Fraser on Tour!: Hallostormoberferbenaperú: a week of weather changes, failures and festivities

Hi!

So, I know I've been going on about how we've been having lovely weather here in Mallorca and how there hasn't been a drop of rain for the past two weeks. Well... that all changed on Tuesday afternoon (29/10/2013).

Just as Simó was about to leave for Football, the skies opened up and in the space of about 15 minutes the streets were flooded like one of the scenes from the terrible disaster film 'The Day After Tomorrow'. As Marta tells me on many occasion, when it rains in Spain people panic and all plans made are swiftly changed so instead of going to Football we were confined to the flat where I played songs on my guitar for Simó and Júlia to pass the time while lightning lit the skies and thunder rumbled in the background. If there ever was a perfect time to play Lightning Bolt by Jake Bugg it was now. I guess this storm was what was left over from Storm St.Jude that terrorised the South of England (including Southampton) earlier that day. This has pretty much officially kick-started the autumn/winter period here as the temperature has now dropped to roughly 22 degrees or lower a day and there is a lot more grey in the sky and even as a thick-skinned Anglo-Saxon male I now have to wear a jumper when I go out in the evening cos it's so cold. I still wear shorts and a t-shirt during the day though!

View of the storm from the flat

Octopus on Wednesday night

Last week came the scariest night of year (supposedly)-Halloween. This was the 2nd time I had spent Halloween in Spain having been in Salamanca on a work experience trip the year before however this time I wasn't that excited for it. As a former Performing Arts student and Musical Theatre 'Actor' I'm not gonna lie, I LOVE to dress up; so Halloween is my kind of deal. I had wanted to go out for the night, get dressed up and paint the town like I did the previous year which ended up being one of the craziest nights of my young life. Unfortunately, by the time I got organised and decided that I wanted to go to Banana Club in Alcúdia where I went for my Birthday 2 weeks earlier, all tickets were sold out so instead I went out in Sa Pobla with Marta, Josep, Aina and Sonia to watch some live music at a bar where Pere Antoni works-not dressed up. The bar was a narrow establishment in the main plaza of the town which was almost jam-packed with people once the music started. I've been to and played in some pretty small venues but to highlight how small this place was I actively had to get up on stage and push past the female singer of the band just to get to the toilets, something I've never had to do before. Although it was a much more tame night in comparison with Halloween 2012, a good time was had by all which included me getting hit on by a gay guy... don't ask.

Live Band

The younger members of our group

Picture of the band from the loos backstage

Friday was 1st November and thanks to the catholic worship of All Saints Day it was a bank holiday and an early start to the weekend. After taking a lie-in to recover from our late night, we spent much of the afternoon at the Poli in Sa Pobla where they were hosting an Oktoberfest event, my third one this year which wasn't even in October (odd). So for the third time in just under a month, I gorged on fine German Bratwurst sausage and guzzled down fine German beer while my friends David, Pere Antoni, Aina, Sonia, Mireia and Marga worked hard at the bar dressed in German get-up. I was supposed to be providing some live music for the customers and was rather looking forward to it after uploading a new video to my youtube channel in mid-week (check it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW_gAbf1XA8) yet Pep had remembered to bring the amp but not the mic so I couldn't perform which was a big shame. The day wasn't complete without recognising the hole purpose of All Saints Day which is to go and pay your respects to the dead relatives in your family so we headed to the cemetery in Sa Pobla to visit the graves of Marta's grandparents amongst others. From what I have seen in the newspapers and from what I found when I went to the cemetery in Sa Pobla, the cemeteries in Mallorca are grandly designed with artistic gravestones and a small chapel in the middle which I think truly honours those who have passed away.

The girls getting into the Oktoberfest spirit

David hard at work

Me with the older, young and even younger girls

Oktoberfest Yah!

Cemetery in Sa Pobla

Much of saturday was a typical lazy weekend kind of day in which I sat apprehensively watching the England Rugby team's first match of the Autumn Test Series vs the old enemies Australia. To my surprise, England won 20-13 so all my nervous mutters and shouting profanities at my laptop screen weren't in vain. I now realise that watching England play Rugby is the closest I'll ever get to truly understanding what it is like being a Barca/Real fan during El Clasico especially with stupid online buffering creating even more suspense. On a down note, my football team Norwich City were slaughtered in true halloween fashion 7-0 by the vampires of Manche$ter City so mood levels were reduced slightly.

That night, I headed out with Marta, Josep and their friend Juan to Es Gremi, a music venue on the outskirts of Palma, to a concert marketed as an indoor Verbena, something none of us had ever experienced before. A Verbena is a type of party that happens in the towns across the island during the summer in which a live band plays catchy music in the main square while people drink copius amounts of alcohol and dance until the sun comes up. Yet again we weren't able to get tickets so we missed most of the first band but fortunately the doors were opened towards the end of their set so we could join in. This verbena was quite a toned-down version of what is expected in the summer considering it was indoors but it was great fun dancing around to some bouncy Spanish music ad the occasional English disco tune by the two bands playing (La Pegatina and La Loca Motora) and gives me another reason why I want to return here in the summer sometime to experience the 'Party Island' for myself.

Indoor Verbenaaaa!

La Pegatina

Unexpected Brass Band

La Loca Motora

The partying continued on Sunday with una fiesta peruana (Peruvian Party). Over the summer a group of the cousins including Núria and Aina went on an epic trip around Perú and brought back various things to show and tell us about so it seemed like a great excuse to throw a Peru themed party. The house was decked out in Peruvian flags, textiles and Peruvian hats whilst Peruvian music played beneath the collective chitter chatter. We all tucked into a sumptuous feast of Peruvian cuisine (something I had no prior knowledge of) in which I tried a whole variety of new dishes such as Ceviche, Papas a la Huancaína and Ají de Gallina, a curry style rice dish containing chicken and nuts which fights off some pretty close competition for this week's FOOD OF THE WEEK. There was such a grand choice of food that I couldn't help getting my camera out and becoming some kind of cross between an instagrammer and a stereotypical trigger-happy Asian tourist as I took photos of literally everything laid out on the table. The party finished off with some slideshows of the cousins' trip to Perú which I found particularly inspiring. Life has reached a certain point of monotony here so the idea of travelling has become very appealing to me once more and considering South America is one of the many places on my world travel bucket list that I am yet to tick-off so it was nice to get a feel for what Perú is like and ask some questions about the country.

¡Fiesta Peruana!

Peruvian Cuisine

Ají de Gallina, this week's FOOD OF THE WEEK

Inka Kola. Essentially yellow Irn Bru...

Marina looking cute

Partaaaay!

Perú slideshow

I must admit that during this past week I haven't felt quite like myself. Don't get me wrong, I'm still having a great time out here, but even when I've been out doing things I just feel like I'm going through the motions a bit. This is largely due to the realisation that in the not too distant future I will be returning home for Christmas and the excitement of seeing my friends and family again has given me my second bout of homesickness. It is also the sadness that I will be leaving soon and the daunting task of sorting out the next leg of my gap year which means an even greater emphasis on my TEFL course to get it finished, rewriting my CV and sending off job applications-a process I very much hate. Sunday was probably the lowest day I've had out here after receiving some pretty bad news from life back home. Although many things were on my mind in the late morning and then the evening, I used the early afternoon to go for a lengthy sea swim with my wetsuit to clear my thoughts then the Perú party was a rather welcome distraction that allowed me to forget about things for a few hours and to really fall in love with the concept of travel again. Overall, a lot of mixed emotions.

To end this post on a slightly more positive note, just like to make a big shout-out to all my buddies from the Salamanca trip last year and hope you're all doing great at University/College. I've been reminiscing about our week together and I miss you all. It would be great to see you again sometime in the future.

For anyone interested in the idea of work experience abroad, please check out Halsbury travel's website:http://www.workexperienceabroad.co.uk/ My trip to Salamanca last October/November was one of the real highlights of my year and I gained so much from the experience.

Until next time world, peace out.

#FraserOnTour

FP