This one is about the previous weekend's two big holidays: Carnaval and Valentine's Day.
The song is "Celebration" by Madonna. Of course.
Showing posts with label carnaval. Show all posts
Showing posts with label carnaval. Show all posts
Thursday, February 18, 2010
"This would never fly in the United States."--Morgen, regarding the flaming madness
Yesterday was the Entierro de la Sardina (Sardine burial) where they carry a giant paper mache sardine through the city to a plaza, then light it on fire with complete disregard to safety.
I filmed the entire "on fire" part, and it was quite entertaining.
They lit up sparklers and those screaming emergency flares, then lit the sardine on fire with them (of course, after they completely covered it in kerosene). The sparks were flying everywhere, on the crowd and the drag queens (there were lots of them there, I don't know why). There were also lots of people dressed in black, as if it were a mock funeral.
Enjoy this interesting spectacle, courtesy of my video (I made it low quality so it was faster to upload...pardon the blur):
I filmed the entire "on fire" part, and it was quite entertaining.
They lit up sparklers and those screaming emergency flares, then lit the sardine on fire with them (of course, after they completely covered it in kerosene). The sparks were flying everywhere, on the crowd and the drag queens (there were lots of them there, I don't know why). There were also lots of people dressed in black, as if it were a mock funeral.
Enjoy this interesting spectacle, courtesy of my video (I made it low quality so it was faster to upload...pardon the blur):
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
On the radio again, TWO TIMES...and in other news, Dante goes to ER
Today, Wednesday the 17th, I will be live once again in the "generation y" program that is an hour long run by some kids from the university. Today I join them in their discussion about tobacco and smoking, and the new smoking ban.
The whole thing you can hear at 1pm Chicago time at radiosanvicente.com streaming live. Click on the link "escuchanos" at the top of the page.
The discussion part of the segment regarding smoking is around 1:15pm.
And TOMORROW you can hear at 6:40am Chicago time my personal radio segment that I write every week, this one being about this past weekend's celebrations of Carnaval and Valentine's Day.
I will post the audio from the Carnaval/V-day segment, but the other one is part of an hour long segment, so I don't have any copy of that for you to hear.
But I can tell you this: the first time it was my turn to speak, I start talking about something completely different but have to ramble on towards a point b/c I can't rely on trailing off like I normally do when it's recorded live. The question was regarding kids buying tobacco, and I start off my response with the idea that tobacco should be illegal period, along with some awkward dialogue, and then smacking the microphone stand to make awkward noises all while the spanish university students stare at me intently.
And in other news:
Last night I met with my "under the table" intercambio Carlos, who I met at the English school I teach at. So I invited him to come to my friend's place to watch SKINS with us (a british TV show that I happen to have on my computer, with spanish subtitles) and he loved it. We had a nice chat afterward in spanish, but we spoke english mostly before that.
Tomorrow I meet with my "real" intercambio (number two) that I was pretty much forced to take b/c the USAC office had an abundance of spaniards who signed up. So this one is a girl, and I will meet her tomorrow. Since I never met her before, she told me she will be wearing a black coat, jeans, and she has brown hair and brown eyes. Gee, thanks, Ana Maria, you and EVERY OTHER SPANIARD HERE. So this should be fun picking her out. What is she gonna say next? That she will be wearing boots and smoking? That could SURELY pick her out of a crowd.
Also, my host dad Carlos (confusing, with the two carlos', I know) just told me that Dante fell today at school and had to go to the ER to get stitches. He said it was minor, but he somehow just hit his head when he fell. He'll be fine. I mean, I am surprised this hasn't happened already the way he wobbles around on steady ground, let alone stairs. Or when he takes plastic chair and tries to sit on it on the sofa. He is lucky that this only happened once.
The whole thing you can hear at 1pm Chicago time at radiosanvicente.com streaming live. Click on the link "escuchanos" at the top of the page.
The discussion part of the segment regarding smoking is around 1:15pm.
And TOMORROW you can hear at 6:40am Chicago time my personal radio segment that I write every week, this one being about this past weekend's celebrations of Carnaval and Valentine's Day.
I will post the audio from the Carnaval/V-day segment, but the other one is part of an hour long segment, so I don't have any copy of that for you to hear.
But I can tell you this: the first time it was my turn to speak, I start talking about something completely different but have to ramble on towards a point b/c I can't rely on trailing off like I normally do when it's recorded live. The question was regarding kids buying tobacco, and I start off my response with the idea that tobacco should be illegal period, along with some awkward dialogue, and then smacking the microphone stand to make awkward noises all while the spanish university students stare at me intently.
And in other news:
Last night I met with my "under the table" intercambio Carlos, who I met at the English school I teach at. So I invited him to come to my friend's place to watch SKINS with us (a british TV show that I happen to have on my computer, with spanish subtitles) and he loved it. We had a nice chat afterward in spanish, but we spoke english mostly before that.
Tomorrow I meet with my "real" intercambio (number two) that I was pretty much forced to take b/c the USAC office had an abundance of spaniards who signed up. So this one is a girl, and I will meet her tomorrow. Since I never met her before, she told me she will be wearing a black coat, jeans, and she has brown hair and brown eyes. Gee, thanks, Ana Maria, you and EVERY OTHER SPANIARD HERE. So this should be fun picking her out. What is she gonna say next? That she will be wearing boots and smoking? That could SURELY pick her out of a crowd.
Also, my host dad Carlos (confusing, with the two carlos', I know) just told me that Dante fell today at school and had to go to the ER to get stitches. He said it was minor, but he somehow just hit his head when he fell. He'll be fine. I mean, I am surprised this hasn't happened already the way he wobbles around on steady ground, let alone stairs. Or when he takes plastic chair and tries to sit on it on the sofa. He is lucky that this only happened once.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
The Chaos that was Carnaval 2010
Brief overview: Carnaval is a huge holiday here where people dress up, hear live music, wander the streets late a night, and get drunk. Apparently drinking in the streets is legal for this and only this day (although youths carrying around 40s on other days would make you think otherwise). The people of Alicante take full advantage of this, even stealing shopping carts to carry their massive amounts of booze. Rocio told me that the supermarkets then spend monday (sundays they are closed) looking for the missing shopping carts, which are by then abandoned in random parts of the city.
First we got together at Sarah P's at 9:30, where I did Carly and Sarah R's makeup. 2 Euro makeup isn't high quality. I strategically placed my phone, cash and ID in my blazer under my suit, kleenex in the suit pockets, and keys and chapstick in the pockets of my jeans under the suit. I also clipped my camera to a lanyard that I wore around my neck under my suit. I loved the practicality of this costume.
We met up with Steve at 11, walked to the Barrio, and saw Drew and his friends. We also saw several AVATARs, many many pirates, and a group of 14 yr olds dressed as Minnie Mouse. The streets were FILLED. There were two stages on either end of the Rambla, playing live music.
We went to the churro stand where Drew bartered the woman down from 6.50 for churros and chocolate down to 3.50. We witnessed the cops chat with a completely out-of-it 18 yr old drunk/drugged guy. We also saw a man dressed as red riding hood with his basket filled with a bottle of rum and Coke.
We walked to the beach, where everyone was standing NEAR, but not standing ON. I don't know if they were afraid of drinking on the sand or what, but it was quite strange. On the way there, we also saw about 4 people with stolen shopping carts filled with gallons of booze. Some of the shopping carts matched the costume, decorated like a baby stroller, or a Vegas gambling table. Some were just shopping carts filled with booze.
We made our way to the Ayuntamiento, where we saw yet another stage of music. It was also very wet on the ground due to it raining earlier that day. It made me concerned that people were splashing in puddles right next to rows of power cords. They didn't seem to mind.
It was at the plaza del Ayuntamiento that I saw the first LOST DHARMA people, and we took a picture. One guy had a machine gun. He also had a fake bloody nose for the time-travel headaches. So in-character. There was also a man in a pink bathrobe and shower cap yelling at me that "LOST es la mierda" aka Lost is shit. I ignored him as he waved a toilet brush at me.
Carly and Sarah jumped on stage when several others did the same and danced for a few seconds until a random woman popped out of nowhere and shooed them off. A few minutes later, I found a man wearing a cow mask and took a picture with him.
We made our way through the city and saw some people dressed as Sims, with floating green diamonds over their head. We walked through the Barrio once again and I pointed out to drew a 40 of Amstel in a plastic bag. He took it out and noticed it was completely full and sealed shut. He took it with him to sell to someone (since all the stores for booze were closed by now) for Kebab money.
We made our way to the Kebab place where Sarah R, Carly and I bought Kebabs. The men who worked there scared Sarah when they loudly shouted "WHAT IS SHE DOING" (in english) when she was reaching around her belly to get at her money belt. And they forgot to charge me for my Fanta, which was a highlight of the night.
We went into some bar temporarily, where they got free shots. We also used it as a bathroom break ( no one wants to use the port-o-pottys on the streets). We stood on the street as a ton of people walked by with shopping carts filled with booze, ringing bells and singing. Amongst them I saw Miles, LeFleur and a random DHARMA workman. When they walked away, LeFleur turned back around and checked me out big time. Carly said he was cute and that I should go for it.
We then headed to Carpe Diem, where Sarah and I walked in, walked to the back, saw Allie (she told us Morgen was outside) then left promptly, all in about 30 seconds. We went outside and saw a group of USACers, where we took a few pics, then split up (some went back to Carpe Diem, some went to the Kebab place next door. I went to the latter). I ordered another Fanta, and Dave, Mike and some others ordered Kebabs. We chilled there until I got a text from Carly, wondering if I went home. I told her I was right next door. She came and bought a 2 euro beer just to use the bathroom. We stayed there for a while, and when I waited to use the bathroom, the "bodyguard" of the bathroom (to make sure only customers used it) asked me for a vocab lesson in English.
Him: "como se dice fiesta en ingles?"
Me: Party.
Him: Pah-dee.
Me: PAR-ty. P-a-r-t-y.
Him: Party. Ah, vale. Pasa.
Then I left the bathroom, I was talking with my friends, and he called me over with a hand gesture.
Him: como se dice "borracho" en ingles?
Me: Drunk.
Him: ah, como "drink"
Me: Si, pero "Drunk"
Him: vale. Y como se dice "mujer borracha" en ingles?
Me: Drunk woman?
Him: Drunk Woman. Vale. Gracias.
We then left this Kebab place and started walking around again. At this point it was Mike, Carly, Sarah and me. We wandered through the Rambla once again and saw more DHARMAs! This time a whole fleet, with mechanics and doctors. I snapped a pic, and some random clowns jumped in front so we had to get another. My favorite part of seeing people dressed up was the couples in costumes that didn't match. For example, Amy Winehouse and a cow. Or a ninja and a Minnie Mouse. Or others.
We walked to the churro stand, where Sarah bought some, and we took them to McDonalds, which was so flooded with people not eating McDonalds, it was a joke. There was a like of 20 people for the bathrooms, and the two-story restaurant was jammed with people looking for warmth. At this point it was 3:30am.
We left because we were getting tired sitting in such a comfortable spot, so we went to wander the streets again. We saw some Converse shoes and I saw another DHARMA. When we got near the northern stage, we stood around, and I saw a giant Lego pirate and a fleet of Mario characters. I always see Marios and Luigis, but this was the full fleet: Wario, Mario, Luigi, gold star, toothy cannonball, mushroom, and Yoshi.
After hanging out here for a while, although I wished I could have stayed out longer till I was a bit more tired, my friends wanted to head home b/c they were either cold or tired. It was 4:30am.
We walked home, and saw more DHARMAs. This time it was a group of 8 or 10, and they had ID tags, DHARMA chocolate bars, and DHARMA messenger bags. They were like "Ah! Otra DHARMA al ultimo momento (another DHARMA at the last minute!) La ISLA ha llegado a Alicante! (The island has come to Alicante!)" Then they gave me a "DHARMA crisped rice" sample. But I am pretty sure he said there was nothing inside.
We continued walking home, and Mike wanted to stop at the 24 hour store to buy some water. The 24 hour store, of course, was closed at this hour. One true sign of being in Spain.
First we got together at Sarah P's at 9:30, where I did Carly and Sarah R's makeup. 2 Euro makeup isn't high quality. I strategically placed my phone, cash and ID in my blazer under my suit, kleenex in the suit pockets, and keys and chapstick in the pockets of my jeans under the suit. I also clipped my camera to a lanyard that I wore around my neck under my suit. I loved the practicality of this costume.
We met up with Steve at 11, walked to the Barrio, and saw Drew and his friends. We also saw several AVATARs, many many pirates, and a group of 14 yr olds dressed as Minnie Mouse. The streets were FILLED. There were two stages on either end of the Rambla, playing live music.
We went to the churro stand where Drew bartered the woman down from 6.50 for churros and chocolate down to 3.50. We witnessed the cops chat with a completely out-of-it 18 yr old drunk/drugged guy. We also saw a man dressed as red riding hood with his basket filled with a bottle of rum and Coke.
We walked to the beach, where everyone was standing NEAR, but not standing ON. I don't know if they were afraid of drinking on the sand or what, but it was quite strange. On the way there, we also saw about 4 people with stolen shopping carts filled with gallons of booze. Some of the shopping carts matched the costume, decorated like a baby stroller, or a Vegas gambling table. Some were just shopping carts filled with booze.
We made our way to the Ayuntamiento, where we saw yet another stage of music. It was also very wet on the ground due to it raining earlier that day. It made me concerned that people were splashing in puddles right next to rows of power cords. They didn't seem to mind.
It was at the plaza del Ayuntamiento that I saw the first LOST DHARMA people, and we took a picture. One guy had a machine gun. He also had a fake bloody nose for the time-travel headaches. So in-character. There was also a man in a pink bathrobe and shower cap yelling at me that "LOST es la mierda" aka Lost is shit. I ignored him as he waved a toilet brush at me.
Carly and Sarah jumped on stage when several others did the same and danced for a few seconds until a random woman popped out of nowhere and shooed them off. A few minutes later, I found a man wearing a cow mask and took a picture with him.
We made our way through the city and saw some people dressed as Sims, with floating green diamonds over their head. We walked through the Barrio once again and I pointed out to drew a 40 of Amstel in a plastic bag. He took it out and noticed it was completely full and sealed shut. He took it with him to sell to someone (since all the stores for booze were closed by now) for Kebab money.
We made our way to the Kebab place where Sarah R, Carly and I bought Kebabs. The men who worked there scared Sarah when they loudly shouted "WHAT IS SHE DOING" (in english) when she was reaching around her belly to get at her money belt. And they forgot to charge me for my Fanta, which was a highlight of the night.
We went into some bar temporarily, where they got free shots. We also used it as a bathroom break ( no one wants to use the port-o-pottys on the streets). We stood on the street as a ton of people walked by with shopping carts filled with booze, ringing bells and singing. Amongst them I saw Miles, LeFleur and a random DHARMA workman. When they walked away, LeFleur turned back around and checked me out big time. Carly said he was cute and that I should go for it.
We then headed to Carpe Diem, where Sarah and I walked in, walked to the back, saw Allie (she told us Morgen was outside) then left promptly, all in about 30 seconds. We went outside and saw a group of USACers, where we took a few pics, then split up (some went back to Carpe Diem, some went to the Kebab place next door. I went to the latter). I ordered another Fanta, and Dave, Mike and some others ordered Kebabs. We chilled there until I got a text from Carly, wondering if I went home. I told her I was right next door. She came and bought a 2 euro beer just to use the bathroom. We stayed there for a while, and when I waited to use the bathroom, the "bodyguard" of the bathroom (to make sure only customers used it) asked me for a vocab lesson in English.
Him: "como se dice fiesta en ingles?"
Me: Party.
Him: Pah-dee.
Me: PAR-ty. P-a-r-t-y.
Him: Party. Ah, vale. Pasa.
Then I left the bathroom, I was talking with my friends, and he called me over with a hand gesture.
Him: como se dice "borracho" en ingles?
Me: Drunk.
Him: ah, como "drink"
Me: Si, pero "Drunk"
Him: vale. Y como se dice "mujer borracha" en ingles?
Me: Drunk woman?
Him: Drunk Woman. Vale. Gracias.
We then left this Kebab place and started walking around again. At this point it was Mike, Carly, Sarah and me. We wandered through the Rambla once again and saw more DHARMAs! This time a whole fleet, with mechanics and doctors. I snapped a pic, and some random clowns jumped in front so we had to get another. My favorite part of seeing people dressed up was the couples in costumes that didn't match. For example, Amy Winehouse and a cow. Or a ninja and a Minnie Mouse. Or others.
We walked to the churro stand, where Sarah bought some, and we took them to McDonalds, which was so flooded with people not eating McDonalds, it was a joke. There was a like of 20 people for the bathrooms, and the two-story restaurant was jammed with people looking for warmth. At this point it was 3:30am.
We left because we were getting tired sitting in such a comfortable spot, so we went to wander the streets again. We saw some Converse shoes and I saw another DHARMA. When we got near the northern stage, we stood around, and I saw a giant Lego pirate and a fleet of Mario characters. I always see Marios and Luigis, but this was the full fleet: Wario, Mario, Luigi, gold star, toothy cannonball, mushroom, and Yoshi.
After hanging out here for a while, although I wished I could have stayed out longer till I was a bit more tired, my friends wanted to head home b/c they were either cold or tired. It was 4:30am.
We walked home, and saw more DHARMAs. This time it was a group of 8 or 10, and they had ID tags, DHARMA chocolate bars, and DHARMA messenger bags. They were like "Ah! Otra DHARMA al ultimo momento (another DHARMA at the last minute!) La ISLA ha llegado a Alicante! (The island has come to Alicante!)" Then they gave me a "DHARMA crisped rice" sample. But I am pretty sure he said there was nothing inside.
We continued walking home, and Mike wanted to stop at the 24 hour store to buy some water. The 24 hour store, of course, was closed at this hour. One true sign of being in Spain.
Carnaval Update 2010
Last night was carnaval. To give you a taste of some of the mayhem, here is what my friend's status update was this morning (or rather...afternoon) on Facebook:
Lost: pirate bandana, sword, eye patch, gun, bottle of rum, 20 euro, and memory.
I dressed as a DHARMA Initiative from LOST (known as PERDIDOS here), and saw 21 other DHARMAs!!! Only got a hold of 18 of them, though. My friends weren't fast enough to chase me with the camera for a group of three of them.
Went out at 9:30, stayed out till 4:30am. The party was not even close to ending, and I totally could have stayed out longer had my friends dressed warmer and had more energy.
I set my alarm accordingly, waking up at 2:30pm "this morning".
Pictures and details to come...
Lost: pirate bandana, sword, eye patch, gun, bottle of rum, 20 euro, and memory.
I dressed as a DHARMA Initiative from LOST (known as PERDIDOS here), and saw 21 other DHARMAs!!! Only got a hold of 18 of them, though. My friends weren't fast enough to chase me with the camera for a group of three of them.
Went out at 9:30, stayed out till 4:30am. The party was not even close to ending, and I totally could have stayed out longer had my friends dressed warmer and had more energy.
I set my alarm accordingly, waking up at 2:30pm "this morning".
Pictures and details to come...
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