Casi El Fin

Last week was quite wonderful! Monday and Tuesday I mainly spent relaxing, reading and waiting in great anticipation for Wednesday and Thursday…and the weekend! Wednesday, some of us went to a neighboring city, Ciudad Vieja, for a parade. There were tons of semis, floats, dancers, children, vendors, horses, and Barack Obamas…It was fun though. We were there for about two hours waiting for it to start, watching it, and waiting for traffic to clear so we could get back to Antigua. Wednesday night, there was also a ‘burning of the devil’ event here in Antigua. My roommates and I planned on going to it, but our host mom gave us dinner at the time we were going to leave (an hour and a half earlier than we normally eat). By the time we arrived, the devil had been burned and everyone was going home or staying to listen to some music and dance, so we just walked back home.
[there were lots of weird devil floats like this one] [smurfs :) ]
[I got my picture with Barack and Michelle Obama...one couple out of many]
Thursday morning I read a bit and went to the school to use the internet before lunch. Then, after lunch two of my roommates and I went over to the Nemecek’s house early to help get ready for our Christmas party. We mixed some dough, cut out cookies and baked them before everyone arrived for the festivities. Then, we decorated the Christmas tree and some cookies before busting open a Santa Claus piñata. We recorded ourselves singing Feliz Navidad and put it on YouTube so we could be part of our Christmas chapel on campus (which was yesterday.) It was a great party and ended with bellies full of cookies and some Domino’s pizza. It was a fun last group celebration before we head home.
[Aleia, Jen and me baking up a storm]
[Piñata]
Here is the link to the Feliz Navidad video: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=592370550&sk=photos#!/photo.php?v=575892446543

Friday and Saturday were chill days. Saturday we just relaxed, hung out, went to the market, and enjoyed Antigua for our last Saturday. Sunday we had our last group meal :( It was a breakfast buffet with on a hill overlooking Antigua. We had a gorgeous view and were joined by Juan Carlos and his wife Suri (the daughter and son-in-law of my house mom). Juan Carlos is the director of our Spanish School, La Unión. We ate lots of food, watched volcano ‘eruptions’ and talked in Spanish and English. Quite a lovely last meal!
[Eruption!]