Posted by Chris Showers on July 12th, 2010.
 A large screen was put up in the Plaza Mayor of Burgos this afternoon so that soccer fans could watch the final match of the World Cup. Right now as I’m writing this, the Queen song “We are the Champions” is blasting from speakers on the street below my house. No, Spaniards don’t just really like Queen — the song is being played over and over again because Spain won the World Cup this evening. It goes without saying that, since the win, there has been some massive celebrating going on here in Burgos. It’s safe to say that these Spaniards really know the meaning of the phrase ”party hearty.”
The afternoon started peacefully enough with almost everyone in the city heading to the Plaza Mayor to watch the final match of the World Cup on a large screen that had been set up just for today. As you can see from the picture above, there was a big turnout of red-clad, Spain-supporting, Burgos-dwelling people. The afternoon turned out to be a tense one: it was a really close game. Still, Spain won in the end.
When Spain won, what did those watching the game in the Plaza Mayor do? They went to the Plaza España, of course. Why? To jump in the fountain and celebrate the victory. Now, I’m no soccer expert and I could be missing something, but I don’t really see the connection between “victory” and “jumping in a city fountain full of cold water to celebrate.” Of course, that’s just me. In any event, the celebration started about two hours ago and it’s now 1:00 a.m. and still going strong. I have a feeling it will last well into the night.
In any case, I send my congrats to Spain’s team. This is the first World Cup that Spain has won and it deserves the victory. ¡Enhorabuena España! Continue reading this post…
Posted by Chris Showers on June 8th, 2010.
I woke up this morning at the usual time and, just like every other day, set out for the Plaza España to catch the bus that would transport me across the city and to the school where I work. After a few minutes at the bus stop, I began to realize that I was having to wait for the bus for a lot more time than usual. At first I thought my “number six” bus line was just running a little late… but then it dawned on me: the civil servant strike.
You see, city bus drivers are civil servants in Spain. As civil servants, they are included in the 5% average pay cut that Zapatero recently announced to help reduce Spain’s deficit and thus “save” the country from the financial crisis. Of course, this announced pay cut didn’t exactly go over very well with the civil servants (surprising, right?) and today they all went on a one-day strike to speak out against the change.
Spain seems to have become the “hot topic” in Europe right now with respect to the financial crisis and everyone is wondering if it will become the “next Greece.” Personally, I don’t think that things in Spain will reach the level they did in Greece; but, I’m no economic expert. In any case, if you’d like to read more about Spain and the financial crisis, you can check out this very good New York Times Blog article that explains the situation much better than I can.
I don’t really know how “worried” I should be about the crisis. In fact, I sometimes think that people here are blowing the whole thing a bit out of proportion and hoarding money unnecessarily. I suppose it’s understandable to an extent: nobody wants to be without a job or loose money that they have spent a lifetime saving. Still, I can’t help but feel as if Spaniards are overreacting. Who knows? Maybe I’m wrong.
In the end, thanks to the civil servant strike, I had to take a taxi to get to school today. Let’s hope they don’t strike again anytime soon… taxis are much less convenient (and more expensive) than city buses.
Please, leave your thoughts about the crisis in Spain in the comments below. I’d like to know what others think about all this — expats and Spaniards alike. Continue reading this post…
Posted by Chris Showers on January 5th, 2010.
 Visitors view the humongous Nativity of the Burgos Cathedral. I have memories from when I was a child of helping my mother set up the Christmas tree and the Nativity set in our home. I never really liked doing the task that much because there were always so many lights to put on the tree and so many little figures to put into the Nativity set. In fact, I’m sure my mother would tell you that I complained quite a bit about having to do the chore.
It turns out that I probably shouldn’t have complained so much. Why? My mother’s Nativity set was nothing compared to the monstrous ”Nativity on steroids” of the Burgos Cathedral. In fact, I think my mom’s Nativity contained a Joseph, a Mary, a Baby Jesus, the Three Wise Men, and a couple of camels… it probably had no more than ten pieces. The Nativity set of the Burgos Cathedral, on the other hand, contains over 1,200 pieces. How’d you like to be the guy who has to put that thing up?
All joking aside, it’s not all that uncommon to put up a very large Nativity set here in Spain. Continue reading this post…
Posted by Chris Showers on December 31st, 2009.
 As part of the Christmas festivities in Burgos, a "Christmas Fair" was set up in the Plaza Mayor in which people purchased crafts from local vendors. I’ve decided to title this post “Merry (ongoing) Christmas.” You may be asking yourself why I’ve put the word “ongoing” in the title and the answer is really rather simple: in Spain, Christmas is not over yet. In fact, I’ve discovered that the Spanish love to “make the most” of their holidays — no matter how big or how small they are — and that’s exactly what they’ve done with Christmas (you’ll see what I mean in a moment). Continue reading this post…
Posted by Chris Showers on December 5th, 2009.
 Signs advertising the Christmas Lottery are EVERYWHERE in Burgos. I was walking home from a class tonight when I noticed a small “pattern” start to emerge: lighted signs advertising the “Christmas Lottery” were on just about every street corner. I always knew that Spaniards were a little crazy about their “Lotería de Navidad;” but, I guess I’ve never before noticed the extremes to which the craziness goes.
If you’re not familiar with the Christmas Lottery in Spain, it’s basically a huge lottery drawing held around Christmas that the entire country buys a ticket for (or maybe two tickets, or sometimes three tickets, and there are probably cases of people buying four tickets, or five, but certainly not more than six… or seven). The truth is that the popularity of this lottery is unbelievable.
Since I’m not Spanish, I don’t totally understand the attraction to the Christmas Lottery — I suppose your odds of winning are higher or the jackpot is bigger, but since I don’t play I’m not really sure. In any event, I can tell you that people stand in long lines to buy Christmas Lottery tickets at places where winning tickets have been sold in the past and, in general, the entire population goes “crazy” buying up all the tickets in existence in places like tobacco shops, bars, and official lottery retail outlets.
So, if you’re Spanish and you’ve bought a ticket for the Christmas Lottery this year, let me wish you all the “suerte” in the world… and please, do leave me a comment explaining what you think is the attraction to the Christmas Lottery in Spain. Continue reading this post…
Posted by Chris Showers on November 29th, 2009.
 During the winter, churros stands like this one begin to crop up all over Burgos. It’s easy to eat these delicious delicacies; however, it’s somewhat more complex to order them. The winter has finally arrived to Burgos. The days are darker, the temperatures are lower, and the people of the city are sporting their “Eskimo attire” to combat the cold. Of course, if you don’t like bundling up to stay warm, you could try another “heat-seeking” technique: eating freshly made churros.
Since the weather has begun to get colder, churros stands (like the one pictured above) have been popping up all over the place around the city. For those of you who don’t know what churros are, they’re basically rod-shaped pieces of fried dough that are covered in sugar — the Spanish version of the doughnut. The truth is, nothing quite warms you up on a winter day like some freshly fried churros along with a little hot chocolate to accompany them.
Despite their delectable goodness, ordering churros from a street vendor posed a bit of a problem for me when I first moved to Spain. It turns out that ordering churros is more difficult than you might think. Continue reading this post…
|
|
Recent Comments