Spring Break, a.k.a. Holy Week

Howdy all! I arrived back in Badajoz on Sunday afternoon after a really busy week of travel. I caught a 6am flight from Barcelona to Seville, then took a bus back to my town. On my last night in Barcelona, I went to a Spanish guitar concert in the Catalan Palau (Palace) de la Musica. Earlier that day, my friend Vicki and I went to see the artwork of Joan Miró and did a little bit of shopping. We went out for Crema Catalana, a regional dessert much like Creme Brulee. The day before, we walked around the Gothic part of town, then saw the Modernist works of Gaudi.

This is the Casa Batlló which, to me, resembles a coral reef.

We also went to the Dalí museum and the Cathedral in Barcelona. At the Cathedral, people were lining up to buy specific herbs to put in their homes and on their door frames. I lit a candle and remembered the words of a Taizé song that I learned in the Catalan language: L'ajuda em vindrá del senyor (Help comes from God).

The day before Vicki and I went out to watch the Valencia v. Barcelona match in an Irish pub just after our arrival from Valencia where we had been at the Valencia stadium buying football souvenirs. Unfortunately, tickets were 85 euro and we had to leave Valencia on our bus before the game started. Valencia won 3 to 2 and eliminated my team from the King´s cup. :(

We were in Valencia for the fallas. We waited for about four hours near one of the largest ones before the firefighters deemed it ready to burn. The burning of the fallas was accompanied by fireworks and firecrackers. It was so loud that we wore earplugs.

Also, in Valencia, we saw the City of Arts and Sciences where there are many interesting looking buildings including an IMAX theatre that resembles the Sydney Opera House and a giant aquarium complex called L'Oceanografíc (in Valenciano). In the science museum they had an interesting exhibit about genomes where they detailed the function of each chromosome and the diseases that occur in them. I learned some good stuff.

Vicki and I stayed in a campsite just outside of the city near the coast. Luckily, I had brought a two-person tent with me so we were able to save money on a hostel. Unfortunately the bus stopped running at 11 pm, so we spent money on a taxi in order to get back there at night (fireworks stopped around 2am). Oh well, it was still cheaper than staying in town.

On the first day, after arriving from Seville, we walked out to the beach and sat there until we could no longer stand the wind. It was a really beautiful beach with soft sand right next to a golf course. I'd go back, but next time with a camper so that we don't have to sleep on gravel.

Before we flew from Seville to Valencia, we saw one of the famous Holy Week pasos and the procession of Penitents that followed it. The brotherhood had many members and they trailed out for hundreds of meters behind the Virgin. The airport bus couldn't get through, so we had to wait quite a while before we got to the airport. But, we made it! And we had a great trip.

Ho Hum

There's not much going on for me this weekend, but I might take a trip to the nearby Regional capital of Mérida to see the Roman ruins. However, for Holy Week, I'm off to the eastern coast of Spain. I'm going to visit Valencia and Barcelona. I found some pretty cheap flights on Spain's discount airline Vueling, so I'm flying from Seville to Valencia, then taking a bus up to Barcelona, and then flying back to Seville. I'll be gone from Monday until Easter Sunday. I'm hoping for good weather because my Canadian friend and I are going to be camping out in Valencia. We couldn't find any hostels because of the the fallas festival. It is a festival where they construct 200 or so figures out of cardboard and paper maché, then they judge which one is the best and burn the rest! It should be great fun! Well, I'm off to yoga. Ttyl!

Primavera!

Hello all! It´s been steadily warming up here since my dad´s visit and I´m so happy that Spring is finally here. I´ve started to take Sevillanas dance lessons again in order to get ready for the April Feria in Seville. I go to a place in the old town of Badajoz called the Hermandad, or Brotherhood, of Our Lady of Rocío. The building is an old house with a central patio which belonged to some rich family. Now it is where the Rocío Society gathers for their activities. Inside is a small chapel devoted to the Virgin of Rocío (Spanish for dew, but also a girls name) where they keep all of their banners and standards for the yearly pilgrimage down to the Andalusian coastal town of Rocío. They travel in covered wagons pulled by huge oxen while singing flamenco songs, and when they get there they have a big party and dance and also adore the virgin.

This weekend, my friend Erin came to visit. We stuck around Badajoz except for a quick trip into Portugal for lunch. I took her to the Contemporary Art Museum here which is housed in the old Panopticon-style Correctional Facility from the period of the dictatorship. We got lunch in the old town and discovered that there was a Rastro, or open-air market, going on. We found some cool old books and stamps. I bought a copy of Huck Finn in Spanish and Erin found a book on a Doctor who used to graft monkey glands onto humans! We got some Iberian ham for lunch, bleck!, and then visited the Cathedral. They have two very important Renaissance pieces there, one is a marble portrait of the Madonna and Child, and the other is a large bronze cover of a tomb which is rather cool. It´s a departure from the traditional tombs in Spain which show the defunct person in repose, but rather it shows the man alive and young. It summarizes his life saying, "When he was young, he did what was appropriate for a person of his age, and when he was in war he used his arms for their purposes." It doesn't really go in to any details about his life or war glories or anything. Also, the Cathedral houses some books from the 1500s...hot off the printing press!

Well, I've got to get some rest before beginning a new week. In my schools, I've started an English Club during recess. It´s once a week and anyone can come. My first week was successful because I had three students come who I didn't know, in addition to some of my students, and a teacher! I think the kids like the fact that they can put their studies to use. I hope they continue to come.