Portugal

One great thing about learning Spanish is that it helps you understand the related languages and cultures of many other countries.  My hosts took me to Portugal for the day, to a city called Porto (Oporto in gallego).  There I saw many things common to Spanish culture. Like Santiago, Porto is a medieval city with winding, narrow streets.

 It has a big cathedral on a hill in the middle of the city, and it lies on the River Douro (in Portuguese), which you Spanish IV students know as el Duero.

Between 1580 and 1640, Spain and Portugal were actually the same country and the royal families of both countries were closely intertwined for centuries.  However, Portugal became a country well before Spain did (1149), and the Portuguese are very independent.  One thing they are known for is there beautiful tilework, or azulejos.  The paintings are put on the tiles before they are fired, and then the individual tiles are assembled on the buildings.  The word azul is part of the name for them, because frequently the color was blue on white tiles, but they were actually done in many different colors as well.

Here is a picture of a mosaic in the train station. Sra. Dopico, an English teacher who is one or our hosts, says the station has over 20,000 tiles!

These are not paintings on the walls -- everything is tiles!

La Música

As in almost every culture, music is important to Galicians, and they enjoy many different kinds.  For example, yesterday in a café I heard 70's and 80's rock in English, including a song by Pink Floyd.

On Sunday evening, I went with Sra. Quintans, our other exchange host Sra. Dopico, Sra. Gasser, and some other friends to a municipal band performance.  Like Naperville, Santiago has a band that performs series of concerts for the community to enjoy.  This one was in a church of a convent, with the theme of Holy Week, and the musicians wore formal dress, like tuxedos.  I was sitting in the front row at the concert, and it would have been considered rude for me to take photographs, but here is a video of the band performing in a plaza next to the Cathedral:  Banda Municipal de Santiago

However, the most interesting musical experience I have had so far was attending a concert by Joan Baez on Saturday night.  Of Mexican and Scottish/English heritage, Joan Baez, is an American folk singer who became popular in the 1960's and 70's.  She is known for performing at Woodstock and helping to launch Bob Dylan's career.  More importantly, she has been a social and human rights activist for many issues ranging from protesting the war in Vietnam to singing "We Shall Overcome" during Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 march on Washington D.C.

My colleagues here in Santiago told me that Baez is important to Galicians for several reasons.  First, for those who were teenagers like you in the 60's and 70's, she was a singer of their youth.  She sings in both English and Spanish, and most Galicians have a long tradition of folk songs and stories.  But the most important thing is that Baez's lyrics and activism struck a chord with Spaniard's deep-seated discontent during the repressive dictatorship of Francisco Franco (Spanish IV students -- more to come!)

During the concert in Santiago, Baez sang folk songs from the U.S., a song in Arabic (Spanish IV students -- do you know what the connection is?), and a song with lyrics from Galician poetess and folk heroine Rosalía de Castro, for whom our exchange partner school is named.

Here are a couple of sites for more information about Joan Baez and her music:  joanbaez.com  lastfm

El Mercado - Saturday March 28

Saludos, Estudiantes.  Saturday was a very interesting day.  My host, Sra. Quintáns took me to the market in Santiago.  We have also had with us this week a girl from California, Kelsey, who is here in Galicia for a whole year on a Rotary "Gap Year" visit.  She is staying with Sra. Quintáns' brother for part of her time here and came to Santiago to go on some of our field trips with us.

This is Kelsey and I at the entrance to the market.

Although there are many supermarkets, bakeries, butcher shops, and convenience stores, many Galicians like to get their fresh meat, seafood, and produce from the market. It is very different from our way of grocery shopping in Naperville.  At the market, it is important to talk to the vendor about what is fresh that day, what dish you will prepare with that food, and how many people will be eating it.  Then, the vendor can recommend the right thing for you and, if it is meat or fish, cut it just to your liking.  We bought las almejas (clams) and la lubina (sea bass) for our big meal on Saturday, and then we bought el bacalao (cod) to make a dish for our meal on Sunday.

Most seafood at the market is very fresh -- still alive and moving!

This is la lupina that we bought to eat.

Another thing that is popular at the market is something that our newer supermarkets, like Mariano's, are now offering.  You can purchase a piece of meat or fish, and there is a special part of the market where they will cook it so that you can eat it right there.  Also, just like our farmers' markets during the warmer months of the year, you can buy fruit, vegetables, flowers, and baked goods.  Since Sunday, March 29, is "Palm Sunday" in the Roman Catholic Church, you could also by olive branches. According to the Bible, people placed them and palm fronds along the path that Jesus took as he entered the city of Jersualem.  I learned a lot at the market!

Stalls selling fruits and vegetables

Two Days at School

On Thursday and Friday, we were at Rosalía de Castro to attend classes.  As you have been learning in your Spanish classes, other countries have typical school days that are very different from ours. Students don't attend every class every day, and our Naperville Central students from this group told us that teachers have much more of a "lecture" style of instruction than we do at our school.

The school building is around 400 years old and has some fantastic architecture:

Although the style is different, you would recognize many things that we also have at our school.  There are pictures of students and information about their activities and awards.  There is a TV in the entry vestibule that has been showing pictures of the exchange groups from the two schools when the Galicians were our guests last Fall.  Works of art and poetry by students hang on the walls of the hallway.  There was even a "bake sale" (donations on the honor system) to raise money for the school's trip to France.

Yesterday, Sra. Gasser and I met with the "Inspector" or the equivalent here of a school district's superintendent.  Like our Superintendent Bridges, he is responsible for the administration of a few dozen schools in and around Santiago.  He explained to us his duties and showed us the criteria he uses when evaluating the effectiveness of his area's schools.  He said that Rosalía de Castro functions very well without much intervention from him!  He also asked Sra. Gasser and me about differences in our educational systems and roles of teachers.  We had a great conversation.

After that, Sr. Inspector attended part of a meeting that our host teachers had arranged for Naperville Central students and the 20 Rosalía de Castro students who will visit us in 2015.  Yes, they have already been chosen and are really excited!

This is a typical classroom at Rosalía de Castro High School.

During the meeting, we showed them March's issue of "Hawk TV," and then our students talked to their students in both Spanish and English.  The Galician students, of course, had many questions about what our school is like and how it is different from theirs.  Talking to our Naperville students now will help them look forward to their visit to us and know a little more about what to expect.

If you would like to host one of these 20 cool Rosalía de Castro students during the end of September and the beginning of October, please let your Spanish teacher know.  We will get you an application some time before the end of our school year in June.

A Day in La Coruña

Today we traveled by bus to La Coruña, a large, modern city on the Atlantic, the northern coast of Galicia.  The city is ancient, and its most important building, the Tower of Hercules, is a World Heritage Site.  The Tower, built by the Romans as a lighthouse, still has signs of the exterior ramps that were used to haul fuel up to the top for the light. We found out from our guide that there are many legends associated with La Coruña, including that the tower was initially built in victory by Hercules, who buried underneath it the head of a terrible giant he had slain.  Ancient Galicians considered this part of the coast to be the end of the world that they knew.
 More about La Coruña

This compass rose, above, at the base of the Tower of Hercules, represents the four cardinal directions and the seven Celtic Nations.  Galicia was settled by Celts long before the arrival of the Romans.  The Tower of Hercules also served for many centuries as a point of defense from attacks by everyone from Vikings, to the British, to Napoleon's troops.

La Coruña also has a strong connection to our host city, Santiago de Compostela.  Important pilgrims used to disembark from ships here to begin their journey by foot or on horseback to Santiago.  The Church of St. James in La Coruña has a statue of Santiago dressed as a pilgrim.  In this 13th-Century church, we also looked (below, right) as the guide described markings in the stones made to acknowledge the trades' guilds that gave money for its construction.  For example, a pair of scissors etched in one of the stones represents the tailors' guild.

Next, we visited the Mount of St. Peter, which has a spectacular view of the entire city, a peninsula with a port side and a beach side. The land was formerly a military base and not open to the public until the end of the 20th Century.  In the 1920's, two huge artillery canons were bought and transported from England, to provide protection for Spain's coast during the uneasy time between Europe's first and second World Wars.  The two pieces of artillery (on one of which we ares sitting, below) were only ever fired in practice and were eventually de-commissioned by the Spanish military.

 Finally, to the righ is a picture of us in the Plaza de María Pita, a military heroine of the 16th Century.  A local butcher's wife, María Pita rallied men, women, and children to defend the city against an attack by a huge army of British privateers, including Sir Francis Drake.  The citizens of La Coruña were able to repel the British, and María Pita's legendary bravery and reputation as a trouble-maker persist to this day.

Tuesday, March 24 - Mass at the Cathedral

At 11:00 a.m. today, our group set out for the "Pilgrims' Mass" at the Cathedral, celebrating the end of pilgrimage on "El Camino de Santiago" for people from all over Europe, Latin America, and from the United States -- Naperville Cental!










Rachel Romero (below, left), joined Rosalía de Castro student Andrea García Lemos to read the Invocation during the service.  Rachel's father is from Galicia, and we know this was a proud moment as she represented all of us from Naperville Central in expressing our hopes for a future with young people building bridges across languages and cultures.  Although not everyone from Santiago is a practicing Roman Catholic, the Cathedral and its associated history, art, architecture, and ritual are a large part of their culture and community identity.

At the end of the service, eight men pulled ropes to swing the Botafumeiro, or giant incense burner, from one end of each Cathedral transept to the other.  Although the incense represents purification and prayers rising to heaven in the Roman Catholic tradition, our tour guide on the previous day had also told us that in the Middle Ages, it served to eliminate the odor of the many pilgrims who regularly crowded the Cathedral.

Feel free to watch my shaky video of the Botafumeiro -- sorry if it makes you a little motion-sick!

The Cathedral in Santiago

Monday, March 23, was the first day we attended Rosalía de Castro School.  We started with a welcome in the principal's office.

Rosalía de Castro prides itself on valuing "arts and letters."  Monday was "Poetry Day," and Galician students visited their teachers' offices to give them small scrolls onto which they had copied a favorite poem.  Also, each year the school recognizes an international author, who then visits the school to accept the award.

After students attended a morning class, we went to the big Cathedral of Santiago, the final resting place of the remains of Spain's patron saint, the Apostle St. James.  During a tour on the rooftops, mostly in Spanish, the guide told us some of the history of the Cathedral, on which construction began in the 800's, and of the city of Santiago.  Students learned about the different architectural styles used over centuries of construction and renovation:  Romanesque, Gothic, and Baroque.  Galicia's extremely wet climate means that the various towers and facades of the Cathedral must be frequently cleaned and restored.

Students learned that from the Middle Ages through today, pilgrims have walked "El Camino," or the Way of St. James to visit the Cathedral and be forgiven for their sins.  There are several "Caminos" throughout Spain that all lead to Santiago, but on the most famous one, pilgrims start in southern France.  Traditionally, after the harrowing journey on which they faced hunger, disease, and bandits, pilgrims bathed in a fountain in one of the squares and burned their traveling clothes.  Nowadays, in order to get a certificate for traveling the Camino, pilgrims must get a passport stamped along the route of either 100 km on foot or 200 km by bicycle or horse.

A Day in Vigo

Greetings from Santiago, where Sra. Gasser and I just returned with our hosts from Vigo, the largest city in Galicia.  We attended the Festa da Reconquista or Festival of the Reconquest.  Spanish IV Students, no, not that Reconquest, the one where Middle Age Christians recaptured territory conquered by the Moors.

This one celebrated the defeat of Napoleonic troops in the Spanish War of Independence against the French in 1809.  We heard and saw a musical group, some of whom played the gaita, or Galician bagpipes, and dancing of the muñeira, the typical dance of Galicia.  Yes, there are bagpipes, from the ancient influence of the Celts, as we are learning in Spanish IV.

The little boy on the steps has his own toy bagpipes.

Afterward, there was a re-enactment of the city council of Vigo debating what to do about the impending French invasion.  Their loyalty is questioned, as a local noble takes control and jails them, but the new authorities he appoints are then forced to surrender to the French.

The women of the city list the atrocities of the French and demand action from the city council.

French troops arrive to suppress the common peoples' call for a defense of the city.

A second re-enactment, which was to take place later today, would have shown the people of Vigo mounting a defense and throwing out the French, as happened throughout Spain.  We didn't get to see that part, because we were strolling through the beautiful port city and having a traditional lunch of pork and potatoes.

I found out that Vigo was also the site of the first trans-Atlantic cable linking Spain to New York, as well as the setting for Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  Legend has it that a Spanish fleet loaded with gold was sunk by enemies off the coast of Vigo, which was then sought by Captain Nemo.

Madrid Barajas Airport

Yes, I know, there are Starbucks at the airport, but fortunately I remembered where to get a real café con leche for Sra. Gasser and myself.  

A Little Background

Hola Estudiantes,

In Spain overall, people use "vosotros" pronouns and verb forms to talk to groups of friends and family members.  Also, people in Galicia are bilingual, speaking both castellano an gallego fluently.  Frequently, gallegos speak their own dialect at home with their families and castellano at school and formal work situations. I have included some links so that you can familiarize yourself with these ideas.

When to Use Vosotros

The Difference Between Vosotros and Ustedes

Galician Language: Pride and Survival

Aprende Gallego - Lección 1, El alfabeto