Las Fallas

Hola Bloggers,

Way back on the weekend of the 18th March, Las Fallas was celebrated here in Valencia. I mentioned this in my blog on 13 March, and as promised, I now have photos.

The first ones show the regional costumes that they all wear. The girls dresses are absolutely beautiful actually. It appears that you have to wear your hair in some sort of stupid princess Leah stylee but I reckon I'd put up with that to be able to swan around in the dress. In fact I kept saying that if we have a daughter one day then I might dress up myself to accompany her! I bet the dresses cost quite a lot because they are very detailed and very heavy looking.

Each separate Falla centre sends some of their Falla kings and queens to be judged to see who becomes the ultimate king and queen of the whole of Valencia. There are just two different age categories - adult and child. I don't know when you are classed as an adult though. I can't say that the queens seemed to be drop dead gorgeous so I don't think its a superficial beauty pagent. I think its more to do with your outfit and perhaps cultural questions / speeches. Perhaps I'll find out one day .......

From about lunch time, all the fallas queens (and there are about 100,000) walk in procession with their fallas kings playing music (of a kind of brass band type) to the cathedral, where they give flowers to the virgen. At the cathedral, a huge statute of the virgen is erected withall the flowers that everyone has brought and people gather around here all day and night watching it come together (see photo). Many of them find this very emotional and cry as they are giving the flowers. Jose says the act of walking through town and giving the flowers is linked to repenting sins (so its not just that their feet hurt then?).

The next photos are of the statues that they erect and then burn. The first three are all of the one that was on the corner of my street. It came fifth in the competition. Not bad as I saw on the tv that there were 750 this year! Some are much more professional than others - and I mean this literally. They have companies sponsoring them and donating expertise and or money. This was one of the professional ones. The one on our other corner was a locally done one - all the labour and expense provided by the locals who live here and who are members of that particular Fallas association - like our electrician, who is always trying to get us to come done to their community centre thing for a drink. He seems a very friendly guy and I may be being overly suspcious in thinking he wants us so much due to Jose being a structural consultant and architect! He's just what they need. No, joking aside, we will go down for a drink one day, we just ahven't made it yet. They meet more than once a week throughout the whole year because thats how much work it takes to get everything sorted out for Las Fallas.

The last one is one I noticed that really caught my eye. It was so life like.

So, you'll all be wanting to visit me next March for Fallas. Well, first come first served.

S xx

Changing rooms 2

silly old boring wash basin becomes Sarah styled wash basin!

Changing Rooms

Ah at last! the fourth picture shows what our lounge was like for a month, but at last we have sofas!

sofa no so good

Hola Bloggers,

Well so much for the sofas arriving today. These sofas are having quite an adventure making their way to me. I bought them in Tarragona but they were being made in Zaragoza and then needed to be delivered to Valencia (obviously). Well the trucks from the factory in Zaragoza are too big and so not allowed to enter Valencia centre. So, the sofa makers are going to drop them off at a transport depot just outside Valencia and then I have to get them to my house somehow. For that last leg of the exciting sofa journey I have contracted a removals firm (who are also going to call in at Jose's office and pick up the remainig 30 boxes of our life that are still stranded there). The Zaragoza lot said that the sofas were leaving them at the end of last week and so would be here in Valencia for Monday. Hmm. Being the non trusting Yorkshire girl that I am I organised for the removal guys to go for them on Tuesday and also took the extra step of calling the transport deport this morning to check that they are there and know which ines to give to these removal guys. Good job I rang ! They were not there yet. Bummer! Apparently they would arrive this afternoon but they didn't know what time. Great. So, the removal guys have been put off until Thursday morning.......which bearing in mind that we are going away to the apartment in Alicante on Thursday night means that, even if they do arrive, we won't be sitting on them til at least next Tuesday. Oh well at least it is the sofas that have shown their face first . However much I want the wardrobes - you can't sit on them.

Today's laugh has been at my Mum and Paul's expense. They have just got back from a visiting trip to Michigan in the States - where they used to live. They went to do 2 things as far as I can see 1. shop and 2. visit their old neighbours Beth and Eric. Beth and Eric have two children - Izzy who is 9 and Leaf who is about 7. Well Izzy loves her "Aunt Pat" (said in full on American accent). Mum used to see Izzy every day for three years when Izzy was small and Izzy has evidently not forgotten this and has formed a strong bond with "Aunt Pat". So much so that she took my Mum and poor old Paul into her school to do a show and tell! Yes you ahve read this correctly - my Mum and Paul were what were being shown! Izzy rolled them out and then proceeded to let Aunt Pat and Uncle Paul "tell" about England once they had been properly "shown" to the class. Mum was somewhat unprepared for this but being the trooper that she is and never shy of audience, especially not nine year olds, it seems that she went for it and launched into the royal family, the different bank notes, double decker buses, driving on the other side of the road. They loved it. One child asked what happens if you don't want to be Queen (she obviously needs remedial classes - Helllo ??!). Another child apparently asked what happens if they say you are Queen but the crown doesn't fit you. Good question. Paul was drafted in for the questions on the ball and sculpture that feature on the notes (and it is rumoured that he quite got into "telling" too!).

Why don't we have show and tell in Europe - what a laugh you could have bringing in tramps and stuff (or is that just me that would find wholly inappropriate ways to annoy the teachers?). Anyway, Izzy gained various complements on her show and tell so she was happy. Leaf had to do with taking in some english money as Mum and Paul didn't make it to his class. Poor lad.

S xx

New Home - update

Hola Blogers,

Well we now know how to work the oven ......but when you set it - it overides all the electricity in the flat and turns all the lights out! To add to this only 2 of the 4 rings on the hob are working. After a lengthy argument with the decorator and kitchen shop people I have got them to agree to send the technicians at their cost. They were trying to get me to pay as I haven't got a guarantee! But I only don't have a guarantee because they decided to put ex - display stuff in my kitchen. Their argument is that they have done me a favour because the good price meant that they could put fancy high tech german appliances. My argument is that I'd rather have bog standard crap if that means that it will work! I think we are begining to see eye to eye though and they say that the technicians will come this week and sort it out - at the expense of the kitchen shop.

We now have a leaking waste pipe that is dripping water into the store room downstairs, which means that the neighbour nags me daily for it to be fixed. However, its been raining and they apparently need it to be dry in order to fix it.

It has seemed like we havebeen going backwards over the last few weeks but I am hoping this week will be s step forward. The sofas arrive tomorrow and the wash basin is being put in in the little bathrrom tomorrow also. There are about five other little jobs that I am hoping I'll see done this week too. Not banking on it though. And to think I originally talked about buying a flat to completley do up! God no way. Its bad enough having to live here when its virtually finished. I can 't imagine a full do up job (which this flat was - but we bought it at the end of the process).

We are going down to my apartment near Alicante for a long weekend as of Thursday so that should sort us out for a while. Its amazing what a sofa and a washing machine can do for you. We stayed on the farm this weekend and it was heaven. Just what I needed as I had been feeling quite down the week before.

I am sick of the sight of me in the same clothes! Although I can wash them at the farm, I can't get a wide range of clothes out because there is no where to put them in the flat. So I just rotate the same things in a small bag. Everyone here in Valencia must think I haven't got anything else. I'm probably known as that new girl with the brown top and gold trainers.

Oh I've bagged a cleaning lady who is working her magic right now. Its the first time she has come today and seems like a good sort - getting stuck in straight away. She has been here three hours and has not finished the kitchen and the outside kitchen yet - that tells you how much dust there is everywhere. They have been cutting marble and tiles this morning and its just amazing how much dust is created. she wants to work for me everyday and be a housekeeper but I have told her we are unfortunatley not that rich! She had an all day job before but the lady has died so she's in need of work. I'm going for a big clean now whilst its like a work site then a more usual 3 or 4 hours a week. So if she finds an all day job then she'll probably dump my measely job. We'll see. She's from Ecuador and calls me Senora (with a squiggly n - but there isn't one on my keyboard). I must admit I rather like that. I feel like a proper ex pat.

S xx