My Birthday Weekend-I went a little photo crazy...

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.

Outside Bellver Castle

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.

"Welcome to Middle Earth"

Lots and lots and lots of beers

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!

Action shot

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.

David and I on My Birthday Night out. I stole this picture from David so Muchas Gracias David!

 

All of the gang

The girls and me

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.

joint FOOD OF THE WEEK: Pimientos Rellenas. A dish hailing from Silvia's native Basque country

Pulling my weight in the kitchen

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.

My view of the game

the Mallorca fans with the MC in the middle doing his thing

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

joint FOOD OF THE WEEK: The Tortilla Española Josep made for me

Special Birthday Message from Google

One Month Gone In Mallorca! My Daily Routine And Many More Things

He ya Hey yaaaaa! Uh Oh! It is now OFFICIALLY a month since I arrived here in Mallorca! My, how quick it has been. I have sacrificed a regular Thursday night out to write this post so y'all better be greatful lol. As promised, here's a post about my new daily routine during weekdays out here in Palma. It looks a little like this:

8:20/8:40AM: Wake up- After having the usual fight with the snooze button on my alarm, I begrudgingly pull myself out of bed. Depending on the exact time I wake up I may decide to have breakfast or after I take the kids to school (when Top Gear is on TV)

8:50AM: Take Simó and Júlia to school- This is just a short walk through the local park before crossing two fairly busy roads which takes about 5 minutes at most depending on how quickly the kids decide to walk.

9:00AM-1:45PM: Free Time- During this time I have free roam to do whatever I please. On Mondays and Wednesdays I go to Silvia's at 12 for my language exchange and I should be starting a second one with Aina and Sonia sometime soon. I spend the rest of this time either doing my TEFL course online, playing guitar or doing some exercise-usually Running or Swimming however I've now started to do some more Cycling. I'm slowly but surely becoming an all singing, all spanish speaking, all english teaching triathlete!

1:50PM: Pick up Simó and Júlia from school

2:10PM-ish: Lunchtime- This is usually cooked by Elena. Whilst we eat Josep arrives home from work

3:30PM: On Tuesdays and Thursdays Simó plays Football at school. This leaves me to play some games and speak English with Júlia (and with Simó on the other days) while Marta arrives home from work, has lunch, then goes to pick Marina up from nursery

5:00PM: Activities for the Kids- Everday there is something happening. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays Simó has Basketball while Júlia has gymnastics and on Fridays both girls have Swimming lessons. I go with Simó to Basketball for the hour while Marta goes with the girls to the sports centre for Gymnastics/Swimming. I don't have to watch Simó all the time while he's playing Basketball so I tend to stay and play FIFA for 30 minutes before either reading a few chapters of The Motorcycle Diaries (the travel diaries of Che Guevara, thought it would be good for my gap year) or doing some circuit training in the exercise park next to the sports centre. This park is incredible! As it is designed for exercise there is equipment dotted around it such as chin up bars and rowing machines with plenty of grassy areas for chore muscle exercises. It's like an outdoor gym! If only there was one like that in Stockport...

On Tuesdays and Thursdays ,after picking Simó up from Football at school, Marta, the kids and I take the bus into the city centre for Júlia and Simó's music lessons- Piano for Júlia and Guitar for Simó. Júlia has Ballet at 6 so Marta takes her to the dance school while I wait for Simó. I use this time to have a wander around the city centre which often ends with me watching the buskers outside the FC Barcelona shop before going in for a quick nosy.

8:00PM: Dinner with the kids and Marta. At about 8:30 Josep returns home from the IT course that he leads. We tend to head out to Alcúdia around this time on Fridays so dinner is a little later on.

9:00PM: Kids bedtime although Marina often stays up watching TV with us anyway

9:15PM: Off Duty- Once the kids are in bed, I can relax. I sit down with Marta and Josep and watch a bit of Spanish TV or any Football that's on whilst catching up on the internet world. Occasionally, Marta and Josep will go for a run at this time leaving me to babysit.

11:30PM onwards- This is more or less the time I go to bed but if I'm heading out like on most Thursday nights then that will be much later...

I know I haven't said too much about the actual Au Pair work I've been doing here but there isn't too much to say. The main idea is that I create an English speaking environment as much I can when I'm with Simó and Júlia (sometimes Marina) whilst playing games, doing music practice and preventing them from becoming slaves to the TV (la caja tonta). I'm compiling a list of all the games and activities I've done with the kids and I'll be putting it up on here by the time I leave Mallorca for anyone interested in becoming an Au Pair in the future. I have continued to get on well with all the kids. When I first arrived here, I must say I did feel a little unwelcome with the kids as they were used to their previous Au Pair Ollie so it was a bit like I was stepping on someone else's turf. However, as they have got to know me better and vice-versa, I have manages to create a rapport with them in which we share our own personal jokes and they're almost constantly going around the house singing the songs I play for them on guitar which I find amusing. I have spent a lot more time with Marina as the weeks have gone on and although she refuses to call me by real name and instead insists on calling me "Efrer", she has got used to me being around and we've even traded words in our respective languages! I have taught her "Hello", "Thank you", "Shoes" and "Sock" and as she only really speak Catalan; I have learnt several new words which like with my Au Pair games I'm adding to a list to be uploaded onto here by the time I leave. The word which she seems to use the most is "Aquest" meaning this/that however the first Catalan word I have learnt here was "Gelat" which means Ice Cream!

For many of you who have been reading my blog posts over the past month, you will have seen that I've been writing a lot about all the exciting things that have been happening so far on my gap year all of which have given off quite a positive vibe. Now I don't mean to be a party-pooper but, I'm afraid that many gap year blogs and other such things only seem to go on about the good side of things so I would just like to take a minute to put into perspective the harder and not so glamorous things I've had to deal with so far, a lot of which is mainly psychological. A gap year is something quite strange and different. It requires you to really step out of your comfort zone and to grow as an independent being. Thanks to the discipline I have gained through swimming over the years and as a solo musician I often consider myself to be quite a strong-minded individual who has never really needed a close family, a large network of friends or a relationship to get by. I often like having some alone time to myself yet what I hadn't accounted for during this year was the sheer loneliness and isolation that I have felt at times so far which has caused me to have what I like to call 'University Envy'. Now I'm on my gap year it feels like I've just hit a massive pause button on my life. Whenever I look to Facebook/Twitter or Skype with two of my best friends-Josh and Peter, I see people my age at University having a ball of a time. Meeting new people, joining sports clubs and societies, making friends, starting relationships, getting stuck-in to their degree courses. In short-becoming the person they're going to be for the next 3/4 years and for the rest of their lives. Everyone seems to be moving on with their life while I watch on alone which for someone who has been researching going to Uni for nearly the last 2 years is hard to take and it does make me question why I agreed to do this. I suppose it would help if I knew a few others 'gappers' like myself however for now it feels quite solitary. I find myself reading just about every article in the Soton Tab and Wessex Scene so I get more of feel for what Southampton is like yet I'm now starting to think this is quite unhealthy for me as I'm probably over-hyping the whole idea of University and not living in the moment. To counter this, I have been getting my head down and into my TEFL course so that I can finish it and move on with the next phases of my gap year which is hopefully getting myself a TEFL job in Asia or South America where I expect there to be a lot more 'gappers'. I've been looking up trips on sites like STA travel to motivate me and so far I've completed the 30 hour grammar course and half of the 50 hour learn how to teach TEFL course with just Video section of the course left untouched. At this rate, I should be done by mid-November at the latest!


In other news... I managed to watch the England vs Poland match on Tuesday night from a live stream on my laptop. Marta and Josep were watching Spain play Georgia on the TV next to me on the sofa at the same time so I had the privilege of keeping up with both matches and they found it especially funny when I lept up off the sofa when Rooney and Gerrard scored the two vital goals to send England to Brazil next summer. Spain also won 2-0 to qualify so everyone was happy. I may have to find a way of getting myself to the samba nation this summer whilst I'm still on my gap year!

It's now only 3 days until my birthday so I've got somethings planned to help me celebrate over the weekend. Blog-wise, I have introduced a new feature in my posts called 'FOOD OF THE WEEK'. I will be posting a picture of the dish I have most enjoyed during the week of any post I do and I have also applied this to all my previous posts if you would like to check those out (once more?). Although this week isn't finished yet, I think I've found a winner from Mondays lunch time: Marta's Courgettes filled with meat filling and topped with a layer of thick Tomato purée. Just like a Cornish pasty but with a vegetable casing, gorgeous.

I do apologise for how boring and in some cases how depressing this post has become but I felt it had to be said somewhere so why not make it my 2nd post of the week?

That's it for now, make sure you stay tuned for more posts which I can almost guarantee will be much more happy and interesting than this one. I shall have some more news for you very soon.

Ta ra for now,

FP

#FraserOnTour

FOOD OF THE WEEK

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 

ӦKTӦBERFEST YAHH! Nightswimming, Football and Spanish Scar

Howdy! Here's my latest goings on from Mallorca.

On Thursday night, Pau, his girlfriend and my new English student Silvia and I ventured to Sa Riera Park in Palma to sample the annual and now worldwide festivity that is Oktoberfest. After having spent the previous Thursday night hanging around with two Germans I felt compelled to further embrace their culture plus it was a great chance to see a bit more of the city. After taking the short    5-minute bike ride from where we live in the North of the City, me on Marta's bike, we descended upon this celebration of Germanic brilliance situated in the much more modern yet still pleasant Sa Riera park on the banks of the Torrent de Sa Riera. A large marquee had been set up in the style of a German Beerhall, a kin to what you may find across the Bavaria region of Southern Germany, with long wooden tables, waitresses and others dressed in traditional German lederhosens, long wooden tables, large barrels of Paulaner beer and a live band playing various well known rock songs as well as traditional Oktoberfest jingles and chants. As we entered to the sight of various Spaniards sat at the long tables drinking beer, the lederhosen clad brigade of waitresses and the rock band playing Abba I couldn't help but feel uber-European! Pau, Silvia and I ordered a fine hog roast with chips and Bratwurst sausages with large Steins filled to the brim with Paulaner German Beer coming to a total cost of 17 euros each which we happily consumed whilst chatting amongst ourselves and admiring the whole spectacle around us. The band were a very good and very european cover band with two blond female singers, lead guitarist/lead singer, a bass player, keyboard player and drummer who certainly didn't look like they were from anywhere near the Balearic Islands. They played all the classic rock/pop songs such as Deep Purple's Smoke On The Water (my Dad would approve of this), Johnny B Goode by Chuck Berry and Rockin' All Over The World by Status Quo and the lead singer/guitarist got to into it that he jumped down off the stage and continued to play the rest of the set stood on the tables along with the various drunk Spaniards who'd been getting into the Oktoberfest spirit. We left Sa Riera park with full bellies and in good spirits after what had been a very entertaining night. I definitely need to go to Munich sometime to truly celebrate and appreciate an actual Oktoberfest in Germany so I shall be adding that to the long list of places I wish to visit.

Oktoberfest is in town

Pau and I with our Steins, Das Ist Wunderbar!

The lead guitarist of the band playing Old Time Rock And Roll by Bob Seger on one of the tables

It was no surprise that after cycling back up the hill and home wearing chinos in the sweltering 28 degree night heat that I was rather sweaty and needed to find a way to cool off. I don't know whether it was due to the fairly substantial amount of beer I'd consumed that night or just natural eccentricity but I made a spontaneous decision to try out another new experience: Nightswimming! Once back at the flat, I quickly changed into my Speedos and grabbed my camera and iPod then headed to the Swimming Pool that is at the heart of the apartment complex. I had a little moment to myself where I took some cool shots of the pool whilst listening to the song Nightswimming by REM on my iPod. I'd never truly appreciated that song until then with the cloudless still night sky and the blue illuminations from the pool bouncing off the walls of the complex. I did a quick 200 metres or so of swimming to admire the way the pool looked underwater, seeing my hulking black shadow reflected in the lights and feeling the waves I'd created bouncing off the walls. As a keen swimmer this was something I definitely had to try at some point during my life and boy it didn't disappoint. A weirdly nice moment.

Nightswimming, it really does deserve a quite night

Proof I actually went swimming

On Friday night I headed off with Marta, Aina and Aina's parents to a music concert in Porreres, a small town in the centre of the island. The concert was organised by Plataforma Crida to honour all the teachers who had been working hard during the strike over the TIL legislation. It all took place in the park in the middle of Porreres which was rather small with minimal features however it was jam packed with people wearing the customary green t-shirts and there was a real buzz about the place. There was large open stage set up at the end of the park upon which various local and semi-famous groups played what Marta described as 'Verbena style music'-what they would listen to at one of the popular summer parties that are held across the island- basically simple happy music to get people in the party mood. We met up with Josep, Pau and Silvia there and Josep spent much of the night offering me lots of beer so that I wouldn't play well in the Fathers vs Young guys football match the following day. With all the live music, Spanish people, the natural greenery of the park, the flashes of lightning and rain, the many cups of beer being drunk and the strong smell of weed lingering in the air, I couldn't help but think back to my summer venture to Bilbao BBK Live festival except this time I didn't know a single song being played or what they were singing about! The final band of the night was a Spanish scar band and a favourite of Josep's who he'd seen various time so we really  got into it. We were jumping and dancing all over the place throwing all kinds of shapes and I did a few standard Madness moves a la my friend Luke Fern would do. Overall, a great night of partying in which the Mallorcans proved to me that they can still have fun even when it's not the summer.

Pictures from the concert in Porerres

Saturday was the day of the big football match between the Fathers (los Padres) and the Young guys (los Jóvenes) at the Poli in Sa Pobla. 'The Fathers' ,as Josep refers to them, are a friendship group of Marta and Josep's who all meet up with all their familys about once every two months for a day to catch up and spend some good quality time together and on the agenda today was football. Josep along with 4 other Fathers were one team and on the Young guys team was myself, Pau, one of the fathers called Pedro and two of Pau's friends. As the match kicked off we were missing a player as Jordi (one of Pau's friends) was late so we spent much of the game outnumbered which despite my 2 opening goals giving us a 2-1 lead proved to be detrimental as we were so tired from having to chase down their one man advantage that we ended up losing 11-9 although I did have a goal controversially disallowed as it rolled along the goal line- let's just say FIFA approved goal-line technology was definitely needed for this one. Like most amateur football matches it was a game of gaffs, goals and casualties of which I was one when I managed to fall over the ball in a tackle and land smack on my arse leaving a plum sized bruise. I promise you, landing on your arse whether metaphorically or physically is never cool and it hurts every-time I sit down now. The game ended when one of the fathers managed to do a me and fall over the ball except he was less fortunate than myself as he managed to crack his head on the hard surface causing him to go and get stitches so the match was abruptly ended. Although we lost, the last time I played football was the night before I went away to Leeds festival so I was glad to be back playing again. We later had lunch where I was introduced to a local dish literary called 'Dirty Rice', a grey-ish looking stew with rice (of course), bits of meat and some kind of seafood, which went down a treat. We then hung around the Poli for the rest of the afternoon talking and occasionally playing with the kids whilst sipping on our Gin & Tonics, the favourite alcoholic beverage amongst the group. Part of the day was spent planning a hiking trip up one of the many mountains on the island which should be happening about mid-November time so I should have something to tell you about that in the future. That night we headed into the centre of Sa Pobla where there was a traditional balero dancing event in aid of a local Alzheimers charity. There lots of cheap local food with each item costing a euro each so I had lots of Spanish omelette whilst watching the dancers do there stuff.

Los Jóvenes 5-a-side team after our grueling 11-9 defeat to Los Padres

Bolero dancers in Sa Pobla, I apologise for the poor picture quality!

Sunday was a lazy day for me as I was battered and bruised from the previous day's football match so I updated myself with the goings on on the internet whilst watching my beloved Norwich City play valiantly but ultimately succumb to 2 late Chelsea goals to lose 3-1. Some friends of Marta and Josep's came round for a bit so the kids forced me to play an impromptu concert for everyone in which I was able to sample the great acoustic the house in Alcúdia had to offer. Marta and Josep were so impressed that they are insisting that I play for the whole family at the Poli sometime. Looks like I've got a gig! The kids and even the parents now go singing the songs I play for them around the house which is really amusing (especially hearing a 7 year old trying to sing along to Breezeblocks by Alt-J but having no idea what 98% of the words are) and really appreciated even though pretty much all of them aren't even my own songs. I feel like a modern day Clement Mathieu from Les Choristes or Maria Von Trapp from the Sound Of Music-well a guy version anyway.

Just before I finished my last post, I had a Skype session with my parents and brother Ethan last Wednesday. We both caught each other up on what had be going on in our respective areas of the world and Mum told me how Ethan had secretly been missing me and had been playing recordings of me singing from my soundcloud page on the speakers at home! I must say I was surprised to hear this as he didn't seem very heartbroken when we said goodbye to each other at the airport before I came out here. Anyway, the important news is that they should be coming over for a long weekend over October half-term so I expect to see them in the flesh in just a matter of weeks.

I don't have a great deal planned yet for the upcoming days so maybe within the next week or so I will have a post about my regular routine presuming the strike is resolved. The strike is currently on a ceasefire so the kids are back in school actually learning but I doubt that's the last we've heard of it.

Anyway, I should probably stop rambling now, ciao for now!

FP

#FraserOnTour

FOOD OF THE WEEK: 'Dirty Rice' for lunch at the Poli

A week of Firsts, Protesting and Samba Dancing!

Hi Everyone! I'm now into my third week in Mallorca and finally getting settled in. Here's what I've been up to this past week.

On Thursday, after just finishing the previous post, I headed out on the town for my first night out in Palma. Last Thursday was Arthur's Day, an annual celebration for the anniversary of the Guinness brewing company, so it only made sense to go to the Shamrock Irish Pub on the waterfront to grab myself a Guinness in honour of Arthur Guinness (the founder of this great drink) whilst watching some live music. Thursday also marked the longest amount of time that I'd ever been in Spain for so there was even more for me to personally celebrate. Whilst at the Shamrock, I got talking to two Germans called Danny and Steffan who soon became my friends for the night. They were very friendly and insisted on buying most of my drinks as well as a pair of sunglasses in exchange for my company as neither could speak any Spanish! Due to the lack of atmosphere,older crowd, uninspiring live music and 5 euros for a pint of Guinness, we decided to leave and ended up a few minutes later in Made In Brasil further down the promenade. As the name suggests, Made In Brasil is a Brazilian themed bar where we spent most of the night Samba dancing. For those of you who know me well or have been lucky enough to have seen me grace one of Manchester's many sweaty; STD infested dancefloors, I am by no means a good dancer. This was and never is helped by the alcohol in my system so I was hideously slow and out of time but nevertheless it was good fun. I wouldn't mind giving it another go sometime but for now I'll stick to my cheesy novelty dance moves like the Sprinkler or the Inbetweeners dance (if you don't know what they are, go and youtube it!). Overall it was a good night out and I hope to go on a few nights out while I'm out here when it is possible. As well as my German friends I did meet various Spaniards, Brits and I met people from Sweden and Norway for the very first time which was all very interesting and especially amusing when a Norwegian man approached us asking us "What does the Fox say?"-for those of you not up to date with the most recent terrible dance music I suggest you youtube that as well.

Picture I took while Samba Dancing in Made In Brasil. This guy was the dance leader and he was incredible.Kind of looks like I'm taking a picture of his ass here though... awkward

Continuing on the theme of first times, on Friday we headed out to Alcúdia for the weekend and that evening I tried out Japanese food. This was actually a crucial test for me in terms of my University course next year as I am currently trying to weigh up which third language I should start studying when I arrive in Southampton of which Japanese is on the shortlist. I always feel it is important that when learning a language that you appreciate and enjoy the culture of the country or area where it is spoken as this makes you more interested in learning it and what is more significant in culture than food!? I must say, having tasted it now that I like Japanese food except Wasabi, that stuff is waaaaaay too spicy, however I doubt I would choose to have it if someone offered me some other type of foreign cuisine. Guess that's a point in favour of Chinese and Arabic on my list- I haven't tried any Portuguese yet so I'll have to try that sometime soon (well, unless you count Nando's as Portuguese food...). Friday also marked the first time that I played Rummikub. It turns out this is a really popular game amongst the family here and they all know how to play so I wasn't expecting to play well against them however after overcoming the confusion of Marta explaining the rules to me it all made sense and I managed to win my very first game as well as another two that night! Must have a hidden talent for it.

FOOD OF THE WEEK: My first Japanese meal!

On Saturday we all reconvened with the family at the Sports Centre in Sa Pobla to celebrate Aina's birthday who turned 22 on the Friday. The rest of the day was largely uneventful as I spent most of the day down at the local bar in Alcúdia watching Spanish football with Josep. Between marveling at how cheap the beer was (1.50 Euros for a bottle of Estrella) we first watched Barca (Josep's team) beat Almería 2-0 then later returned to see the Madrid Derby-Real vs Atlético which Atlético won 1-0 despite Real's best efforts and an appearance from Welsh wonderboy Gareth Bale, shame.

Sunday marked the day of the big demonstration against the unpopular TIL education laws. The whole family plus myself headed into the city centre clad in our Green t-shirts to protest and make as much as noise as possible to show our support for the Anti-TIL movement. It seemed that literally all the island was out demonstrating en mass with approximately 90,000 people dwarfing the protest we attended the previous week. The demonstration began in the Placa d'Espanya parading off down the main roads of the city before finishing up on the Passeig De Born again where leading figures of the movement spoke about education laws on a raised platform which was greeted with cheers of agreement and lots of clapping before the whole crowd started singing a traditional Spanish song that was sung during the era of Spain under Franco. There were many banners of which I'd helped to make a few at Simó and Júlia's school on Friday that displayed various Anti-TIL messages which included some in English. Part of the new law is that certain core subjects like Sciences and Maths were to be taught in English so many banners commented on the poor level of English that would be learnt as many teachers wouldn't be able to communicate effectively or correctly in English. It was all a very strange experience for me as we never really see protests of this scale up in Manchester but it was interesting none-the-less and satisfied my interest in Politics. Since then, negotiations between the campaigners and the government broke down last night so Marta and Josep rushed out of the flat at about 10:30PM to join various others in an impromptu gathering to demonstrate against the government. They returned just after midnight with the news that the government said they felt threatened by this sudden gathering and stated they would make a decision on the proposals of the campaigners  at some point today. We all really hope an agreement can be reached soon so that the kids on the island can all go back to regular lessons. It may not really affect Simó or Júlia as they are still in primary education however in terms of kids in the secondary schools and colleges who will be taking important exams this year, the lack of learning they've had so far this academic year could be detrimental if it continues for much longer.

Making posters at school on Friday

One of the many banners during the demonstration

Demonstrators impersonating political leaders of Mallorca

This week I started my language exchange with Pau's girlfriend Silvia which I would say has been successful so far for both of us. Due to all the Catalan being spoken around me, my Spanish has become a little rusty so it is good for me to be able to talk with someone of Castilian descent (Silvia is from Bilbao) and hopefully I can keep up and maybe even improve my Spanish while I'm here. The other side of the exchange is also very beneficial for me as I am currently doing my TEFL course online and speaking English with Silvia is giving me a chance to practice some of the things I've learnt on the course so far. I may not have completed the course yet but I already have my first student!

Today marks 19 days till I turn 19 so to celebrate that coincidental fact I am going out tonight with Pau and Silvia to check out Oktober fest in Sa Riera park. I PROMISE I'm NOT an Alcoholic!

FP

#FraserOnTour

A sea of green shirts at the demonstration

This was by far one of my favourite messages from the demonstration. I can assure you my languages ARE weapons, I'm LETHAL! ;)

Me with Aina and Sonia on Passeig de Born

Running out of ideas for games with the kids so resorted to making our own puppet theatre with Júlia