Sunday, May 23, 2004
Slept in a little on Saturday after such a desvelada. Went to student travel place where I waited for an hour and almost booked the fare for my Hungary ticket online except for that I didn´t have my address with me. Ended up booking it through the agent since I would have had to pay $40 shipping fee anyway but don´t think the exchange rate and credit card fee will work in my favor. Oh well. At least I got a better fare than originally so hopefully the travel will go smoothly.
After that a bit of a rush to get back and get my stuff so I could go to the gathering. I was supposed to meet Elsa´s friend Fermín at one of the furthest metro stop. Was a little worried when I got there late and couldn´t find him, but turns out I had just gotten off on the opposite metro exit and he was able to find me quickly.
It turns out his parents have a vacation house in one of the suburbs and his siblings were throwing a pro-republic, anti-monarchy protest party as a joke to protest all the media hype surrounding the royal wedding this weekend. This basically was an excuse for a family cookout which later on turned into a birthday party since one of the brothers turned 33. He got a mouse, a CD and a shirt, for which he took his old shirt to put on; his brothers and Joan responded by playing and singing "You Can Leave Your Hat on" from "The Full Monty".
After eating, they brought out the guitars and sang for several hours in Spanish, Basque, English and Catalan. Performed some rancheros for my benefit. Joan even played the bagpipes at one point. Was kind of quiet since I was still tired, but later on started singing and got into a discussion with Estrella, Fermin´s brother´s girlfriend who asked me what the big deal with Janet Jackson´s boobs was. She asked me what Americans thought about Spain and talked about how she had thought that Americans were more liberal and advanced thinking and all but then after seeing things like that and the war policy and all, she had changed her mind. I had thought that Europeans were more conservative, "the old country" but had been surprised to find that it was more liberal and progressive in many ways than the States. So we discussed Bush and Spain´s recent elections and policy for a while. We also got into the whole online music download debate--they were surprised when I told them about itunes since apparently there hasn´t been as much of a crackdown on music download in Europe.
Afterwards Estrella and bf left (found out she had two daughters, one 21!) so it was down to me, Joan, Elsa and Fermin. We went into town for tapas and chatted for a while--French films, dubbing bad sitcoms, vegan vs. vegetarianism, Elsa´s comment that I didn´t look Mexican (surprised to get that here!), weirded out by Fermin's eating tiny octupi and so on. Asked Elsa in car ride about Basque Country and she said that I had to visit and could stay with her.
Today Sunday, wrapped up homework and blogging at university. Ironically Sabir, who had told us to get away from computer lab was checking email. Joined by the Cutting sisters who had come back from Paris and had fun. Took off for Parque Ciutadella where there were supposed to be some special concerts. Turned out it was more of a crafts booth thing for kids, but there was still more than enough music to go around. Another carnaval parade with samba beat and drums and dancing people following. A group of dancers from Colombia drumming and bailando con faldas. A bench of African drummers. A long row of bohemian types selling beads, henna, and cake among other things. Full of life.
After that a bit of a rush to get back and get my stuff so I could go to the gathering. I was supposed to meet Elsa´s friend Fermín at one of the furthest metro stop. Was a little worried when I got there late and couldn´t find him, but turns out I had just gotten off on the opposite metro exit and he was able to find me quickly.
It turns out his parents have a vacation house in one of the suburbs and his siblings were throwing a pro-republic, anti-monarchy protest party as a joke to protest all the media hype surrounding the royal wedding this weekend. This basically was an excuse for a family cookout which later on turned into a birthday party since one of the brothers turned 33. He got a mouse, a CD and a shirt, for which he took his old shirt to put on; his brothers and Joan responded by playing and singing "You Can Leave Your Hat on" from "The Full Monty".
After eating, they brought out the guitars and sang for several hours in Spanish, Basque, English and Catalan. Performed some rancheros for my benefit. Joan even played the bagpipes at one point. Was kind of quiet since I was still tired, but later on started singing and got into a discussion with Estrella, Fermin´s brother´s girlfriend who asked me what the big deal with Janet Jackson´s boobs was. She asked me what Americans thought about Spain and talked about how she had thought that Americans were more liberal and advanced thinking and all but then after seeing things like that and the war policy and all, she had changed her mind. I had thought that Europeans were more conservative, "the old country" but had been surprised to find that it was more liberal and progressive in many ways than the States. So we discussed Bush and Spain´s recent elections and policy for a while. We also got into the whole online music download debate--they were surprised when I told them about itunes since apparently there hasn´t been as much of a crackdown on music download in Europe.
Afterwards Estrella and bf left (found out she had two daughters, one 21!) so it was down to me, Joan, Elsa and Fermin. We went into town for tapas and chatted for a while--French films, dubbing bad sitcoms, vegan vs. vegetarianism, Elsa´s comment that I didn´t look Mexican (surprised to get that here!), weirded out by Fermin's eating tiny octupi and so on. Asked Elsa in car ride about Basque Country and she said that I had to visit and could stay with her.
Today Sunday, wrapped up homework and blogging at university. Ironically Sabir, who had told us to get away from computer lab was checking email. Joined by the Cutting sisters who had come back from Paris and had fun. Took off for Parque Ciutadella where there were supposed to be some special concerts. Turned out it was more of a crafts booth thing for kids, but there was still more than enough music to go around. Another carnaval parade with samba beat and drums and dancing people following. A group of dancers from Colombia drumming and bailando con faldas. A bench of African drummers. A long row of bohemian types selling beads, henna, and cake among other things. Full of life.
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