Today was a religious festival in Salamanca, celebrating San Juan de Sahagun, the patron saint of the city. I don’t really understand what this means. I get the whole idea of patron saints, but I don’t understand any specifics. There were a lot of little girls in white dresses (one kept lifting up her skirt; awk), and there was a bullfight (corrida de toros) in town. I gather it’s something like July 4th but just for Salamanca because EVERYTHING was closed, but it was really just a bizarre afternoon. So this is how my day went down:
I slept in until 1 because I went out the night before, which in Spain of course means I didn’t get home until after 4 (“you came home too soon last night! and were up so early this morning” is what my senora told me). Then I putzed around watching the first two world cup games.
At 7 I went out to meet up with some kids to watch the USA game. I could hear people singing as I walked in the street and I thought that people here were finally getting excited for the World Cup. Wrong! [sidenote: the Spanish do not care about the World Cup until Spain begins to play. One woman tried to convince me that it didn’t start until next week. Also, they are very pessimistic about Spain’s chances] EVERYONE (todo el mundo) was wearing green and a lot of guys in green and white striped jerseys. I thought at first that Salamanca had been invaded by Celtic fans, but they were in fact Real Betis fans. I eventually learned that the Salamanca soccer team is playing Real Betis tomorrow nearby. But why is everyone in Salamanca rooting for a team from Sevilla instead of their home team, especially on the festival day that celebrates their own city? And why are they dressing for a match 28 hours before it starts? Good questions, I have no answers.
When we got to the Plaza the green-clad men had grown to a very large number and were singing football songs in small circles. There were also men dressed up as if for the running of the bulls [all white with red sashes and bandannas] - some were dancing with old ladies and others were running away from a guy dressed up like a bull. It was a fun sight. I could only snag a few sub-par pictures:
It was really very strange and rather inexplicable. Some guys tried to talk to us but I had no idea what they were saying, which is probably for the best anyway.
We watched the USA game in a bar where we were definitely the only people who cared about the game. But they had it on a big screen for us and a large group of Americans yelling about soccer could excite just about anyone, so we got the bartender involved at least. Horrible game, but great result for the USA. Robert Green, may heaven help you - you have my sympathy. Met some other kids - 2 Brits, a Dane, and a Dutchman. So that was fun.
After the game we rushed across the city to watch the fireworks (I guess it really is like 4th of July). They were fantastic! Very beautiful overlooking the city and the river and the old Roman bridge. They were very nice, but the best part is the spanish kids behind me, though it’s really hard to hear them. They kept saying what the fireworks looked like: “Heart! Heart! Heart! Strawberry! SO BIG! Bananas!” (bananas was my favorite comment).
Then Hannah and I trekked through the crowds back to our apartment, encountering the bamboozled Englishman and several other interesting characters. One guy rushed up to me asking me for help, asked where I was from (“new york” “new york? en serio? perfecto!!”) and then asked me to talk to the girl he was on the phone with (“she is a lovely girl”). I figured he was either trying very poorly to hit on me or to rob us in some way. He wasn’t doing either. He honestly wanted me to speak with his girlfriend to help her with her English. It was strange. Then we stumbled into the middle of a Real Betis hooligan songfest.
We watched the USA game in a bar where we were definitely the only people who cared about the game. But they had it on a big screen for us and a large group of Americans yelling about soccer could excite just about anyone, so we got the bartender involved at least. Horrible game, but great result for the USA. Robert Green, may heaven help you - you have my sympathy. Met some other kids - 2 Brits, a Dane, and a Dutchman. So that was fun.
After the game we rushed across the city to watch the fireworks (I guess it really is like 4th of July). They were fantastic! Very beautiful overlooking the city and the river and the old Roman bridge. They were very nice, but the best part is the spanish kids behind me, though it’s really hard to hear them. They kept saying what the fireworks looked like: “Heart! Heart! Heart! Strawberry! SO BIG! Bananas!” (bananas was my favorite comment).
Then Hannah and I trekked through the crowds back to our apartment, encountering the bamboozled Englishman and several other interesting characters. One guy rushed up to me asking me for help, asked where I was from (“new york” “new york? en serio? perfecto!!”) and then asked me to talk to the girl he was on the phone with (“she is a lovely girl”). I figured he was either trying very poorly to hit on me or to rob us in some way. He wasn’t doing either. He honestly wanted me to speak with his girlfriend to help her with her English. It was strange. Then we stumbled into the middle of a Real Betis hooligan songfest.
And when we got to the Plaza, an extremely random hot air balloon.So all in all, a very strange day that I can’t really wrap my head around. I certainly think Spain does “religious” holidays differently than the US. All I know for sure is that, well, something’s happened somewhere.
Tomorrow we go to Segovia - site of the famous aqueduct. So look for that update sometime in the near future.
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