Happy Miercoles and Valencia Day
Piet | October 9, 2008 15:17Every Wednesday at my school it is Happy Miercoles (Happy Wednesday), all students that want to participate go with 1 or 2 teachers to a bar for a few drinks and afterwards you can join dinner.
A good opportunity for me to get to know some people, so I decided to join. My class finished at 6pm so I decided to do my homework in the 2 hours that I had to wait at a cafeteria on a terrace near the school.
We were quite a large group divided over 2 tables in the bar and of course we were speaking Spanish, or at least making an attempt to…
It did actually go a lot better after a few beers, but isn’t that always the case?
After a few hours we went on for dinner, which was nice enough, just not really organized, which resulted in a big mess once the bill arrived.
Then we went to watch the fireworks that started at midnight to celebrate Valencia Day. October 9 is the Provincial Day.
[from Wikipedia:] In 1238, King James I of Aragon the Conqueror, with an army composed of French, English, Germans, and Italians, laid siege to Valencia, and on 28 September in that same year forced a surrender. 50,000 Moors were forced to leave. Poets like Ibn al-Abbar and Ibn Amira mourned their exile from their beloved Valencia. On 9 October King James, followed by his retinue and army, took possession. The principal mosque was purified, Mass was celebrated, and the “Te Deum” sung. James incorporated city and territory into the new formed Kingdom of Valencia, one of the kingdoms forming the Crown of Aragon.
We were not in time anymore to be able to watch the fireworks near the Turia, where the view was said to be the best, but I think it was nice that we watched in the city center; it gave a very nice contrast!
After that the group feel apart and I left with 2 co-students to see a live blues band in some street I am not sure if I’ll ever find again. It was a great performance and we stayed until after the performance and talked with the band after.
In the meantime it had started to pour down, but we decided to push on for more bars, so in the rain we walked until we found some kind of club. After a few more drinks it was time to head home, rain had stopped and I had 15-20 mins of walking to clear my head.
