Zar here. Mel is at work for the next few days, so she made posting on the blog my chore for the week. This is my first post on the John's family blog, so I'm not quite sure how this works. For our millions of followers out there on the internet, a quick introduction: I am the most recent member of the John's family, added by our producers to increase our blog's following among Latino demographics.
Below are a few picture from our semester:
Emily and Dan, who most of you met at the wedding, joined us for the Thanksgiving feast I slaved over. Dan came from Germany to stay with us for the week while he recovered from his shoulder surgery. You can still see the bandage under his shirt from the incision. Emily is here at Oxford getting her Masters.
Our awesome stalkings that came in the mail from Santa Lee Johns!
Our close friend Grace, a Rhodie from South Africa studying "English litrature"-- pronounced in a sweet South African accent. She helped us decorate our tree.
Mel performing in her tap recital. Other highlights of the night included watching the cutest old couple ballroom dance for two hours, as well as seeing some of the ladies shown above perform belly dance and burlesque routines. I will say no more...For Christmas we decided to go somewhere warm, so we chose to spend it on the beach in Barthelona.
Some highlights of the trip (in completely random order) include:
1. The amazing Gaudi buildings of Barcelona.
2. Stuffing our faces at all of the marcados we ran into.
3. Me deciding that I wanted to stay up on Christmas eve until midnight as is custom in my Mexican heritage. We were already at the hostel, so we went down to the lounge and spent the countdown surrounded by drunk Americans flirting with two spanish guys that knew very little English. As soon as 12 hit, Mel started crying and we called it a night. Christmas day was much better. Chillin on the beach and eating paella.
4. Though we had a phenomenal Christmas lunch consisting of paella and garlic shrimp, by the time dinner came around nothing was open. Our Christmas dinner consisted of an overpriced hotdog wrapped in cheesy toast:
5. going to all of the stands of "cagaderos" or poopers. These are small ceramic figures relieving themselves. They are supposed to be put on the side of every nativity set for good luck. Below are pictures of a cagadero stand (if you look closely you can see cagaderos of Obama, Einstein, and the queen)and of the cagadero outside of the city government's nativity set.
6. Mel pretending to kiss a 2000 year old statue but accidentally moving in too close and kissing it right as I take the picture
7. Sleeping next to 12 strangers:
8. Me accidentally spending 20.70 US dollars on 8 slices of ham. It was the best ham I've ever had (if I say that enough times I'm hoping I'll convince myself it's true).
9. A guy at the airport correcting me five times on how to pronounce my last name. Apparently it's Thavala and I've been saying it wrong this whole time : (
After Madrid, we rushed home to open our amazing Christmas presents. Mine included: a remote controled helicopter (see below), a remote controlled car, Transforers 3 the movie, a board game, transformers cufflings (thanks steve and emma!) and candy. I am officially 10 years old again. Looking at the lego's that Mike got and the ninja mugs that Steve got though, I don't feel that out of place. Is it safe to assume Cat got Jason a sweet new nerf gun? Or did you go with the hot wheels ramp set instead? Either way, I think we can all agree that John's women give the best Christmas presents ever. For Mel's presents I kept it pretty conservative and went with old faithful: boots, boots, and more boots, Literally! I got her one pair at Oxford, and she convinced me to buy her two more in Barcelona. I'm sorry Mary Lee. I have failed you : (
Happy New Year!
Thar and Mel
13 comments:
I forgot to add the picture of me playing with my helicoptor.
Good job on the post, Zar. Better watch it or you will end up as the official family blogger! It is smart to take advantage of your opportunity to see cool stuff across the ocean blue.
Mel here. "John" family huh? That's almost as bad as pronouncing your own last name wrong all these years. Great post though honey!!
Great first post Zar (Thar?). Did you guys get ice cream on the beach in Spain? They have the most amazing ice cream. I still remember if from when I went as a little girl.
Also, that ham is prosciutto and it is cured for up to 18 months.
Thar, this post rocked my vida. As a young Latino I can relate.
Looks like you guys had a lot of fun minus the sleeping with strangers and midnight tears. I love how food-centered this post was. Haha
Viva la raza...or raza?
Thar...¡que hombre! As Bill and Stephen will tell you, only real men post on the family blog, yet Marcia is right: you have set a dangerous precedent. I hope the plethora of Latino blog followers you have attracted will not have to wait long for your next post.
Tho glad you guys are home safe!
The Dad here....Wait....Which one of the tap dancers is Mel?
One more from the Dad...I knew that once given an opportunity to post, the men of the family would have been the true proficients.
Oh mylanta gath!! Thith wath the logeth poth ever!! Uth John's women really do know how to give good gifths to our men. "Stalkings" are the betht! That's what I gave my man--a good stalking! (Wut, wut!!) Next year, however, it will be a cagadero with his fathe on it. Thar, thank you for lighting up my life!
How did I miss this post? Mom was talking about it today and I could NOT remember it. Lo and behold! Zarinchi posted the best post in the whole world and I didn't even know it!
Quite witty, hermano! I loved it! Thanks for doing your chores!
Si, si! I of the your newly amassed Latino following agree that your post was amazing! Particularly your Grace friend - I think she's obviously awesome. And that scarf, out-of-this-world-coooooooollllll
Woohoo!
Oh damnit. I forgot my photo ID and my name would come up with my comment.
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