9th April: The Sardine is Coming!

I genuinely don’t know where these holidays have gone. I can’t believe it was six days ago that I last had time to write this blog, and I can barely think back to what we’ve done.

Well, on Thursday there weren’t any major events on for the Fiestas so we decided to meet up in the morning to finally book our Benidorm trip, which is happening over the 13^th and 14^th April – next weekend. We’ve booked a five-bed apartment in the centre of the city which is only costing us ten Euros each – bargain! It may turn out to be a tacky English microcosm in the middle of Spain but we just have to see it for ourselves. It’s also an amazing chance to get our hands on a traditional English breakfast and Sunday dinner, an opportunity not to be missed.

After returning from the bus station at around midday, I read a while in the sun before returning to the flat to get some work done. By lucky chance, Fernando was there and offered to help me with my translations, which definitely made things a lot easier. In the evening I met my friends to watch the first major parade for the Entierro de la sardina, which was passing along Gran Vía. I have to say, of all the odd things I’ve seen and experienced in Spain so far, this was by far the most bizarre. Don’t get me wrong, it was an amazing spectacle, exactly as described in the tourist brochures – with dance troops in elaborate costumes, people on stilts, huge floats and – la pièce de résistance – a giant multi-coloured sardine sculpture. I never thought I’d say the phrase “The sardine is coming!” with such joy and excitement. We’d read up on this and could understand its significance, but what we don’t understand to this day are the costumes of the sardinero groups, who were wearing what is best described as sandman outfits – striped pyjamas and long pointed hats.

Everyone in the city seemed to have turned out for the parade and the atmosphere was alive with the excitement of children and adults alike. Many people had brought plastic bags in anticipation of the grand finale of the parade, when the sardineros would throw out endless amounts of toys into the crowd. The street was so busy that we couldn’t get close enough to the front, but we were happy just to watch.

After the parade we went out for drinks, but I couldn’t stay out late as I knew I had to collect my friend Emma from Alicante airport the next morning, and had to get up at 6.30. The next morning seemed to come around far too quickly, and it was all I could do to stay awake while I waited the hour-and-a-half in arrivals for her plane to come in.

As she came through the gate, I held up the name card I’d jokingly promised to make and we ran towards each other. It had been so long since we’d seen each other; I couldn’t believe she was actually here. A few hours later we were in Murcia and I was showing her the ropes, including the wonders of Mercadona, which didn’t fail to impress. After she’d had a quick nap we tried to walk into town, only to be stopped short by the weather, which took a turn for the worse. We abandoned our trip and instead decided on watching a film in bed, waiting for the rain to pass.

By the evening the rain had actually stopped and we met my other friends on Gran Vía for the parade, only to find it had been cancelled. Not to be defeated, we decided to console ourselves with a Smoöy and some drinks. By the time we’d had our Smoöy, we noticed that the square was filling up with people, and ten minutes later it was clear that the parade hadn’t been cancelled but rescheduled, and we were in the perfect place to see it. This one was even better than the day before, and we even managed to come away with our bags full of little toys and bits of stationary. After a couple of drinks we decided to call it a night; Emma was exhausted from her long day and we had another long day to come.

The next day, after a much-needed lie-in, we met the girls for lunch in a barraca outside the university. It was actually really good, and not too expensive either – a good way for Emma to try some of the local food. Whilst the sun was still warm, we bought some sangria and sat in the sun, and when it began to get chilly we went to Alicia and Lina’s to watch some We Can Be Heroes before going our separate ways.

After dinner we met up on Gran Vía again to watch the final parade of the week. This was the most spectacular of all, with all of the features of the other parade as well as huge, elaborate floats and more toys than I’ve ever seen in my life. This time, the parade went on until 1am, when we decided it was about time to make our way to Badulake. Emma loved it there and we stayed until her feet couldn’t take any more dancing.

We barely did anything but sleep the following day, which was Sunday. We went out for a kind of lunch at around 4pm and went back to watch several episodes of Misfits before getting ourselves ready and going for a nice meal in a restaurant in Plaza San Domingo – followed, naturally, by more Smoöy. By the time we got back it was gone 11, just time for a couple more episodes before going back to bed.

Since yesterday was Emma’s last day in Murcia, we decided to make the most of it and get up a bit earlier. We spent the morning browsing the shops before having some lunch in El Corte Ingles (it felt a bit like being back in the Wolverhampton Marks & Sparks cafe, which somehow seemed an appropriate place to go with the girl I grew with.) Then there was just time for one last Smoöy visit before accompanying Emma to the station, waving her off and going back to the flat. Typically, it was just getting really warm as Emma was leaving, but she assured me that the weather she’d had was far better than the snow they’re still having in England.

That evening I started to get back into my pre-holiday routine of teaching and Tandem, Skyping my parents in between. It’s only a week until they come now and I’m really excited. My birthday is a week today! The only bad news is that my brother, who’s just got a really important new job in Rhodes, now won’t be able to come as he has to learn over a hundred songs before May. I’m pretty disappointed as I was looking forward to introducing him to everyone, but I’m so glad he’s got this fantastic opportunity.

None of the girls was keen on going to Tandem that evening so I went with Giorgos and Fernando instead, which was actually a much better way of practicing Spanish as their friendship group is from all over the world and uses Spanish as its lingua franca, as it were. I would have stayed longer were it not for a panicky message from my Translation Group who, despite my reminders, had left our translation until then and needed my help. It was past 2am before I suggested I do the rest of the work the next day before my lecture. The problem was that they hadn’t yet finished composing the Spanish version, so I needed to wait until this was done before I could translate it and send it back to them.

My plan seems to have worked as I was able to translate the remainder of the text at 8am this morning before rushing off to my German lecture at 9. Inevitably, it was cancelled yet again due to poor organisation and is now postponed until Friday. On the plus side, it gave me a chance to see Isabel, the Spanish girl in the group, and arrange to go for coffee with her this week. Not only that, but when I got back to the flat, Giorgos was ready to go on the run we’d arranged – which was lucky, since it was already getting hot outside.

It was nice to have some company on my run, especially as Giorgos and I have agreed, as from today, to speak as much Spanish as possible for practice. Admittedly, he didn’t manage to keep pace and we eventually had to split up, but it had been nice to have someone to talk to and run alongside for the first half. I just had time for a quick shower before letting him into the flat. Now I have the rest of the day to sort my life out a bit before going to teach at 6.