Showing posts with label Celebrations. Show all posts

Last Tuesday was the Festival of the Embarkation of the Virgen del Carmen, part of the Fiestas de Julio. Here in Puerto Cruz they have a whole month dedicated to celebrating life, and happiness by the sea! If you’ve been following for awhile you may remember Megan mentioning this as one of the major things she wanted to experience...(Why Tenerife) glad to say neither or us were let down!

During the Fiestas de Julio the city gets crazy in the days leading up the Tuesday Embarkation. There are celebrations, parades, and a sardine festival in the town square, all to honor the Virgen del Carmen, the Patron Saint of fishermen and the sea. People stayed up and partying until five in the morning the weekend before Tuesday's Embarkation. It is common to hear fireworks going off all night long – and sometimes, even during the day. Every evening we were treated to multiple firework displays set off near the town square. There was a show every hour from dusk until one or two in the morning. We happily watched from our seventh story balcony, pleased to be having July 7 - 10 fireworks to make up for missing our own tradition of July 4th.

We've both read and heard from the locals that the Embarkation Festival is a day that shouldn’t be missed. Tuesday morning we woke up extra early and went to the local cafe for coffee and Internet access. By 10am the street outside the cafe and neighboring Supermercado were packed with teenagers in their swimsuits! We witnessed kids - who couldn't have been over sixteen years old mixing rum and Coca Cola into emptied six-liter water jugs. People were walking in droves towards the marina, so we quickly changed into our bathing suits and followed in their footsteps.

Walking through the town square to the marina was easier said than done. It is estimated that each year over 35,000 people cram into the areas surrounding the marina to take part in the festival. Everywhere we looked people had on t-shirts with images depicting the Virgen, which we found out were being sold nearby - so we splurged €3 apiece and each bought one! One of the best parts of the festival was the traditional Canarian food and drink that was being sold by the street vendors. For just a few Euros we got fresh fish and shrimp on a skewer, a loaf of crusty bread, potatoes con mojo and a Mocaña (traditional Canarian cocktail made with sugarcane juice).

After we indulged in our lunch we grabbed a seat on the stone wall surrounding the marina. With our legs dangling over the water, we proceeded to watch the "spectacle" take place around us. This included a collection of Zodiac boats floating in the water with drunken Canarios dancing and swimming around, young kids leaping, fully clothed, off the pier and into the water, and drunken teenagers stumbling around and laughing. We heard that the image of the Virgen typically "embarks" to sea around 6pm, and is accompanied by some of the town’s sailors. Unfortunately the ocean breeze was very cold that day, and the Virgen didn't appear until after 8 - but as she did the atmosphere at the marina changed dramatically. The masses of people began singing in unison; imagine 35,000 people crowded around a traditional Canarian boat singing! Many tears were shed as the throne of the Virgen was placed on the boat and led out to sea.

Experiencing a traditional, and very emotional ceremony in another country is enlightening. The festival showcases the Canarian dedication to Spain and their devotion to the Catholic religion. We're both very pleased that we got to witness and in our own way, be a part of such an amazing day.

Xo,
M&K

Throwback Thursday!

Spending any holiday without the company of friends and family is always a little disheartening. In America we have a few "big" holidays where it is customary to come together and celebrate: Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and the Fourth of July to name a few. This is the second "Fourth of July" we have spent together abroad - it also seems to be one of the most awkward holidays to celebrate from another country, because it's exclusively an American holiday. Now that have a few "Fourth of July's" abroad under our belt, we feel qualified to discuss what to do as an American overseas for this occasion!

For those of you who do not know, July 4th is our Independence Day in the United States. We celebrate by having BBQs or picnics, waving Old Glory (our flag), and wearing red, white, and blue. In the evening we watch firework displays around the city, on TV, or set off our own! Of course outside of United States, July 4th is just another day on the calendar.

Two years ago we were in London when July the 4th rolled around. For some reason, Megan seems to think not celebrating this holiday is devastating... probably because she has a degree in American History. Either way, to satisfy our patriotic obsession we Googled "4th of July events" that were happening in London. Ironically there are a lot of festivities planned for Americans to celebrate in the UK. We ended up finding a group of University of Texas Alumni who was planning on meeting in Regent's Park to picnic.

Walking through a local Sainsbury's, we grabbed the quintessential 4th of July goodies - any "American" food and drink we could get our hands on! We settled on Budweiser's, Oreo's and Doritos, then grabbed hot dogs and hamburgers from a nearby food truck. Google had informed us that the group of Texans was meeting somewhere in the park, but anyone who’s ever been to Regent's Park knows that it's not a small place; so we walked around scanning the horizon for our fellow patriots. After about twenty-five minutes of searching Megan spotted a backwards Texas hat... GAME ON!

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the park listening to Country music, eating, drinking and tossing around the old pigskin, a "real" American FOOTBALL! If you know your world History, the irony in all of this is that we were celebrating our independence from England, in the heart of central London! Although we didn't have fireworks, we have some great pictures and memories of our first, Fourth abroad.

As you all know we are in Tenerife right now, so yesterday was another fabulous Fourth away from the USA. Once again we did our research, looking and hoping to find a group of Americans meeting up somewhere on the island. Unfortunately we came up empty handed, and haven't been able to locate a single American in the eight days we've been here.

We decided the best way to celebrate our lonely 4th of July in Tenerife was to take some traditional American food down to the beach. Pacing the Supermercado in search of true "American" food was not easy - we once again found American beer, this time MGD's and Budweiser's, we also scored with a big juicy watermelon, Doritos, sunflower seeds, and the traditional BBQ foods - hot dogs and hamburgers! When we got back home we realized we had no access to a grill, so we made the hamburgers and hotdogs on our electric stovetop, packed up a picnic and headed to the beach. Soaking up the sunshine and munching on our American food brought big smiles to our faces. Despite being 5,300 miles from home we still managed to have a fantastic Fourth of July!

Xo,
M&K

Step One: Arrive in One Piece
The plane ride was exhausting, we hardly slept - between excitement, nerves, and the guy punching the seats behind us, our arrival into Gatwick left us exhausted. Buying tickets on the Gatwick Express was easier said than done... Oyster Cards (London Metro Cards) can't be "topped-up" with American debit/credit cards. Luckily we had enough money from years prior to get us both to Camden, more specifically Belsize Park, where we will be staying for the next month or so. We got to our new "home" at 1:30, dropped the luggage off, freshened up and headed out to Kyle's first casting. Between castings, stopping by Premier (modeling agency) and exploring London in the rain we made time for Nando's Peri Peri Chicken AND a jug of Pimm's at our local pub!

Step Two: Settling In
The flat we rented is decent for the price and location. We have a fridge in our room, private bathroom, shared double kitchen, washer and dryer - as well as awesome flatmates! It's cost us quite a bit of money stocking up on essentials; food, toilet paper, toiletries, detergents, etc. Adjusting to the time change has also been extremely difficult this time around. Of course we've had unnecessarily late nights pub-hopping with flat mates, and Kyle's 16-hour Brian Atwood photoshoot kept us out late.

Step Three: Learning Lessons and Pumping the Brakes
Watching money disappear from your bank account, and feeling helpless to prevent it is the worst feeling in the world. Two years ago London retailers accepted "swipe" cards (American magnetic strip cards), today only PIN or chip cards are accepted - and some VISA cards... but they carry hefty International Transaction Fees. As Americans, we can't have a chip or PIN card. Right now the only card we have that works is a Bank of America VISA card that can be used to withdrawl cash at Barclay's ATMs. An estimated $100 in transaction fees were lost learning this lesson. Between ITFs (international transaction fees), an overwhelming urge to be European (consumption of a few afternoons pints), re-visiting all our favorite places, grabbing cold-weather and rain gear (we anticipated summer weather), and settling-in to our flat, gratitious amounts of cash have been spent. It took six days to learn, but we have finally cut down on spending, a necessary when you are living on a temporarily fixed income.




Step Four: Enjoy Life in London!
Regardless of how difficult adjusting to life abroad can be, it never fails to be exciting! Yesterday marked the sixtieth anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II as the reigning monarch... The Queens Diamond Jubilee!! From Friday 'til Tuesday ALL of the United Kingdom was encouraged to take off from work and celebrate their wonderful MUM! Sunday was the BIG lunch. Throughout London, neighborhoods celebrated by joining in the streets and parks to picnic together. After lunch was the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, where 1,000 boats traveled down the river to honor the Queen. We participated in awe as thousands of Elizabeth II's subjects crowded bridges and riverbanks to honor their beloved Queen's 60 year reign. After an overwhelming two hours of walking the river bank we settled in a cozy pub in Covent Garden to watch the festivities on BBC and enjoy another delicious lunch!





The next few days will be spent relaxing, exploring, and enjoying our "bank holiday" before the castings and jobs begin :)

Xo,
M&K