Helloooo,
So, my 19th Birthday Weekend has been and gone and now whilst appropriately listening to "Not Nineteen Forever" by The Courteeners I shall tell you how I celebrated it.
Friday was by far one of the best days I've had out here in Mallorca. I decided to take the day-off doing TEFL in favour of doing something more touristy. I borrowed Marta's bike again so I could go and visit Bellver castle, a lovely Gothic style castle perched on top of a hill overlooking the whole of Palma. I had nearly made the journey there the previous day but due to some shoddy planning by yours truly I got halfway up the hill climb to the castle when I had to turn around to go and pick the kids up from school. Despite my idiocy, I did reach the top and managed to get some great snaps of the castle and of the stunning view which it looks upon.
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| Outside Bellver Castle |
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| Me with Palma in the background |
As usual on Fridays, we went to Basketball and Swimming at the San Josep school/sports centre. Whilst doing my usual circuit training around the park, a Spanish guy approached me asking whether I knew anything about American Football and if I would like to join the team there. He had seen me working out in the park and thought I would be good at it so we got chatting about the sport and I told him about how I used to play Rugby back in England. He was very impressed and I told him I'd think about joining however it doesn't look like I can fit it into my current routine which is a shame. Must say I was flattered to be noticed though, clearly I haven't let myself go too much while I've been out here!
That night, I went out in Palma to perform at my first Open Mic and coincidentally my first gig in Spain. Josep, Marta, Damian, Aina, Pau and Silvia joined me for the night and gave me the pleasure of taking me to a really cool Cervecería/Bar in the city centre called 'Lorien'. The keen nerds out there will have noticed that this in fact the name of one of the elven realms in Lord Of The Rings so the whole place was decked out with LOTR memorabilia and celtic designs making it a worthy sister bar to 'The Hobbit' pub in Southampton. This is no ordinary cervecería not just because of the LOTR theme but because they sell over 100 different kinds of beer from across the world which led me to have a few drinks, choosing beers solely on how interesting the name was as there was such a large variety to choose from. Damian is a regular there so I may find myself in there again sometime soon for another obscurely named beer.
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| "Welcome to Middle Earth" |
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| Lots and lots and lots of beers |
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| One of the beers I tried, Judas from Belgium |
The Open Mic itself was at a bar called Agua that I had checked out the previous week and it was great fun. Rich (the barman) introduced me to Luke who runs the Open Mic there who was very welcoming and I managed to play 5 songs which is more than I would normally get at an Open Mic back home. The bar was jam packed with Brits, Germans and Spaniards a like so I didn't need to address the audience in Spanish which was a bit more pressure off my shoulders. Not only was it my first gig in Spain but it was also the latest I'd ever played a gig (about 11:20PM and 12:10AM) and the first time testing out my new pickup I'd got for my A level results which overall went down well. The crowd especially enjoyed my covers of Wetsuit/Norgaard by The Vaccines and Lightening Bolt by Jake Bugg in which one of the percussionists who resembled a native american decided to join in with me by keeping an awesome beat for the song which made it sound even better. My Spanish friends referred to him as 'Pocahontas' for the rest of the night. Overall I really enjoyed myself and considering I got free drinks for playing a few tunes that's a good excuse to play there again sometime!
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| Action shot |
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| Playing Lightening Bolt by Jake Bugg with 'Pocahontas' |
Saturday afternoon I wetsuited up for a swim in the sea out in Alcúdia. The water was really clear due to the brilliant weather we've had here recently (28 degrees most days, I think it's been over a week since it last rained here!) so it was pretty cool being able to see all the sea life and fishes swimming around underneath. Really wish I had a waterproof camera to take some pictures with when I go swimming :( In the evening we went to the Sports centre in Sa Pobla to watch the Barca match and I had a chance to speak to the bar owner-Pep who is a relative of Marta's hence why we go there so often. Like myself, he is an Alt-J fan so I told him how I was playing 'Breezeblocks' at the Open Mic the previous night and we discussed possibly getting me to perform sometime on a Friday night which I would love to do at some point.
That night, I went on a birthday night out with David, Sonia, Aina, Marga and Mireia to Banana Club in Alcúdia. Once the night eventually started when we left the house at 2AM, I had my first experience of the infamous 'botellón' which I had studied so thoroughly during my A level Spanish course. Botellón is essentially a glorified name for street drinking which consisted of us drinking Vodka-Lemonades from plastic cups outsidea a Lidl-very classy. The club itself was pretty decent and they must have known I was coming as the theme for the night was called Suit Up!. This was a night in tribute to the ever popular character Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother (which incidentally is my favourite TV show!), an international ladies man known for using a wide-range of methods 'plays' for picking up women (author of 'The Playbook' and 'The Bro Code'), playing laser tag and wearing suits of course so Guys were encouraged to come suited up for the night to get cheaper entry and a free glass of RedBull/Champagne. David knew some people who work at the club so he got me free entry as well as various free drinks for the rest of the night while I showed off all my 'best' dance moves to the various Spanish and English hits that were played. I found it funny how whenever there was an English song everyone seemed to turn to me expecting me to know all the lyrics including such hits as 'Bangarang' by Skrillex, 'Wannabe' by the Spice Girls and the last tune of the night: 'Hey Soul Sister' by Train which is ridiculously popular over here! The night finished at 6:30AM, a whole 3 and a bit hours later than most nights out in England however having done 24 hours of being awake during Leeds Festival this summer that didn't really bother me. I fancy going out again for Halloween so hopefully I'll be able to celebrate at Banana as well.
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| David and I on My Birthday Night out. I stole this picture from David so Muchas Gracias David! |
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| All of the gang |
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The girls and me
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On Sunday, Pau and Silvia joined us at the house in Alcúdia to have a birthday meal for Silvia who turned 30 last Thursday which I helped to cook using my mediocre yet improving skills in the kitchen. The main dish was Pimientos Rellenas (literally translates as filled peppers) which were huge red peppers containing meat and melted cheese, went down a treat.
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joint FOOD OF THE WEEK: Pimientos Rellenas. A dish hailing from Silvia's native Basque country
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| Pulling my weight in the kitchen |
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| Silvia with her birthday lemon tart |
That evening I headed back to Palma with Damian and Aina to go and watch Real Mallorca vs Real Madrid Castilla (Real Madrid's B Team) in a Spanish 2nd Division match at the Iberostar Stadium. When we arrived, I met with Marta's work colleague, Hugo, to watch the match (Damian and Aina are season ticket holders so they had different seats) in the hardcore supporters area of the stadium where there was an MC in the crowd leading the various chants with a microphone which were in Spanish as opposed to Catalan so I could join in! Hugo is a football fanatic from Asturias who travels all over Europe to watch matches so he was great company and easy to talk to about all things football related. Considering tickets were only 8 euros each and Mallorca winning 2-0, I may be joining Hugo for another match before I leave. The Football in general here is much more entertaining to watch than in England even if the crowds aren't quite as animated.
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| My view of the game |
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| the Mallorca fans with the MC in the middle doing his thing |
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| My ticket for the match, 8 euros!!! |
My actual birthday was a fairly chilled affair. Being on a Monday, it was just a normal day really however Marta and Josep did make me a meal of my choice for dinner. Tortilla Española (which along with the pimientos rellenas is my FOOD OF THE WEEK), Salad which was NOT drenched in Olive oil or salt for a change and home-made sorbet for dessert. I then spent the rest of the evening Skyping with Josh, Peter and my family to get a scoop on what life is like back in Blighty and so that my family (plus a cameo appearance from Ethan's friend, Edwin) could sing 'Happy Birthday' to me. My family (minus Imogen) are arriving here in Mallorca on Thursday and will be spending the weekend here so we can spend sometime together while doing some touristy things and maybe watching 'El Clasico' (Barca vs Real Madrid) with Marta, Josep and co. if I can persuade them. There is also a national strike over TIL on Thursday so that should be interesting.
So that was my birthday weekend. Fair to say it was better than going out for Monday night at Jesters which would've been the other option had I been at Uni instead of here. Hope you liked all the pictures!
I would just liked to say a big thank you to everyone who wished me Happy Birthday whether it was on skype, on my facebook wall, on my twitter or in person. I know that for most of you reading this that I'm not really in your life at the moment but it is nice to know I haven't been forgotten :)
FP
#FraserOnTour
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| joint FOOD OF THE WEEK: The Tortilla Española Josep made for me |
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| Special Birthday Message from Google |
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