Orgiva! La Vida BUENA!!

So, I'm in a small village about 40 kilometers from the Mediterranean right now called Orgiva. I'm here with a lady named Angela. She's been living here for 3 years and was in another part of Spain for several years. She English and lives here off her pension that she earned from working as a social worker for over 30
years.
This period before Easter is when Spain goes off. Yesterday, the day I arrived in Orgvia, was the day to celebrate the town's saint -- I don't know who it is and I didn't get the impression that many people in the town did either. The celebration was with fireworks and a huge procession of people carrying a big display of Jesus and one of Mary (dude's mom, not the hooker). Everyone in the town was there. As soon as Jesus came out of the cathedral this giant chain of firecrackers went off outside this little pub we were in. The windows were taped because they've learned that the noise is so intense that it even blows out the windows in the back of the place unless they're taped.


The procession went on until 2 in the morning as did the fireworks. Every time the procession stopped there were fireworks to greet it. It would stop at every crossroads and the fireworks went off to keep the evil spirits away. Plus each little neighborhood had their own display. Some were poppers some were Disneyland style fireworks.
















The it sounded like a war zone and it didn't look much different, minus the dead people...well, Jesus and Mary were there.











One of the coolest things was seeing all of the people there. I guess it's kind of like Santa Cruz on Halloween or New Years but fewer stabbings and less belligerent people (although they certainly had their share of "communion cervesa"). Plus the party wasn't contained to streets, anyone with a balcony, including the dentist office, had people up to celebrate.




Jesus at night was pretty impressive, but it really seemed like the main event was the firework -- no offense to the right hand man of course.




















Here's a view from Angela's house. Well, two. The second one at night is way rad. Click on the second one to see a big version. You can see the smoke...all of that is smoke, no clouds. Plus you can see the silhouette of the hill in the background. Now, past that hill on the right is how to get to the sea. Hopefully I'll get a chance to go there.

On the Road

Well, tomorrow I'm off to Spain for nearly two weeks. I'll be working on a farm for a bit just south of Granada. Depending how long I stay I'll make my way to the coast for a few days then up to Seville. Lola and the boys are visiting her family there so if I end up there I'll probably swing by and see them.

I've been lagging on updating my blog with pictures and stuff. At some point I'll put up some pictures of Ireland and Milan.

I'm bringing my running shoes and can't wait to run in some nice warm weather.

I didn't think that I was endowed with the emotion of excitement until I realized the other day that I get to be in the sun. If you experienced the weather here you'd understand how that can be exciting.

A night with the Gypos

So, I relay to whoever is paying attention to this a report that is out of chronological order. I should be telling about my weekend in Dublin but something else way funner (excuse the lack of proper english) that happened tonight. I've made this group of friends who I love here in Bath. We always have talks are of history and philosophy and it's always a good time.

Tonight, though, a few gypsies (watch the movie SNATCH to know what I'm talking about) were hanging out at the pub tonight. They were perfectly fine until they stole my hat. My hat is my "kick ass red knit cat" that I wear most of the year. It's become a trademark here in Bath just as it is in the US.

As we were hanging outside these gypsie guys took my hat off my head and continued to walk on. They wouldn't give it back. After walking a few blocks trying to get it from them I punched the bigger one with the dog in the face to stun him, ran up to the other and took my hat off his head -- it was an opportunity that made itself available so I took it...the timing couldn't have been better. This entire time the police were riding along side because they saw the commotion going on but didn't do anything about it. So, while the one guy was stunned I took my hat off the other guy's head and ran so they wouldn't beat me up for stealing MY hat from them.

Fortunately I run fast so they couldn't keep up with me. Now I have my hat. The cop who was watching the whole thing simply turned around and headed back into town. I actually had a conversation with the cop but he was unwilling to do anything for some reason that is unknown to me.

On my way back to the pub a few friends were walking towards the mess to help me out but since it was already taken care of we headed back. Basically, I fought a gypsie, stole from him, and managed to have a good rest of the night.

That was pretty amazing.

and so the story goes...

I should be studying for a midterm right now but I've had enough of the damn British empire for a little bit.

So, I finally have my plans for spring break figured out -- I'll be spending two weeks on an organic farm in souther Spain. I'm heading off to Dublin next weekend and the weekend before spring break I'll be heading to Milan.

A few weeks ago we visited London, I may have already put something up about that. This is a picture of Big Ben. It's really not all that exciting. We got a tour of Westminster Palace, that was neat. Last Thursday we went to Oxford. We took a tour of Christ Church College. It's where they guy who wrote Alice in Wonderland taught and where the stuff in the book was inspired from. It's also where the first few Harry Potter films were made...some of the people in my class were way too excited about that part. I knew there is a reason that I think San Jose State is a mediocre pile of crap for a school and that set it in stone. Then again, there's people back home who I really like who might be just as excited so maybe I shouldn't be too hard on 'em.

As for school, it's going pretty well but I have a lot of reading that I can't really get done. So I'm just picking the stuff that actually interests me and going with that. I don't recall if I've posted the courses I'm taking: the history of Empire, a self-guided study/history of anarchist thought, anthropology (we go around to neat stuff in England on Thursdays), and a class on novels. After spring break the dude expects us to read a 600 page novel along with bits of a critique of it within two and a half weeks. This wouldn't be too bad if I didn't have all of the other reading and research papers. With that, I'm a little frustrated with school part but everything else is good.

Pictures!
This is the River Avon that goes through Bath.








This is what it looked like in my back garden when it snowed.















this is their version of living on a boat













this is the intersection I live near...i just thought it was a nice picture.












apparently they even have graffiti in quaint little Bath. I think it's supposed to be George W.







My hat's a hit everywhere. I even met a girl at the Royal Oak one night who was a friend of a friend and she says she always see 'the hat guy' all over town. It's nice.