The holiday home stretch

Been an extremely busy couple of weeks over here. I am working from Pamplona on a freelance project for one of my old bosses in New York. I have had to grade 240, 15-page long essays for the class that I am assisting for as well as doing some research for work about different think tanks in South Africa. In the midst of all that going on, the day before Thanksgiving, my old roommate from New York, Kevin Correnti, came to Spain because he was going to become a Godfather to his best friend's son. He stopped in Pamplona for a day and it was great to see him. We went to an Asador, the Spanish version of a steakhouse for lunch, and had way too much food. Then, we walked it off as I showed him around Pamplona before having tapas for dinner to finish off the night. The next day was Thanksgiving, and there was a party that an American guy threw that about 40 people went to. It may not have had the Thanksgiving flavor that I am used to, but it was a great night. Everybody was in a really festive mood because it was a holiday. Following Thanksgiving, it was a long weekend here in Pamplona for the Feast of San Saturnalia. I had the chance to go to a small town called Tafalla just outside of Pamplona and it was really neat. There are a lot of small towns with populations between 5000 and 10,000 outside of Pamplona that are really old and have majestic feels to them. I think that I am going to go to some of these small towns in the spring time when the weather is warmer and the charm is no dobut bigger. After the long weekend, it started an 8 day long Novena here at the university in preparation for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. What that means is that for 8 consecutive days there is a Mass celebrated in the gymnasium of the university. Every night, over 1000 people came to Mass, and, though it might not have the same commercial touch that New York has during Christmas it was definitely a great way to kick off the holiday season. Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception so there will be a huge Mass celebrated in Pamplona's cathedral today. This Thursday, I have a banquet to go to for the foundation that I have been collaborating with. Because I am from New York, they have asked me to say just a few remarks in Spanish to the audience. The banquet is an appreciation dinner for their donors, and so, I am just a bit nervous to be speaking Spanish to such an important group of people. Regardless, I think it is a pretty cool opportunity. On Saturday, I have organized, after months of planning, a small event to get a bunch of doctorate students together and talk about the possibility of planning a series of events with them so that we all can meet more people. After that, I will be only 10 days away from December 22nd, which is the day I come home. In those 10 days, I will be in full wrap up mode tying loose ends here in Pamplona and sending out my Christmas salutations. I will also spend a short weekend in Salamanca on the 19th and 20th to reunite with old friends. Then, I come home from the 22nd until the 7th to do very American things. That has been the last two weeks and a preview of the next month. This is definitely going to be the last blog of the year since when I go home I can tell you all in person about life here. I will pick up in January 2010 and let you know how the holidays were and where I hope the year takes me. So, though it might be premature...

Merry Christmas to all!