St. Patrick's Day - Yet Another Holiday The Spanish Don't Celebrate

but the Irish sure do!! (this is Tom, and he is really from Ireland)
Just like Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day was another forgotten holiday. Obviously, they do not have Hallmark here! Despite the locals' lack of enthusiasm, we heard that the (only) Irish pub here in Santiago, Moore's, had a proper fiesta. So we dressed up in our finest green attire and for an afternoon we were all Irish.

Theresa and I!
Mila, the easily distinguishable Irish woman. :)
We showed up early so we could compete in the "Guinness Challenge" where you have to drink two pints of Guinness then you got this awesome green hat.
The Kansas group rose to the challenge, and I am proud to say that we all won.
As did all of the patrons at Moore's.
Mila and I, post challenge with our fabulous hats.
St. Patrick's Day, despite only existing in one bar, was a ton of fun. I called it an early night though, because my Mom and Jeff came this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (the extra exclamation points are to show my excitement). Out of respect of the weary travelers, I don't have any pictures of them yet, but fear not - I will in due time!

I am so thrilled to have my mom here. It is kind of melancholy to see her without my dad, because my parents are always in a pair - I've not seen one without the other. But we speak in Spanish and I am so, so happy to share this with her! I wish I could put my excitement into words, but needless to say I am over the moon to see her again. Jeff is a ton of fun as well, and he has this perfect Spanish accent that I've not even been able to come close to, even after two months of immersion.

Today we walked around a little bit today and it was so neat to show them my adopted city. Things that have become commonplace for me suddenly became unique and interesting again watching them see everything for the first time. Tomorrow we are getting a guided tour of the Cathedral where we get to go on the roof and then to my afternoon conversation class. Tuesday we are going to my Literature class (they are Spanish teachers, so they find this interesting, hopefully!) and doing some more sightseeing. Wednesday we are going to A Coruna, then Thursday-Saturday we will be in Madrid.

Right now they are already in bed, as they are not yet used to Spain time. Tomorrow morning I am actually going to my classes like the loser I am, but I predict that the fun I could be having with my mom will start to beat out the obligatory need to attend class :)