JUNE 24TH - 26TH 2003
June 24th, 2003
I’m so tired right now! We didn’t get home from the
San Juan celebrations until 2am!
San Juan is celebrated the night of June 23rd
every year. Thousands of Mallorcans head to the beach to take part. When you’re
at the beach, you and your group place several candles in a circle (which is big
enough for yourselves and your bags.)
You then
draw a line connecting the candles in the circle, to keep the bad spirits and
the witches away. Just before midnight, if you like someone, you write their
name on a white piece of paper, put it in one of the candles, jump over the
candle 3 times and collect the ashes from the burnt piece of paper then put it
in your grading or flower pot. At the stroke of midnight everyone rushes into
the ocean. They each throw 3 pieces of one fruit, 3 flower petals and 3 coins
into the water and then make a wish while looking at the horizon.
Last night the beaches were crowded! So many people came out to celebrate San Juan! Fireworks randomly went off during the evening. We ate Spanish omelet (tortilla Espanola) which is egg and potato-it was delicious! We also had croquettes- which I couldn’t stop eating. They’re chicken in a batter.
Our candles died before midnight, so after we finished eating Christine and I went off to look for some more but we didn’t find any. At midnight we all went into the ocean and made our wishes. There were so many people in the water and it was pitch black. As Christine had said, if the people in the plane that flew over our heads saw us all they would’ve thought we’d gone mad! All in all San Juan was a really interesting celebration.
Today I worked at Marineland- I even got to wear one of the worker shirts! At first I was in charge of these little motorcycles as well as a huge blowup trampoline that could fit 5 kids. In the beginning I didn’t understand what Maria Jose had told me to do, but I eventually caught on. It was hard since she has a Mallorcan accent! I never knew that Mallorcan was an almost completely different language from Spanish! I thought it would be like Canadians and Brits-same language different pronunciation but I was wrong! The 2 languages share similarities but have different words as well.
After about 2 hours doing those 2 activities I was told to go to the train. Operating the train was more fun since I got to press different buttons to make it move then stop. One woman didn’t speak Spanish or English or French and didn’t understand that she had to pay more money before going on the ride, so she and her family just left without going on the train the end. Noellia was working at the simulator right next to the train. I was talking to her for a bit and she’s 19 and still in school. She lives with her boyfriend and is working at Marineland for the summer.
CLICK ON THE MARINELAND BROCHURE TO BE DIRECTED TO THEIR SITE
Wednesday June 25th, 2003
I’m
very hot and sticky right now- I think I have a fever. I took some codeine to
get rid of my headache and it’s almost gone now.
We had a little trip to Deia
today- it’s a little ways after Valldemossa.
Our first stop was just outside Deia outside
a beautiful old manor house. Just beyond it we had an amazing view of
Sa Foradada which means the hole. The ocean
water was so blue and clear- we could see the bottom from the couple hundred
feet above sea level that we were. We were standing right at a cliff-I was
worried about falling over when we were taking pictures!
We arrived at Deia,
which is a lot smaller that Valldemossa and has virtually no tourists. The
shopping/supermarket in Deia comprises of
only a few stores. After having some really fresh orange juice and a taste of a
typical Mallorcan breakfast called ensaimada
(picture on right) we headed up to the highest point of
Deia where there was a little church. It was
quite a big hike up the hill and I was exhausted when we finally reached the
top. There was a spectacular view from the graveyard next to the church
(view below left, church below right)- the
village was below us and the ocean behind us.
The
graveyard is quite famous because Robert Graves’ tombstone is there. He was a
Mallorcan who died and was a popular poet. I befriended a little dog who was
there all alone and he wouldn’t stop following me around! Eventually I had to
run away from him and I felt terrible!
Around midday we drove to the beach in Cala Deia. The road was narrow and had many turns so Tony had to honk the horn before we turned every corner so we wouldn’t hit another car if it was coming from the opposite direction.
The beach was full of people and very small. The rocks and pebbles reminded me a bit of England. The beach was between to mountains and had many little caves. Tony informed me that there were jellyfish and octopi there! The octopi grab white feet-wow I wish I had shoes or fins on! Tony’s dad once came to the beach and his foot was grabbed by an octopus!
The
ocean water was very salty- so much that I thought my skin was peeling but it
was actually salt!
On our way back home we saw some Mallorcan donkeys, which Christine says are going extinct. We also passed by the road that leads to Michael Douglas' mansion Finca Estaca (shown to the left). Everyone came home to have a siesta (nap) I should’ve had one- I would’ve felt better! The hot climate really wipes you out.
Thursday June 26th, 2003
Today I worked at AquaPark
for a couple of hours in the afternoon. I started off at
AquaCity and took a look
around then went on the simulator (which was a weird Rollercoaster ride in the
Grand Canyon). I talked to this guy Kiko-he’s 28 and works the simulator. He
actually tried to speak to me in English! He speaks about as much English as I
speak Spanish.
CLICK ON THE AQUACITY BROCHURE TO BE DIRECTED TO THEIR SITE
At AquaPark I met 2 people. Ana, who’s 24 and manager of that park, as well as Gabriel who works at the park. Ana was really nice and only spoke Spanish but she kept chattering on as if she’d known me for more than a couple hours. Gabriel’s 19 and speaks Spanish and French, which was helpful since when I didn’t know how to say something in Spanish I could ask him in French how to say it. I really enjoyed working with Ana and Gabriel- the 3 of us had many water fights since it was so hot.
I also met some Scottish teenagers today at the park. They’re going home on Sunday, just like me. They were really nice and interested in my project and about Canada. They asked me so many questions about how it was living at home!
For the evening we went to downtown Palma (the old area) for some sightseeing and tapas. We went inside La Seo (shown left), which is a HUGE cathedral. The ceiling was extremely high and there were beautiful arches and figures. There were also many stain glass windows. I think it’s the prettiest cathedral I’ve ever been in.
After visiting the cathedral we ate some
tapas then went on to a restaurant owned by one of Miguel’s friends.
At
the restaurant I met Ivan Campo- a famous football player! He started off
playing for Real Mallorca, then played for Real Madrid and he just finished a
season playing for Bolton in the English Premiership.
(Picture of Campo and I to the right).
Word of the day: Llave = key
JUNE 27TH-29TH SELF-REFLECTION
RESEARCH NEW ENVIRONMENT
