La Castanyada...or...Chestnut Day?

As I mentioned before, castanyas (chestnuts) are a big deal in Catalunya. October 31^st is the official Castanyada celebration, and the typical things to eat are boiled chestnuts and small cakes (about the size of a donut hole) called panellets. I was in Valencia on the 31^st, but I did get to celebrate la Castanyada with ALL four schools in the ZER Conca on the 29^th. The four schools get together during certain times of the year, and this was the first time I was able to see everyone together. There are 190 students total, and if you include about 30 teachers and some parents, you can imagine how big this event was! We met in a village called Vallclara, and most of the teachers and student rode in large buses. However, the “specialists,” meaning the English, Music, Religion, Physical Education, and Special Education teachers, rode separately.

As Laura and I pulled in the parking lot, I was reminded of my fist day at the schools. Students from the two schools I haven’t been to yet (Barberá and Solivella) peered curiously and excitedly at me. I felt like a mixture between a zoo animal and a movie star. :-) Anyway, as we walked over to the kids, the younger ones (1^st and 2^nd graders) from Pira started chanting my name. The whole village echoed with “Sa-rah! Sa-rah! Sa-rah!” Haha! I was a bit relieved when they started chanting Laura’s name as well. That was just a liiitle too much attention for me!

I spent the first part of the day with Ramón (the 5-6^th grade teacher in Pira) and his students (since my main focus is to always be with the older groups). It was a little boring at first because everyone was just waiting around for something to happen. The girls started playing a game and later included me (a counting game of sorts), and I was so happy to see some of the quieter girls try to explain the game to me in English. Yes! Sometimes being outside of the classroom and just being a person really helps the kids want to practice English and open up to me more.

Later, all of the students were broken up into two large groups: the younger ones and the older ones. Both groups sang several songs about the Castanyada, and eventually, the “Castanyera,” an older woman dressed in traditional clothing, came to pass out chestnuts to everyone. You could just FEEL the excitement from the little ones! The older ones spent most of the time guessing who the woman was (she was the grandmother of one of the students). Javi escorted her around as she gave away chestnuts stuffed in newspaper cones, and I ended up with soooo many chestnuts! First, several of the students (ones I know AND ones I don’t know yet!) let me try some of theirs. Then I had my own official cone of chestnuts. Then Sergi, one of the older Pira students, gave me two more cones (apparently he doesn’t like them and wanted me to have them). They’re okay (definitely better cooked than raw!), but there’s just no way I could eat all of those. They later went into the trash with the ones I picked earlier. :-) Panellets, however, are amazing. Little cakes of goodness. Mmmm…

After singing and eating, we broke up into smaller groups (random ages and schools this time) and did some treasure hunting and games in various parts of the village. It was during this time that the whole “pretend-you-don’t-speak-or-understand-Spanish” thing became ridiculous. I’m not sure if I mentioned it before or not, but I’m supposed to tell the students that I ONLY speak English. The concept makes sense, but I find it deceptive and pretty hard to pull through. I mean, 90% of the other teachers don’t speak English, so if I’m with them, we talk in Spanish. Such was the case with Ramón. He explained what we had to do, and it wasn’t long before Sergi (the one who gave me all of his chestnuts) picked up that I understood and was speaking Spanish. :-) I finally told the kids that I knew a LITTLE Spanish and that since today was a special occasion, we could use it. However, in class, it’s English only. :-P That seemed to work, but I’ve had kids ask me ever since if I understand Catalán or Spanish. Heh.

The games were fun, and we all had a good time meandering around the village. A cute cat was up on a terrace, meowing at us and wanting attention, and Ramón actually lifted up one of the students to see if he could get the cat down for us to pet. :-) They couldn’t reach it, but we did pet a dog and look at some bees later on. It was another beautiful day just to go out and enjoy nature. After the event, several of the teachers met for lunch at a restaurant (what we do every Friday), and the rest of the school day in Pira was spent outside playing games organized by the older students. They did a great job! I mostly stood around talking with the other teachers, but I did play a few games later on. :-) It was a good day. Different…but good. :-)

Weekend excursions and sight-seeing!

My weekends have all been quite different so far, and my "core" teachers and friends have been sharing me in October. :-) One Sunday I went to the cave in l'Espluga de Francolí and the monastery in Poblet with Larua and her family (husband Jordi and 3-year-old son Quim). It was a rainy day, so being in a cave was perfect. It's a lot smaller than Mammoth Caves, but it was still neat. The tour was in Catalán, but Jordi was thoughful enough to get me one of those hand-held recorded devices that explained things in different languages. They didn't have one in Spanish (my personal preference), but they had one in English (British English, of course. :-P). I actually found the explanations pretty boring and full of evolutionary concepts, so I just listened to about half of what was available. But the cave itself was really neat! Poblet, the area with the monastery, was also fascinating. There's just so much history in Europe! We managed to catch a tour in Spanish, and the area was really beautiful. We had lunch together in a very Catalán restaurant, and I made a big discovery that day with Laura and her family: Quim is another person when he has a nap. The whiny, frusterated child transformed into a lovable, cute chatterbox after a 20-minute nap. So I finally had some fun with Quim, even though we don't always understand each other. :-)

Another trip with Laura and her family was to Jordi's village, El Pla de Santa María. There was a fair that day, and for the first time, I was able to see the famous "gigantes" (giants) of Catalunya. They're sort of hard to describe, but they're basically different people made out of plaster, decorated, and hollow inside. A real person goes inside the gigante and walks around, dances, etc. Each town has different ones, but they're usually of kings and queens, fishermen, ladies, etc. They're so cool! One thing I DON'T like are the capgrossos--big heads. I have issues with things like bobbleheads, and these distorted plaster heads are disturbing. :-) After the fair, we went to Jordi's parents' house for dinner. WOW. They have a huge, beautiful house! I met both of his parents and his sister, and they're all really nice. Jordi's mom is really into ceramics and pottery, and she's made some lovely things. I had a fun time with the family, and Quim was his happy-had-a-nap self. He's also very...inquisitive. He took our plates away after we ate, and he asked me loudly in front of everyone else why I didn't eat my other olive. While I discovered that I really love olive oil, I don't like olives. They're just too squishy and strong-tasting. Anyway, we were all telling Quim that I was too full. :-)

Another Sunday was with Anna María and her husband, Oscar. They also have a really nice flat, and they love to travel, so there's lots of trinkets from Egypt, Mexico, etc. They've been married for three years, and Anna especially has been so kind to me during my time here. Anna and I walk around the wall of Montblanc on Tuesday and Thursday evenings when we can, and I'm starting converstaion classes/tutoring with her on Monday. She has a pretty good knowledge of English and is always quick to help me with Spanish. Anyway, we had lunch together, and then Anna and I drove up in the mountains and saw two villages: Prádes and Villanova de Prádes. Prádes was beautiful, and the whole village is made from unique red rocks. Villanova was just average, but it was good to compare the two. What Villanova DID have was a spot on some rocks where you can look out and see the beautiful mountains and trees. Ahh! It's just so pretty here! That evening, Oscar, Anna, and I had dinner at their flat (Spanish tortillas...and I helped make them!), and I was able to call home.

Another weekend excursion was with Javi and his family. We met up with about four other families (friends of Javi and Cati) and drove up waaaaay in the mountains to collect, of all things, chestnuts! Chestnuts and mushrooms are a BIG deal in Catalunya. We did a lot of hiking as well, and it was such a glorious day to be outside. One woman from one of the families is from England, and she's been here for about 20 years. She teaches English, and I think her husband might have a dual nationality in France and Spain. They have two boys, and they brought their dog! So I had a whole day to play with a dog as well. :-) Silvia (the woman from England) and I talked for awhile, and she's really nice. I have to say the one of the most unique things I've ever heard was a person talking in Spanish with a British accent. :-) All of the families were nice, and there were quite a few kids running around. My favorite might have been Andres, an eight-year-old chatterbox who told the same corny joke about 200 times throughout the day. There were probably 30 people total, and I think he told everyone the joke (something about cars and Tarragona. I didn't really get the context. But I know that it was corny. :-)). Haha! I collected a HUGE bag of castanyas (chestnuts) that I later threw away. :-) There's just no way I could eat all of them, and I'm not a huge fan of them in general (they taste pretty much like walnuts). I also kept hearing rumors that some have worms in them, and that was enough to make me ditch them. :-) But it was a fun day!

And this past weekend, I went to Valencia to meet up with a friend. That trip deserves its own post though!

So because the teachers are so nice and friendly, I've been able to see and experience things I couldn't have done on my own. I will definitely do more things with them, but one thing I'm aching to do is attend a church. I'm going to try this Sunday! :-) It's really hard finding public transportation on Sundays, and there aren't any Protestant churches in Montblanc. However, I finally found out that a train goes to Lleida from Montblanc on Sunday mornings!

Anyway, that's all for this post. Thanks for reading. :-)