B \ˈbē\ a Traveler.: And then all of a sudden it feels like home

Hola a todos! Disculpa, hace mucho tiempo que escribo un post nuevo! I'm sorry it has been awhile since I last posted. The last 3-4 weeks have sped by. The fact that we are almost to December is unbelievable to me, I've also been on this island for exactly 2 months. What has happened? Working with the students has gone very well, we've been working on grammar and talking about Thanksgiving. I showed them a powerpoint about our holiday's history and the students drooled at the pictures of turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, etc. I made some pumpkin peanut butter bars for them so it wasn't too torturous, they liked them :). Lets seee I went to a wine festival in a pueblo called Muro a couple weeks ago which was pretty amazing, it was around this courtyard in the open air inside of a church-like building with live music. Earlier that day I woke up at 7:30am to see this special occurrence that happens at the Cathedral only twice a year - the sunlight perfectly came in a rose window of the church to reflect a gorgeous colorful pattern of light right below the other main rose window across from it.

The Cathedral was full of people, it was incredible how everyone knew about it and how many people were actually there before 8am on a Friday morning. That weekend I also saw Can Picafort, a little beach town that was kinda dead from the lack of tourists, which was extremely beautiful. You can see the mountains of Alcudia and surrounding cities right on the Mediterranean, the side that is near Italy. That same weekend there was a feria in Pollença, another pueblo on the other side of those mountains. Ellen and I hiked up the mountian there then checked out the fair afterwards. A "feria" is like a very large festival/market that takes up the entire town, people travel from all over the island to go, and they sell everything from clothing and bags to fresh fruit, wine, olive, and cheese, animals, tractors...you name it. Winter here is full of different ferias around the island. Last weekend I went to Sóller with a few other auxilaries and a native (one of the room mates) to hike. Let me tell you, that was ammaaaazing. The mountains were rockier than the other ones I had seen, there were less trees and a lot of stone and gray everywhere. I took a few pictures that are on the post. I also went to three wine tastings in Santa Maria with Ellen and Melody the day before, soo fun! Can't wait to show my parents all around the city :) They are coming in one month now and I can't wait.
This past Sunday a bunch of auxilaries from the program all got together to have a Thanksgiving potluck. There was so much food and even more people! Both Spanish and English speaking. I think at least 45 people came and left by the time the night was done. Everyone had really delivered though, the host apartment even made a turkey ! Our apartment also hosted a Thanksgiving dinner on the actual day, but it was much smaller, we all sat down at the table together and passed dishes, etc. It was also potluck style, but much more relaxed. I think it was the best Thanksgiving I could've possibly had given the circumstances - since I couldn't be with my parents and brothers, I was with the family that I've made here. I'm so thankful for those people and don't know what I would do without them! It was a little sad that it was my first Thanksgiving ever without my parents, and I couldn't be the second in command chef in the kitchen with my mom like every year.

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks. The ones with mountains do not come anywhere near how amazing they were to see in person , but you get the idea.