' casa on Thursday. We were so grateful to spend the holiday with friends - and no dishes! Our families were definitely missed, but we were able to call and talk to them. One thing that wasn't missed - Black Friday. Neither of us were into it when we lived in the States and it seems even sillier now. There's really nothing similar in España and it seems difficult to explain that we follow a beautiful holiday dedicated to giving thanks by immediately going out, fighting crowds, and spending money. 

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and enjoying the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We don't deck the halls until December, so this time is perfect for catching up on things at the casa and enjoying our little familia. 

On Saturday, we took the dogs down to the beach. This time of year, it's pretty empty at the playa, besides a handful of surfers and a few other people walking. That meant we were able to let Chloe and Cora off their leashes so they could run around. After a busy few weeks traveling and the start of the holiday season, we all needed some exercise. And the beach is so peaceful during the fall.

The hillside was so green! No rain in the summer makes for great weather, but everything turns brown. After a few days of rain in the fall, all that brown comes back to life.