Kicking off Fallas... and you thought the 4th of July was cool!

Hear ye hear ye, the time has come to commence the grand festival of Fallas.... as the Fallaera mayor calls it: "the best fiesta in the world"

This is all Valencia talks about, there is a lot of hype and expectations are high; I hope Valencia can bring it. TOMA!

Fallas, Im still not too sure how to explain it. I still learn something new everyday, but I'll explain what I know thus far.
1) Fallas starts "March 1st" (but the kick-off was today, probably because today is Sunday) and it will end March 19th, the day of Patron Saint Joseph (San Josep)
2)Each community within Valencia has a Casal Faller, each casal faller builds a Falla and has a Fallera Mayor
3) What is a Falla? According to wikipedia: crews of artists and artisans, sculptors, painters, and many others all spend months producing elaborate constructions, richly absurd paper and wax, wood and styrofoam tableaux towering up to five stories, composed of fanciful figures in outrageous poses arranged in gravity-defying architecture

3) People prepare all year, raising money to build these fallas. They host dinners and activities to raise money. And the person/child who raises the MOST money, gets to be the Fallera Mayor of their casal.
4)All the kids under the age of 18 or 17 get dressed up in some intense Valencian garb (Falleras/Falleros)  The girls look like Marie Antoinette and the boys, not as fancy.  All of the Fallera Mayores from each Casal compete to become the official Fallera Mayor, I imagine its something like "Miss America", except "Miss Valencia" with no swimsuit competition

5) Every day at 2pm, in the main plaza, fireworks go off and it may sound like the city is at war
6) People will light fireworks at all times of the day, and random parades will be held. So no siestas allowed
7) In the Plaza de la Virgen, an offering of paper flowers is made to the Virgen, and it becomes a huge float
8) On march 19th,  all the Fallas are brought to the main square, and at midnight, they are all burned and there is even more fireworks and loud bangs
9) People eat buñelos. These are basically doughnut holes filled with either cream, chocolate, pumpkin, or banana

I will keep updating you on whatever else I find out about fallas within the next few weeks! Until then, here are some videos from today's first mesclata! sorry for the bad quality, and my camera does not due the noise justice!

PS while I was watching this today, my i could feel every bone in my body vibrating! And all I could think about was dogs! My ferocious doberman used to hide in the bathroom on the 4th of july... how do Valencian dogs cope? Are they just as excited as their masters about this painful noise that lasts weeks???

Sunday Strolls Through Turia

One of my favorite things to do on a beautiful Sunday in Valencia, is to dar un paseo (take a walk) through Jardin del Turia.

the roof of the tunnel i walk under to get into the park

This unique park used to be a river that flowed through the city. Unfortunately it dried up, but then the government had a GREAT idea and instead of leaving this dried up river remains in the middle of the city, they converted it into a huge park! It is now what I consider to be like the cities "backyard" because everyone in Valencia comes here to do a plethora of things every day.

the big green strip is the Jardin del Turia- it's HUGE

Here are some things that are typical to see during a stroll in Turia (please excuse the poor photographs- I didn't want to possibly upset anyone by taking their picture so i did it as quickly as possible!)

bici around

family stroll

roller blading

sell or buy balloons

play futbol

enjoy some quality time with your significant other

rent this bad boy and take it for a spin

have a picnic

go to Gulliver's park

walk your dog- warning: dogs on leashes is not common

read/write/draw

enjoy an ice cream. note: photo taken the 19th of feb.

go mini-golfing

stop at the cafe

drop in at the skate park

visit the city of arts and sciences

get confused by signs

train for a marathon or take a nap

listen to music at the Palau de la Musica (when i came by, they were playing Dsney instrumentals)

practice your tight-rope walking....

Some things you will NOT see in Turia: Frisbee, a game of catch with a baseball, and there will be no throwing of "pig skin" either aka American Football.

Some other things you will see: People making out, kids peeing in the grass, families who dress their kids in matching outfits, lots of dogs, people doing yoga, meditation, or tai chi, and people wearing boots and winter coats in 70 degree weather.

Valencia Basket Club

When people think of European sports, they think of two things: Soccer, and European handball. Well, guess what? Europeans like other sports too- like Basketball!

Last Thursday, my dear friend Francesco who hails from Italy sent me a text message asking if I wanted to go to a "good basketball game". Sure, let's go!

So honestly, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. But Francesco and I hop in a cab, and arrive at a very crowded arena and before I know it I'm surrounded by a sea of orange. Orange shirts, orange hats, orange scarves, and even orange wigs!

Turns out, Basketball is kind of a big deal here. The arena was just about packed out with crazy fans. The game was Valencia vs. Athens.

Team Valencia is furthest away, Athens closest

Some notable differences between this game and a US basketball game is that the basketball court is much smaller, the fans eat bocadillos instead of hot dogs, you can stay inside the paint if you want.



Some similarities: they shoot t-shirts at the spirited fans, there are mascots doing silly dances, annoying noise makers, and the ref's still have no idea whats going on.

The team mascot-i think its a firecracker that they light on fallas?

Since Francesco is such a baller and knows so much about this great sport, he also pointed out many players who had once played for the NBA who now play for the Euroleague.

In the end, unfortunately Valencia lost, but the score was close and the game was intense (tie at half time!)

PS, a few nights later while out celebrating a birthday, the birthday boy Cody looks next to me and low and behold, it's Omar Cook one of the best players on the team! He's from Brooklyn (by way of France) and he bought us a shot! But he sure did let me down when I asked if I could start a Cheerleading team for them and he said no, the coach doesn't want cheerleaders!! (rather, the coaches WIFE doesn't want cheerleaders...) What a bad decision, Valencia! You don't know what you're missing!

Differing Accents

Last night when I was tutoring my 3rd grade boy, he asked me to spell the word "duck". So I spelled it in my American accent: dee-you-see-kay. He didn't understand.
So I spelled it in Castellano "day-ooh-say-kah"
"WHAT?"
"day... ooh.... say...."
"WHAT?"
say! ah-bay-say- ay bee sea!
"thay?"
Yes, Mauro, thay.
This caused him to erupt into a giggle spell for about 5 minutes, at my funny accent and continued to test my pronunciation versus his.

Here in Spain, speakers of Castellano pronounce their soft "c" as "thay" with a lisp. Gracias becomes Grathias, cocinar is cothinar and so on.

Urban legend says that King Ferdinand  back in the day had a lisp, and everyone copied him, and that's why there is a lisp today, but that's just an urban legend.

Well, this is an issue for me in instances like this one, and many others where I need to spell, or answer questions, especially with my students who don't recognize "say" as the letter C and the end result is them thinking that I'm crazy or stupid.

I always have to explain to people that because America is so close to Central and South America, when I learned Spanish in school, I learned a different dialect and different accent. The first time I heard the Spanish "lisp" I was already 18 years old- one of my college professors was from Spain! In the past all of my teacher's had been like me and learned Spanish in school, from teachers who spoke a Latin American dialect!

Don't even get me started on the sound of the letter J!

Cooking Class takes Two and Three!

Tuesdays are legitimately my favorite day of the week. I don't know if I said this in my last cooking blog, but either way, it needs to be reiterated that I LOVE TUESDAYS!

Tuesdays encompass 5 of my favorite things:
1)Cooking.
2)Eating
3)Wine
4)Spanish
5)Laughing

The past two classes have been so fun, and everyone is starting to become really close, and have a lot of fun together. Lots of laughs are passed around, and lots of languages/dialects! Almost half the class speaks a different language (English dominates foreign languages, Japanese, German, Valencian, Mexican, and Argentinian all follow) but we all share our common language of Castellano!


Here are some dishes we've prepared the past two classes:

Greek Moussaka

Roast Beef with carrots and a creamy Bechemel sauce

Sort of quiche with asparagus and blue cheese with a spinich dressing

Tempura veggies with the best sauce I've ever had- roasted tomatoes and garlic, cream, milk and ñora's

more tempura veggies

We also learned the secret to this- but its advised not to practice at home!

Roasted Pumpkin soup with rosemary olive oil and shrimp

homemade croutons

Quiche Lorraine

London Living up it's Reputation

I went to London this past weekend with Nora, and it was everything I expected! People warned me of a few things:

1)It's expensive
2) Pretty parks
3) Look both ways a few times before you cross the street

I also had my own expectations:
1)It WILL rain.
2) I WILL take pictures in telephone booths
3) I WILL eat Fish & Chips, and Indian food
4) Everyday will be a tea party

How it turned out
1)It rained- it wouldn't have been London without it, in my opinion!

2) Expensive! I spent 260 euros in the few days I was there- Friday night-crack of dawn Monday morning (not including airfare)
3) Parks were pretty, but Im sure they're breathtaking in the spring/summer. What DID take my breath away in the parks, was the infatuation with animals! People could not get enough of the squirrels, especially this guy!

4) Big Ben wasn't as big as I expected
5) There are A LOT of telephone booths- do people even use them for anything but picture taking? I mean c'mon, everyone has a cell phone!

6) The accent got more annoying by the minute.
7) Look both ways 17 times before crossing the street, I was almost hit by a double decker bus!
8) There are no garbage cans in London (I later found out to prevent people from putting bombs in them... hmmmm)
9)I also figured out WHY the city is so expensive- they are stuck in their old fashioned "Royal" ways with those old cabs (who really makes them anymore?) upkeep of all of those phone booths no one uses, and they have to use A LOT of paint on the roads to tell people which way to look before crossing, since they are still weird and drive on the opposite side of the road.

this seriously was a live-saver! I had to say it out loud every time i reached an intersection

10) The "tube' or metro/subway/underground sucks... it is fast and convenient, but you feel like you're trapped in shakeweight! It is tight and cramped and claustrophobic and you end up with motion sickness from all the stop-and-go action and the shaking from side to side.
11) I have a new appreciation for Shakespeare after seeing the Globe theater- so cool!

12) Harrods is big and scary and overwhelming doesnt even begin to describe it! But my only advice would be to hang out in the food sections and wait for free samples (thank you Royal champagne truffles!)

Highlight of my trip, of course was a food experience. Nora and I were told we have to try the Bangladeshi food. Well, we ended up at a Pakistani restaurant that we had to trek to... and arrived at 9pm. The place was called New Tayyabs. We get there, and people are lining the street! We get inside and we could barely move-but we were immediately in love with the smell and sight of the food being rushed around to the tables. We're waiting. So we waited, and waited, and waited... for an hour and a half, inching up on a line that's slower than the DMV's.
By 1015, the end was no where in sight. We could still not see the front of the line. But before we knew it, one of the employees was going down the line:
"how many? how many? how many?"
"two!" I shout.
"ok come with me" (Nora and I then High Five!)

The food was to die for- and it was cheap! We got the traditional giant tortilla chip (sorry, i forget the name) with the 3 delicious sauces, and a small salad to start. Then we got to share: sizzling chicken tikka, a seekh kabob, and mixed veggie Karahi. We ended it with a delicious pistachio ice pop! mmmm

in front of Buckingham palace, waiting for our princes!

me with the oh-so-expensive London Eye!

In conclusion: As much as I loathe the British accent, I will be going back to London. I will go back in June to show my parents as much as I can (probably just a repeat of this trip) but I would like to go and spend a week or two (after I win the lottery) so I can really soak up the London atmosphere! (and not the sun's rays)

Hey Spaniards, whacha doin outside in the cold?

Smoking, that's what!

Now to the typical American, especially those around my age think this is very normal to see people standing outside of a bar puffin on a ciggy-butt, smoking indoors has been banned in New York since about 2001!

But Spain is a different story. After a night out in Spain, you would come home smelling like nicotine and rat poison. It was not a very pleasant smell to have stuck in your hair when you woke up with a hangover the next morning- it certainly did not help the situation.

But non-smokers REJOICE! As of January 2nd, 2011, smoking indoors in Spain has become illegal!

Spain was known as one of the last "safe-havens" for smokers in Europe. It was one of the last countries to allow smoking indoors! Well, sayonara smokers, move outside with those cancer sticks and let us non-smokers inside in the warmth to enjoy smoke free air!

I was at one bar in Madrid on the 1st day of the year (the last day to smoke indoors- the ban would begin at midnight) and I watched the owner of the bar put up the NO SMOKING signs! (I might have been fist pumping in my head)

Its funny because now I don't really appreciate the smoke free environment, until i smell someone perhaps accidentally lighting up inside! Then it's quite noticeable. Usually, people don't start a riot over it.... this is Spain, no pasa nada!

But I still appreciate waking up with the occasional hangover... without the smell of cigarette smoke all up in my bed!

Morella- High Altitudes and Low Temps

About two weeks ago (the day before the infamous flood), Maria Jose, her daughter Micaela and I set out for a town called Morella. I agreed to come because there was a castle, and because what the heck else would I do on a chilly Valencian Saturday.  The night before, I received a text that warned me: "Dress Warm" Crap. Chelsea and cold are not friends.

So I layered up. Tank top, long sleeve shirt, sweater, "heavy" coat, gloves, hat, and most importantly: UGG boots.

The trip to Morella took about 2 hours with a pit stop in San Mateo for goat cheese and coffee.

Here we also saw an old what i like to call: "laundromat". It is where women used to (and maybe sitll) come to do their laundry. There were two pools of water, one for soap, and one to rinse. The edges of the pools had little grooves to scrub the dirt off your clothes. This is also where town gossip was held.

 

When we arrived in Morella, we just strolled around, looked in some little shops where we sampled Morella's gourmet items like honey, cheese, and Mistela wine.

We continued with a delicious lunch filled with TOO much food. Bull serrano, green bean salad, foi/mushroom crepes, steak with black truffles and peppers, and so much more. I definitely had to loosen up my belt after this lunch.

Afterwords, it turned out there was a reinactment going on! How fun (and cold!)  People were dressed in their spanish Zoro like capes singing and dancing to the Morellan jig in their Morellan shoes and outfits. Following them were kids with brooms who would "persecute" you by chasing you with the broom and tapping you on the head with it.

There were also people symbolizing the Spanish revolution, one set of "rebels" who carried contraband with them, villagers making sausages, thieves, and lastly followed by policeman after the thieves and those with contraband.

Now mind you, it is very cold, and these people were outside quite a while. How do they keep warm? Mistela wine and beer of course. They purposefully stopped at every bar in town, and the bartenders/owners would supply them with free toasty beverages and they continued drinking their whole treck through town.

At this point due to my lack of mistela consumption, I was freezing and we left Morella with ganas of being back in somewhat warmer Valencia. And on the way to the car I spotted Ice! My first ice sighting in SPAIN!