Out for a tour one fine Sunday afternoon, my friend Edu and I zipped down the highway on his moto through the hills and dessert surrounding Huercal-Overa. I started to tell him how lucky I felt to live here. He slowed down the motorcycle to ask “Why?” Typical Huercalense. “Because,” I said, “look at this nature! The mountains, desert, beach. For one thing, it is beautiful, and for another, you never run out of things to do.” This has become evident in the last couple of weeks. As Tiffany and I are preparing for the half-marathon in Barcelona on February 14, we’ve been discovering different paths and routes around the town. The dry river bed (called the rambla) is one of our favorites. During one run, we came across the Huercal spelunking/hiking (senderismo) club who were putting climbing holds into the wall of an old railroad bridge. As the name implies, this club goes hiking some weekends in the nearby mountains and occasionally descends into a cave or two. So we’ll be hanging with those guys in the future. Aside from senderismo, the athletic community in general is impressive with groups specifically for cycling, club teams of various sports for all ages, and a handful of people who run the big races regularly. Not bored yet, thank you very much.
To an American, Spanish birthday traditions may seem backwards at first glance. For example, in the United States when you go out with a group of friends on your birthday, everyone expects to bring you presents and buy you drinks and food and whatnot. But in Spain, the celebrated one is expected to buy drinks for invitees. No problem, though. Look at it this way: This is to symbolize, and in essence to re-enact, that on this particular day many years ago, you were a gift to the world. Ah, beautiful right? That is to say, my birthday in Spain was wonderfully spent first at work, then at home, and lastly with friends for whom I did buy some drinks, as would the Spanish woman I hope to become one day. While at dinner with my co-workers the following night, they generously provided me with a cake, poster, and flamenco accessories.
Alicante,Valencia, widely claimed to be feo feo (ugly) by its residents, is in fact a fantastic fun place and apparently the place to celebrate Halloween in Spain. In light of this Tiffany (who studied in Alicante in 2008), Margaret, and I made a journey North this weekend to the grand yet quaint Valencian city. Friday we enjoyed the nightlife, Saturday hiked the Moorish castle, Sunday soaked up the beach, and then it was back to home sweet home Huercal-Overa for Halloween night. This American tradition has by no means penetrated the boundaries of Spain, but has seeped in a little bit. Knowing this and eager to share this tidbit of my culture, I construed a costume at the last minute on Sunday night and went out to show it off. I endured a few stares until some Spaniards with actually scary costumes arrived and showed me up. It’s wonderful to be here!
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