it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....

Well, not really...but close enough! I love Christmas. I mean, I really, really LOVE it.

Since I've been here, it's like I've been in a time warp. I know it's October (well, almost November), but it just doesn't feel like it. I don't realize that my birthday is only a week and a half away, or that Christmas is just around the corner. Or that Halloween is tomorrow. Its a weird feeling and hard to describe. But it just doesn't seem like fall/holiday time since I'm not home and things are just so different. Different weather, streets, language, pastimes, food, traditions, friends, house...all this adds up to "not home." And apparently, in my mind, "not home" means "not the holidays."

Again, I repeat, I LOVE CHRISTMAS. The music, the weather (well, the cold anyway), the decorations, the music, the present-shopping, the food, the music.....Normally by now I'm already in the Christmas mood. Listening to my favorite songs, planning my Christmas shopping, eating Halloween candy (I'm not sure how that relates to Christmas, but it just does), etc. But this year, I just can't wrap my head around the fact that its that time of year. I had a crazy summer, and have had a very different autumn. So I think my brain is just confused.

But today...oh, today. I started to feel it a little. First of all, its raining. I think this is the second time its rained since I've been in Sevilla. For an Oregon girl, this lack of moisture means summer, not autumn. So today I bundled up, grabbed a paraguas (umbrella) and went shopping. Then I unbundled because it was still like 65-70 degrees so I got really hot with all my layers on. But still, it was raining. After shopping, I got back and met up with Sofie so we could work on a project. This is where the good stuff started. Sofie had been to a tea shop a while ago that we walk by a lot. She said it was cute and had good tea, so we decided to go there.

I fell in love. This place is adorable. We got inside, and the employees were so friendly (which isn't so common here in my experience. A lot of them see that you're a "guiri" (foreigner) and don't really want to help you), and there were cute little tables and chairs and a nice warm ambiance. Then we got the menu. With like 20 different kinds of tea. And dessert. Ohhh dessert. I've never really had much of a sweet tooth. Then I came here. And now I can't eat enough sugar. Anyway, we ordered some roobois tea and an apple cake thing with caramel ice cream. Oh the ice cream. And ohhh the apple pie/cake. So. good. We just sat there, drinking tea, eating sugary goodness and listening to some soft jazz music while hearing the chatter of people at nearby tables. And also seeing a woman breastfeeding her baby. (What?) And being nice and warm and happy inside the tea shop while it was raining outside. And not really working on the homework that we were supposed to be working on.....

The combination of the jazz music, the warm cozy tea-drinking and the cold (ish), rainy weather outside made me feel a glimmer of the holiday season that is to come. And it made me happy. Oh, so happy. I really didn't want to leave, but I had to get back home for dinner. We walked back home on the abandoned side streets, while it was drizzling, cold and nearly dark. I almost broke out singing Christmas carols but I didn't want to scare Sofie or the neighbors. I think this rain is supposed to stick around for another day or two. That might just be enough time to really get me in the Christmas mood. Watch out people of Sevilla, here come the Christmas carols and Christmas-present-lists. There will be no stopping me and my Christmas spirit!!!