So, Halloween's not that big a deal here in Espana... the kiddies
dress up but they don't go trick-r-treating (least not where I'm at) and
there's not really any big parties and such. But, the next day (All
Saints Day) is a holiday cause this is a Roman Catholic country after
all... they love their saints.
Yesterday, it was sunny and a bit warm despite the chill that's been
lingering in the air and growing stronger since I arrived. So after work
with the crazy chitlins, I zoned out with some Tom Robbins and
some tapas on a cafe terrace. Then, I met up with Agnes (the Polish
girl I work with) and her bf, and we went to see a show at Las Cumbres
-- this mall of clubs and bars pretty much.
A Swedish band called Holmes was playing, and the bar was giving out
candy in true Halloween spirit -- I had this candy called pica (which
translates as itches), it's like pixie stix crossed with pop rocks (same
consistency and taste as pixie sticks but it jumps around like pop
rocks which is why they call it pica - it makes your tongue "itch" or
tickle as they were trying to explain). Anyways, it twas a pretty good
night. First time I've gotten to go out in quite a bit cause I've been
rather sickly for a couple of weeks.
And then today, I went with Agnes, her bf, his brother and mom, and
Pilar (my boss), and her husband to the country - only about 5k from
here - and had a bbq. Lots of good food -- chorrizo (sausages) and ribs
and whatnot and olives and tortilla espanola (like a potato omelet,
yummy!) and gazpacho tipico a extremadura (cold soup -- this region
usually uses tomatoes, cucumbers, and garlic -- its pretty much just put
into a blender and then served, very tasty) and pepper salad and melon
and mandarins and coffee, the list goes on. Afterwards, in true
Spanish style we went on a walk with the dogs through the foothills of
the mountains where we were (pictures coming soon).
In other news:
I went to a botellon a few weeks ago -- a huge city-wide
outdoor fiesta kinda thing that they have every Saturday in most every
Spanish city. You get all your friends, buy drinks collectively, and head to the botellon
spot - which is usually some park or open space of some kind. They
usually start around 12 or 1 am and last till about 7 am, and there are
always a ton of people there. The cops just kinda hang out on the
sidelines snoozing against their cars.
Also, I went to Pilar's family's house in the country (everyone seems
to have land in the country) the first weekend here for a big meal with
all of her family -- 14 people speaking their fastest Extremadura
Spanish all at the same time. It was like sitting inside a foreign film
with no subtitles, hah. They're all really nice though, and we of course
had a ton of great food. Olives stewed with garlic, fried eggplant from
her dad's garden, tortilla espanola, chorrizo, mussels, gambas (huge
shrimp served as they are, i.e. cold with eyes and all), crab in the
shell, chicken soup (made from stewing the "left over parts" of the
chicken - use your imagination), chicken in some sort of sauce,
potatoes, wine from the region, coffee, pastries... I'm probably
forgetting about a gazillion things.
But yea, that's the short update of life outside of work. More on work later. Long story, that is.
