Tiki-Taka Comes To Town

At the end of Week 4 heading into my 5th Week and the key milestone of my first month here in Mallorca. Here's the latest.

So Thursday night, like with all the other weeks, I headed out in the evening to experience the wondrous night-life of Palma. This time, I decided to check out the various bars and music venues found in the alleys and narrow streets just off the Passeig de Born in the City Centre. I started off at the Jazz Voyeur Club on Carrer d'Apuntadors where I saw Wonderbrass, a light-hearted Spanish jazz band consisting of 3 interesting men: a Drummer who simultaneously played Tuba, a Saxophonist/Clarinetist/Singer and a Trumpet/Singer. Although I arrived very late into their set, the band didn't disappoint with their humourous playing style, bouncy jazz, easy-going attitude and the rather curly moustache of the Trumpeter and their get-up. Their music made me feel like I was in a black and white French film set in inner city Paris and  you could clearly see they were enjoying themselves which is something I always value when watching live music. Afterwards, I headed off to the Caller Jaume Ferrer to check out a bar I'd been looking at online called Agua. The bar holds an Open Mic night on Fridays and Sundays so I went to inquire about that as well as getting a feel for the place. I got chatting to the barman, Rich, an American from New York as well as a couple of expats who were some of his regulars who were very welcoming and encouraging. Lourdes needs the house in Alcúdia for next Friday night meaning we'll be spending Friday night in Palma for a change so I'm gonna take the opportunity and head down to Agua with my guitar to play my first real gig of sorts not just in Mallorca but in Spain so I'm looking forward to it. That should feature in one of my next posts so stay tuned! After leaving Agua I was heading back to where I'd parked the bike to head home when I got chatting to an Irishman, Dean from Donegal, and the Tuba player/Drummer from Wonderbrass in the street who convinced me to check out some more live music taking place down the road at a bar called Bluesville. Dean and I found the tiny bar just down the road as the drummer had said and after meeting up with a Norwegian called Isaak who Dean had met earlier that night we sat down with a few beers to watch Los Peligrosos Gentleman, a Spanish Rock & Roll/Soul/Blues band who played their own songs in English with great skill and passion. They were later joined on  stage by the Trumpeter and drummer from Wonderbrass who both played their own Trumpet solos which as a Trumpet player myself I appreciated greatly as did the audience who boogied around the make shift clearing in the tables which served as a dance floor. Dean didn't seem too interested in the music and spent much of the time complaining about the current economic and political problems in Ireland so to avoid further boredom from my Irish companion I decided to finally head off considering my Au Pair duties the next day. I expect I may return to that area of the city a few more times while I'm here.

WonderBrass @ Jazz Voyeur Club

Los Peligrosos Gentleman performing at Bluesville

On Friday I received one of the most unexpected of surprises. With the International break on and the last lot of regular qualifying matches for next summers FIFA World Cup in Brazil I expected to be having a quiet night-in streaming the vital England vs Montenegro game however Josep returned home at lunchtime with some rather exciting news. As he entered the flat he casually told me that he could possibly get us tickets to see Spain play Belarus that evening in Palma. At first I couldn't really believe him as it was such short notice. When I go to watch Norwich with my Dad we book our tickets weeks in advance and that's just to see Norwich let alone a national side who happen to be the world's number one ranked side! Sure enough, Damian (Aina's dad) came around a few minutes later with passes for the match! Later that evening ,after Marta and the kids had set off to Alcúdia, Josep and I cycled up to the Iberostar Stadium-home of Real Mallorca on the outskirts of the City (stopping off for a cheeky Kebab and beer on the way) to see the match. Having parked our bikes we entered the stadium flashing our passes to security as we went to eventually find ourselves on pitchside. Now, the passes Damian had given us for the match were for the Musicians who played the National Anthems and at Half-Time so when it came to the final security guard before we could get to our seats in the first tier he wasn't at all convinced that we were Musicians especially considering I was there wearing my bright red Spain shirt with Torres no.9 on the back whereas the musicians were in smart navy blue suits. We were redirected up through the stands to find an alternative way of reaching our seats which meant by the time we reached our seats we had missed the National Anthems but thankfully not kick-off itself. Throughout the course of the evening I noticed several key differences between football matches in Spain and England: 1.Kick-off time. The game started at 10PM which compared to most evening games in England starting at 8PM is way past our collective bedtime 2. Security. When entering matches in England you are treated like a potential terrorist trying to board an Airplane as large blokes in fluorescent jackets frisk you down looking for items on their banned list in all crevices of your being. Considering that by just flashing a piece of card a few times managed to nearly get us on the pitch I think it would be fair to say the Spanish are more relaxed when it comes to security! 3. Match grub. In England, many fans will indulge themselves in a pie or curry and a cup of tea/bovril or a few pints of Beer to wash it all down. Before this match, there were people in the streets selling Serrano ham baguettes and what seem to be some kind of nuts. Josep and I shared a bag of these nut like things during the match in which you bite into it to one to get the nut from within and leave the various shells littered across the floor. I would hate to be a cleaner at a Spanish football ground! 4. Smoking. It's now forbidden to smoke at matches in England whereas people here were just lighting up as they pleased and no one batted an eye-lid, well, except me that is 5. Music. Anyone who has ever watched any England home match live or on TV ever will have heard the infamous England brass band playing patriotic hits such as The Great Escape, God Save Our Queen and Come on England but in Spain their equivalent is Manolo el del bombo, supposedly the most famous football fan in the world. He has attended nearly every international match for Spain since 1982 in his typical large beret carrying a bass drum which he uses to get the crowd going. At the start of this match he ran out onto the pitch ahead of the players, simply a true icon of Spanish football.

My pass for the match. Pretending to be a musician

At pitch level before Kick-Off

Outside the Iberostar stadium after the match

The match itself was fairly entertaining in comparison with the last time I saw a Spanish national team play (a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford vs Morocco at the Olympics last year, the most BORING football match I've ever attended) as the Spanish pass masters displayed their famous Tiki-Taka style of play however their Belorussian opponents more than coped with it by doing a Chelsea and 'parking the bus' making it difficult for Spain's All-Stars (including Swansea's Michu making his debut) to make any real impression during the goalless first half. Spain jumped into action in the Second Half when Andrés Iniesta, the scorer of Spain's World Cup winning goal in 2010, came on and started making greater problems for the Belarus defence which lead to the game's first goal. A corner from the right wasn't cleared properly and after Iniesta attempted a pass across the edge of the box, the ball fell perfectly for the Spanish captain Xavi Hernandez to blast the ball through the legs of the hopeless Belarus goalkeeper. The already noisy stadium bar all 5 of the Belarus fans I saw lept to their feet in celebration creating a mass sea of Vibrant Red and Yellow screaming with pure ecstasy. Just 10 minutes later Spain had a second, a cross from Pedro on the right side found Man City's Alvaro Negredo who scored with a superb diving header into the bottom corner, a truly great goal. Despite a late Belarus goal against the run of play, Spain won the match with an unsatisfying yet comfortable 2-1 scoreline meaning that they just need a win next Tuesday vs Georgia to qualify for the World Cup. Although the match wasn't quite as impressive as the 4-1 spectacle in the England vs Montenegro game, I can now proudly say I've seen the World Champions play and for me there is nothing greater in Sport than being there yourself. Like Spain, England also need a win in their final qualifier vs Poland to book their place in Brazil so I shall indeed be having that quite night-in watching England as I planned next Tuesday.

Me posing at Half-Time. We had great seats very low down in the stand so you were watching the game almost at ground level. Almost felt like we were playing! 

Xavi Hernandez taking a free-kick for Spain in the first half

Corner to Spain in the second half which they scored from not long after

Fans of  'La Rioja' celebrating Xavi's goal

Saturday afternoon was spent around at Marta's Grandmother's house for lunch in Alcúdia with various other family members where I tried out Cannelloni (Canalons in Catalan) for the first time which Aina amongst others had spent making the previous night which most certainly worth the effort. Probably one of the nicest meals I've had here. Afterwards, I snuck out of the house to take some shots of the bay that is literally a stones throw from the house. The coastline here is by far one of the best things about Mallorca and it would be great to photograph during the summer, guess I'm going to have to find an excuse to come back here someday... That evening, I headed out with Josep, Marta, Damian and Aina's mum (who's name escapes me as I write this) into the centre of Sa Pobla for my second Oktoberfest in two weeks. It took place in the main plaza of the town, down the road from where we watched the Balero dancing the previous Saturday, where the various bars that lined it were draped in Bavarian flags and serving German beer and Bratwurst sausage while a DJ played various popular current songs as well as some Mallorcan favourites. It was most certainly a more relaxed Oktoberfest than the one I had experienced in Palma the week before however it beat having a night of doing nothing and I found it amusing as Damian got more and more drunk and started dancing around to the music and claiming that I look like Wayne Rooney (oh dear god, no!).

One of the pics I took of the bay. In the distance is the port of Pollenca

The Sa Pobla town hall in the main plaza at night

Beers in for Oktoberfest round 2!

So, that's what's I've been up to most recently, well all the exciting parts anyway. As promised in my last post, I do plan to write a blog entry about my new daily routine in Mallorca as well as some of the more mundane activities that I've been up to here which just simply don't merit the right to be included in more exciting posts like this one however I feel the need to mention them somewhere.

Now that I am finishing this post in the early hours of Monday morning, it is now just one week until I turn the ripe young age of 19 so I shall have something to say about my first cumpleaños in Spain in the near future. Expect to hear about the results of Tuesday night's football (I really do apologise to those of you who don't appreciate the beautiful game) as well as some nights out over the weekend.

Better get some sleep so I better leave it there for now,

¡Buenas noches a todos!

FP

#FraserOnTour

FOOD OF THE WEEK: Cannelloni