Festa Major

One of the things that is typical for Catalunya (or at least in my area) is something called Festa Major. More or less, each city in the area has the festival at different times. If you've heard of La Mercè which takes place in Barcelona, this festival is the Festa Major in Barcelona. I'm not really sure how to explain it so I'll just show you some of the things I saw/did.

The festival started on Friday the 6th and before going out, we all had dinner at my house with the other exchange student in my town and his family who happen to be my host cousins. After dinner we went to something called Tabalada de fum i foc.  Walking from my house down to the plaza we quicky saw the mass of people heading there being lead by fire breathers and groups of drummers. Below is a short video of one of the performers in the street as we all headed down to one of the plazas.

Once everyone arrived at the plaza they had more 'fireworks' similar to the one above and they also had a jump rope on fire! I took this video thinking of the High Velocity Jump Rope team back home. If you guys read this, it's not too bad of an idea huh? 

After this started something called Tronada festiva. This translates more or less as thunderstorm and there's a reason for this. First there were three fireworks (just really loud and bright flashes) which indicated that the show was about to start. All of sudden the noise came. The noise was similar to those of Firecrackers back home but much louder. After the fireworks we then went to a "dance" in the nearby building. Of course, tonight happened to be 80's night. The music was... well it was really bad. It reminded me of the dance from Napoleon Dynamite but worse. Luckily we didn't stay too long and then returned home.

One of the coolest things I've seen so far was something called castellers. They´re human towers! This year the Castellers of the nearby town of Sabadell showed up as well as the new group from my town, Castellar del Vallès. At one point, the group from my town had formed the tower but they were all a little shaky as the little kid reached top. You could feel the suspense in the crowd and luckily they were able to finish without collapsing.

Another thing that took place today (September 11th) was the National Day of Catalonia. If you didn't know, Catalonia is striving to become an independent country. Today the people of Catalonia formed a human chain from the northern end of the Region all the way to the Southern end. While I was in town watching the festivities, my host parents went to the northern end of the chain to participate.

Random picture from the Internet of the Chain

The last event of Festa Major is a firwork show. Again there were the three shots to signify the beginning and then the three shots at the end (Whoever thought of this is a genious as we're never sure when the show is over in the States). Usually the last three shots also signify the end of summer for the students in Castellar because the next morning is when school starts. Lucky for me I would be busy doing things in Barcelona instead!

These are just a few of the things that I went to in the festival of my town. There are many more things that took place as well. In my next post I'll tell you all about the orientation I went to in "Madrid" (You'll find out why there are quotes there).

Until "Madrid"

Reid

Off To A Great Start

To start off, I forgot to mention Jet lag in my last post. Basically, what's Jet lag? Arriving at 8:30 at the Barcelona Airport, I slept for about 30 minutes during siesta time then stayed up until about midnight. The next day was just like normal. I'd like to say I dominated Jet lag (at least while flying east).

Now picking up from the last post I've done so much. I can't believe that I've only been here for a week and half. Every morning when I wake up, I remember that I'm not home. I'm in a foreign country. I'm speaking a different language (and learning Catalan). I'm eating new foods. I'm having the best time of my life. 

For those of you wondering what I've done, I'll go over a few things. One of the first places that I went was a farm and yes, we walked there. That's one of the things I love. I can walk almost everywhere I go! Moving on, Toni's grandma lives on what we'd describe as a farm. Her house was the typical Spanish home. I fell like I was stepping into somewhere Don Quixote would have been. There were goats, ducks, geese, rabbits (for eating and yes, they taste amazing) and the cutest German shepherd named Crest as he had a crest on his back. On the way there walking through the fields, there were tons of olive trees. If you didn't already know, the people here love their olives and olive oil. Instead of salt and pepper we have aceite de oliva (olive oil).

To the left are the olive trees. As for the scenery, pictures don't do justice

Straight Out of a Movie Right?

Crest eating a croissant

Another place I got to visit is the city right below mine called Sabadell. The city is much bigger than Castellar and for those of you in Montgomery, it'd be like us going to The Woodlands (but much closer). The first time I went we saw the historic part of the town which was just like you'd imagine a European street. With the streets filled with people, smells of fresh bread (oh yes, probably the best thing I've ever smelt in my life) and all the shops and boutiques, I felt like I was in Epcot. In other words, I still can't believe that I'm here! The next time I went to Sabadell we went to a different part of the town which was still amazing. There I saw a duck pond, waterfall, their mall, and sadly a McDonalds. One can never escape that franchise. 

City Hall in Sabadell

Still Not Believing I'm in Europe

Guess what came next. I rode a horse. Yes, it may not be Texas, but there are still horses here. One of Judit's friends has a horse at a nearby equestrian center and let us and a few of her friends ride it. We then got to see all the other horses at the center. Although I'm not the best horseback rider, I still had a great time.

On Friday I went to a Barbacoa (BBQ) with my host family. I'd have to say, the food was amazing. And thats a compliment coming from a Texas who worked at a BBQ Restaurant for almost two years. Different than the American/Texas BBQ but more or less meat was grilled and everyone had a good time.

My host mom and I setting the table

Before going to the BBQ, I was warned that there would be lots of people there speaking Catalan. At first when it was just my host family, aunt, and grandma, I was able to understand the majority of what was going on. Once everyone else got there, the Catalan began. I tried to keep my ears open and believe I benefited from it. At the end of the night I started recognizing some words (although I have no clue what they mean). By the end of the night, my body wasn't tired but my mind was exhausted. All in all, I had a great time and will say my family can make some good BBQ. 

The first round of heaven

Something that isn't exactly an activity but we do a lot is watch Fútbol. Of course we're all Barça fans here and I got the see them become the Champions of Spain. We cheer for Barça when they're playing  and when they aren't, we watch Real Madrid to cheer for the other team. My host family also got me the best gift ever, a Barça Jersey with my name on the back!

Not only is my host family awesome by this, but my host dad hung the American flag outside of the window right next to Catalonia's. On top of all of this they are amazing in everything else as well! They've all been really patient with my learning Spanish. They are simply amazing. I'm sure you'll see this so thank you guys so much for everything! 

This past weekend I also met my Rotary Counselor, Miquel, as well as the RC Sabadell's Exchange Coordinator, Carles. They were both really nice and I'm excited to get to know them as well. For those of you who don't know what a Rotary Counselor does, they are basically my go to person if I have any problems, or anything you could think of. They help me with logistics to and from Rotary events, are there at the Rotary meetings, and do much more. 

Now for you movie lovers, I saw my first movie the other day! I went with my host parents and we saw Elysium. Lucky for me it was in Spanish instead of Catalan. Once we left the theatre I was a little surprised at how much I understood. From picking out the words I knew and watching all the action I was able to comfortable understand almost everything. 

Look who was spotted on the way to the movies (Don Quijote)

To finish out, Jordina and I hiked up to Puig de la Creu yesterday afternoon. Of course I was excited since I could go on a hike that wasn't flat land. I actually got to go uphill. The way up took 45 minutes more or less. I still can't believe how close it is to my house. At the top sits a castle/house. Lets just say a small castle. From there I could see all of the towns and even Barcelona. Jordina told me that some days you can even see the ocean (sadly there was some smog in the air).  We took another way down and walked through the older part of Castellar. It was even more European! Since it was getting dark none of the pictures came out well so I'll take some more later. I have a year. 

The Castle/House

If you notice the bikers in the background, there were tons of them!

Again, pictures do no justice

If any of you reading this have any question don't forget you can leave a comment or send me an email. 

Until the next post, 

Reid