Fire!

Two weeks ago I was sitting at my computer (which faces out the window), and very innocently eating breakfast and reading emails. I looked out the window as I took a sip of coffee and saw puffs of smoke floating by... look! gasp!

The smoke was coming from little flames in a glassed-in balcony across the street. It was a breezy day, so even as I grabbed my cell phone and called Spanish 911 (112) I could see the flames getting bigger and bigger. There were some guys working on a roof below my apartment, and they'd stopped to stare at the fire. People began to come out onto balconies and lean out windows; I'm sure I wasn't the only person to call the fire department. I talked to the nice lady, who asked me all these questions I couldn't answer, like what the address of the building was and if there was anyone inside. Finally she told me the firemen were already on their way, and the flames were getting bigger.

(If you look closely you can see a Little Old Spanish Lady peeking out her window in the upper left corner)

In the distance we heard sirens, and the firemen pulled up and went running into the building. At this point the flames were huge and the roof was smoking; glass was cracking in the heat and falling in shards onto the street below. I couldn't believe what I was seeing; mostly I couldn't believe how familiar it smelled. Like a camp fire, or burned popcorn, or our wood stove at home. But that was someone's house, someone's home... Luckily there was no one inside, and no one was hurt. I had a perfect view of the jet of water coming from the inside of the apartment, spraying the flames and extinguishing them. Then the firemen came out looking very official and TV-like in their helmets and reflective suits.

I took a video of it; the pictures are one thing, but to see it in real time makes it seem more real.

The apartment is still charred and black; it seems like no one is living there, the apartment is still wide open to the air, and they haven't made any attempts to fix anything. I still don't know how it started - knowing the Spanish penchant for cigarettes I wouldn't be surprised if there was an errant spark somewhere.

So there you have it, my most recent adventure and first experience as a firefighter. Although by those standards anyone with a cell phone can be billed as a hero.

Rehearsal Videos

Just in case you haven't had enough of me gushing about choir.... here are some rehearsal videos. I like these better than the concert videos - although of course the quality is poor, I love how the voices sound in the empty cathedral.

Dadme albricias, hijos de Eva

Que bonito niño chiquito

 

The Really Big Show; Or, My Spanish Television Debut

First, let me apologize for talking about Christmas in February and subjecting you all to Christmas carols only two months after the real thing -- but such is the life of the blogger, always a day late and a dollar short...or I just haven't gotten around to it until now...

When I went home for Christmas this year I was leaving the same night as the choir’s Christmas dinner. It’s very common here for groups – the faculty from school, choir, sports teams, offices, etc. – to go to a restaurant to celebrate the holidays. Usually the restaurant will have a special set menu for these occasions, and this year we went out to the very ritzy golf course for ours. I had to catch a bus at midnight to make it to the airport for an 11am flight to New York. I wasn’t sure how I’d make it to the dinner from my apartment with my big suitcase and then make it to the bus station on time. But one member of choir, a tenor and one of about four Fernandos, offered to drive me. Not only did he drive me to the bus, but picked me up at his apartment, advised me when I should start saying my goodbyes at the dinner, carried my suitcase, drove me to the bus station in the pouring freezing rain, and waited with me until the bus left.

I should also mention that the only reason I was at the choir dinner was because I changed my ticket to stay three days later than originally planned. Our big Christmas concert was in the Cathedral downtown this year, and it was televised throughout Spain – kind of a big deal. My first ticket home was for the day of the concert – but upon much insisting from the choir director, Manolo, (who is an infectious disease specialist and had many fears about a cold or the Swine Flu running rampant through the five-member soprano section), I changed my ticket to leave two days later, AT THE CHOIR’S EXPENSE. So they paid over $300 for me to stay three extra days and sing with them. Needless to say, I felt very loved and valued! And I was so, so happy to be able to be there for our major concert.

And the concert! It was amazing! We performed in the Cathedral, which we’ve done before, but this time there was a whole formal fancy shmancy television crew, complete with seven different camera angles, bright lights, and the Cantabran Minister of Culture to introduce us. We sang a variety of Christmas music – some new pieces (one that we debuted, with the composer in the audience), some old classics (Mendholsson), a medley of carols from around Europe (in German, Italian, Spanish, and French) and some newer classics from the Anglo-Saxon tradition, which made it really feel like Christmas to me. We sang another medley of traditional English (and now American) traditional carols, including the hymn version of “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem,” which is my favorite carol ever.

It was really special to be singing songs that mean so much to me with people I’ve come to love so much, and after we’d worked so hard to sound good. And to top it all off, it was televised both in our tiny province and all over Spain! I didn’t see the footage until a few weeks ago, though, because I was home by the time it aired. We got a DVD of the concert, because one of the tenors works for the national TV/Radio organization, but since my computer is American, I can’t watch it. Luckily he uploaded a lot of videos of the concert to his youtube channel. (See below)

A lot of my friends here came to see me sing, which meant a lot to me. A number of American friends, some Spanish friends, and even the wealthy family of my five-year-old student I talk about in a previous post (mom, grandma, and two adorable kids) came all the way from Torrelavega to see it. In a few of the videos they focus on the kids, I’ll be sure to point it out with the video links. Afterwards, some American and Spanish friends and I all went out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants here, fondly nicknamed “The Sausage Place,” and ate delicious veggies, homemade sausages, calamari, and little baby squids (‘chipirones,’ my faaavorite Spanish food) all piping hot off the grill. Mmmm.

The only thing that makes me uncomfortable about the concert is that the cameras focused on me a LOT. Everyone was telling me how much I’d ‘come out’ on the footage, even the night of the concert, as it was televised live within the Cathedral so people sitting behind pillars could see. Then even when I came back from the US almost a month later, everyone from my students at school to friends of my old roommate told me how often I was featured. It’s embarrassing. I hate watching myself sing (or worse, listening to myself – at least I can’t hear my own voice very clearly on these recordings). But I suppose that’s the way it goes. At least my everyone at home who's been asking can see it now!

Coro de Cámara Acapella de Santander – December 18th, 2009 – Cathedral, Santander, Spain(listed in order of performance)

"Neujahrslied and Hark the Herald Angels Sing," Felix Mendelssohn 

(Introduced in baby talk by my student's two-year-old brother, Juan)

Puer Natus medley (various composers from various centuries)

*          *          *          *  

(The following carols are traditional sixteenth-century Spanish songs, sung by a reduced choir, and with instrumental accompaniment, including two “rabeles” -  traditional Cantabrian violin-like-instruments)

No la debemos dormir

Verbum caro factum est

Dadme albricias, hijos de Eva

Que bonito niño chiquito 

(The title means “What a beautiful little boy,” and notice at the beginning they very appropriately focus on my five-year-old student, Luis, and his two-year-old brother, Juan)

Gaudete 

(The whole choir returns)

 *          *          *          *

"Here is the Little Door," Herbert Howells

"Tota Pulchra es Maria," Vytautas Miskinis

"Jeg er sa glad," traditional Norwegian carol

(Part of the "European Christmas Journey.")

"Dziaj betlejem," traditional Polish carol

(Part of the "European Christmas Journey.")

English/American Carol Medley

(Closeup of my face looking stupid – did they know I was the token Anglo Saxon??)

I wish I could put the whole concert up here for you to see - I know it's a hassle to click through all the links. Or am I flattering myself?! Maybe you all like the pick-and-choose aspect of it. Not everyone is a choir nerd, after all. I do wish, though, that he'd posted more of the European carols - mostly for my Mama, because we sang her favorite ("Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming," or "Est ist ein ros entsprungen" as we sang it in its original German). And "Adeste Fideles" and "Silent Night" (sung in four languages - my friend counted and we sang in a whopping eight languages that night), with the whole congregation standing and singing along. Some Christmas traditions are universal.

Oh, and it would have been funny to see more of the classic Spanish Christmas carols, mostly because I didn't know the words to any of them, nor had I heard them more than about twice. As everyone else in choir could sing them in their sleep (like us with "Jingle Bells," for example), we rehearsed them once and didn't use sheet music. Mostly (I imagine) the shots are avoiding me, but if there is one, I'm sure I'm smiling foolishly at the director and utilizing the oldest choir trick in the book - say "watermelon watermelon" in more or less the right rhythm and hope it looks OK.

Video Postscript: Revelry in Toro

After our concert we were treated to a dinner above the theater with all the other performers - it was a community concert in honor of St Cecilia, so the local guitar orchestra played with a guest flutist, a funny little man sang funny little songs, and afterwards we all ate and drank and everyone sang. It reminded me of music parties at our house, or some of the festivals we went to when I was younger - with alcohol and good times come the traditional songs that everyone knows and spontaneously begins to sing. It was so great! 

(Keep an eye out for the Spanish Old Ladies in their fur coats and full makeup)

 

I Love Choir (and Our Trip to Zamora)

After singing for my entire life in one form or another, I knew that when I came to Spain I wanted to find a choir to join. I had great choir experiences throughout childhood and high school (yes, I’ll admit it now, even though I complained mightily about NMH Concert Choir and Select Women’s Ensemble), but was disappointed in the offerings in college. Don’t get me wrong – my acapella group, the ConnChords, were (are) my saviors, my sisters, the lights in my life through my four years at Conn. But I missed classical singing, and found that the Chamber Choir left much to be desired. So imagine my excitement when, through simple internet searches, I stumbled upon the blog for a choir right here in Santander. I listened to the videos and it seemed to be exactly what I was looking for – about forty members, with a high level of musicality, a great sense of community and humor, but with a low-pressure, non-competitive feel. I sent an email to the director listing my ‘credentials’ and experience, and was invited to come to a rehearsal. In hindsight I know I needn’t have written so formally and talked myself up so much – I’m sure he laughed to himself when he read how serious I was trying to make myself sound. But I went to that first rehearsal, and, as they say, the rest is history.

Everyone in choir is simply wonderful. They are interested, inclusive, friendly, caring, hilarious, MUSICAL, and take care of me like one of their own. Especially now, in my second year, I feel more comfortable than ever with them and with my Spanish. I can laugh and joke along with them, and I really feel like a part of the community, a part of their ‘musical family’ as the director called it in an email once. They remind me of some of my mom’s kooky (and totally wonderful) music friends at home. The majority have been singing together since college (everyone is in their 50s minus me, the director’s two teenage daughters, and 30-something-year-old Maria), and are all the best of friends. 

Last fall, in November, we went away for a weekend to the province of Zamora, which is to the south and west of us. The town governments of Toro and Urueña invited us to come and sing a few concerts and a mass for them. In Spain, “invited” means that everything was paid for! We took a bus down and stayed overnight in a nice hotel, had good meals at a convent (?), and enjoyed the star treatment for the weekend. I was a little worried at first, not knowing if I’d have anyone to hang out with, if I’d be included, who I’d share a room with, etc. But it turned out to be one of the best times I’ve had in Spain. (I shared a room with Cristina, who is 15 and very sweet)

We visited a lot of the historical stuff in the area, lots of churches with beautiful frescoes… I had planned to make that a list, but mostly what we saw were churches! One of the monasteries/churches had one of the biggest reliquaries in Spain – if you don’t know what a reliquary is…just think dead guys! Pieces and body parts of various saints and religious things, all encased in glass or framed. Very creepy, and very cool. 

The young priest at the church where we sang mass Sunday morning was really candid with us, admitting that most (all) of it was rabbit bones or the remains of some anonymous human beings that had been dug up and sold as religious artifacts. That Sunday was St Cecilia’s day, so we sang a mass in her honor, as she is the patron saint of music and musicians. The church has a cross separated into little compartments full of bone powder from various saints, one of them being St Cecilia. At the end of the mass you could come to the front of the church to kiss the cross and pay your respects. 

Being slightly germaphobic I decided just to touch it and not kiss it. They also had a spine from the crown of thorns Christ was crucified in and the (now) shredded flag that was used to scare away the Turks in some ancient important Spanish battle. 

It was also nice to be back in Castilla y León, which is the province where Salamanca is, where I studied in 2006. It’s amazing how varied the Spanish landscape is – where I live, in Cantabria on the north coast, it’s very green and lush and hilly, and the Picos de Europa mountain range are visible to the south, usually covered with snow. Castilla y León, however, is the famous “plain in Spain,” (although the rain stays up here, and not down in the drought-plagued central parts of the country). It reminds me of the western part of the United States, open and flat and a lovely brown prairie color.  Of course, in the US we don't have amazing castles disrupting our prairies...

The best part of the trip, though, was spending time with everyone in the choir. I know it sounds sappy, but I am so grateful every time I go to rehearsal – not only are they great people who have accepted me into their family, but we make beautiful music together. All you Chords and music-types out there will understand what I mean when I say it makes it so much more special and multi-dimensional when you work hard to create something beautiful with people you love.

a (not so brief) update on my life in spain

Hello family and friends! in case you didn't know, i am back for another year in spain... but it appears this blog has become more of a thing to be neglected and felt guilty about than a good way of keeping in touch. what follows is a (slightly) edited EPIC email i sent to my parents a few days ago. upon my mom's suggestion, i've added it here. it's not well written or edited for grammar etc, but it's a basic (long) rundown of my life here at the moment. i will try to keep updating on more specific things. but suffice to say i am happy to be back, am making friends, and am very busy with work (as you'll see below). enjoy!

things here are good, but very busy. somehow when i have internet i find myself wasting lots of time instead of taking advantage and keeping in touch with important people. now that i've taken my turn in online scrabble via facebook, i've found the time to write to y'all.

they still haven't paid us for october or november, so we're all struggling a little bit to make it to the end of this month, when a whopping 700 euro will (supposedly) arrive in our bank accounts. most people still have to pay rent and maybe put a deposit down on housing, so it won't last long. luckily i've been able to live off the money i had leftover from last year. but i have about a million (9, soon to be 11) private lessons a week, so i'm doing just fine. although my some friends and i have sworn to go to both our favorite japanese place and the amazing sausage place as soon as we get paid.

school is good, just regular. i have some classes this year that i didn't have last year, with the oldest bilingual kids who are now in about freshman year. they are bad! we think they have a significant chip on their shoulders because they're the first bilingual section in the school and they've continually been told how good and talented and intelligent and special they are. they are not. they're rude and out of control and smart alecky, but not in a cute way, in a bratty, badly behaved way. i still love seeing my kids from last year; it's not that they're any better behaved this year, but i have a serious soft spot for them. the first years are pretty good, but in the afternoon class they are pretty bad. i have to figure out how to keep them interested and under control at the same time. last year i had the afternoon class with my co-teacher sheila, so it wasn't too bad, at least we could support each other and have two pairs of eyes and two disciplinarians. now i have 15 kids on my own while the other guy has the other half. i get frustrated and yell a lot and they are only quiet for about three seconds after i yell, and then it gets out of control again. i am seriously starting to worry about my vocal cords.

my private classes are going well. i have julia, the 16 year old i had last year, twice a week. she's great, i just go and talk to her and we do her homework and practice reading comprehension etc. her mom said this year she won't let me escape to the US without coming to their house to eat sometime, which is super nice.

i also meet with an english teacher who's 30, and speaks really great english. and he's really really nice and interesting, so we have a lot to talk about in our conversation class. he and his girlfriend have started inviting me to do things with them on the weekends, which is really nice. last weekend we went to an archeological exhibit here in town. look up atapuerca on wikipedia, it's this archaeological dig pretty near here that's evidently a huge deal. there they found the oldest human remains ever found in western europe, and even found a new species of human ancestors. and there is the first evidence of funerary rites EVER found in the whole world! isn't that cool?! the exhibit was ok, it was all casts of the bones though, so i didn't get to see any real dead guys. this weekend they (pablo and isabel) invited me to go to lunch at their house, so i went over there yesterday and had a lovely afternoon eating and talking with them. i invited them to our spanish-american thanksgiving celebration in two weekends, and they seemed really excited about it. i was glad to be able to invite them to something and return their inclusion!

for other extra lessons i have 4 hours a week at an english academy, which is still going ok. i have three classes, two of 8/9 year olds, and one of 12/13 year olds. the little kids are hard to handle, i speak a lot of spanish with them. oops. the older girls are really nice though, we all get along and chat and work on english. i look forward to having class with them. i just graded their first exams. i feel like a real teacher!

then i have a private lesson with a 5 year old named luis, and i go out to their house twice a week. they live in this beautiful redone house out in the countryside, and it was sunny last time i went, so we played outside some. but i feel a little uncomfortable going there, i'm not sure how i feel about it. they are super wealthy, like even have a maid/nanny who wears a uniform. last time i went there was a new mini cooper, a bmw SUV and a mercedes in the driveway. the mom drives a modest volkswagen. they also have at least 14 dogs because they breed them, bordeaux something? they're like hefty boxers with reddish brown coats. the mom often drops me off late or doesn't leave on time, so i don't know if i feel taken advantage of or not. but the kid is (surprisingly) very good, and they pay me 18 euro and come and pick me up at school and drop me off, so it's not all bad. the weirdest thing was when we were trying to find another hour a week (she wanted 2), i was looking at my schedule to try to find a slot between school and the academy, and i said something about having to leave time to eat lunch. she asked me what i'd done that day for lunch, and i'd brought a sandwich because i wasn't sure when i'd leave their house etc. and she said "oh that's good, you can just bring your sandwich and eat while luis eats." like, not offering me food at their house while they're cooking anyway and feeding the little kid...and it's clear no one is wanting for money or anything like that at this house. it made me feel a little bit like "the help." so i just eat before i go every time to save my dignity and hang out while the kid eats. i'll see how it goes, i've only gone 3 times so far.

then my friends from school last year, eva and maria eugenia want to meet once a week or so for conversation so i can help them with new vocabulary and their pronunciation. so we agreed we'd meet for lunch, they'd buy me lunch, and then over coffee afterwards we'd chat in english for a while. which is totally fine for me. free lunch! so unlike the place i described above, i just realized that. sheila also is passing along a conversation class she had last year with 2 kids who she says are just wonderful, so i will find time for them, as a favor to her and because she recommends them so highly. so all in all, i'll be making a good amount of extra money, well over half my salary. maybe i'll even save some money this year!! or at the very least have some to travel....to africa to visit katie maybe....!

my choir's christmas concert is dec 18th, which is also the day i leave to come home. but we're gonna be on TV this year! for whatever reason we're performing in the cathedral and the local tv channel is going to televise it. so cool! and i was a little bummed i wasn't going to be there, but not too badly. and then the director said the choir would pay the difference to change my ticket to come home the next day....which i didn't believe at first, and then he told me again. so i looked into it, and it will cost at least 300 US dollars just to change it, plus the difference in the ticket prices. and i told him that, saying i wouldn't make the concert because it would be so expensive to change it, and he said no no i told you we'd pay, you change it and we'll pay. so i'll look into that! wouldn't that be cool!? and SO SO nice. he has no reason to do that, they have other sopranos, they perform without me all the time, especially over the summer. AND next weekend we're going away for the weekend, the whole choir! the government of the next province over, castilla y leon, i think, invited us to come and sing a few concerts and masses, and they pay our transportation and hotels and food and everything. so we're going on a bus and staying saturday night and singing a bunch of concerts. and the last thing about choir, is that my friend raquel from school sent me an email about six cocker spaniel puppies a friend of a friend was trying to give away, or else they'd be "sacrificados." and i got so sad, i've been working really hard to find people to take them. i wish i could! so i forwarded the email with pictures to choir, and no one wanted one, and i just got a call from one guy who does want one! so i'm really happy to have been able to help the little things. they're so so cute and tiny. then raquel just got back to me saying they've all been given homes. i feel bad telling my friend from choir he can't have one, but i'm really happy they've been adopted.

today we're going to cook all day, my friends rachel, francesca, their spanish roommate marina, and i. yesterday i went to the fruit/vegetable place that's SUPER cheap and great, down the block from my house. last week i got everything to make a big minestrone soup, a whole bursting plastic bag full of potatoes, zucchini, carrots, parsnips, onions, and some fruit, and it all cost under 4 euro! and they gave me free parsley! it's a great place, rachel found it.

so that's the most recent news from this side of the atlantic. i'll write more about more interesting historical cultural things, or anecdotes, etc. at some point. for now just a simple update. take care everyone!! xox

finally finally

Well...

i know, it's been an unforgivably long time since i've posted anything. in a (soon to be expanded-upon) nutshell: i went home for christmas, came back to spain, moved out of my apartment, moved in with a friend for a month, went skiing in andorra for a week, moved into a new apartment, went to england for my godson's christening...and that brings us up to now! 

people (mostly my parents) have been asking to see pictures of my new place. i can do better than that -- here's a video! (see below)

to make a long story short, i just wasn't happy in my other place. it was freezing all the time (granted the weather has gotten considerably better since then), and i wasn't pleased with the roommate situation. her boyfriend was there literally all the time, and i found him rude, disrespectful, and generally disgusting. they also smoked in her room, despite swearing up and down that they wouldn't/didn't...so i felt like every time they lit up was a big "&%$# you" to me. so i decided to move out when a friend from school said she would look for a place with me. i moved out, and she then told me because of her job (she's substitute teaching this year) she couldn't get a place with me because she'd never know where she'd get sent to substitute next. so i was stuck. luckily my friends laurin and chelsea (hey guys!) let me stay in their place for over a month while i looked for a place. then, another friend from school told me she had a friend who had a place he didn't use...i came and looked at it, and it's perfect. i'm by myself in the apartment, which i thought would be lonely, but i love it. the place is adorable (at least i think so!), totally central, near everything i need in the city. including the gym i joined, and the train station. and get this, he's charging me less than i paid in my old place! perfect!

so i'll update on more things later. another plus of this place is i can steal internet from some nice wireless network named "THOMPSON."