THE DRUM FEAST

Every year, and since the Middle Ages, all the community around Hellín (a village from Albacete) celebrates Easter Week like in so many other places around Spain. But this particular village celebrates it in a different way. There are these religious processions that we have always watched from the bottom of the sidewalk and there are saints and Nazarenes as well. However, in this village when the procession ends starts the feast: the “Tamborada”. This is a special celebration which consists in all the people going out to the streets and playing their drums all along. In this celebration participate around 20.000 people and the thing is basically meeting your family and friends outside and playing your drum. Hellín drums are usually handmade. You can play your drums on different days, as the tradition says, but you need to know that there’s a little diversity between those days.

On the one hand, if you are going to play a drum, you need to wear a black tunic and a red kerchief. This has been historically left from the ancestors and we still wear as it was in the past. On the other hand, if go out to play on Good Friday, you may get really tired because it is a very custom to play for the entire night until the next day’s afternoon! And on Good Saturday, you would repeat the same routine: start playing on Saturday and finish on Sunday’s afternoon. In fact, one of the things that I like the most of this celebration is Easter Sunday. On Easter Sunday you have already been playing for the entire night and all the “tamborileros” use to meet at a place in the village; when they meet, and although the noise is so loud, they all keep quiet because at the same time, a religious procession has started to pass. The people that carry the saints on their shoulders put Virgin Mary in front of Christ Resurrected and on that moment, all the people start to hit their drums and such a kind of piñata breaks and some pigeons are set free also. I don’t know if you can really have an image in your mind, but I’ll show you. Here you have a picture and a short video of the feast that I hope you understood when I talked about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHTegezLKHk

LIVING IN MURCIA.

I come from a little village near the coast of ‘Mar Menor’: San Pedro del Pinatar. As I see it, living in this little village it’s really nice since it is very well located. I can go to a place or another just driving my car for 15 minutes. These days, I’m living in Murcia and this means leaving behind my family and friends. Of course I usually come back to my hometown so I can see my parents and friends. But to come back just for the weekends is quite lesser close than I would like it to be. My best friends have decided not to study so they are staying in San Pedro. Even though some of my friends have come to study to Murcia too, I can’t get to meet them very often. I am sharing a flat with other students: two of them are from Italy and the other one is from Cartagena, a city near San Pedro. Sharing a flat is indeed an interesting matter because I can get to know people from other countries. In fact, I am already learning lots of Italian words and traditions. Moreover, one of the things I like the most of living in Murcia is that I don’t meet people I don’t like – I usually saw the same people every day in San Pedro-, and going to parties and hanging out during the night. Going out on Thursdays is very amusing because all students are out and I don’t have to ask my parents for permission actually. However, I miss my parents and my little dog so much.  And one of the things that I also miss is having no car in Murcia. I had got used to have a car and to drive anywhere I wanted that now I’m a bit lost having to walk to each place I need to go. I like living in both places so conclusively, I get along with living in Murcia and coming back to San Pedro when I am free. 

WE'VE GOT A JUMPER! (PRÁCTICA 6)

That is what a hotel worker just said when he found out that the last guest he had accompanied to the room had the intention to jump out of the window. A man had walked into the room –apparently a room to sleep on-, but what he had decided was to jump out from the edge in the front of the hotel. The problem was that he had no job since he had just been fired though he used to work all day; his wife was about to break up on him because she had met another guy at work; he wasn’t able to pay for the house and his life had been torn apart. The morning he came into the hotel, he had made a decision, and it was to jump, to suicide, because he could see no longer light in his life.

A psychologist from the police department came to try to talk to him and convince him not to jump. Down there, the traffic in the street had been stopped and lots of curious passers-by were staring at him. Even his wife had come to give him a reason not to jump. But he was determined: he had done his best and he wouldn’t ever be able to do better. Maybe if his wife hadn’t broken up with him in this way, telling him she had met another guy he wouldn’t have felt the need of quitting living. If he had tried luck in some other place, he would have found any job. He should have considered his options before making this dramatic decision. The local police was still trying to make him give up on his try of suiciding but he finally did. Unfortunately, this is something that sometimes happens when someone’s been fired and he can’t provide for his family. Suicide is not a solution actually. These people need professional help.

AMUSEMENT PARKS

Amusement parks, as the Wikipedia says, are a group of entertainment attractions, rides, and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people. You can normally go to an amusement park because you like getting in the attractions, because you like strong excitement and also because you may like hanging upside down out of a roller-coaster. A few months ago I went with my French class on a school trip and we visited Paris. Naturally, we went to Disneyland Paris, and the thing I would specially remark is the fact that when I was there I felt like a total kid. This is completely a theme park and everything is decorated as if you were at a Disney movie. I’m now a little bit older than kids who usually want to go to Disneyland but I enjoyed it as well. When we were about to leave the theme park, lights went out and on the epic Disney’s castle was projected a recreation of the most famous and known Disney’s characters, such as Peter Pan, Cinderella, Tarzan, Tinker Bell, Mulan, Pocahontas and so many others. The show was entirely beautiful, I have no words to describe it. I loved everything in Disneyland, since –as I mentioned before- its decoration and its attractions to its stores. I spent a lot of money on gifts and presents. A lot! When I was a child, I went to ‘PortAventura’. This is a theme park located on Tarragona. I was so small that I couldn’t get in any of the attractions, and I really love hanging upside down. I was really upset although my parents promised me that one day we would come again. This weekend, I’m going to repeat the experience because I am going on a trip with my girlfriend and we’re going to visit ‘PortAventura’ (this will be her first time). I’m looking forward to coming and finally can geting in the attractions. Here you have a picture of one of the most known attractions in ‘PortAventura’: it is called ‘the Dragon Khan’. I hope to get in it really soon! 

TITLE SEQUENCES AND THEME SONGS.

Title sequences are the way that TV shows and series present their title, key production and cast members. This usually contains a burst of images of the series or films with its characters and it kind of describes and presents the plot of the production. When you see the title sequence of a film or series, you decide whether you like or not. Title sequences are very often followed by theme songs that use to adjust to the plot. However, lots of TV series and I like to say that now it is more usual than in the past, compose a theme song, a melody and sometimes the whole soundtrack. There are plenty of soundtracks very famous, such as ‘The last of the Mohicans’ one. Besides this, I wanted to talk about a specific title sequence –American Horror Story one-. It is totally designed to cause you instability and to make you think about the atrocity committed on circuses and that kind of shows. On the 2^nd season’s title sequence you can see a bunch of images of crazy people at an asylum and it really scares me. And on the 4^th season’s title sequence you can see the real life of those freaks that used to go on circuses around the country because they were not accepted by society. These two title sequences are ones of the best I’ve ever seen and as in the four seasons, American Horror Story continues to have the same melody with little changes. Here you have these title sequences I’ve been talking about. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHSpeP9XjoM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFLKPMLdR2c

WHY DO SMOKERS NEED TO HIDE? (PRÁCTICA 5)

In the past everybody used to smoke but now, smokers are more and more refused by society. A long time ago, when the revolution of smoking, all men and almost all women smoked. Smoking was the symbol of independence, glamour and elegance. It is a fact that smoking is bad for your health: it causes lots of illnesses and cancers but people are free to choose to smoke. Nowadays, it’s been banned and forbidden to smoke in hospitals, parks, near parks and even in bars, pubs and restaurants. So if a restaurant does not have a smoking area, smokers will have to go outside under the adversity of weather to do one of the things that they should have the right to do in this democracy country. Some people would think that when you smoke in front of them you deny non-smokers’ freedom and that this is a rude sign but I don’t really see it that way. It was common to see people smoking on buses, taxis, high schools and everywhere. However, today you can get fined if you’re seen smoking near a school. Besides this, smoking cigarettes is legal in fact. Smokers have the freedom to choose or not to choose smoking but because of non-smoking people they won’t ever finish eating at a restaurant and smoke a cigarette by the table. When I was a child, it was a habit to smoke in bars and restaurants and it never bothered me.  Of course if someone is asthmatic, he or she can ask a smoker not to smoke and this person should do the right thing because asthmatics suffer a disease.  Actually, this is some kind of government’s campaign against smoking and to reduce the amount of people smoking in the country. Nevertheless, tobacco is legal and if they’re still going to refuse smokers what they should do is to stop selling it on stores. Consequently, smokers will always complain about the situation and if it would change, non-smokers would complain too.

GIANT'S CAUSEWAY(PRÁCTICA 4)

This amazing breakwater is located on the coast of Northern Ireland and has an incredible and charming story. It was formed 60 million years ago when lava cooled and shaped into hexagonal blocks and columns of basalt. It’s not a quiet place: in fact, it seems to be very dangerous because its location just by the sea. It has become a very touristic place since legends have been told about it. A long time ago –tells one of the legends- two giants were in conflict and they decided to build a bridge on the surface of the sea to solve their differences. As a result of the battle the bridge got destroyed and the only thing that still remains is Giant’s Causeway. There’s actually a similar rock formation by the coast of Scotland –Fingal’s Cave- which confirms this legend of the two giants. Finally, these strangely-shaped rocks have become very famous and even an icon of Northern Ireland.