Hey everyone! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and an even better Black Friday! So as I alluded to previously, I got to celebrate Thanksgiving twice! Lucky me! Thursday night I went over to my friend Julia's house to prepare a second Thanksgiving feast. Now as the pictures will show, this was definitely a feast. We had (if I can remember it all) roast chicken, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes (with marshmallows of course), asparagus, stuffing, pumpkin soup, cranberry sauce, and chocolate cake for dessert! The dinner group included me, Andy, Julia and then some of their friends from their program. Both Andy and Julia are spending a year teaching in schools in the area, and there are a fair amount of other Americans here doing the same. So I got to have a Spanish Thanksgiving and an American Thanksgiving :)
The table!
Appetizers
Sweet potatoes...yum!
The girls (Andy is taking the pictures)
I'm sure the first Thanksgiving looked something like this...
Now after this exciting evening on Thanksgiving feasting, Friday brought another big event. The much anticipated Sevillano del Año. The Rotarians have been pretty much going crazy getting ready for this event for the past month. I'm not sure if I've ever explained fully what it is, so I will do it now. Every year the Rotary Club of Sevilla selects one person to be the Sevillano del Año, someone they thinks represents the cultural spirit of Sevilla. They then throw a big benefit dinner where all of the proceeds go to a charitable organization. This year, the Sevillana del Año is the president of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes and the beneficiary is the Banco de Alimentos de Sevilla (Food Bank). I'm not sure if this is accurate, but I think this year was the biggest the event has ever been. There about 540 people there. Wow!
The event was held in the ballroom in the Hotel Melia of Sevilla (the same hotel we meet in for reunions on Mondays). My friend Ana and I went down to the hotel earlier in the day to help set up and organize the various gifts for the raffle, so we got to see the place when it was empty. It looked very different full! As young people (who weren't paying guests), Ana and I sat at the kids table with all of the children of the Rotarians and we were given the task of selling raffle tickets between plates. All of the raffle proceeds also went to the Food Bank, so people were very generous. Gifts ranged from a dinner for two at a restaurant to a designer flamenco dress. Ana and I each bought a ticket, and Ana actually won something! You'll see what it was in the pictures :) Overall the event was a huge success and I think everyone was very happy with how it turned out. I'm sure I will find out more about exactly how successful it was at our meeting on Monday night. Here are some pictures!
The raffle at the end of the meal.
Ana and I :)
She won a giant plush sheep! Imagine the looks we got carrying this home!
The room starting to fill up!
Menu
This picture may seem strange, but the reason it was taken is because the woman in white at the far left in the back is famous. It is the Duchess of Alba. She is a big deal over here and makes the news several times a week. When she walked in, there were paparazzi taking pictures! Definitely one of the craziest thing I've ever experienced in real life.
The Sevillana giving her acceptance speech.
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