Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Oops! Forgot!
See, I knew I would forget something! Just for the fun of it, I wanted to post a couple of pictures from practice with Arreplegats last week - guess which one is me! I'm definitely getting strong shoulders here!
I haven't completely forgotten about my blog!
Hola a tothom,
First of all, let me apologize for how long I've let this slide - it's kind of turned into a quarterly at this point, which wasn't my intention, but which I was afraid would happen... Anyway, in an effort to catch up somewhat, I will try to give a brief summary of the most important things I've been doing since I last wrote.
December:
Classes finished for vacations and my parents came to visit on the 18th, which also happened to be the day of the anniversary of the Arreplegats, meaning that we hosted a big diada to which all the other university casteller teams were invited (and attended). It was really awesome that my parents got to be there to see it, even though they were really jetlagged and I'm sure it was kind of an overwhelming way to be welcomed to a country. Several people came up to me during or after the actuación and asked me who they were, and when I said they were my parents, several times I got the response, "Oh! They looked like Americans!", which made me laugh... It was a fantastic anniversary - we rocked the actual castells with a 3d7, 4d7 amb agulla (pillar in the middle of the castell), 5d7 and vano de 5, which means 3 simultaneous pillars, one of 5 in the middle flanked by 2 of 4, one on either side! Afterward we had lunch ("lunch" - it was about 5 or 5:30 by the time we ate) with all the collas, then there was dancing to traditional Catalan music and much revelry. They also handed out the PAPAs - Premis Alternatius Pels Arreplegats, or Alternative Prizes for Arreplegats - and I was thrilled to win Novata Més Implicada (Most Involved Newcomer)! I was very proud.
My parents and I left Barcelona on the 22nd, I believe, and headed by train towards Vic, a smallish city to the north. We didn't actually stay in Vic, though, but in a parador outside of it that was an old farmhouse/noble's house. It was absolutely beautiful, both the building and (especially) the location, as it was perched on a mountain/cliff overlooking a big lake that had been made by damming a river and flooding the valley. There used to be a town there, and you could still see the clocktower sticking up above the water! The landscape was so different than around Barcelona - wilder and a bit harsher, but beautiful. We were there through the 26th, and we spent a lot of time walking all around the area, including one day to a ruin of an Iberian settlement outside of a town called Folgueroles (which also happened to be the birthplace of a famous Catalan poet, Jacint Verdaguer) and to a nearby monastery in the rain/sleet/snow - that was an adventure! We had a great time, though. On Christmas Eve I introduced my parents to the Catalan tradition of the Caga Tió, which is basically a log with a face painted on one end and a red Catalan stocking cap (barretina) that brings presents to kids. It's fairly hilarious - the tradition goes that you feed the Tió during the days before Christmas and then cover him up well with a blanket to let him get fat, and then on Christmas Eve the kids sing a song and hit him with a stick to make him poop out presents and treats, which magically appear under the blanket when they lift it up! Oh, Catalans...
After Vic we took the train down to València for a few days. It was a really pretty city, with a very different feel than Barcelona, which kind of surprised me. We walked around a lot there too, even though it rained most of the time, and saw a lot of cool architecture and old towers. I had an ongoing and disheartening quest to find a book by a Valencian author, Ferran Torrent, that I really wanted to read - apparently they don't have Valencian books in Valencian bookstores (go figure). We also ate really well there, including one day when we walked down to the beach (which was quite a hike from our hotel) and had arroz negro, made with squid ink! Possibly my favorite meal, though, was one night when we found this tiny little restaurant by accident that had maybe one other couple eating there. I had no idea what most of the things on the menu were, so I talked to the waiter, who said he could make us basically any kind of paella/rice dish we wanted. We settled on seafood - I wasn't clear on what kind of seafood we would get, but I was sure it would be good - and he went into the kitchen to make it! It was absolutely delicious, and just a really cool experience. We felt almost like we were guests in someone's home.
We came back to BCN on New Year's Eve, which I spent at the TresA, the friends association for the Arreplegats (Associació d'Amics dels Arreplegats = AAA, or tres "A"s, hence the name). It was a lot of fun - we had dinner, then watched the clock strike twelve on TV and ate a grape for every hour struck (another Catalan tradition). Then we toasted to the new year with cava and proceeded to celebrate into the wee hours, being ridiculous as we are known to be, singing lots of Arreplegat songs accompanied by noisemakers, etc. I got home early in the morning, slept for about 4 or 5 hours, then, since the 1st was Thursday - what else? - went to castellers practice at 2:00! There were only about 10 of us that showed up, but we had a great time trying as many different constructions as we could with those of us who were there. I got to learn how to be acotxador and enxaneta (probably the only time I'll ever do it)!! Afterwards, as we miraculously still had energy left, we decided to go up to La Foixarda, on Montjuic, and go rock climbing! There's an old tunnel there that they've closed off and put lights and handholds in that's great for bouldering, and there are a bunch of normal routes on the rocks around it. Several people brought equipment and we all shared harnesses, ropes, etc. It was cool to remember how to do it - I hadn't gone rock climbing since I was about 16, I think - at the same time that I was learning the terms in Catalan. Definitely an awesome way to kick of 2009.
January:
Let's see - after my parents left on the 6th, I had a couple of chill weeks going to class at the UAB and studying for my history exam, which was on the 20th. The most exciting thing that happened during that period of time was that I went one Saturday with several other Arreplegats to climb a nearby mountain called Matagalls with snowshoes! We had originally planned to go rock climbing again, but on a real mountain near a town called Siurana, but it had been snowing so much (in the mountains, not in Barcelona!) that we couldn't get there easily. We decided to go to Matagalls instead, which is in the Montseny Natural Park, between the cities of Vic and Granollers. We left Barcelona really early Saturday morning in the rain, which didn't bode well, but by the time we got up to the parking lot and trailhead it had turned into beautiful, thick snow! I had rented snowshoes and poles and borrowed various items of waterproof clothing, fortunately. It was a more challenging climb than I expected - some of our group decided to stop halfway and do a shorter, easier route - but I really enjoyed it. Four of us went all the way to the peak - me, Ubi, Vitxi, and Pol - and were treated with an incredible view when the snow stopped and the clouds briefly cleared away. We didn't stay up there long, though, because it was really cold and getting late. Vitxi and I started down with our snowshoes, but Pol and Ubi had brought skis up in order to ski down. We kept expecting them to pass us, but they never did - we hadn't taken into account the fact that Ubi had never skied before! At one point we passed a couple of other skiers we had seen earlier and Vitxi asked them if they had seen our friends. They replied basically, "Oh, those two? They're still way up there!" We weren't too worried, though we had to laugh. When we got to the bottom we found the others who had done the shorter route and were going to wait for Ubi and Pol, but, unfortunately, the mossos d'esquadra (Catalan local police) had come and were threatening to give everyone a ticket if we didn't move our cars, as apparently we were blocking the snow plow. So we quickly packed up and had to circle the mountain for a bit until Pol and Ubi finally got down and we could pick them up. We finished off the night by driving into Granollers to eat fast food for dinner and go bowling, at which I handily won! All in all a very fun excursion.
At the end of January, Becca came to visit from Chicago, which was a lot of fun. We took a very early flight to La Coruña, in Galicia, the day after she arrived, and spent a few days exploring there. They say it always rains in Galicia, but I think we had it worse than normal - it was ridiculously windy, hailed on us various times and rained in really strong bursts that came at fairly regular intervals but never gave us enough time to get anywhere between them. So basically we got used to being soaking wet most of the time... we had fun, though, regardless. I really enjoyed visiting Santiago de Compostela one day, which is the town at the end of the Camino de Santiago, an old pilgrimage route that I would love to hike some day. Becca really wanted to go to the Pilgrimage Museum, but, sadly, it was closed... The weather was much nicer once we got back to Barcelona, and we got to spend a lot of time walking around the city. We also went to Tarragona one day, which I really liked, and saw lots of Roman ruins. I love getting to know different parts of Spain and Catalunya! Possibly my other favorite part of Becca being here was going to watch the Superbowl in a bar called Cheers, which played it on a British TV channel, with 3 Catalan guys (Arreplegats, of course) who knew nothing about American football! Quite an experience - I didn't end up watching the game very closely, though, because I kept getting into involved explanations of how many points a field goal is worth or the difference between a "sack" and a "sock". Oh man... :)
Well, now it's February and things are fairly back to normal. Two out of four of my classes have started, and the other two start on Monday. I'm really excited about one I'm taking called History of the Catalan Language - the professor is really awesome and the subject really interesting. I think we're going to spend some time in local archives analyzing original Catalan texts, which is really cool! My schedule has returned to having three main elements - class, coffee with friends, and castellers practices - and I have to say I like it that way. I've started going to practices with the Castellers del Poble Sec, a small team in my neighborhood. They practice at night on Tuesdays and Fridays, so it doesn't conflict with anything. I really like the chance to get more practice and be involved in different ways - they have a canalla of little kids as well as all ages of adults, so I play a slightly different role than with Arreplegats, when we're all closer to the same size - and the people seem really nice so far. I've only gone to two practices, but I think I'll stick with it. We have an actuación this Sunday for the Festa de Santa Eulàlia, which is really exciting because we'll be in the Plaça de Sant Jaume, in the middle of the city, between the Ajuntament and the Generalitat! I'll definitely put up pictures afterward.
So that's more or less it for now - I'm sure there are things I've forgotten, but at least it's a start, oi? I will try to be more disciplined about writing - hope you all enjoy it!
Salut i castells!
-Sarah
First of all, let me apologize for how long I've let this slide - it's kind of turned into a quarterly at this point, which wasn't my intention, but which I was afraid would happen... Anyway, in an effort to catch up somewhat, I will try to give a brief summary of the most important things I've been doing since I last wrote.
December:
Classes finished for vacations and my parents came to visit on the 18th, which also happened to be the day of the anniversary of the Arreplegats, meaning that we hosted a big diada to which all the other university casteller teams were invited (and attended). It was really awesome that my parents got to be there to see it, even though they were really jetlagged and I'm sure it was kind of an overwhelming way to be welcomed to a country. Several people came up to me during or after the actuación and asked me who they were, and when I said they were my parents, several times I got the response, "Oh! They looked like Americans!", which made me laugh... It was a fantastic anniversary - we rocked the actual castells with a 3d7, 4d7 amb agulla (pillar in the middle of the castell), 5d7 and vano de 5, which means 3 simultaneous pillars, one of 5 in the middle flanked by 2 of 4, one on either side! Afterward we had lunch ("lunch" - it was about 5 or 5:30 by the time we ate) with all the collas, then there was dancing to traditional Catalan music and much revelry. They also handed out the PAPAs - Premis Alternatius Pels Arreplegats, or Alternative Prizes for Arreplegats - and I was thrilled to win Novata Més Implicada (Most Involved Newcomer)! I was very proud.
My parents and I left Barcelona on the 22nd, I believe, and headed by train towards Vic, a smallish city to the north. We didn't actually stay in Vic, though, but in a parador outside of it that was an old farmhouse/noble's house. It was absolutely beautiful, both the building and (especially) the location, as it was perched on a mountain/cliff overlooking a big lake that had been made by damming a river and flooding the valley. There used to be a town there, and you could still see the clocktower sticking up above the water! The landscape was so different than around Barcelona - wilder and a bit harsher, but beautiful. We were there through the 26th, and we spent a lot of time walking all around the area, including one day to a ruin of an Iberian settlement outside of a town called Folgueroles (which also happened to be the birthplace of a famous Catalan poet, Jacint Verdaguer) and to a nearby monastery in the rain/sleet/snow - that was an adventure! We had a great time, though. On Christmas Eve I introduced my parents to the Catalan tradition of the Caga Tió, which is basically a log with a face painted on one end and a red Catalan stocking cap (barretina) that brings presents to kids. It's fairly hilarious - the tradition goes that you feed the Tió during the days before Christmas and then cover him up well with a blanket to let him get fat, and then on Christmas Eve the kids sing a song and hit him with a stick to make him poop out presents and treats, which magically appear under the blanket when they lift it up! Oh, Catalans...
After Vic we took the train down to València for a few days. It was a really pretty city, with a very different feel than Barcelona, which kind of surprised me. We walked around a lot there too, even though it rained most of the time, and saw a lot of cool architecture and old towers. I had an ongoing and disheartening quest to find a book by a Valencian author, Ferran Torrent, that I really wanted to read - apparently they don't have Valencian books in Valencian bookstores (go figure). We also ate really well there, including one day when we walked down to the beach (which was quite a hike from our hotel) and had arroz negro, made with squid ink! Possibly my favorite meal, though, was one night when we found this tiny little restaurant by accident that had maybe one other couple eating there. I had no idea what most of the things on the menu were, so I talked to the waiter, who said he could make us basically any kind of paella/rice dish we wanted. We settled on seafood - I wasn't clear on what kind of seafood we would get, but I was sure it would be good - and he went into the kitchen to make it! It was absolutely delicious, and just a really cool experience. We felt almost like we were guests in someone's home.
We came back to BCN on New Year's Eve, which I spent at the TresA, the friends association for the Arreplegats (Associació d'Amics dels Arreplegats = AAA, or tres "A"s, hence the name). It was a lot of fun - we had dinner, then watched the clock strike twelve on TV and ate a grape for every hour struck (another Catalan tradition). Then we toasted to the new year with cava and proceeded to celebrate into the wee hours, being ridiculous as we are known to be, singing lots of Arreplegat songs accompanied by noisemakers, etc. I got home early in the morning, slept for about 4 or 5 hours, then, since the 1st was Thursday - what else? - went to castellers practice at 2:00! There were only about 10 of us that showed up, but we had a great time trying as many different constructions as we could with those of us who were there. I got to learn how to be acotxador and enxaneta (probably the only time I'll ever do it)!! Afterwards, as we miraculously still had energy left, we decided to go up to La Foixarda, on Montjuic, and go rock climbing! There's an old tunnel there that they've closed off and put lights and handholds in that's great for bouldering, and there are a bunch of normal routes on the rocks around it. Several people brought equipment and we all shared harnesses, ropes, etc. It was cool to remember how to do it - I hadn't gone rock climbing since I was about 16, I think - at the same time that I was learning the terms in Catalan. Definitely an awesome way to kick of 2009.
January:
Let's see - after my parents left on the 6th, I had a couple of chill weeks going to class at the UAB and studying for my history exam, which was on the 20th. The most exciting thing that happened during that period of time was that I went one Saturday with several other Arreplegats to climb a nearby mountain called Matagalls with snowshoes! We had originally planned to go rock climbing again, but on a real mountain near a town called Siurana, but it had been snowing so much (in the mountains, not in Barcelona!) that we couldn't get there easily. We decided to go to Matagalls instead, which is in the Montseny Natural Park, between the cities of Vic and Granollers. We left Barcelona really early Saturday morning in the rain, which didn't bode well, but by the time we got up to the parking lot and trailhead it had turned into beautiful, thick snow! I had rented snowshoes and poles and borrowed various items of waterproof clothing, fortunately. It was a more challenging climb than I expected - some of our group decided to stop halfway and do a shorter, easier route - but I really enjoyed it. Four of us went all the way to the peak - me, Ubi, Vitxi, and Pol - and were treated with an incredible view when the snow stopped and the clouds briefly cleared away. We didn't stay up there long, though, because it was really cold and getting late. Vitxi and I started down with our snowshoes, but Pol and Ubi had brought skis up in order to ski down. We kept expecting them to pass us, but they never did - we hadn't taken into account the fact that Ubi had never skied before! At one point we passed a couple of other skiers we had seen earlier and Vitxi asked them if they had seen our friends. They replied basically, "Oh, those two? They're still way up there!" We weren't too worried, though we had to laugh. When we got to the bottom we found the others who had done the shorter route and were going to wait for Ubi and Pol, but, unfortunately, the mossos d'esquadra (Catalan local police) had come and were threatening to give everyone a ticket if we didn't move our cars, as apparently we were blocking the snow plow. So we quickly packed up and had to circle the mountain for a bit until Pol and Ubi finally got down and we could pick them up. We finished off the night by driving into Granollers to eat fast food for dinner and go bowling, at which I handily won! All in all a very fun excursion.
At the end of January, Becca came to visit from Chicago, which was a lot of fun. We took a very early flight to La Coruña, in Galicia, the day after she arrived, and spent a few days exploring there. They say it always rains in Galicia, but I think we had it worse than normal - it was ridiculously windy, hailed on us various times and rained in really strong bursts that came at fairly regular intervals but never gave us enough time to get anywhere between them. So basically we got used to being soaking wet most of the time... we had fun, though, regardless. I really enjoyed visiting Santiago de Compostela one day, which is the town at the end of the Camino de Santiago, an old pilgrimage route that I would love to hike some day. Becca really wanted to go to the Pilgrimage Museum, but, sadly, it was closed... The weather was much nicer once we got back to Barcelona, and we got to spend a lot of time walking around the city. We also went to Tarragona one day, which I really liked, and saw lots of Roman ruins. I love getting to know different parts of Spain and Catalunya! Possibly my other favorite part of Becca being here was going to watch the Superbowl in a bar called Cheers, which played it on a British TV channel, with 3 Catalan guys (Arreplegats, of course) who knew nothing about American football! Quite an experience - I didn't end up watching the game very closely, though, because I kept getting into involved explanations of how many points a field goal is worth or the difference between a "sack" and a "sock". Oh man... :)
Well, now it's February and things are fairly back to normal. Two out of four of my classes have started, and the other two start on Monday. I'm really excited about one I'm taking called History of the Catalan Language - the professor is really awesome and the subject really interesting. I think we're going to spend some time in local archives analyzing original Catalan texts, which is really cool! My schedule has returned to having three main elements - class, coffee with friends, and castellers practices - and I have to say I like it that way. I've started going to practices with the Castellers del Poble Sec, a small team in my neighborhood. They practice at night on Tuesdays and Fridays, so it doesn't conflict with anything. I really like the chance to get more practice and be involved in different ways - they have a canalla of little kids as well as all ages of adults, so I play a slightly different role than with Arreplegats, when we're all closer to the same size - and the people seem really nice so far. I've only gone to two practices, but I think I'll stick with it. We have an actuación this Sunday for the Festa de Santa Eulàlia, which is really exciting because we'll be in the Plaça de Sant Jaume, in the middle of the city, between the Ajuntament and the Generalitat! I'll definitely put up pictures afterward.
So that's more or less it for now - I'm sure there are things I've forgotten, but at least it's a start, oi? I will try to be more disciplined about writing - hope you all enjoy it!
Salut i castells!
-Sarah
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Austria, Mountains, and Falconers
Hola a tothom,
Because it has been a ridiculously long time since I've written and, besides, I seriously doubt my ability to get anything productive done tonight, instead of reading about 17th-century Catalunya I will sit here, eat a chocolate-covered digestive cookie, and write to you all...
I suppose I should start more or less where I left off. Three weekends ago (the second-to-last weekend in November) I traveled out of Spain for the first time since I've been here and went to visit Connie in Vienna. It was a really nice weekend trip, though MUCH colder than it had been here in Barcelona, which was kind of a shock for me! I got in on Friday afternoon/evening - no airport problems, thankfully - and Connie met me at the Vienna airport to take the train into the city. It was cold and raining when we got there, which was really unpleasant to walk back to her place in and made me rethink my decision not to buy an overpriced duty-free umbrella. That night I met several of her friends, friends of friends, etc., and metroed around the city somewhat, though I didn't really get to see any of it since it was dark and rainy. Happily, the next morning when we got up it had gotten just enough colder to snow! Connie and I bundled up as much as we could and struck out for one of the city's many Christkindlmarkts, the Christmas markets. I'm embarrassed to say I don't remember the name of this one, but it was near the Museum Quarter, which was pretty cool. We spent a good while walking through it, coveting all the delicious-looking food and sipping hot punch. I ordered cranberry punch at a stall, and when the man gestured at it to confirm that it was the right one, I replied instinctively, "Sí!", to which he, with a startled look, replied, "Bonjour!" I had to smile at that - not quite the right romance language, but good try nonetheless. :)
After finally giving in and getting kebab for lunch, Connie and I went to see some really beautiful churches, one whose name I can't remember, and the other the Stefansdom, which I believe is the most famous. They were both really impressive. It had really started to snow at this point, which I was thoroughly enjoying by acting like a 6-year-old and constantly trying to catch snowflakes on my tongue. In the afternoon we met Connie's boyfriend Hugo and went up to palace more on the outskirts of the city with a big garden and labyrinth around it. It was very deserted and surreal in the snow, which was a neat experience. The trees were all bare, and there were rows of statues covered with canvas tarps. We walked behind the zoo (there were buffalo!) and then all of a sudden came out into a big lawn with a fountain on the end closest to us and the palace at the other end. As we were standing there taking pictures of the fountain and feeding the ducks with chocolate pastry (Connie!), the snow suddenly intensified into these bizarre little balls of snow that looked almost like hail (they were that big) but weren't icy. They were so heavy, though, that they fell really fast and kind of stung when they hit your skin. The ground turned completely white in a matter of minutes. Then, as if that weren't strange enough, it started thundering! In the middle of the snowstorm! To use a Catalan expression, estava flipant - I was kind of freaked out but also thought it was really cool!
We made our way to the other side of the palace where there was another Christkindlemarkt, complete with brave musicians playing Christmas music on brass instruments in the snow. By this time it had gone back to relatively normal snow conditions, but we were all pretty cold and tired, so we decided to head home. That night I attended a birthday celebration of someone who studied with Hugo, which I was afraid would be really awkward but turned out to be a lot of fun. Overall it was a great trip. I have to say, though, I was surprised at how much I missed Barcelona, even for three days. Even though I could communicate with people in Vienna in English, I felt bizarrely homesick for Spanish and Catalan. Even though I was sad to leave Connie, it was actually somewhat of a relief to get into the Barcelona airport on Sunday and hear announcements in Catalan again - it felt so normal. I guess that's a good thing, huh? It was also funny walking out of the airport and remembering the last time I was there, having to wait in line to try to claim my lost baggage when I first got here.. ugh. This was a much more enjoyable experience.
Connie and me in Vienna:
The next exciting thing that happened was the following weekend, when I went to the Pyrenees with CASB - that's right, more snow! We left from Barcelona on Friday evening and had about a 4-hour bus ride, since we were going about as far away as we could get and still be in Catalunya. We stayed in a beautiful hotel right at the foot of the mountains, near a tiny town called Llavorsí. I was really amazed at the luxury we got to experience - incredibly comfortable beds, tubs with bath salts, delicious 3-course dinners both nights! I felt very spoiled, but enjoyed it thoroughly. On Saturday we got to go snowshoeing in a national park, which was absolutely beautiful, although it snowed so much while we were out that the jeeps that had dropped us off couldn't get back to pick us up, so we had to snowshoe for almost an hour down the road to get back! We also visited the town of Sort, which means "Luck" in Catalan, and which, almost too coincidentally, is famous for selling winning lottery tickets. Juanjo and the UPF professor who accompanied us, Toni Luna, bought numbers for the Christmas Lottery there. It was a great trip - the whole CASB group didn't come, just those of us who were more up for a bit of an adventurous time in the mountains, which made it a lot of fun.
Snowshoeing!
Mountains! (I didn't realize how much I missed them):
This past weekend was a long weekend, which was really nice, and I spent it in Barcelona. Saturday was the day of the Constitution and Monday was the Immaculate Conception, so basically all weekend was a holiday. My most exciting news of the weekend is that I moved on Saturday! I'm now living in an apartment in the edge of the Raval, a neighborhood of the old city. I really like it, both being independent of the Residencia and getting to know my new barri (neighborhood). There are lots of winding streets and little shops - everything from butchers to baklava. I am particularly a fan of the café right across the street with cheap but good coffee, generally a table of old men playing cards in the back, and Spanish pop on the radio that always makes me laugh. Also, there's a big market really close, the Mercat de Sant Antoni, which is really cool. I went on Sunday, when the food stalls were closed but there was a book/collector's items fair going on outside, and then I bought ham there today. I think it'll be fun to shop there, since there's not really a normal grocery store near me.
Quick update on casteller activity: I went to our actuación in Girona last Thursday, which was so much fun. There were three colles there - the Xoriguers, from the Universitat de Girona, the Ganàpies, from the UAB, and us - and we thoroughly dominated. Same as in the Diada de Física i Química, we did a 3 de 7, a 4 de 7, a 5 de 6, and a pilar de 5. The highest castells any of the other collas made were of 5 stories (although one of them did a 3 de 5 net, which means without a pinya to support it, so I have to give them props for that). I've been going to lots of practices to gear up for our anniversary in 2 weeks, including pillar practices (assajos de pilars), which we have on Wednesday nights in the headquarters of the Castellers de Barcelona. They have a sort of gym-like space with ladders on the wall to practice and a big cage-type thing covered with nets with a hole in them. Basically you climb into the cage (it's taller than a person) and make the pillar from the inside, then it ends up poking up through one of the holes in the netting, so that if it falls the people on top fall onto the netting rather than all the way down to the floor. Pillar practices are tiring, because there are less of us so we're all working all the time, but I really like them - I've learned to climb up to the second story in a pillar without having anything to hold on to, and once I've even been baixa for a pilar de 3, meaning I was on the bottom on my own supporting two people on top of me! Last week we successfully completed a pilar de 5 per sota, meaning that instead of having people climb up to make the pillar, we start with the smallest person and lift her up onto the next, then lift the two of them onto the third, etc. Pilars per sota (meaning from below) are really hard but exciting. We tried it once, and right as we got to the last tier it fell, but then on the second try we made it! I think it was the first time we had ever done one completely, because immediately everyone burst into cheering, hugging each other and pounding each other on the back. I was very proud to have helped!
This Monday, which we had off, Hallie and I went to Vilafranca del Penedès, a nearby town/small city, to see some of my friends in my colla perform in an actuación of Falconers, which are kind of like castellers, except instead of making towers they make different human shapes and figures, such as pyramids. They did it inside a beautiful old theater, which was really cool. There were two people I knew performing and then about 7 of us who sat together to watch. Every time I see a group of castellers or falconers that aren't from a university (aka the majority of the colles), I'm amazed by the little kids in the canalla who climb to the very top as enxaneta... part of me really wants to have a family of castellers one day and have my kids be aixecador and enxaneta while I'm on the bottom, and part of me is terrified for them!
Falconers de Vilafranca:
Falconers making a traditional castellers-style tower and a really cool-looking tower of people all bent over and interlaced:
Next up on the agenda is our actuación at the UAB on Thursday, which I'm really looking forward to. If we have enough people we might be able to do a 4 amb agulla, meaning a tower of 4 people in each tier with a pilar in the middle! That would be so awesome... we did some really great practice runs of it today. We'll see what happens in the Plaça Cívica! Please forgive the lateness and length of this post ... hope you've enjoyed it!
Pit i amunt!
-Sarah
Because it has been a ridiculously long time since I've written and, besides, I seriously doubt my ability to get anything productive done tonight, instead of reading about 17th-century Catalunya I will sit here, eat a chocolate-covered digestive cookie, and write to you all...
I suppose I should start more or less where I left off. Three weekends ago (the second-to-last weekend in November) I traveled out of Spain for the first time since I've been here and went to visit Connie in Vienna. It was a really nice weekend trip, though MUCH colder than it had been here in Barcelona, which was kind of a shock for me! I got in on Friday afternoon/evening - no airport problems, thankfully - and Connie met me at the Vienna airport to take the train into the city. It was cold and raining when we got there, which was really unpleasant to walk back to her place in and made me rethink my decision not to buy an overpriced duty-free umbrella. That night I met several of her friends, friends of friends, etc., and metroed around the city somewhat, though I didn't really get to see any of it since it was dark and rainy. Happily, the next morning when we got up it had gotten just enough colder to snow! Connie and I bundled up as much as we could and struck out for one of the city's many Christkindlmarkts, the Christmas markets. I'm embarrassed to say I don't remember the name of this one, but it was near the Museum Quarter, which was pretty cool. We spent a good while walking through it, coveting all the delicious-looking food and sipping hot punch. I ordered cranberry punch at a stall, and when the man gestured at it to confirm that it was the right one, I replied instinctively, "Sí!", to which he, with a startled look, replied, "Bonjour!" I had to smile at that - not quite the right romance language, but good try nonetheless. :)
After finally giving in and getting kebab for lunch, Connie and I went to see some really beautiful churches, one whose name I can't remember, and the other the Stefansdom, which I believe is the most famous. They were both really impressive. It had really started to snow at this point, which I was thoroughly enjoying by acting like a 6-year-old and constantly trying to catch snowflakes on my tongue. In the afternoon we met Connie's boyfriend Hugo and went up to palace more on the outskirts of the city with a big garden and labyrinth around it. It was very deserted and surreal in the snow, which was a neat experience. The trees were all bare, and there were rows of statues covered with canvas tarps. We walked behind the zoo (there were buffalo!) and then all of a sudden came out into a big lawn with a fountain on the end closest to us and the palace at the other end. As we were standing there taking pictures of the fountain and feeding the ducks with chocolate pastry (Connie!), the snow suddenly intensified into these bizarre little balls of snow that looked almost like hail (they were that big) but weren't icy. They were so heavy, though, that they fell really fast and kind of stung when they hit your skin. The ground turned completely white in a matter of minutes. Then, as if that weren't strange enough, it started thundering! In the middle of the snowstorm! To use a Catalan expression, estava flipant - I was kind of freaked out but also thought it was really cool!
We made our way to the other side of the palace where there was another Christkindlemarkt, complete with brave musicians playing Christmas music on brass instruments in the snow. By this time it had gone back to relatively normal snow conditions, but we were all pretty cold and tired, so we decided to head home. That night I attended a birthday celebration of someone who studied with Hugo, which I was afraid would be really awkward but turned out to be a lot of fun. Overall it was a great trip. I have to say, though, I was surprised at how much I missed Barcelona, even for three days. Even though I could communicate with people in Vienna in English, I felt bizarrely homesick for Spanish and Catalan. Even though I was sad to leave Connie, it was actually somewhat of a relief to get into the Barcelona airport on Sunday and hear announcements in Catalan again - it felt so normal. I guess that's a good thing, huh? It was also funny walking out of the airport and remembering the last time I was there, having to wait in line to try to claim my lost baggage when I first got here.. ugh. This was a much more enjoyable experience.
Connie and me in Vienna:
The next exciting thing that happened was the following weekend, when I went to the Pyrenees with CASB - that's right, more snow! We left from Barcelona on Friday evening and had about a 4-hour bus ride, since we were going about as far away as we could get and still be in Catalunya. We stayed in a beautiful hotel right at the foot of the mountains, near a tiny town called Llavorsí. I was really amazed at the luxury we got to experience - incredibly comfortable beds, tubs with bath salts, delicious 3-course dinners both nights! I felt very spoiled, but enjoyed it thoroughly. On Saturday we got to go snowshoeing in a national park, which was absolutely beautiful, although it snowed so much while we were out that the jeeps that had dropped us off couldn't get back to pick us up, so we had to snowshoe for almost an hour down the road to get back! We also visited the town of Sort, which means "Luck" in Catalan, and which, almost too coincidentally, is famous for selling winning lottery tickets. Juanjo and the UPF professor who accompanied us, Toni Luna, bought numbers for the Christmas Lottery there. It was a great trip - the whole CASB group didn't come, just those of us who were more up for a bit of an adventurous time in the mountains, which made it a lot of fun.
Snowshoeing!
Mountains! (I didn't realize how much I missed them):
This past weekend was a long weekend, which was really nice, and I spent it in Barcelona. Saturday was the day of the Constitution and Monday was the Immaculate Conception, so basically all weekend was a holiday. My most exciting news of the weekend is that I moved on Saturday! I'm now living in an apartment in the edge of the Raval, a neighborhood of the old city. I really like it, both being independent of the Residencia and getting to know my new barri (neighborhood). There are lots of winding streets and little shops - everything from butchers to baklava. I am particularly a fan of the café right across the street with cheap but good coffee, generally a table of old men playing cards in the back, and Spanish pop on the radio that always makes me laugh. Also, there's a big market really close, the Mercat de Sant Antoni, which is really cool. I went on Sunday, when the food stalls were closed but there was a book/collector's items fair going on outside, and then I bought ham there today. I think it'll be fun to shop there, since there's not really a normal grocery store near me.
Quick update on casteller activity: I went to our actuación in Girona last Thursday, which was so much fun. There were three colles there - the Xoriguers, from the Universitat de Girona, the Ganàpies, from the UAB, and us - and we thoroughly dominated. Same as in the Diada de Física i Química, we did a 3 de 7, a 4 de 7, a 5 de 6, and a pilar de 5. The highest castells any of the other collas made were of 5 stories (although one of them did a 3 de 5 net, which means without a pinya to support it, so I have to give them props for that). I've been going to lots of practices to gear up for our anniversary in 2 weeks, including pillar practices (assajos de pilars), which we have on Wednesday nights in the headquarters of the Castellers de Barcelona. They have a sort of gym-like space with ladders on the wall to practice and a big cage-type thing covered with nets with a hole in them. Basically you climb into the cage (it's taller than a person) and make the pillar from the inside, then it ends up poking up through one of the holes in the netting, so that if it falls the people on top fall onto the netting rather than all the way down to the floor. Pillar practices are tiring, because there are less of us so we're all working all the time, but I really like them - I've learned to climb up to the second story in a pillar without having anything to hold on to, and once I've even been baixa for a pilar de 3, meaning I was on the bottom on my own supporting two people on top of me! Last week we successfully completed a pilar de 5 per sota, meaning that instead of having people climb up to make the pillar, we start with the smallest person and lift her up onto the next, then lift the two of them onto the third, etc. Pilars per sota (meaning from below) are really hard but exciting. We tried it once, and right as we got to the last tier it fell, but then on the second try we made it! I think it was the first time we had ever done one completely, because immediately everyone burst into cheering, hugging each other and pounding each other on the back. I was very proud to have helped!
This Monday, which we had off, Hallie and I went to Vilafranca del Penedès, a nearby town/small city, to see some of my friends in my colla perform in an actuación of Falconers, which are kind of like castellers, except instead of making towers they make different human shapes and figures, such as pyramids. They did it inside a beautiful old theater, which was really cool. There were two people I knew performing and then about 7 of us who sat together to watch. Every time I see a group of castellers or falconers that aren't from a university (aka the majority of the colles), I'm amazed by the little kids in the canalla who climb to the very top as enxaneta... part of me really wants to have a family of castellers one day and have my kids be aixecador and enxaneta while I'm on the bottom, and part of me is terrified for them!
Falconers de Vilafranca:
Falconers making a traditional castellers-style tower and a really cool-looking tower of people all bent over and interlaced:
Next up on the agenda is our actuación at the UAB on Thursday, which I'm really looking forward to. If we have enough people we might be able to do a 4 amb agulla, meaning a tower of 4 people in each tier with a pilar in the middle! That would be so awesome... we did some really great practice runs of it today. We'll see what happens in the Plaça Cívica! Please forgive the lateness and length of this post ... hope you've enjoyed it!
Pit i amunt!
-Sarah
Monday, November 24, 2008
Pride
I wanted to share this video with everyone because it represents so well the excitement and pride after an awesome afternoon of making castells. It's from an actuación in Tarragona last Thursday - I actually wasn't there, because I had class, but I'm very proud of the Arreplegats nonetheless:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=34654244469
I'll write soon about Vienna, but for now suffice it to say that it was really pretty, snowy, and cold!!
Fins aviat,
Sarah
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=34654244469
I'll write soon about Vienna, but for now suffice it to say that it was really pretty, snowy, and cold!!
Fins aviat,
Sarah
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Photos - Actuació de Sant Albert
Pilar de 4!
The 3 de 7 in progress
Me as terceres mans during the 4 de 7
Me being climbed up during the 4 de 7
4 de 7 carregat (complete)!!
The 5 de 6
Me in uniform :)
In the pinya!
Go green go! Visca Arreplegats!
Un Cap de SetmanAZU!
Ui! It's been a while! Not quite a month, though, so it's not as bad as I had feared... at any rate, I have finally returned to update my blog. Let's see ... I didn't write for a while because things were pretty much just going along as normal, nothing special to report, and then all of a sudden I became very busy starting about last Thursday, and will most likely continue to be so for the next few weeks. I don't mind it too much, although it is kind of annoying that all of my classes decided to finally give me large projects due all at the same time. I'm working with two girls on a group project about the Catalan Revolt of 1640 for my Modern History of Catalunya class, which is due the day after my midterm for my class on the Spanish Civil War and Historical Memory. It's interesting, though - who knew that, briefly in 1640, Catalunya separated itself from the Spanish monarchy, handed itself over to the Bourbons in France, and then declared itself a republic! Of course, it didn't manage to stay that way for long... Anyway, I have that to work on, and then my "practiques" (sort of like lab sessions) started this week for Population Genetics. They're not so bad, but the scheduling is really weird and messes everything else up, because they only happen for three weeks but are during two other classes of mine and castellers practice. Grrr... It's only three weeks, though, I keep telling myself, and then it'll be done.
On a different subject, this weekend was really awesome! First of all, Chris Laubacher came to visit Hallie and me from Rome, which was very exciting. It was fun to get to hang out with him, though kind of weird to be sitting around a table in a restaurant in Barcelona talking about everyone in Chicago... I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked to with him, though, but for a good reason: we had our first actuación as castellers on Friday!! It was for the celebration of Sant Albert, which happened at the Faculty of Physics and Chemistry at the UB. The actuación started at 2:30, and I had class all morning, so I was so nervous/excited for the afternoon to arrive. I could hardly sit through history, knowing that I had my green shirt (with the seal of my team ironed on!), white pants, and faixa rolled up in my bag just waiting to be used for the first time. Finally class ended and I caught the train up to the Zona Universitària, where the Faculty of Physics and Chemistry is (across the city from the Faculty of History, of course). I got there right at 2:30, and the big atrium where it was taking place was full of people milling around, as well as a band playing and various groups of students selling food and t-shirts. I found the Arreplegats (a group of 50 people in bright green button-down shirts isn't too hard to spot) and got changed. A few minutes later, Chris, Hallie, and Chris's friend Ayla arrived, and shortly thereafter we got started!
It was kind of chaotic because it was so noisy and there were so many people, so I couldn't hear the cap de pinya calling out positions as well as I am used to during practices, but the actuación went really well. The first thing we made was a pilar de 4, basically a pillar 4 people high, with only one person in each story, supported by a huge group of people (the pinya) at the bottom. It was kind of a warmup, and it went really smoothly. Then we went straight for one of the big ones: a 3 de 7 (7 tiers, 3 people per tier in the trunk)! 7 is the highest castle a university team has ever made, so it was kind of ambitious of us for the first actuación of the season, but it went perfectly! Next we pulled off a 4 de 7 as well, which was a bit more wobbly but ended up well. For all of these I was in the pinya - for the 4de7 I was at terceres mans, which means I was the third person out supporting one of the baixos, or the people on the bottom who are directly stood upon. The next castell took a while to organize, and during the organization process the cap de colla, Tiru, realized that he was somehow missing a crossa, the people who go on either side of the baixos and support them with their arms over their shoulders, so he grabbed me and put me as crossa! I had never done it before, and I was a fair amount taller than the crossa opposite, which was slightly problematic, but it ended up working out fine. I ended up having no idea what castell we were making, though, because I was basically in the center of the pinya with my head down, covered by other people's arms. It turned out to be a 5 de 6, which is one of my favorites - I like castells of 5 because their structure is different and interesting (it's basically a tower of 3 and a tower of 2 stuck together, rather than 5 people in a circle, which would be too open). We finished off with a pilar de 5, which was also a little wobbly but finished well.
I think the best part of the actuación was right after it was over, when everyone was so excited about what we had done. We were all jumping up and down in this atrium full of people, yelling and clapping and shouting, "Visca Arreplegats! VISCA!" Then we sang our official song, the Himne dels Arreplegats, and one to the tune of "The 12 Days of Christmas" that goes, "Els Arreplegats hem fet avui aquí... UN 3de7, UN 4de7, UN pilar de 5, etc. - som més bons que la mare que ens va parir!" I was so proud to be part of it all.
The celebration continued on Saturday with a lunch at the house of a girl in the group named Brigitte (but who goes by Vichy). There were about 15 of us that went, some that I knew pretty well and some that I didn't. I was really happy to be invited, though. 8 of us met in Plaça España, theoretically at 12 (though we didn't all get there until about 12:40) to catch the train, because Vichy lives out in a nearby town called St. Boi. Once we got there, we wandered around the town for a while trying to find pizza dough, had adventures in a grocery store involving Sareta, the president of the team, in a shopping cart, and finally bought chestnuts and sweet potatoes and made it to Vichy's house. I felt bad because it was about 2:30 by this point, and I had told Chris I would go to the Picasso Museum with him at 3:30, but I realized that if I did that I wouldn't even have time to eat, so I had to cancel on him. It ended up all right, though - he went on his own and I ended up staying in St. Boi until 6:00! We had a fantastic lunch of frozen pizzas, roasted chestnuts, sweet potatoes, empanada, and homemade panellets (traditional pastries with pine nuts on the outside) and beignet-type things courtesy of Vichy's mom. It was really nice to just be sitting around outside, eating, talking, listening to people play the guitar and sing in Catalan... very relaxing and fun. Also great for my Catalan - I'm improving so much just by hanging out with friends and trying to follow their conversations.
I'm really excited for the rest of our winter season now, although I'm annoyed that, thanks to my genetics lab sessions, I'm going to have to miss several practices and actuacions. This coming Thursday we have an actuación in Reus, a town near Tarragona, that I won't be able to go to. The week after that we have on in Girona on Dec. 4, which I might make but might not, then one at the UAB on Dec. 11 that I will definitely be able to go to and, finally, our own Diada (in which we invite other teams) in honor of the anniversary of our colla on Dec. 18th. I absolutely won't miss that one! In the meantime I have to miss Tuesday practices, which is frustrating, but we're also starting special practices for making pillars on Wednesdays. I don't really know anything about making pillars, but I figured I would go and learn, and at least help out in the pinya. After all, pillars are a useful skill to know - they come in handy for making random improvised castells, retrieving balloons from trees, hanging signs on telephone poles, etc... hehe...
So! With that, I will sign off - I'm going to post a bunch of pictures of the actuación in a separate post (it's easier that way). Next time I write it will probably be about my trip to Vienna this coming weekend to visit Connie! Fins aviat!
Pit i amunt!
-Sarah
On a different subject, this weekend was really awesome! First of all, Chris Laubacher came to visit Hallie and me from Rome, which was very exciting. It was fun to get to hang out with him, though kind of weird to be sitting around a table in a restaurant in Barcelona talking about everyone in Chicago... I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked to with him, though, but for a good reason: we had our first actuación as castellers on Friday!! It was for the celebration of Sant Albert, which happened at the Faculty of Physics and Chemistry at the UB. The actuación started at 2:30, and I had class all morning, so I was so nervous/excited for the afternoon to arrive. I could hardly sit through history, knowing that I had my green shirt (with the seal of my team ironed on!), white pants, and faixa rolled up in my bag just waiting to be used for the first time. Finally class ended and I caught the train up to the Zona Universitària, where the Faculty of Physics and Chemistry is (across the city from the Faculty of History, of course). I got there right at 2:30, and the big atrium where it was taking place was full of people milling around, as well as a band playing and various groups of students selling food and t-shirts. I found the Arreplegats (a group of 50 people in bright green button-down shirts isn't too hard to spot) and got changed. A few minutes later, Chris, Hallie, and Chris's friend Ayla arrived, and shortly thereafter we got started!
It was kind of chaotic because it was so noisy and there were so many people, so I couldn't hear the cap de pinya calling out positions as well as I am used to during practices, but the actuación went really well. The first thing we made was a pilar de 4, basically a pillar 4 people high, with only one person in each story, supported by a huge group of people (the pinya) at the bottom. It was kind of a warmup, and it went really smoothly. Then we went straight for one of the big ones: a 3 de 7 (7 tiers, 3 people per tier in the trunk)! 7 is the highest castle a university team has ever made, so it was kind of ambitious of us for the first actuación of the season, but it went perfectly! Next we pulled off a 4 de 7 as well, which was a bit more wobbly but ended up well. For all of these I was in the pinya - for the 4de7 I was at terceres mans, which means I was the third person out supporting one of the baixos, or the people on the bottom who are directly stood upon. The next castell took a while to organize, and during the organization process the cap de colla, Tiru, realized that he was somehow missing a crossa, the people who go on either side of the baixos and support them with their arms over their shoulders, so he grabbed me and put me as crossa! I had never done it before, and I was a fair amount taller than the crossa opposite, which was slightly problematic, but it ended up working out fine. I ended up having no idea what castell we were making, though, because I was basically in the center of the pinya with my head down, covered by other people's arms. It turned out to be a 5 de 6, which is one of my favorites - I like castells of 5 because their structure is different and interesting (it's basically a tower of 3 and a tower of 2 stuck together, rather than 5 people in a circle, which would be too open). We finished off with a pilar de 5, which was also a little wobbly but finished well.
I think the best part of the actuación was right after it was over, when everyone was so excited about what we had done. We were all jumping up and down in this atrium full of people, yelling and clapping and shouting, "Visca Arreplegats! VISCA!" Then we sang our official song, the Himne dels Arreplegats, and one to the tune of "The 12 Days of Christmas" that goes, "Els Arreplegats hem fet avui aquí... UN 3de7, UN 4de7, UN pilar de 5, etc. - som més bons que la mare que ens va parir!" I was so proud to be part of it all.
The celebration continued on Saturday with a lunch at the house of a girl in the group named Brigitte (but who goes by Vichy). There were about 15 of us that went, some that I knew pretty well and some that I didn't. I was really happy to be invited, though. 8 of us met in Plaça España, theoretically at 12 (though we didn't all get there until about 12:40) to catch the train, because Vichy lives out in a nearby town called St. Boi. Once we got there, we wandered around the town for a while trying to find pizza dough, had adventures in a grocery store involving Sareta, the president of the team, in a shopping cart, and finally bought chestnuts and sweet potatoes and made it to Vichy's house. I felt bad because it was about 2:30 by this point, and I had told Chris I would go to the Picasso Museum with him at 3:30, but I realized that if I did that I wouldn't even have time to eat, so I had to cancel on him. It ended up all right, though - he went on his own and I ended up staying in St. Boi until 6:00! We had a fantastic lunch of frozen pizzas, roasted chestnuts, sweet potatoes, empanada, and homemade panellets (traditional pastries with pine nuts on the outside) and beignet-type things courtesy of Vichy's mom. It was really nice to just be sitting around outside, eating, talking, listening to people play the guitar and sing in Catalan... very relaxing and fun. Also great for my Catalan - I'm improving so much just by hanging out with friends and trying to follow their conversations.
I'm really excited for the rest of our winter season now, although I'm annoyed that, thanks to my genetics lab sessions, I'm going to have to miss several practices and actuacions. This coming Thursday we have an actuación in Reus, a town near Tarragona, that I won't be able to go to. The week after that we have on in Girona on Dec. 4, which I might make but might not, then one at the UAB on Dec. 11 that I will definitely be able to go to and, finally, our own Diada (in which we invite other teams) in honor of the anniversary of our colla on Dec. 18th. I absolutely won't miss that one! In the meantime I have to miss Tuesday practices, which is frustrating, but we're also starting special practices for making pillars on Wednesdays. I don't really know anything about making pillars, but I figured I would go and learn, and at least help out in the pinya. After all, pillars are a useful skill to know - they come in handy for making random improvised castells, retrieving balloons from trees, hanging signs on telephone poles, etc... hehe...
So! With that, I will sign off - I'm going to post a bunch of pictures of the actuación in a separate post (it's easier that way). Next time I write it will probably be about my trip to Vienna this coming weekend to visit Connie! Fins aviat!
Pit i amunt!
-Sarah
Sunday, October 26, 2008
...In Which Sarah Becomes Obsessed With Castellers
Hola a tothom,
It's been a good week or so. As you can probably guess from the title of this post, I have continued going to practices with my castellers colla, and with gusto! I've been to three now, and I learn a lot every time I go. Practice on Tuesday was really fun, because there were less people and more inexperienced people like me, so we spent more time on basics, practicing how to climb, etc. I got stood on a lot, and my shoulders were really sore afterwards, but I was happy about it. It was a very similar feeling to how your collarbones feel after you've just started backpacking - bruised and rubbed on, but accomplished (can collarbones feel accomplished? Well, mine did, anyway). I also learned more about how the pinya is set up and got to be in a position called contrafort, which is one person out from the very center, directly supporting the people who are being stood on. I still don't completely understand this, but it seems to me that sometimes the pinya is just made up of a mass of people all standing around with their hands in the air, whereas sometimes it is extremely well-organized, with everyone in a specific position (crossos, contrafort, bens, laterals, primeres mans, segones mans, etc.), and each of the sections exactly square to each other. In the latter case, it almost seems that the pinya needs to be more precisely organized than the tower itself; if it's lined up slightly wrong, they'll take the whole thing apart and start over. Anyway, clearly I have a lot to learn, but it's all very interesting. I'm also pleased that people remember my name more and more. This past Thursday, we had to practice inside because of the rain, which wasn't as fun, but it meant we were all concentrating and had to be really quiet to hear the cap de pinya calling out positions. At one point he came over to adjust how I had my hands and asked what my name was. When I said Sarah, he said something like, "Another one?!" I laughed and clarified, "Amb h" ("With an h"). In Catalan, the letter h is pronounced "hac," so when I said they could call me "Sarah amb h," he agreed and shortened it to "Sarah-amb-hac, Saramac." We'll see what my name ends up being ... thus far people tend to refer to me either as "Sarah-amb-hac" or "Sarahhh," with an exaggerated sound of aspiration on the end. Either way, at least I'm differentiated from the other Sara's.
Let's see - other exciting things from this week: Yesterday (Saturday) I took a day trip to Girona. It's a lovely little city, half-perched on a mountainside. I was supposed to go for a tour with the Language Voluntariat from UPF, but, unfortunately, I missed the train and had to catch the next one an hour later. By the time I got there, the tour was almost over. Luckily, I had the phone number of my friend Belén, whom I had met last weekend and who is also in the Voluntariat, so I called her and met up with them. I caught the tail end of the tour, which was nice, and then Belén, her boyfriend, visiting from France, and I went to eat lunch. The Fires de Sant Narcís were happening, which are kind of like a weeklong street fair/festival, so there were lots of vendors out with delicious food. We ate in a big park where there was a creepily deserted carnival set up between stands of sycamore trees, then decided to go back to the old part of the city to explore a bit more. We saw the Ramblas, which is much smaller and nicer than the Ramblas in Barcelona, the cathedral, and a good part of the old Jewish neighborhood. We also had coffee (of course) and went in a wine store where the French boyfriend asked in not-very-good Spanish if he could try many of the different local varieties, which were housed in big barrels with taps, before finally buying about 3 liters' worth, which the store owner presented to him in old plastic Coca-Cola bottles. It was a lot of fun. Here's a picture of Belén and me on one of the bridges in the old city:
Belén and her boyfriend had to leave at about 6:30 because they had dinner plans in Barcelona, but I decided to stay on and explore the city some more. I bought a delicious traditional chocolate pastry and ate it sitting on the old city wall, which dates to the 9th century. Here's a picture, for your viewing pleasure:
After enjoying my pastry and getting some odd looks from passers-by, I hiked around the slightly-less-old city walls (from the 14th century) and watched the sun set over the University of Girona, the cathedral, and, in the background, the mountains:
It was really beautiful. I could have lived there, I think.
To end the evening, I had seen in a program that there would be castellers, so, of course, I had to go! The only problem was, I had no idea where the plaza was where they would be performing. I was going to ask someone, but then I saw someone walking by in a castellers outfit! I decided to just follow along - surreptitiously, of course. This proved problematic when he went into a bar and started chatting, and I couldn't just stand outside and wait. A very silly half hour or so then ensued during which I followed various castellers around the old neighborhood, trying to be discreet, periodically losing track of one group and then spotting another. Finally they seemed to be converging on one small plaza, so I noted it in my mind and decided to go to a cafe for a bit, since it was still a while before they were scheduled to perform. Shortly afterward, however, I heard the traditional music that's played while a castell is in progress! I thought, "Oh no, they've started early after all!" But no, they were actually having a parade through the city, so I jumped up and went along with them! We processed across a bridge and wound our way through the newer part of the city to an entirely different plaza that I never would have found on my own, traditional instruments playing the whole time. Then, after much organizing and milling around, they finally started making castells. I only got to stay for a few, because I had to catch the last train back to Barcelona at 9:30, but it was a lot of fun to watch them and actually know what was going on. Plus, it made me that much more excited to imagine myself all dressed up in my shirt and faixa, actually participating in an actuacion. I can't wait!
So, overall I would say the week and the weekend were a success. I can't wait until practice on Tuesday now - also, we have a welcome dinner for the new members of the colla like me on Thursday night! I'm so glad I've joined - I think it's my favorite thing I've done so far in Catalunya. I'll keep you updated as to how things go!
Fins aviat,
Sarah
It's been a good week or so. As you can probably guess from the title of this post, I have continued going to practices with my castellers colla, and with gusto! I've been to three now, and I learn a lot every time I go. Practice on Tuesday was really fun, because there were less people and more inexperienced people like me, so we spent more time on basics, practicing how to climb, etc. I got stood on a lot, and my shoulders were really sore afterwards, but I was happy about it. It was a very similar feeling to how your collarbones feel after you've just started backpacking - bruised and rubbed on, but accomplished (can collarbones feel accomplished? Well, mine did, anyway). I also learned more about how the pinya is set up and got to be in a position called contrafort, which is one person out from the very center, directly supporting the people who are being stood on. I still don't completely understand this, but it seems to me that sometimes the pinya is just made up of a mass of people all standing around with their hands in the air, whereas sometimes it is extremely well-organized, with everyone in a specific position (crossos, contrafort, bens, laterals, primeres mans, segones mans, etc.), and each of the sections exactly square to each other. In the latter case, it almost seems that the pinya needs to be more precisely organized than the tower itself; if it's lined up slightly wrong, they'll take the whole thing apart and start over. Anyway, clearly I have a lot to learn, but it's all very interesting. I'm also pleased that people remember my name more and more. This past Thursday, we had to practice inside because of the rain, which wasn't as fun, but it meant we were all concentrating and had to be really quiet to hear the cap de pinya calling out positions. At one point he came over to adjust how I had my hands and asked what my name was. When I said Sarah, he said something like, "Another one?!" I laughed and clarified, "Amb h" ("With an h"). In Catalan, the letter h is pronounced "hac," so when I said they could call me "Sarah amb h," he agreed and shortened it to "Sarah-amb-hac, Saramac." We'll see what my name ends up being ... thus far people tend to refer to me either as "Sarah-amb-hac" or "Sarahhh," with an exaggerated sound of aspiration on the end. Either way, at least I'm differentiated from the other Sara's.
Let's see - other exciting things from this week: Yesterday (Saturday) I took a day trip to Girona. It's a lovely little city, half-perched on a mountainside. I was supposed to go for a tour with the Language Voluntariat from UPF, but, unfortunately, I missed the train and had to catch the next one an hour later. By the time I got there, the tour was almost over. Luckily, I had the phone number of my friend Belén, whom I had met last weekend and who is also in the Voluntariat, so I called her and met up with them. I caught the tail end of the tour, which was nice, and then Belén, her boyfriend, visiting from France, and I went to eat lunch. The Fires de Sant Narcís were happening, which are kind of like a weeklong street fair/festival, so there were lots of vendors out with delicious food. We ate in a big park where there was a creepily deserted carnival set up between stands of sycamore trees, then decided to go back to the old part of the city to explore a bit more. We saw the Ramblas, which is much smaller and nicer than the Ramblas in Barcelona, the cathedral, and a good part of the old Jewish neighborhood. We also had coffee (of course) and went in a wine store where the French boyfriend asked in not-very-good Spanish if he could try many of the different local varieties, which were housed in big barrels with taps, before finally buying about 3 liters' worth, which the store owner presented to him in old plastic Coca-Cola bottles. It was a lot of fun. Here's a picture of Belén and me on one of the bridges in the old city:
Belén and her boyfriend had to leave at about 6:30 because they had dinner plans in Barcelona, but I decided to stay on and explore the city some more. I bought a delicious traditional chocolate pastry and ate it sitting on the old city wall, which dates to the 9th century. Here's a picture, for your viewing pleasure:
After enjoying my pastry and getting some odd looks from passers-by, I hiked around the slightly-less-old city walls (from the 14th century) and watched the sun set over the University of Girona, the cathedral, and, in the background, the mountains:
It was really beautiful. I could have lived there, I think.To end the evening, I had seen in a program that there would be castellers, so, of course, I had to go! The only problem was, I had no idea where the plaza was where they would be performing. I was going to ask someone, but then I saw someone walking by in a castellers outfit! I decided to just follow along - surreptitiously, of course. This proved problematic when he went into a bar and started chatting, and I couldn't just stand outside and wait. A very silly half hour or so then ensued during which I followed various castellers around the old neighborhood, trying to be discreet, periodically losing track of one group and then spotting another. Finally they seemed to be converging on one small plaza, so I noted it in my mind and decided to go to a cafe for a bit, since it was still a while before they were scheduled to perform. Shortly afterward, however, I heard the traditional music that's played while a castell is in progress! I thought, "Oh no, they've started early after all!" But no, they were actually having a parade through the city, so I jumped up and went along with them! We processed across a bridge and wound our way through the newer part of the city to an entirely different plaza that I never would have found on my own, traditional instruments playing the whole time. Then, after much organizing and milling around, they finally started making castells. I only got to stay for a few, because I had to catch the last train back to Barcelona at 9:30, but it was a lot of fun to watch them and actually know what was going on. Plus, it made me that much more excited to imagine myself all dressed up in my shirt and faixa, actually participating in an actuacion. I can't wait!
So, overall I would say the week and the weekend were a success. I can't wait until practice on Tuesday now - also, we have a welcome dinner for the new members of the colla like me on Thursday night! I'm so glad I've joined - I think it's my favorite thing I've done so far in Catalunya. I'll keep you updated as to how things go!
Fins aviat,
Sarah
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