Moros y Cristianos: Alcoy:

This last weekend, i was in Alcoy, Alicante where the triumph of the Christians over the Muslims in the fifteenth century was celebrated. after 7 centuries of Muslim occupation, the Muslims were thrown out of Spain, and this little snippet of history is represented every 21- 24 of April in the little pueblo of Alcoy. Almost the entire town participates, dressing up in either muslim or christian outfits, each in a particular group. The most important characters are the muslim and christian captains, who fight on the castle on the last day of the festivities. After that, the second in comand and the "favorites" of the captains- the captain's wife, daughter, sister or friends. And these townspeople don't just dress up for the parade and then return to normal life - no, they stay in character all day, everyday, through the night and send their costumes out for some serious dry cleaning on the fifth day. The music never stopped and the fireworks went off basically all day. What impressed me the most was the mezcleta, where hundreds of fireworks go off simultaneously and you feel like your eardrums will burst. I had never, never imagined such noise was possible. The combination of the feeling of fiesta, great food and moors and christians dancing in the streets all day and all night, just made it... so Spanish.

Well, on Monday I return to real life. Not that being a vacationing-tourist was easy, oh no- eating currywust in Berlin, taking in the sun in Retiro Park in Madrid, and kayaking in the Duratón river-- they tire you out, let me tell you. All vacations must come to an end, and life always begins on Monday- with a language test on a book that you don't even know the title of...

So spring break:

Destination: Berlin, Germany.

Company: co-rotary-exchanger Janine Docimo

Host: Toni Kroeger and Co

Dates: March 26 - April 2

Itinerary:

Day 1: Arrival in Berlin after a stop over in Dusseldorf. We eat our very first currywurst ever (see link below). Then to track practice with Toni and realization that its not just a stereotype that most Germans really are quite tall, blond, and attractive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currywurst

Day 2: Breakfast of "quark" and delicious jams, honeys and tiny-rolls at Toni's dad's house. Later, a tour of Madrid by car- a visit to ole Bismark's monument and several key areas. The Jewish museum and interesting encounters with Toni's varied friends-- cheap Italian dinner included

Day 3: FLEA MARKET! Bought old black&white German photographs for cheap and some banana honey and of course indulged ourselves in the wide variety of fantastically meaty German street food.

Day 4: The Berlin wall walking tour, which includes checkpoint charlie and the topography of terror (center of Nazi masterminding during the war), and a lot of apple eating. The day completed with an evening of Berlin-style shopping and nice dinner of Sushi and eis (ice cream)

Day 5: We went to school with Toni and shared our (slightly biased) opinion of American society, since Toni's honors English class is discussing suburban culture as an introduction to the well known film "American Beauty." Then we explored tiny neighborhoods busting with character, not to mention currywurst and eis (Do you notice a recurring theme?). Later on, we enjoyed dressing up in leopard print, hot pink, and floral tights to attend a "bad taste party." Needless to say, we looked ridiculous in a super fashionable European city (with a straw hat-- yes, a straw hat)

Day 6: Another tour of Berlin and a view of the city from above in the famous TV tower (The Fernsehturm), and then Doner Kebab for dinner.

Day 7: Riverboat with Toni in the canal, followed by market shopping, and Germany's next top Model (who knows what they were saying, but man did they work it)

Day 8: Final lunch with the family and return to Madrid.

Berlin was followed by lots of rest, recuperation, and of course day-trips to Madrid. School "started" but not for me-- some students from Southern Spain came up to Madrid for their week of exchange so all of us who went to Andalusia in November got to prolong our vacation and enjoy kayaking, bowling, cathedral-visiting, yogurt-factory-touring and neighborhood-exploring with the southern Spaniards. So, all of this to say- vacation has been great, but the higher the build up, the greater the fall- so Monday's science presentation and language test might hurt a bit; a lot. But this spring break was fabulous, and i have more photos and memories (and extra pounds) to last me a good while...