A Taste of Galician culture

The sun came out again yesterday after a windy and rainy week during which I was able to practise my new Spanish expression ´está lloviendo a cántaros´ or the rain is coming down in buckets. Now after one month here, the second of my umbrellas has broken and thinking back to growing up in Saskatoon I think my family collectively owned one red umbrella. I am beginning to think I should look into weaving one of the more traditional Galician wicker outfits to stay dry.

I was treated to some snow a few weeks ago. In the city it all melted when it touched the ground, but in the surrounding area there were some hills that were toboggan worthy and one Saturday afternoon the family, some friends and I went sledding. I think it was my best English lesson so far when I had the boys chant ´hurry up´ to make me climb up the hill faster pulling the sleigh.

A week ago there was a theatre festival here and I get the impression it doesn´t happen very often, so I tried to take in as many shows as I could. In the end I saw three plays, two by Shakepeare, Ricardo III, more commonly known as Richard III and then Macbeth, which I should really only call the Scottish play so as not to curse the actors. Well the idea of practising my Spanish did not really pan out because if you think the Bard is difficult to understand in English, try Spanish for the first and then try Gallego for the second. I have to admit the blending of the two Celtic cultures worked quite nicely in the latter, but I would have preferred watching the performance in Castellano. The third play was a monologue called ´Ave Sosia´ and I was a little concerned about not being able to understand the Andalucian dialect, but in the end it was not so bad.

In pursuit of live entertainment I also attended a local football (or soccer) match where the Club Deportivo Lugo played the team from Pontevedra. I went in the interest of learning some new vocabulary in Spanish, but because I was sitting with some English teachers I actually learned a few new expressions in English. I was quite entertained by the fact that the team from Lugo was wearing striped socks which made them look a little like elves and I also enjoyed that we were sitting next to the band that very enthusiastly yelled things like ´Vamos Lugo, Vamos Campeón´ or ´Forca Lugo, Allez´. Most of my observations were not really appreciated and as for the match we lost 0-2.

To participate in the athletic side of Lugo I ran in the 5km race last Sunday. It was one of the best races I have been, not because of my time or the location, which was appallingly around the big shopping centre As Termas, but because each lap I made through the parking lot I had the boys running along side me cheering me on.

The other intriguing part about Galicia is that I have now tasted many things I would never have thought of eating before. Lugo is about one hour from the sea and this means that seafood is reasonably accessible. In this category I have now tried three different types of shrimp (Camaron, Cigala and Langostina), some curious barnacles called Percebe along with a salad with Hake eggs. One evening I got to help clean some slimy Calamari for supper and it was fun in a science project kind of way turning them inside out, cutting out their eyes and then squeezing out their mouth. Moving away from the ocean into the forest I have also had a chance to try different varieties of mushrooms.

Then in true Galician style, it is all about savouring all parts of the pig. This ranges from it´s ears or Orejas often served as a Tapas, to its stomach or Callos served as a soup with chickpeas and then last weekend I got to try a stuffed stomach prepared like an enormous sausage called Butelo. Some friends drove me to a town called Fonsagrada where they had a Butelo festival in preparation for Carnaval. One of the things I saw at the market there was a cured pig face and I was tempted to get it to use it as a mask for my Entroido (carnival in the Galician language) costume.