Christmastime in Valencia

Christmas time for us here in Spain has been wonderful and full of visitors! We bought a small plastic tree to make it feel more christmassy as well as some Catalonian christmas items. You can buy real trees here but they are in shorter supply so pricier and also still alive and potted! We live in Valencia, which celebrates Christmas in much the same way as Canada does, roast turkey and all, with the one exception being that King's day on January 6th is the traditional gift giving time and holidays last until January 6th. Oh yes, and on Christmas night we looked out when we thought we heard carolers but there was a large group of folks in hallowe'en costumes. We have asked around but to the best of our knowledge it is just that we have unique neighbours and not that we discovered a secret Spanish Christmas tradition. The one funny thing I have noticed is that Santa breaks into your apartment here (everyone lives in apartments- so there are very few chimneys). Here is a photo that you have to look closely to see santa but he's there, catburgling into a random apartment. These Santas are everwhere (bottom right corner of photo).

Barcelona located in Catalonia, on the other hand, has MANY strange traditions. Melissa had taught me all about these traditions earlier so we went to Barcelona to buy trinkets and discover them. The first is the "caga tio"- a log you feed treats to for a month and treat well, and then on Christmas day you beat it with a stick as hard as you can and it poops out presents. Here is are two links: one of an actual child showing how it's done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB_N7-HXTlI and here is the song with the translation that you sing to make it happen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB_N7-HXTlI. We bought a tiny log but did not follow through with the beating. The other is the "caganer". This is a man, generally, who is squatting and mid-shit that you add to your nativity scene. I obviously bought two of these and put them below our tree as I could not bring myself to invest in a full nativity scene. And here the nativity scenes are not like at home- they are full villages (so your shitting man does not need to be right next to baby jesus)! They often include Egypt and some pyramids (as the kings originate from there) and functional water features and full kitchens are the norm. We saw some impressive incense burning stoves so that you could have a realistic cast iron stove. We also saw a number of devils for sale in the Christmas markets which caused me some confusion until some native Barcelonians told us every year there is a play where devils trick shepherds trying to go see baby jesus into a trap where they get put in a cauldron (witches may or may not be involved) and are about to die until St. Michael saves them and the devils go back to hell, tail between their legs. Obviously. There are many versions of Els Pastorets but here is one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aog_lcSS6E

So we had lots of wonderful visitors. First was Melissa and our Barcelona adventure- we got some great weather and had some good times. First, Melissa learned that gin and tonics in Spain are served in ridiculous glasses- I assured her not just for ladies. She seemed unsure at the glass choice:

Then we saw the usual pretty things- the olympic site:

The fort above Barcelona: 

the still uncompleted Sagrada familia:

 and the art museum (we didn't go inside but lovely from the outside):

Then for Christmas proper David and Rosemary visited us in Valencia and we cooked and ate delicious foods and went for some nice walks although sadly Christmas weather not perfect every day and a cooler wet front had moved in- think still positive double digits but definitely jacket worthy.

All in all, a wonderful holiday and I can't lie, reading the Canadian weather did help me feel we picked the right year to escape! As always, a hilarious photo I couldn't help taking with a Spanish Christmas wish- I hope you all had a tender Christmas!?!?

Olive picking in Benicarlo

We were very lucky to be invited to join an olive picking and oil making weekend by a co-worker of Matt's, named Africa whose husband's family has olive trees and once a year they get together to pick olives for olive oil. I learned many things, including what an olive tree looked like!

Africa next to some of the olives we picked:

I don't know how much help we were but we were certainly enthusiastic!

We picked enough olives with the family over 1 1/2 days to make 300L of olive oil- enough for a year's supply. Basically, you lay nets along the ground and then comb the trees until all the olives are on the ground, then you gather up the nets and pour the olives into crates for transfer to the mill.

Everyone helped out, although the preteens were less excited about the manual labour than the older folks:

Because we spent the whole day in the field the matriarch made some food on a fire, including some delicious artichokes and oil cooked directly on the hot coals (we were told Benicarlo is famous within Spain for its artichokes).

Africa's mother-in-law cooking

Africa's father-in-law

We delivered the olives (actually, we followed the van that was driven by family members delivering the olives) to a small cooperative mill which cold presses olives in individual batches for farmers.

Our total olive haul:

Starting the olive pressing process:

The small scale olive mill:

Matt learning the details of the pressing machines:

Of course, we are in the community of Valencia still, so at the end of this momentous weekend, a large paella had to be eaten with the family- traditionally made with rabbit and chicken and all the bits, including neck, feet etc.

We also learned about the tomatoes which you spread the slices on bread. These tomatoes have a thick skin but keep for 8 months un-refrigerated and we got a peek at their stores

We stayed in an apartment at the nearby town with a gorgeous view and visited Peniscola, where a pope was briefly stationed.

View from the Benicarlo apartment looking towards Peniscola

View from Peniscola castle

All in all, a wonderful weekend with amazing folks. They also had orange trees so we came home with 5L of amazingly fresh extra virgen olive oil (and a greater appreciation for grades of olive oil) but also about 5kg of oranges we picked ourselves. I never thought we'd have that opportunity and it was wonderful. The conversation with the family was half in Valencian, half in Spanish so I missed much of what was said but they were so patient and friendly. All I can say is that if you ever get the chance to do some olive picking say YES!! And THANK YOU Africa and family!

Valencian pilota

Have you ever thought to yourself, you know I really like squash but I wish the ball were smaller and harder, the court larger, the racket smaller, that betting was involved and that you could injure spectators? Well, if you have, then do I have the sport for you! Pilota is a Valencian sport of historical significance which is currently mostly watched by old men betting a minimum of 50 Euros on the game (the game we went to see in the Triquet de Pelayo near the old train station in Valencia). Here is a photo of Matt protecting his face with the provided blocker (you take two- one to sit on and one to protect your face):

We didn't bet (50 Euros was a bit rich for a minimum bet and everything was communicated in the local Valencian dialect) but we did sit close to the action. Here is a shot of one of the players bouncing the ball off our seating directly in front of us:

The game has many variations and can be played outside in the street (one where the windows all have shutters) or inside, in a specially built trinquet. There is a net in the middle of the court and the ball can only bounce once on either side. The ball is made of leather and is hit with your hand (wrapped in leather and some sort of metal plate). The game we watched was two vs. two. The game is very fast and the ball is painful. Wikipedia has an explanation of the game, if you actually want to know the details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valencian_pilota and here is a pretty good Youtube video of a game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhwBggw1bEM where you can see the audience sitting on the court.

I was intrigued by items not so crucial to the rules of the game. Case in point the photo below:

In this photo you may notice the man in pink near the net at the center of the court. He is both the referee and the man in charge of betting who takes money and decides on the odds (they change throughout the game). I see no possible conflict of interest here. You also see a door beside him- this is the door to access the bathroom, which you can easily do- you just have to cross the game while it is happening. There is only a men's washroom here- ladies generally don't watch the game so you have to go further afield to find one.

Finally, here are the men, collecting their winnings after the game. All in all a worthwhile thing to check out for some local flavour!

Other weird sports here include paddle- a variation of tennis played as indoor soccer. Highlights include running out of the room when the ball goes over the wall to hit it and keeping it in play, running back inside and continuing.

A beautiful Valencia month

Our introduction to life in Spain has been wonderful. The weather has been unseasonably warm for our first month. The bureaucracy (getting NIE foreigner identification numbers and social security paperwork) is a maze in Spain!

In this age of food blogging, I thought I'd start with saying how amazing the food is, although even with a basic knowledge of Spanish it is hard to know what is on the menu because of the many many different words for meats. I will follow that up with a photo of the hams available at a local grocery store:

I also have to say a little something about paella, because Valencia is associated with paella. The first photo is of a new friend cooking for us and introducing us to the specific machinery required to make paella at home on Sundays, as many families here do every week.

Here is a photo of us holding Julio Cesar's homemade paella (we had no part in making it, only in being impressed!)

You can also buy paella out, but it is more difficult to find restaurants that serve it cooked over wood, the traditional way with a whole paella per table.

Pans and propane paella cookers (yes, they have their own apparatus) are for sale everywhere, here is an example of a stall outside the main market:

Now that I've had my food bit, generally the city is lovely and full of old buildings and parks and an almost unbelievable number of patios! Here are a couple of pictures:

This first picture is of the city hall, which faces an equally impressive post office

 This fountain is located in the same square as the city hall

Another wonderful plaza, where all kinds of folks meet and hang around is outside the old cathedral, a plaza full of many tourists but also locals on the weekends

Here is a cute patio, like many others in the city

I love parks. Valencia used to have a river flowing through the city but due to the flooding they diverted it and there is now an 8km long park, full of soccer pitches, playgrounds, bike and running paths, and generally a wonderful green place to be. One of the playgrounds is Gulliver's travels, and while it's true form is best seen using google maps, here is a view of it from a bridge:

The last plug I will put in this blog post is about a recent complex designed by the Spanish architect Salvatore Calatrava (who I first discovered from his winged art gallery in Milwaukee). The complex is huge and spectacular, even if one of the buildings is seriously underused at the moment. I love walking around the grounds. Here are some photos which don't capture it well, but do give an idea of what it is like.

Valencia signage

We have just moved to Spain so everything is shiny (or not so shiny) and new to us. We have come across a couple of fun signs in our first few weeks, and here they are. First, a giant billboard which may have been an advertisement (I don't remember) but definitely made an impression amid the historic buildings in the neighbourhood.

There is also a ton of great graffiti around town- here are just a couple:

And my favourite is the valencia paella pic a rabbit killing a chicken and folks underneath waiting to catch the meats (people shown in separate pic due to epic nature of graffiti).

This signage is all about Spain's changing culture to a "poop and scoop" culture. The green part of the sign starts with: Are you ashamed to poop and scoop? It then follows immediately with a notice that you should regularly deworm your dog (to give you time to digest the thought of picking up your dog's poop). The rest of the sign is much like any other north american poop/scoop sign but I do love the graphics on this one.

This sign is unfortunately blurry but reads in big: "Defy gravity" with a lady holding up her boobs as they will undoubtedly stay in all situations after their plastic surgery. We are living in Valencia, the plastic surgery capital of Spain. There are many signs advertising services, but this one made me laugh due to it's prominence at a busy corner.

Next up is American/english signage. There is so much that could be posted under this section but this restaurant makes me laugh because of it's international flavour. Maybe Foster is the owner of this Hollywood chain but the Australian beer non-existant connection with Hollywood is all I could see...

Everyone in Valencia learns English at school but the love of english (and bad english) on clothing is worthy of a blog all on its own.  Here are a couple of winners:

First up: "I love my Yetsi Nanny"

Next: "We run and like jump" 

And finally, for a classy, expensive adult item. No grammar errors here, but what classy lady do you know who dreams of advertising she is a British bitch?