The Threshold of a Movement

I just returned to Laredo after two weeks of Easter holidays in the white elephant of Europe. France. I say the white elephant because France is that big country in the middle that I never really had any keen interest on visiting. I stopped for two days on a whirlwind travel a decade ago, but never really got the feel for it. This time I did, and it was great! 5 days in Paris and then 3 days Nantes. Really great.

I arrived with Elisa to Paris where we meet with our friend Olivier. We walked through the metro with our bags, up and down stairs and arrived to his posh apartment next to the Eiffel Tower. He was telling us how the day before he had forgotten his keys and how it would be bad to do that now because his roommates were gone for Easter hours from Paris until Monday night. While upon inspection of all his pockets, he did just that. So we head back through the metro and stayed with his friends, who were great hosts showing us Paris and letting us take over their small apartment. We enjoyed the sights in Paris, my favorite was Monmatre, and as someone noted, Paris is really like an entire museum. It seems everywhere you walk is something historic. We stumbled upon many treasures such as an Easter mass service in Notre Dame complete with organ, multiple choirs, incense, and un monton de gente...a lot of people. We also escaped the city for a great day in Versailles where we saw the palace and gardens just like the photos in history books and also walked through the little village with little shops and streets that were so, well, French.

After Paris we headed to Nantes for a cozy visit with our friends Pauline, Jose, and Myrtille. It was my favorite part of the trip. Nantes is a university town with a relaxed, alternative feel. We found one of the coolest cafes I've ever been in: an old cookie factory converted to cafe, office space, concert scene, and turkish bath center...right on the river! The five of us then traveled in car to the coast of France and enjoyed a crepe on the Brittany coast before heading to Pauline's house in the rural countryside of France complete with cows, crops, and one of the most beautiful, rural French homes I have ever seen. Her family was so welcoming and treated us to a great meal (of Norwegian salmon!) and we had a great time relaxing in the French countryside before taking an all day trip in train and bus back to Spain.

Not only did we have a great Easter trip, we also witnessed the supposed beginning of a new movement, or so Olivier told us. I always thought it would be so cool to be on the threshold of a movement like punk in the 80's, or Woodstock in '69 or Flappers in the 20's or whatever it might be. Well, apparently the movement that will soon be storming the world is tektonik, and it's a perfect movement for me because it involves crazy dancing with lots of rubbery arm movements. We saw some tektonik youth in Paris and they all dress in kind of retro 80's clothes, very neon and bright and tight, with tight black jeans, old bright shoes, and mohawks and funky hairstyles. You can check out this video for the full effect including the trance type music that accompanies the dance. Not sure if there is a political tilt to their style or if it's just a way to create a dance that white men can do, but be on the lookout.

And wah la. That was Easter. Now back in Spain. I enjoyed a successful weekend in Valladolid where our ultimate frisbee team won La Copa de Castilla and enjoyed a great weekend of frisbee and comradery. This weekend, my parents arrive for a week of excursions and showing off North Spain. Woo hoo!

Happy dancing from Spain.

I fought the law and I won

Today was the big one...the battle with the immigration office! And after two previous attempts, I am happy to say that today I won (after four hours). Yes, I am officially legal to work in Spain, which essentially means I can get paid! Everything went as well as possible today in Santander and I am excited to stop thinking about it and to start living a scheduled life.

To celebrate my triumphant day, I played frisbee and then ate a great dinner with my friends David (also my boss with less hair), Nacho (his younger brother with more hair), and Carmen (my roommate with the most hair). Carmen prepared all the food and the the three of us who came directly from frisbee, ate it. So good! You can see the presentation of the food from my cozy kitchen (and practice your spanish) in this video.

Corocotta

The legend in Cantabria, Spain goes something like this...as the Romans were invading Gaul, a famous general named Corocotta united the Cantabri tribes and fought a decade of warfare in resistance to the Romans. The warriors used guerilla tactics attacking and retreating to the mountains near the coast. The attacks were so troublesome for the Romans that, according to Wikipedia, they put a price on Corocotta's head of 200,000 sesteri. (In case you forgot, one sesterius is 2 and half asses, so in total 500,000 asses. Insert your own butt joke here.) Corocotta himself walked into the Roman camp and presented himself to get the reward. Apparently, Emperor Augustus was so astonished that he gave him the reward and set him free. Today, this famous name is passed down in the only way that it is truly appropriate...to the tight asses adorned by ultimate frisbee players from Santander, Cantabria!

Yes, I have just returned after spending a sunny, sweaty weekend in the capital city of Madrid. The guerilla warriors of the north took the trip south for two full days of frisbee games. It was a great time to play frisbee again with a great group of new friends. The Corocottas from Santander split into two teams, so I played with the less experienced team and we were happy to watch the improvement as we moved from being a team led by three people to a team that went undefeated on the second day thanks to the skills of the new players. The experienced Corocotta team also did well finishing second to the home team after realizing that they need to practice their offense against the zone defense.

Besides the frisbee aspects of the weekend, I was truly amazed to see how openly germs are spread here in Spain. First of all, no real worries about washing hands after going to the bathroom. Then, after each game we would line up and congratulate the other team for a good game. But we’re not talking half-heartedly shaking hands. We’re talking kisses on both cheeks, regardless of how sweaty everyone was. Finally, the fun ended by the passing of the Corocotta bottle. After each game we give the other team a bottle of a special liquor from Cantabria that is a lot like Amarula. We always stand in a circle and pass around the bottle as all the sweaty frisbee players, fresh from their kisses, guzzle down the bottle. And the thing is...it’s great. I love the physical closeness of it all and the relaxed feeling everyone seems to have. Just positive people, good competition and good fun. Basically a great weekend.

Add to all this a night playing darts and dancing and a night eating for 4 hours in an Tony Romeo’s American Rib restaurant and you have yourself a great weekend. I returned home at midnight Sunday night absolutely destroyed, feeling muscles I haven’t felt in a long time and feeling welcomed here in Spain.