CAMPEONS / CAMPEONES / CHAMPIONS

Many people here claim that Catalonia is not Spain. Others say that there is a silent majority who feel more Spanish than Catalan. But tonight nobody seems to want to be silent. Vilanova i la Geltrú has an unbelievable number of roundabouts and that is where people celebrate right now – driving around with Spanish flags in their hands.

Spain – Germany 1-0. What a fantastic EuroCopa it has been and what a victory - and revenge - for the Spain team and their coach Luís Aragonés. Not only the Spanish press thinks that we (am I a part of this?) deserved to win tonight. So do Swedish media, so do the Danish and, yes, even the Catalan ones. ¡Viva España!
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Goso dir-ho: ¡Viva España! És el que he sentit jo (un estranger de Suècia, un país tan petit que tampoc somiem amb victories de grans copes de futbol) durant els últims partits d’aquesta magnífica EuroCopa i és el que, obviament, han sentit altres vilanovins, persones que veig tots els dies i que normalment em parlen en català.

La selecció espanyola ha jugat d’una manera tan bona que tota Europa s’ha impressionat. Victories de països democratics, com Espanya (un fort contrast amb això que en breu veurem a Xina) no se celebren per raons polítiques, se celebren per raons esportives. Felicitem-los als jugadors i felicitem-lo al Luís Aragonés. Espanya – ara som campeons d’Europa.

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Related media: CAT: Avui 1 2; ESP: LaVanguardia 1 2 3; SWE: DN 1 2 3 4, Sydsvenskan 1 2; DAN: Politiken 1 2 3.

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Technorati tags: Spain, Catalunya, Catalonia, Vilanova

'Correfoc' or 'Ball de Diables'

Catalans' love of noise is something which we have quite some difficulties to adapt to, although - step by step - we are learning to see the charm in it.

A good example of this 'cult' is the correfoc or ball de diables - people dressed up as devils, dancing around with fire. And there is not just one group, but one after the other, and in any Catalan town with a decent cultural life you will have the chance to see them many times a year.

Here is one group (colla) captured during the ongoing Setmana del Mar, les Festes de Sant Pere here in Vilanova.

What we see on the video clip was called a correfoc - where the audience is invited to join the dance under the fire - but this time I did not see any spectators challenging themselves to do so. Ball de diables is when the same groups of devils make formal performances - still with fire spitting sticks in their hands, but with more attention paid to dance steps and jumps.

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Encara que he llegit els textos a Wikipedia, desconec la diferència entre el correfoc i el ball de diables. Sigui el que sigui, el que vam veure ahir en la cercavila de la Setmana del Mar, les festes de Sant Pere, li va fer tant de por al nostre fill petit que la meva dona va haver de deixar la festa corrent. El fet que va néixer per aquí no l’ha immunitzat res contra el nivell de so.

Mentres vam estar amb els seus amics de l’escola, el fill gran es va portar com si els diables fossin la cosa més normal del món, però tan aviat com vam acomiadar-nos d’ells, em va confessar que el soroll no li agrada gens a ell tampoc. Quin impediment al nostre camí cap a l'integració.

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Gràcies a l'explicació que em va donar en Joan Ignasi Gómez sobre la diferència entre un correfoc i el ball de diables, he pogut millorar la calitat de la part anglesa d'aquesta entrada.

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Technorati tags: Catalonia, Catalunya

New Swedes from Catalonia / Nous Suecs de Catalunya

This week, Monica Wahlström moved back to Vännäs (a small inland village, west of Umeå in the north of Sweden) and within shortly her Catalan husband Josep Junyent will follow her.

Behind them they leave several big holes in the Swedish expat community – among other things a need for a new soprano to the SWEA choir, a need for a new member of the SWEA Barcelona board and no more get-togethers in posh Sarrià.

Monica has already started to blog about her new life (so far only in Swedish) and I truly look forward to learn how her family experiences their meeting with Swedish society and culture.

On a very personal level I will miss Monica’s support in my Catalan studies. Without her I risk ending up as the biggest catalanista among the Swedish bloggers here. Why did they have to move?

The YouTube clip shows a goodbye song to Monica and Josep, the lyrics of which were written by Lotta Nygren-Bonnier.
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Aquesta setmana va mudar-se la Monica Wahlström al poble Vännäs (a l’oest d’Umeå i tan lluny al nort de Suècia que l’idea de viure-hi em sembla exòtica fins i tot a mi) i en poc temps la seguirà el seu marit, en Josep Junyent.

Ja que la Monica ha jugat un paper importantíssim a la comunitat sueca de Barcelona, som moltes persones que l'enyorarem. Al nivell personal, perdré el meu blocaire model per com escriure un bloc bilingüe i una mestra privada del català. A més temo que sense ella, sempre serà la meva tasca de defendre el catalanisme quan altres suecs no l’entenen.

Al clip de YouTube canten les nostres dones una canció per acomiadar-se amb la Monica i en Josep. El texte va escriure’s per la Lotta Nygren-Bonnier.

Ajudeu-me tots a motivar-la a la Monica perquè segueixi d’escriure en català sobre la trobada de la seva família amb la societat sueca. Un millor pol oposat a aquest bloc no puc imaginar-me.

¡Podemos! / We Can Do It!

“Seguiu el futbol?”, ha preguntat avui la mestra de la llar d’infants del nostre fill petit. “Normalment pot ser no tant, però ara, durant l’EuroCopa, sí”, he respost. “Això ho explica tot. Al pati hem dit als nens que Espanya està jugant al futbol i el teu s’ha posat a cantar 'a por ellos'".

Que el meu fill de dos anys i mig ja és el més gran aficionat de la selecció espanyola de tota la llar d’infants? Com pot passar això a mi? Nosaltres que només parlem el suec a casa i jo, que vull que els meus fills, abans d’aprendre el castellà, parlin bé el català.

Al final no m’estranya que es commogui amb l’ambient que vivim – jo reacciono de la mateixa manera. La premsa escandinava és d’acord amb la d’aquí: Espanya ha matxacat Rússia. Per la segona vegada amb una diferencia de tres gols. Quina meravella!
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Tonight I watched the match in downtown Barcelona. We had picked an English bar since it was not yet full of people and therefore had perfect seats right in front of the screen. I enjoyed the game from the very beginning but it was, of course, only in the second half when I dared to be really happy with what I saw. And that is when I realised what I was missing: the sound - these typical Spanish football commentators who never stop talking and who seem to compete in screaming gol in the most dramatic way. The owners of the bar, apparently, did not share my feelings and decided to stay with an English speaking channel.

On the way home I allowed myself to make a full turn in the roundabout at Plaça d’Espanya, but was not spontaneous enough to step out of the car. At the end of the day, I am not a Spanish speaking youngster but a Swedish father with small children. Having reassured myself that Barcelona was celebrating tonight, I decided to continue home to Vilanova.
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Related media: CAT: Avui 1 2, ESP: LaVanguardia, SWE: DN 1 2, SDS, DAN: Politiken

Visiting Attic'08 - the Ideas and Inventions Fair of Vilanova

Today Attic – the International Ideas and Inventions Fair – opened up its doors and since my oldest son’s summer school starts only next week, we were fast to go there (entry € 5 for adults, € 3 for children under 10).

Vilanova has a good reputation in this area since during 13 years a fair under the name Galàctica used to be organized here. After a one year break, the concept was streamlined in order to fit into the relatively limited but highly suitable space of Neàpolis, the local centre of communication technology.

The exhibition of smart, sometimes funny new products called NIDEA was my personal favourite, but my son got impatient with me reading all the explanation texts. In the Wii Zone, it looked as if he would enjoy playing “live” computer games but, unfortunately, he turned shy and decided to leave right before it started. However, he is highly content with our visit since he persuaded me to buy a new generation spinning top (baldufa) in the fair shop (Supermercattic). When you shoot it onto the floor it splits into several rapidly spinning cones.

Attic is open until Sunday June 29 (10.00-14.00 and 16.00-20.00) and judging from the media coverage, it will be a success – even TVE had found the time to come to Vilanova today.

Up-date: Today, Friday, I brought both our sons to the 'Dummy Zone' (the outdoor area of Attic). Here, among other things, nice staff help young and old alike to explore concepts like magnetism, gravity and speed - a workshop version of CosmoCaixa. Our children liked this so much that I had to drag them home. A word of advice: come here in the late afternoon, around lunchtime it is far too hot. (Here you will find a short video of our visit.)

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Ja que no vam visitar mai Galàctica no puc comparar amb el format d’abans, però l’espai de Neàpolis em sembla perfecte per a una feria d’idees i invents. Al Diari de Vilanova de la setmana passada podem llegir que en Josep-Tomàs Álvaro, regidor de Promoció de Ciutat, pensa que la fira “ens tornarà a situar com a punt de referència”. Segons la cobertura de mitjans de comunicaicó que ha tingut Attic avui, és possible que té raó, però personalment no estic convençut.

La part NIDEA – un saló de 30 útils, però sobre tot còmics invents de tot el món – m’ha agradat molt. No obstant això, la fira d’expositors he vist com una confirmació que novetats importants no s’estrenen a ciutats tan petites com la nostra. Si els invents que podem veure a Attic’08 fossin entre els més revolucionaris (cosa que es pot esperar d'una fira que es diu 'internacional'), el món tindria un futur fosc. Per sort no és així.

Per casualitat hem coincidit amb l’acalde Joan Ignasi Elena. Llàstima que no ha mostrat ell el mateix interès a les noves tendencies de morrals per a gossos com el meu fill gran.

Actualització: La 'Dummy Zone' a la gespa darrere Neàpolis és interessant per a gent de totes edats, però sobre tot per als nens. El personal pedagògic explica conceptes com ara la gravitat, la velocitat o el magnetisme i als meus dos fills els ha agradat tant, que he tingut problemes de fer-els tornar a casa. Us recomano visitar per la tarda. No n'hi ha res de sombra i pel matí fa massa calor. (Aquí trobeu un clip que vam fer de la nostra visita.)

Taekwondo and Hapkido at the Plaça del Port

Yesterday evening, the club Chois Vilanova – on the occasion supported by Chois Vilafranca – held an exhibition of the Korean martial arts taekwondo and hapkido on the Plaça del Port, next to the marina of Vilanova i la Geltrú.

I found my way to the world of taekwondo more or less by coincidence so I am at the same time grateful and proud to be a member of this successful team. It is now thirty years since our instructor Alfonso Rubio founded the club and, as if to celebrate that, a few weeks ago his wife Marta Calafell became the champion of Spain in poomsaes.


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Ahir per la tarda el club Chois Vilanova amb el suport de Chois Vilafranca va fer una exhibició de les arts marcials coreanes taekwondo i hapkido a la Plaça del Port.

En el meu cas va ser més o menys per casualitat que vaig trobar aquest esport i per tant em sento tan agraït com orgullós per pertànyer al club. Ja fa trenta anys que existeix i, com si fos per celebrar aquest fet, enguany per primer cop va ser la nostra mestra Marta Calafell la campeona d’Espanya.

L’exhibició va formar part de la Setmana de Mar – Festes de Sant Pere. Seguint aquests enllaços trobareu dos clips més (ilboderyons, tècniques).



Technorati tags: Taekwondo, Vilanova

The Sound of Sant Joan / El so de Sant Joan

Last year I wrote extensively about the how Catalans celebrate the revetlla de Sant Joan. Since my wife had to work late on Monday evening we had decided to celebrate in a calm way.

In the afternoon, the children and I went out looking for groups of youngsters firing off crackers – while I consider them a nuisance, our five-year-old is totally excited with the bangs – but found surprisingly few of them this year. That all changed after the sun had set – from around ten o’clock there was a constant noise outside.

The fireworks in my You Tube clip are not impressive - what we see on the revetlla de Sant Joan in Vilanova is all paid for by individuals, i.e. the local authorities do not fund any show. Instead, what I want to draw your attention to is the constant sound of crackers and I can add that it comes from all around the town. At two o’clock, when we decided to go to bed, we still could not count more than three seconds in between the explosions.

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El nivell de so (o, a vegades, soroll), és una cosa a la qual un suec té grans problemes per adaptar-se a Catalunya. Per això, durarà molts anys abans que us digui que la revetlla de Sant Joan – una festa que vaig presentar ja l’any passat (només en anglès) - m’agradi.

Ara bé, enguany penso que Vilanova es va quedar relativament tranquil·la per la tarda. Al nostre fill gran li fa molta il·lusió els coets de Sant Joan, ja que n'havien parlat a la escola, i la veritat és que vaig haver de fer un passeig amb els nens, del qual l’únic objectiu era de trobar joves llençants petards.

A mitjanit, després d’haver passat molta estona al balcó mirant el cel, el fill gran va finalment tenir-ne prou. “Jo vull dormir. Que no pensen gaire a mi?”, ens va preguntar.

Technorati tags: Catalonia, Catalunya

Just In Time?

La fotografia forma part de "Ordlös Onsdag" (dimecres sense paraules, en suec).

A Proper Swedish Midsummer / Un Sant Joan alternatiu

Midsummer celebrations (midsommar in Swedish) are one of the most important traditions to Swedes, as is the revetlla de Sant Joan to Catalans. Since these are celebrated during the same week, one could think that Swedish expats around Barcelona take the opportunity to organize big parties, but historically that has not been the case.


In spite of the uncertain weather, many Swedes prefer to go to Sweden, while the many mixed marriages of our community (Catalan men and Swedish women – who would have thought the opposite?) tend to receive numerous invitations to their local friends.


This year my wife, who is busy at work during the summer, decided to change that. As a result, she and seven other members of the SWEA choir brought their families to a masia (farmhouse) which we had rented in El Figaró, where the lush mountains inspired us to dance around the maypole and sing snaps-songs, just like our fellow countrymen do back home.

Rob’s and Britt-Marie’s "Så ska det låta-inspired" music quiz, Josefine’s very Swedish – and to my surprise also very tasty – herring cake and Gustavo’s not-so-Swedish caipirinhas are some of many nice memories, but my biggest thanks go to the children. They kept our small sons so busy that my wife and I could focus on our friends. When did that last happen?

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La festa 'midsommar' (mig estiu en suec) és com a mínim tan important per als suecs com la de Sant Joan per als catalans. Per tant no té la comunitat sueca de Barcelona la tradició d’organitzar esdeveniments durant aquesta setmana. Molts suecs prefereixen tornar al nostre país per celebrar amb les seves famílies i les persones que viuen en matrimonis mixtos (homes catalans amb dones sueques, clar. Que algú ha pensat el contrari?) solen tenir tantes invitacions dels seus amics d’aquí que no els queda força per més.


Enguany, pot ser que hagi canviat això la meva dona per prendre l'iniciativa de fer una festa sueca. Vam tenir la sort que hi van haver uns dies entre la nostra (un autèntic midsommar se celebra bevent la meitat d’un got (com es diu chupito?) d’aquavit per cada canció i ja que cantem molt, van decidir les nostres autoritats tan pragmàtiques que la festa nacional sempre es fa el divendres abans del dia de Sant Joan) i la revetlla, amb la conseqüencia que els catalans no van haver de renunciar a la festa local.

L’experiència de llogar una masia amb set altres famílies més o menys sueques va ser fantàstica. Gràcies al menjar típic – arengada (la que podeu trobar en pots de vidre a la botiga sueca d’Ikea), salmó més patates amb anet i salsa freda de quark - i gràcies als boscos verds, vam sentir-nos com a casa. O pot ser fos una conseqüencia de tot això que vam... ...cantar.


Technorati tags: Expat, Barcelona,

Vilanova Celebrates Spain / Vilanova amb Espanya

We are well past midnight but I still can hear how people shoot off fire crackers from their balconies or drive around honking the horn of their cars. A few minutes ago there was even someone playing “Viva España” on a very high volume. Vilanova is Catalan but tonight many of its inhabitants celebrate the fact Spain has qualified for the semi-finals of Euro 2008.

Swedish media has called the match against Italy a sleeping pill but that is not how I personally lived through it watching Spanish TV. Never before have I heard commentators stress so firmly that the whole Spain team was doing a fantastic match, independently of how it would finally end.

I was so happy when Catalan Cesc Fábregas scored the winning penalty and I am so impressed with goal keeper Iker Casillas and while – in spite of three and half years of integration – I cannot claim to be a dedicated fan of the sport, I truly hope that Spain proves to itself that it can win a major football championship. I cannot understand how Swedish media forgot to write that this is what Spain deserves this time.

Up-date: Through LaVanguardia I have learnt that the Italian press recognizes Spain's superiority yesterday. That is more important than what Swedish commentators might say.

I have honestly believed that Spain must be most Swedes' favourite winner, but judging from Politiken's survey in neighbouring Denmark, it is Russia which the Scandinavians now want to see as champions. How sad! Visca Espanya!
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Pot ser que un 'bon català' no celebri molt la victoria d’Espanya contra Italia, però - com Suècia ja és fora - personalment sóc molt feliç que l’estat on vivim ha passat als semifinals. I segons el soroll (petards, clàxons i fins i tot la canció "Viva España" a tot volum) que sentim al centre, no sóc l’unic de Vilanova de pensar així.

Durant els propers dies, es parlarà molt de la selecció espanyola de futbol però aquesta vegada s’ho ha merescut, o això almenys és la meva opnió. M'estranya que la premsa sueca diu que el partit era com una pastilla per dormir mentres que jo vivia dues hores de forta excitació fins que en Cesc va marcar l'últim penalti. Deu ser una altra prova que estic perdent la perspectiva del meu país d’origen.

Actualització: Segons una enquesta a Politiken volen els danesos que Rússia quanyi l'EuroCopa. No tenen prou amb l'Eurovisió? Espero que els suecs siguin amb nosaltres.
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Sources: CAT: Avui 1 2; ESP: LaVanguardia 1 2 3; SWE: Sydsvenskan; DN; ENG: BBC

This Will Cost Them Dear / Això els costarà molt

Although the Swedish blogosphere won a victory in drawing public attention to the government's ("the Alliance's") proposal to allow scanning of digital communication, it is becoming clearer and clearer that the revised version, which has already been adopted, cannot guarantee the private integrity of web-users.



"By introducing these new measures, the Swedish government is following the examples set by governments ranging from China and Saudi Arabia to the US government's highly criticised eavesdropping programme," is how Peter Fleischer of Google commented the decision, according to the BBC. Not the preferred company of a country where many citizens still see the EU as a threat to democracy.

Camilla Lindberg, the only member of allegedly liberal Folkpartiet who decided to vote no, has possibly created some difficulties for herself in the party hierarchy, but is being hailed as one of few ideologically steadfast politicians. Fredrik Federley, who calls himself a liberal and was firmly against interception before the voting rounds but then voted yes to the revised proposal in order not to clash with his party (Centerpartiet), is being heavily criticised by bloggers and there is even a song about how he betrayed his ideals.

The main opposition party, the Social Democrats, takes big pride in having voted no, thus in line with public opinion. As so often in politics, they seem to forget that the initiative to the bill which the right wing government has now voted through, originally came from them.

The events of this week will have a strong influence of the future of Swedish politics. Johan Ingerö, a popular liberal blogger has created the Facebook group “Alliance voters against the alliance” (I cannot link to it since I am not a member of the Sweden network). It is worth remembering that all youth organisations of the four government parties were against the bill which is now about to be implemented. That difference between the generations will not go unnoticed in the interal debate of the Alliance parties.
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La blogosfera sueca va demostar la seva força en retardar la llei sobre mesures anti-terroristes que va fer el govern de dreta ("l’Aliança"), però ara és cada cop més clar que la nova versió tampoc pot assegurar l’integritat privada dels usuaris de la xarxa. En fet, un director de Google va dir que 'Suecia ha seguit el mateix camí com per exemple Xina i Aràbia Saudita' – quines referencies més vergonyoses.

Al final no va haver més que un sol soci d’el govern, la Camilla Lindberg, que va votar en contra de la proposta i per tant rep elogis de molts blocaires. El contrari li està passant al Fredrik Federley, que s’havia creat un perfil com convençut liberal i polític honest, però al final va votar sí per no arriscar la seva carrera política. En una canció a YouTube es canta sobra la seva traïcíó dels ideals.

Unes coses de la política funcionen com sempre, com ara el fet que els socialdemocrats són feliços per haver votat segons l’opinió pública i obliden còmodament que la proposta original de la nova llei es va plantejar quan governaven ells.

Tanmateix es poden esperar grans canvis. Els blocaires se van adonar de l’influencia que tenen i totes les agrupacions de joves dels partits de dreta són contra la proposta que està a punt d'implementar-se. A Facebook ja es va crear el grup “Votants de l’Aliança contra l’Aliança” (no puc fer-hi un enllaç, ja que no sóc del grup Sweden). Sembla que el primer ministre suec va guanyar una vertadera victoria Pírrica.

Swedish Bloggers Near Victory / S’apropa la victoria per als blocaires suecs

“It is 1-0 between the bloggers and the government at half time” is how the columnist of a well-known Swedish newspaper comments the fact that, tomorrow Wednesday, a controversial bill will be sent back for consideration. If passed, the bill would have given FRA (the Swedish National Defence Radio Establishment) extensive rights to monitor cable based communication in and out of Sweden. Given how digital traffic, for cost and efficiency reasons, regularly cross state borders, more or less any e-mail or phone call could be an object for investigation, something which many Swedes are firmly against for integrity reasons. At a later stage, an approval could even threaten Sweden’s claim to be on the forefront of IT, since companies would be reluctant to put servers within its territory in order to avoid interception.



The intention of the bill is to counter terrorism and for a long time it seemed as if the government would be able to pass it almost unnoticed. Traditional media did not take much interest, although the bill would potentially be damaging to them since the external anonymity to sources could not be fully granted any longer. So crucial has the activity of bloggers been to create debate around it that commentators claim it to be the first time in Swedish history when blogging changes the course of a major decision.

From the outside it is a schoolbook example of Web 2.0 activism – live blogging from the parliament, a web-page for campaign co-ordination, a Facebook group with 13.334 supporters and even a You Tube clip. Making use of a scene from Dead Poets Society but altering the text of the Swedish translation, the video calls on a few named, young and truly liberal politicians to vote no - as of their conviction - instead of being loyal to their parties. It would have been enough if four members of the government voted with the opposition, so we can assume that Prime Minister Reinfeld preferred to see the bill sent back rather than to have to face defeat.

Already now is it clear that the new proposal will have a stronger protection for personal integrity. Some bloggers are upset but I agree with those who see it at least as a partial victory. Realisticly, there is such a broad parliamentary consensus that FRA will see their rights to intercept extended in the end.
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Les Jornades de la Penedesfera van motivar-me molt com blocaire i ara puc presentar-us una mica d'inspiració de Suècia: demà, per la primera vegada, el parlament suec remetrà una proposta de llei per la forta oposició que ha sortit a la bloguesfera.

En el parlament existeix un acord general que Suècia necessita una defensa anti-terrorista més moderna i la proposta del govern (de dreta) és de donar-li a una entitat de les forces armades amplis drets per interceptar tota comunicació digital que passa per les fronteres de l’estat suec. Si ens recordem que aquest transit, per raons de costos i eficiència, està organitzada d’una manera internacional, podem concloure que teòricament es podria controlar cada correu electrònic i cada trucada amb l’excusa que és suspitos – una clara violació de l’integritat personal.

Va costar molt abans que la premsa tradicional s’interessés a l’assumpte però finalment - per les protestes dels blocaires - va adonar-se de la sensibilitat i de la oposició que hi havia. Cal destacar que les critiques més fortes van escriure blocaires de la dreta amb l'explícit objectiu que membres individuals dels dos partits del govern que es diuen liberals, votessin segons la seva opinió personal i no cap segons la lleialtat cap al pròpi partit.

Mirant des de fora penso haver descobert més o menys un manual per a l’activisme en la xarxa 2.0. Hi ha un grup de blocaires que publiquen en viu directament del parlament, una pàgina web per la coordinació d’activitats i una causa a Facebook que ja compta amb 13.334 adherits. A més hi ha un clip a YouTube - una escena d'El club de los poetas muertos, del qual la valor, desgraciadament, no es pot apreciar per persones que no saben llegir el suec, però en curtes paruales és una crida a uns anomenats polítics - evidentment tots joves - que estan coneguts com liberals de veritat. Quatre socis del govern votant amb l’oposició fos tot que es necessités per fer caure la proposta i l'especulació durant el dia d’avui va donar per descomptat que com a mínim ja n'hi va haver tres segurs.

Per tant ha preferit el primer ministre suec que la proposta remetés i ja queda clar que la nova versió haurà de garantir més protecció per la integritat privada dels ciutadans. Som moltes persones que coincideixen que tot és un gran exemple de les inflüencies que poden tenir blocs sobre la política.

Vilanova Evenings on the Balcony

The picture forms part of Ordlös Onsdag.

Penedesfera Day 2 / Segon dia de les jornades

I know that it is a poor excuse, but the main reason why I have been so slow to comment on the second day of the Pendesfera meeting in Gelida is that I have had so many impressions and met so many new people in a language which still is not mine, that it is a huge challenge to structure the experience.

On a very personal level, this weekend has given me a feeling of truly belonging to the Catalan society of today. True, the reason why Daniel García Peris invited me to take part in the item “the Penedes Blogging Culture” was the very fact that I am a foreigner, but once in Gelida I felt totally accepted by the other participants of our panel discussion, moderated by Ramon Arnabat from the Insitut d'Estudis Penedesencs. Except for a fast look at their blogs, I did not know anyone from before, but will start to follow more than one of them actively.

Jordi Torà has been a blogger since 2003 (!) and those who, like I, have difficulties to understand his fast and personal language can always admire his layout. Guillem Carol is much easier to read, but that is not so surprising since he is a journalist. Francesc Balagué runs a blog in Spanish, as an integral part of his research into blogging culture in general. Ricard Garcia and Joan Pinyol are established writers who have incorporated blogging in their literary work. And then we have Rosa Soler, a teacher who helps her students to express themselves and develop as citizens by means of blogging.

After us followed “Blogs, Politicians and Territory” where I was happy to meet politicians of all colours who it was so easy to like and the vilanoví Nacho Corredor who, in spite being much younger, was sharp and specific in both praising and criticising them. Vilanova’s “live streaming” member of the Spanish parliament, Carles Campuzano (CiU) and Laia Gomis (PSC), who protested against some journalists' method to take comments from a person’s blog and then use them as quotations in only vaguely related contexts are the two I remember the best. And everybody present managed to agree on one point: a politician who only blogs during election campaigns and who does not answer comments, should immediately close his or her blog.

Before leaving picturesque Gelida, we were treated to a Penedès style pica-pica and I had the opportunity to meet David Rodriguez, a reader of my blog, face-to-face. As if my head was not full of inspiration and ideas as it was, I was also approached by the platform which works to make Penedès a separate entity (vegueria pròpia - represented by Josep Guillén Viñas in the panel discussion) in the coming new administrative structure of Catalonia. Now this is an issue where I will use the fact that I am a foreigner as an excuse – I plan to follow the development, but plan to let it take time before I make up my own mind.

To sum up, the Penedesfera Days were less well visited but a lot more fruitful in terms of contacts and insight than I ever hoped for them to be. Daniel García Peris and Montse Catalan Malet, I largely owe this experience to you. Thank you.


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D’en Pep Quelart (ERC) vaig aprendre de 'no fer això que altres fan millor' i per tant no escriuré molt sobre la segona Jornada de la Pendesfera en Català. N’hi ha molts que ja l’han fet amb més paraules i menys errors que jo no seria capaç de fer-ho. Si us interessa quines entitats ens han ajudat, podeu rebre les repostes d’en Daniel García Peris i la Rosa Soler ha fet un resum de la part “Cultura blocaire al Penedès” on jo vaig participar.

Gràcies a totes les persones que vaig conèixer a Gelida per deixar-me formar part d’aquesta expressió de la cultura catalana. “Crear, Compartir i Re-utilitzar”, com va dir en Francesc Balagué. Sóc segur que us trobaré de nou a molts de vosaltres, si no cara a cara doncs almenys a la xarxa.

Actualització: Aquí teniu més enllaços amb reflexions sobre les Jornades - en Jordi Torà, en Joan Pinyol (afegeixo el seu post, ja que sóc una mica peculiar) i en David Rodríguez.

Van fer més soroll ells / They Made More Noise

Tot i que lamentem el resultat, som majoritariament contents amb el partit entre Suècia i Espanya ahir. És evident que la nostra premsa subratlla la força sueca durant el primer temps, però és d’acord amb la d’aquí que Espanya va dominar al segon. Era una pèrdua esperada i ara tenim la sort que serà suficient amb un empat contra Rússia, per classificar-nos als quarts de final.

L’ambient al Club Suizo de Barcelona, on (gràcies a l’Iniciativa Jove de la Cambra de Comerç Hispano-Sueca) uns cent suecs vam veure el partit junts amb unes poques persones d’aquí, va ser molt bó. La vergonya és que els pocs aficionats d’Espanya van fer més soroll que nosaltres; cantant “a por ellos” i cridant-nos “IKEA” quan jugavem malament. Llàstima que els meus clips són tan foscos, però ja el so pot donar-us una sensació de com va ser.

“Amb aquella sort que custodia tots els equips somiadors, Espanya es va colar entre les favorites a lluitar pel màxim títol europeu”, escriu Avui. Tant de bo sigui així. Personalment tinc més esperança per a Espanya que per a Suècia.
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Yesterday, Iniciativa Joven of CCHS had invited all Swedish fans to the impressive Club Suizo to see the match against Spain together. We arrived just in time to see Zlatan Ibrahimović level the score to 1-1 and our younger one was totally frightened by the noice which approximately one hundred Barcelona Swedes managed to make. At the end of the game, when the 1-2 goal by David Villa put an end to our dream about a draw he stayed calm, although I would say that the the ten Spain fans who sat in the corner managed to scream at least as loud as we had done.




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Technorati tags: Spain, Barcelona, Expat, Catalonia

Penedesfera Day 1 / Primer dia de les jornades

Today was the first day of the Penedesfera meeting in Gelida and, initially, I must admit feeling a bit sceptical. But after a slow start and a quite unfortunate power blackout, things suddenly took off when Cristina Barbacil presented Fundació Mas Albornà. They have won prestigious prizes for groundbreaking work to use blogs and the Internet to support the integration of handicapped people into society.

After her, the initiative taker to Penedesfera, Daniel García Peris, summed up the history of with the project. He had all reason to be happy since more than 50 people (more than 85% were men) had turned up - that was more than enough to make small Gelida’s parking infrastructure collapse – and he had managed to arrange wi-fi access in the otherwise all but modern performance hall where the meeting took place.

After a short break, Catalonia’s most read blogger – Marc Vidal – entered the stage and encouraged all business people to start making use of Internet 2.0 in their marketing activities. 'Never before in history have small enterprises had the opportunity to reach so many potential customers', was his positive message.


Finally, to underline the social side of this face-to-face blogger meeting, wine blogger Pilar Vidal had organised a tasting of three caves and three white wines - all from Penedès, of course. We live in a great part of the world if, one day, I would want to learn more about wines. I mean, I cannot continue studying languages forever, can I?
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Avui hem tingut la primera de dues Jornades de la Penedesfera i l’impulsor Daniel García Peris te tota raó per somriure i ser content. Més de cincuante persones han vingut i això era suficient per que l’infraestructura d’aparcaments d’un poble com Gelida colapsés totalment. A veure com serà demà, i ara no penso a la meva pròpia participació (a les 10.00) sino als polítics blocaires que ens seguiran a les 11.30.

Que el Saló d’espectacles acollirà més persones demà que mai ha fet durant la seva llarga història? Probablement no, però sóc segur que mai abans hi ha hagut tants ordinadors com ara i que mai hi ha hagut una xarxa wifi en aquest local. El contraste entre l'interior del edifici i el tema que estem tractant és un valor afegit a l’esdeveniment.

Mantenim la calma / Let Us Stay Calm

Per raons de negocis vaig passar uns dies a Suècia, i encara que tot el temps per mitjà de la xarxa vaig poder seguir les conseqüencies de la vaga dels transportistes, he de confessar que m’ha sorprengut la situació actual, avui quan he tornat.

Llegir sobre una manca de combustible no és el mateix com adonar-se que en necessites i veure que no n’hi ha. Ara bé, no he de queixar-me perquè encara hi ha hagut biodièsel a la meva gasolinera i per tant n'he pogut repostar tant com he volgut. El xoc al supermercat on fem totes petites compres ha estat més fort. La nevera on hi sol haver carn fresca s’havia posat fora de servei. A la cantonada on normalment trobem garrafas d’aigua no n’hi ha res de res. Pot ser estic oblidant d'algunes de les vagues a Suècia durant la meva infantesa però no em puc recordar mai haver vist coses similars. És a dir, sí que vaig veure botigues amb prestatges buits, però aquestes memòries venen dels viatges que feiem a Praga durant els anys de la dictatura comunista.

Fins i tot sóc content que els prestatges del nostre supermercat són buits ja que significa que els propietaris de les botigues esperen que tot en breu torni a la normalitat. A la República Txeca, o més correctement Txecoslovàquia d’aleshores no era així. El personal sabia que les manques podien durar molt de temps i intentaven tapar els forats amb altres productes. Deixem de banda l’impuls de comprar més que necesitem fins al día quan l’antic talell de carn s’ha convertit en un prestatge de mongetes conservades. Llavors sí que es pot justificar una mica de pànic.
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Due to a business project I had to go to Stockholm for some days and now feel a need to comment on the difference between picturing how something is and actually seeing it. During my trip I have had enough spare time to read the Internet versions of Catalan newspapers, so I knew that gas stations did not receive new supplies of fuel and I knew that shops were running out of fresh meat, fresh vegetables and water.

However, today when I came back I experienced the shortages by myself. I did not have any problem to fill up the car - true, the gas station was out of ordinary diesel, but I immediately accepted the (nowadays) equally environmentally dubious biofuel. My real shock came much later, when I saw the empty shelves of our local supermarket.

I guess that it says a bit about what a stable situation I have grown up in, but I cannot recall ever having seen anything similar in a market economy. The closest I have come to it were probably the shops in the Czech Republic during communism, when there could be meter after meter of obscure canned vegetables, as an attempt to conceal that more demanded produce had been sold out.

The transport sector still is not content with the governments’ measures to compensate them for high fuel costs, but it is expected that by early next week, store supplies will be back at normal levels. So, we should be happy when observing the empty spaces of products which are missing these days. Shelf space in supermarkets is very valuable and the fact that it is being left unused reveals shop owners' conviction that it will soon fill up again. Let us save the panic for the day when the former fresh meat counter has been filled with bean cans.

Cactuses of Garraf

The picture forms part of Ordlös Onsdag.

Club Gimnàstic de Vilanova

During the last year, our oldest son has taken gymnastics classes in Club Gimnàstic Vilanova. It is a club with an impressive history – although it was founded as late as in the sixties, it has been the breeding ground of seven Olympic participants, all women. Esther Moya, nowadays head instructor, was one of the most successful Spanish gymnasts in Sydney 2000.

For financial reasons, Vilanova's gymnastics club nowadays form part of La Fundació – a federation which benefits from municipal support. During the last few years, they have not produced any new gymnasts for the Spanish National Team, but the hard work begins to show results among the junior gymnasts on the level of Catalonia. Now they face a dilemma – they will not find new talents unless more children start to practise the sport, but the relatively small gymnastics hall of the town has already reached its limits.

Last Sunday the gymnasts held their end-of-semester performance on equipment already put in place for the Memorial Joaquim Blume. I would have liked to see my son participate, but he is leaving the sport since he wants to take music classes instead. And my wife supports his decision. In the end, he is not even five years old yet, so I still have plenty of time to win back his interest.
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La gimnàstica sueca no és per res al mateix nivell com l’espanyola. No obstant això, el club on fins als divuit anys vaig praticar jo aquest esport – Halmstad Frigymnaster – és molt conegut entre gimnastes al meu país. Per això em fascina que nosaltres – per pura coincidencia – vam mudar-nos a una ciutat on les tradicions gimnàstiques són tan fortes com a Vilanova.

Encara que va agradar-me el festival de fin de curs que va montar el Club Gimnàstic Vilanova al Pavelló Poliesportiu del Garraf el diumenge passat, vaig mirar-ho tot amb una sensació una mica amarga. Com hauria volgut veure el meu fill de casi cinc anys participar-hi! Durant tot un any vaig portar-lo al gimnàs un cop a la setmana, però no hi ha manera que s’hi interessi – no para de parlar de les classes de música que fan els seus amics de l’escola.

Doncs, bé, a la tardor l'apuntarem a la música, si és això que volen ell mateix i també la meva dona. I jo hauré de desenvelopar el meu interès a gimnàstica com espectador, les poques vegades que toca. Les coses clarament eran més senzilles per als meus pares quan jo era petit, ja que ambdós es dedicaven al mateix esport. No em van preguntar si volia ser gimnasta – ho donaven per descomptat.

33rd Memorial Joaquim Blume

This year saw the 33rd edition of the Gymnastics competition Memorial Joaquim Blume and for the fourth time in a row, it took place in Vilanova. Not since the Olympic Games of Barcelona in 1992 have so many international top-level gymnast come to Catalonia and the explanation is twofold; firstly, this edition forms part of the World Cup of Gymnastics, which means that by participating here the gymnasts improve their overall ranking, and secondly, all of them are eager to compete as a part of their preparation for the Olympic Games in Beijing.


Since this year was the third time I went I start to feel like a veteran and think that the organizers managed to run the competion in an efficient and audience friendly way. It is obvious that there were less spectators than earlier years, but that is not so surprising if you bear in mind that there was not any competition for junior gymnasts in the morning this time.

So, those of us who were there had come to see the stars and we were not disappointed. Since last year there are no overall champions of this competition but one for each event. Unfortunately, I missed Saturday’s competition in floor exercise, pommel horse and still rings for men and uneven bars and vault for women, but here are the scores of todays’ winners.

Male gold medal winners:
Vault: Isaac Botella, Spain – 15,913 points
Parallel bars: Zhe Feng – P.R. China – 16,100 points
High bar: Weiyan Guo, P.R. China – 15,800 points

Female gold medal winners:
Balance beam: Shanshan Li, P.R. China – 15,900 points
Floor: Shanshan Li, P.R. China – 14,275 points

Judging from here, gymnastics will be one of the parade sports for the hosts of the Olympics this year. But Isaac Botella’s result in vault certainly looks promising.

Up-Date: Here you can find the results of Saturday's competition. I assume that the full Sunday results will be added within shortly.
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Els dies 5-8 de juny s’ha celebrat la competició gimnàstica memorial Joaquin Blume, per la quarta vegada per aquí a Vilanova i la Geltrú. Enguany, en primer lloc forma part de la Copa del Mon, que significa que els gimnastes acumulen punts per la seva participació i en segon funciona com una preparació per als Jocs Olímpics de Pequín. Per tant, escriu en Alfredo Hueto, el Director del Memorial Blume, el que hem vist ara és el esdeveniment gimnàstic més important que es va organitzar a Catalunya, amb l'excepció dels Jocs Olímpics de Barcelona en 1992.


Llàstima que no han vingut més espectadors de la ciutat, però la veritat és que això no m’ha sorprengut. Jo mateix – una persona que s’interessa a aquest esport – vaig assebentar-me de la competició pels cartells que van penjar la última setmana, quan la meva dona ja havia fixat el meu programa per al dissabte. Ara bé, avui he pogut veure tot i m’ha agradat molt. I que en Isaac Botella d’Alacant va aconseguir un or en salt em sembla fantàstic.

A Picnic in the Mountains / El Parc del Garraf

On workdays, the Garraf mountains might feel like an obstacle since they make complicate commuting from Vilanova to Barcelona. However, they are always beautiful - dry hillsides with a low bush vegetation. And if you have a car, driving up into the Parc del Garraf sets a contrast to the buzzing life on and around the beaches.

Signs with the text area privada de caça (private hunting area) reveal that there must be wildlife here, but I doubt that you will see any animals, since this is a heavily populated part of Europe. During our picnic at relatively lush Jafre this weekend, we appreciated the silence and calm but admittedly heard a number of cars and motorcycles pass us by.

It has taken my family much to long to discover this place and we owe it to Sara, Gabriel and their son Adam that we finally went this time. Since our friends live in Barcelona, we entered the park from the north of Port Ginesta (belonging to Sitges, although many people think of it as Castelldefels). Coming from this direction, the drive on sparsely maintained tarmac and then even worse gravel roads feels quite long, but you have a stunning view of the mountains and the sea.

We plan to come back soon but next time we will enter from Sitges. The conditions of the road are said to be the same but at least it will be much shorter.
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L’encant del Parc del Garraf depen de molts aspectes. Ja a l’entrar (del costat Barcelonès de les montanyes) vam adonar-nos de les maravilloses vistes - al mar, a Castelldefels i Gavà i als vessants secs amb vegatació escassa. Per l’altra banda, a la nostra destinació Jafre vam descobrir un lloc tranquil amb molts arbres i un prat tan verd que per uns instants vam sentir com si fossim a Suècia.

Per què no vam anar-hi abans? No sé, però ara tornarem molt aviat. Imagineu-vos que tenim una natura tan distinta i alhora tan a prop de la casa.

Ironia perduda / Air Berlin's Irony Lost on Me

Es diu que la gent dels Països Catalans vol productes i serveis amb descripcions en Català. En part és veritat això, però encara més volem tots gastar el menys possible. Per poder reduir els preus com ho han hagut de fer les línies aèries cal evitar tot que no incrementi la rendabilitat d’una empresa.

Parlar-los en Català als passatgers d’Air Berlin, que majoritariament són alemans, afegeix poc valor comercial ja que tampoc entenen els missatges en castellà que l’empresa ha de presentar per complir les exigències mínimes de l’Estat Espanyol. Així hauria pogut respondre en senyor Hunold al govern balear, quan no li va agradar la carta que li havia enviat.

En comptes d’això va publicar un article en aleman a la revista per als passatgers de la seva línia aèria – una mida que es pot qüestionar pel fet que la revista es llegeix per gent que no coneixen la situació d’aquí i per tant, pot ser, creuran que tot el que escriu un director general és correcte. Clar, ell pot defendre el seu texte per assenyalar que hi ha un dosi d’ironia, però què esperem més d’empresaris del seu nivell – que mostrin sensibilitat amb la societat on actuen o que siguin humoristics com columnistes?

Actualització: Esperem que les mesures que prendra la Plataforma per la Llengua es presentin d'una manera tan constructiva com l'iniciativa del Govern Balear.
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One of today’s main news in Catalonia is about Air Berlin’s managing director Joachim Hunold. Recently, he was upset when receiving a letter from the regional government of the Balearic Islands asking his company to address its passengers in Catalan as well as in Spanish. Instead of writing back, saying that Air Berlin already follows Spanish law and currently does not see the commercial benefit of training its staff in Catalan, Mr Hunold decided to comment on the letter in the airline’s inflight magazine.

In his article, Mr Hunold arguments against the creation of small, medieval style, nation states. I can only agree and that is why I consider it so important for existing states to recognize the role of regional languages and why I am disturbed by the fact that Mr Hunold ignores the linguistic reality of North Eastern Spain. "There are towns in Mallorca where the children do not speak Spanish any longer. In the schools, Spanish is just another foreign language”, he points out and some tourists might believe that he is right.

I do not have the details about the Balearic Islands, but to the parliament of Catalonia, almost 90% of the voters choose parties which are in favour of the current school system, where Catalan is the first language and Spanish the second one. The objective is for all students to speak both languages equally well not when they enter but when they leave compulsory school. Tests on the state level regularly confirm that students from Catalan schools master Spanish just as well as those who have studied in other parts of Spain. Compare that with their level of English and it becomes sadly easy to see that Spanish is not “just another foreign language”.

Mr Hunold must have had the intention to entertain when he wrote his article, if not I do not know how to interpret his comments that Platja de Palma does not sound as nice as Playa de Palma when pronounced by a German. The problem is that the irony was lost on the government of the Balearic Islands and that many Catalan speakers now feel offended. Can that really be in Air Berlin’s interest?

Up-date: And today, Friday, the Plataforma per la Llengua announce that they will take action to prove the commercial value of Catalan to Air Berlin.

Facebook in Catalan / Facebook en català

Those who follow blogs in Catalan cannot have missed the fact that Facebook is now available in this language. What started as an initiative by Internet activist Daniel García Peris, has resulted in an almost completed translation of Facebook’s main page and many of the related applications.

Rumour has it that one single person has translated over 25.000 words and as far as I can see, it has not yet been revealed who this person is. What is sure, however, is that this has been a collective effort: eight hundred people have contributed with translations, which then have been voted to select the most appropriate ones.

Facebook was considered the Internet phenomenon of the year in 2007, but Catalan Internet expert Saül Gordillo is right in pointing out that 2008 is the year when it is taking off in here. And that will increase the pressure for Facebook to accept Catalonia as a national, sorry, regional network. In order not to have to write Spain, Catalans tend to leave this space blank or select Andorra, since there Catalan is the official language.

Let us contrast this with Sweden: There are 860.274 members of the Sweden network (more than the double of the Spain network), but Facebook has not been translated into Swedish and I have, in fact, never heard anyone question that. There were some Swedes who fought to make the “is” in the answer to “what are you doing right now?” optional, so we did not have to have an English word in our answers, but that is about where the defence of our language ended.

As expats living in Catalonia we might differ in our views on the autonomous region’s political future – so do Catalans themselves – but here is one area where I think that we can all agree: civic activity to build the international recognition of the Catalan language is impressive.

Up-date: I have underestimated my fellow countrymen. There are not any longer 11 languages in Facebook, but 16. Danish, Finnish, Portuguese, Czech (which I would need to practise more often) and Swedish (my mother toungue) have been added. Although I am tempted to change language I will stick with Catalan, at least for now.
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Vaig registrar-me al Facebook durant la tardor 2007 i em recordo haver pensat que jo era l’úlitm dels meus amics suecs a fer-ho. Al principi m’agradava això de retrobar coneguts amb qui havia perdut el contacte però després d’uns pocs mesos vaig començar a avorrir-me i el mateix li passava a altra gent. Evidentment amb excepcions – a la meva dona encara li fa gràcia d'omplir enquestes per finalmente rebre la resposta a la pregunta “Quin 'rapper' ets?”.

Confesso que mai vaig reflexionar dues vegades sobre el fet que la meva portada de Facebook era en anglès i que no es pot escollir la meva llengua, el suec. Al mon de la Xarxa sol ser així i no ho considero un gran problema. Tanmateix, ara he canviat al català, no perquè domino l'idioma tan bé com l’anglès sinó per veure tot que hi passarà amb, diguem, els vostres ulls i – possiblement - recuperar l’interès. El català és una de només 11 llengües per escollir i pot ser que aquest orgull faci que l’idea es mantingui viva durant més temps per aquí que a altres països.

Actualització: Ara, de sobte, existeix el Facebook en suec (més txec, danès, finès i portuguès) també i això significa que es manté l'interès entre molts suecs, si ja no entre tots. Però, els meus compatriotes han vingut amb retard - jo em quedo amb el català.

Spot the Difference / Recerca d'errors

The Regia Brass Band - live and on a painting - during Trapezi/Vilanova 2008.
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El Grup Regia Brass Band - en viu i pintat - durant Trapezi/Vilanova 2008.
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The pictures form part of Wordless Wednesday and Ordlös Onsdag.

Restaurants in VnG: Mostaza

Tourists and foreign residents alike, sometimes we want international food served in less traditional ways than what is usually the case here. Mostaza, which opened up in the Rambla de la Pau 11-13 (phone: 93 810 09 75) earlier this year, is Vilanova’s first example of a fast casual restaurant. Compared to typical fast-food, establishments which follow this trend offer their clients the possibility to sit down in a modern environment and be served on proper chinaware.

At Mostaza, you can select dishes to create a three-course meal, but you can also limit yourself to a sallad and a coffee. It goes without saying that everything is available for take-away.

The menu lists a wide range of toasts and sandwiches, all for less than € 5. They have hamburgers and sausage plates - easy choices if you come with small children - and seven different kinds of big main course salads.
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Sí, sí, sé perfectament que molts de vosaltres no cosidereu una franquicia d’aquest tipus com un restaurant. Però, la veritat és que estableciments com Mostaza, que serveixen plats internacionals d’una manera eficient sense que sigui amb la dolenta qualitat que solem relacionar amb el menjar ràpid (fast-food), formen part d’una tendencia global – els restaurants fast-casual.

Les grandes amanides que es mengen com plats principals són caracteristiques i ofereixen la possibilitat de menjar d’una manera sana.

Fa uns anys, quan vam arribar a Vilanova, buscavem sovint però en vá restaurants amb menus semblants a el de Mostaza. Ara ja ens vam acostumar més a la cuina d’aquí, però això no significa que no hi anirem. De debó em sento atret per les taules modernes que acaben de posar a la Rambla i també pels tots petits detalls. Mireu, per exemple, com serveixen les salses. Em sembla molt creatiu.