Carnaval and Recovering

It has officially been more than a week since I last updated, which goes into the firm list of rules that I set forth for myself before beginning this particular travel blog. Again, that list is proving to be more like guidelines. I have no excuse for the tardiness- I've had plenty of opportunity to update this work week as I have spent 95% of it being sick in bed and the other 5% dragging myself downstairs to be sick downstairs and eat something. Nothing will make you miss working hard like not being able to.

¡Olé!

Either way, the past week was comprised of Carnaval! If you are unfamiliar with Carnaval in Spain, it is the very same Carnaval that Brazil is so famous for celebrating each year- an entire week of festivities leading up to the Roman Catholic observance of Lent. Because Lent is all about sacrifice and thought, Carnaval is about getting out your ya-yas and enjoying yourself before you give up alcohol for a while. So, yes. A holiday completely dedicated to being holiday. Carnaval has only become a big culture point in Spain in the last ten or fifteen years, but like any excuse to have a society-wide party, the Spanish accepted it with open arms. Everyone participates, dressing up and spending time with their friends at any one of the many parades dedicated to finding the most outlandish or intricate reveler. During the day it is all good and innocent fun. At night the streets are filled with dancing and cleverly costumed party-goers, while the kids party at home.

For Carnaval I went with a group of other girls and dressed as a torrero (bull-fighter). It was wonderful because everywhere we went that evening we were followed by proud shouts of "¡Viva España!" to which we responded by tossing our hands in the air and crying out "¡Olé!" Also mandatory, every time we passed an individual dressed in traditional bull-fighter garb or, better yet, dressed as a bull, we had to take a photograph with them. In the United States it might be a little strange to take photographs with complete strangers in the streets, but I've noted that it's pretty darn commonplace here. We're definitely looking at an overall more chummy culture. Still, with my American sensibilities, it was a little surreal for me, being out with a group of Spanish girls in a very Spanish costume and being recognized in this very nationalistic and Spanish way, but if cultural immersion was my concern for the evening- I think I got it.

Not everything is good about Carnaval, of course. There are exactly the things you would expect from such a festival, just like we have come to expect to see from Mardi Gras. It's fun until about 4 AM, when people have hit that threshold of drunkenness where no one in any culture is any fun to hang out with. It's alright though, the night has more potential for fun than it does for fun's negative compañeros, and we certainly made the most of it.

Now, just to shake off this sickness and get back to work on things. And by things I mean studying phonetic English teaching methods, Nepali/Nepal, French, and preparing for our English immersion summer camp!