Merry Christmas! Belated Happy Hanukkah! And Happy Vacation!
The last week of school seemed to move in slooooooow motion. Each day felt like its own week. But we made it to break!! There was definitely not any alcohol consumption on the bus ride home on Friday 😉
December has been quite busy! Coming off of Thanksgiving Break, we had a full week of school and then another long weekend. My dad came to visit, and we spent the weekend going around Madrid! It was nice to feel like I was able to show him around and knew the spots 🙂 We hit all of the big museums in one day – Thyssen, Prado, and Reina Sofia – had awesome tacos, walked by the palace, into the cathedral, and to Templo Debod. We met up with my friend Paula for dinner on Sunday night at an excellent place in the center. It was fun to introduce Paula to Dad and we had a nice evening talking. On Monday, I showed Dad the outside of the school campus where I teach (out in the boonies of Madrid). Then we had a nice afternoon and dinner at a rooftop restaurant on Gran Vía. He very graciously met me early Tuesday morning for coffee before I headed out to work, and he headed to the airport.
On Friday of the next week, we had a work holiday party after the kids left school. Everyone brought in food and gifts, and we did our Secret Santa. I was gifted a really lovely box from the kindergarten teacher, Sara, of shower foam, body mist, and lotion. I gave our nurse a personalized mug, a cute lamp, and some chocolate. It was fun to spend time with everyone at school, and one of the lower school teachers made a video of the kids saying thank you to us. After the party, I hightailed it to the airport for my flight to Budapest!
Sophie was in Budapest for the weekend with her program, so I took the chance to go meet her! I arrived quite late on Friday night after a surprisingly easy and comfortable flight on the Hungarian budget airline Wizz! (actually styled W!zz). Smoothest landing (and flight) I’ve had in Europe so far! I stayed just down the street from Sophie’s Airbnb at a nice hostel called Wombat. After a good sleep, I met Sophie the next morning for our full day together.
We started out by walking across the bridge from Pest into Buda, where we had a massive brunch (see a very funny bathroom sign at the restaurant!). Then we walked up to Buda Castle and explored the museum, the collections, and the castle walls. There was a Christmas market next to the Fisherman’s Bastion, which was fun. We tried really randomly flavored honey, not the best, but interesting! Then we crossed back into Pest and found some awesome pastries next to the US Embassy (said hello, just in case). We also passed a life-sized statue of Ronald Regan! We took the tram out to the City Park and explored the ice rink and market there. We walked back through Hero’s Square and past some of my grandma Gogo’s highlight sites from the time she lived in Budapest! We saw Zoltan Kodaly’s apartment and stopped at the Liszt Academy of Music (fun fact, the Budapest airport is now named after Liszt!). They let us walk right in, surprisingly! We eavesdropped on several orchestral and solo rehearsals as we explored. Continuing into town, we secured some last-minute Opera tickets and found some awesome Thai food for a snack while we waited. That evening, we saw La Boheme in the Hungarian State Opera House. It was fantastic! People were dressed up fancy, which was a lot of fun to see!
After my long-awaited Chimney Cake (heavenly), I met a few of the other people in Sophie’s program, and we parted ways for the evening after a very full day tour of Budapest. The next morning, I met Sophie early for a pastry before her programming started. I headed off on my own to one of the baths and enjoyed a few hours in different pools and saunas among many Hungarians. It was very fun! After that, I visited the Grand Synagogue of Budapest. The synagogue is built in a fascinating style with a few Moorish elements. Within the complex, I visited the Synagogue itself, the history museum, the temple, the Holocaust Memorial, and the cemetery. For me, this cemetery was incredibly striking as I began reading the gravestones. I noticed that each one was labeled with the same approximate date range in the winter of 1944-1945. As I read further, I learned that these were mass graves where approximately 2,000 people were buried after the liberation of the ghetto by Russian soldiers in January 1945. It reminded me of the mass graves we saw last spring at Bergen Belsen. Certainly on a massively different scale, but a very similar feeling.
I left the synagogue and began my walk back to the hostel to head home. The old ghetto has sprawled into a newer area, and I got a pita from a very nice (Hebrew, English, and Hungarian speaking) restaurant. With that, I began the journey by bus, plane, metro, and bus again to arrive back in my Madrid apartment a few hours later. It was certainly a quick trip, but I had a great time exploring the city, learning about its history, and walking in Gogo’s footsteps 🙂
The last week of school before break was filled with holiday cheer. I lit Hanukkah candles with a group of friends organized by a Yale classmate, Aviv, at his apartment! And with Hannah at her apartment before she headed home! Then the other science teacher, Mary Ann, and I made a menorah out of clay. We had a really nice candle lighting with the middle school kids and the kindergarteners on Friday at school – Paula and I led the blessings and lit candles during the morning break. It was nice to share our traditions with them, and I think the kids enjoyed it. In the afternoon, we had our holiday party after a rowdy PE class of street hockey 🙂 I got some lovely gifts, including far more Ferrero Rocher than I can eat, a bottle of wine that has been wine for far longer than I have been legally able to drink in the US or Spain, and a delicious loaf of homemade bread!
With the end of school came the arrival of two of my siblings this past Sunday! Just before they came, I made a quick day trip on Saturday down to Rota to visit Victoria and see her side of the Bay of Cádiz. After a very quick Iberia flight down, Victoria picked me up from the airport and showed me around Puerto and Rota! She was able to get me onto the base which was super cool, and we even pulled right up to her ship! We had an amazing seafood spread on the beach before she brought me back to the tiny airport for my quick hop home to Madrid! It was a very short, but very lovely way to spend a Saturday.
Clare and Lev arrived on Sunday, and I went out to the airport to meet them! This week will certainly deserve a post of its own, but so far, we have seen a lot! The theme has been seeking decorations for future homes, so we’ve been to two palaces – the Royal Palace in Madrid and the Alcázar in Segovia! We’ve got some inspiration 🙂
Signing off for now, and I hope you enjoy the photos!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! (First photo was a snapshot of me covering for health class and teaching some basics of airway, respiration, and circulation to some 9th graders).
Abe Tolkoff 