Spain, Part I

This year we once again headed to Spain (Sevilla) shortly after Christmas to ring in the new year and celebrate Reyes (a Spanish holiday on January 6th celebrating the three wisemen bringing their gifts to baby Jesus) and our nephew Javi’s birthday.

Overall, it was a good trip. Emilia loved the bar culture of Spain (which she actually demonstrated on our last trip there as well) and spending time with her only cousin, Javi (who just turned eight; he’s expecting a baby brother soon which will double Emilia’s cousin count). We would go into a bar for a pre-mealtime tapa (like an appetizer; this pregnant lady had to eat many times a day) and Emilia would pull a stool up to the bar, climb up (with help) and demand picos (like a small pieces of hard bread) or pan (bread). It was fun to see how much her Spanish developed even in just the three weeks we were there. Although she understands most everything in Spanish, she typically speaks mostly in English, since this is the language she’s most accustomed to others understanding. But you could almost see a light turn on in her head when she said something in English and realized the other person didn’t understand. By the end of the trip she was often translating for others—saying something in English, then repeating it in Spanish. She went from saying sentences primarily in English with the key words in Spanish to combining Spanish verbs and nouns to get her point across.

We were also surprised at how outgoing Emilia was with everyone. She quickly took to calling her grandparents “Yaya Quita” (Paquita) and “Yayo Mio” (Emilio; coincidentally, “mío” also means mine, so this translates to ‘grandpa of mine’) (yaya/yayo is the term for grandparents in the language spoken in the Barcelona region where both Agustín’s parents are originally from) and giving them hugs and kisses every night before bedtime. And every time we left the house she asked if we were going to see cousin Javi.

So here is our trip in pictures (the first of several such posts).

Above: At the park with Javi. Most people bring their kids here to play. On this particular day, some man brought his baby goat to play, much to the delight of all the kids.

One day Agustín and his dad were enjoying some snails (spicy ones, I should add) and Emilia began demanding a taste. After telling her several times that she would not like them and her becoming only more insistent, Agustín finally pulled one out of its shell and fed it to her (see above). Instead of spitting it out like we assumed she’d do, she demanded, “More, more!” She ate about four or five of the little buggers before Agustín cut her off for fear of what the new food might do to her system.

Above: Checking out a bull head in a local bar with ‘Yayo Mio.’

Emilia loved being in such a heavily-populated urban area, particularly playing in the parks and plazas. Above she’s playing with one of Javi’s Transformer trucks in the plaza in front of the building where he lives.

Above: Modeling masks with Javi.