Next came New Year's Eve. I was kind of sad during this period because I usually spent New Year's Eve with my family and some friends and we have a lot of fun getting together and playing games. This year the tradition was broken. I was in Spain and my family drove all the way to Mexico City! So it was just Feli, Abel, Oscar and I on New Year's Eve. Angel had gone to watch over his mother for the night. He and his siblings are taking turns taking care of her. We watched the ball drop at the Puerta Del Sol in Madrid. One thing that was very different for me, was that in Spain it is a custom to eat 12 grapes for good luck: one for each gong of the bell when the new year arrives. I am going to be honest: when the last bell rang I had a mouthful of grapes. I wasn't able to do it. We will see what 2010 brings.

Soon after what seemed to me many days, hours, and minutes in Gemuno we said our goodbyes to the pueblo on January 4th, 2010. We said goodbye to Angel's mother at the residence and we headed towards home. It has been a tough time for Angel and his family.

First, however, we were going to Madrid. Feli has a brother that lives there and he had left for London and invited us to stay at his house for two nights. The capital of Spain was awesome. I saw many cool places such as the Puerta del Sol, where we had had our TV turned to on New Year's Eve.

On the night of January 5th we saw the Cabalgata de los Reyes in Madrid (a huge parade.) I loved it. People in the parade threw out candy and I struggled with the others for the caramelos. There were hundreds of people watching this parade and the atmosphere was great. However, all good things have to come to an end and we soon headed back to go to sleep. The next day we were finally going back home.