That I still have a lot to learn in the world of castells, human towers, became very clear last Saturday. The Bordegassos of Vilanova celebrated their ‘día de la colla’ with the Minyons from l’Arboç as invited guests. Since the most famous teams have already ended their season, the event managed to make it to the headlines of Catalan national press.
The Bordegassos were the stronger team this day and completed (descarregar) all their top castells: first a ‘5 de 7’, then a beautiful ‘4 de 7 amb l’agulla’, followed by a ‘4 de 7’. After that I was hoping that they would make an attempt at a castell of 8 levels, but instead we were presented with a pillar. A ‘pilar de sis amb folre i manilles’ (a pilar of six levels of people standing one on one, but with the support of extra people on the second and third level) was what I saw and I was really impressed, although the team members themselves did not seem to take it very seriously. “No it was ‘La puta d’oros’ and in fact only five levels”, explained a girl from the team. I will not try to translate the name, but have learnt that most colles have a construction like this - a castell which does not form part of the official score table, but is more of a symbol of the team.
Later on in the afternoon did an article in the Bordegassos’ magazine make me understand that some of the members are happy that the team now sees itself as a “colla de set”, a team which makes towers of up to seven levels. During the last few years, the team has tried to live up to its old reputation by every now and then attempting a tower of eight levels, but the results have been disappointing. The castell season is over and for having accepted being a “colla de set” the Bordegassos can proudly look back at a 2008 when more or less every performance went as planned.
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I made a lot of films and photos during the “dia de la colla” and one day I will up-load them all. To the irritating fact that Orange still has not managed to re-establish our high speed connection at home, a new problem has been added: I have lost my camera somewhere inside our apartment. Let us see what comes up when I look through my sons’ many toy baskets.
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Up-date: And here they are, finally: my YouTube clips from this event.
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Technorati tags: Castellers, Catalonia, Human Towers, Penedès, Vilanova, Wirdheim
Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Monday, 10 November 2008
ENG: High Profile Castellers Meeting in Arboç
In the heart of the Penedès region, typically surrounded by wineyards, there is a small town called Arboç. Today, Sunday November 9, their local casteller team, the Minyons d’Arboç, celebrated their 50th anniversary. The plan was for it to be visited by a number of invited colles but it developed into a high profile meeting. Some weeks ago, the Castellers de Vilafranca and Colla Vella dels Xiquest de Valls as well as the Colla Joves Xiquets de Valls should have made a joint exhibition by teams which make human towers of nine levels (colles de nou). Since it was raining that day, someone decided that they should all make a new attempt in Arboç.
The casteller season is over, and already before the action started had we heard on the radio that neither of the teams would take the risk with nine levels this time. However, the weather was fantastic and the fact that Arboç is a small town made the event very intimate. The Bordegassos de Vilanova were there as well, and must have felt positively challenged by this opportunity to act together with the top teams.
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Encara tenim una connexió a la xarxa fatalment lenta a casa. Pas a pas pujaré fotos i clips – sobre tot el interessant gran castell que ha descarregat la colla Jove i que fins avui no havia jo vist mai. Si algun lector sap com fer-los una mica de pressió a Orange o a Telefónica (o als dos – de veritat no entenem qui és responsable) per que agilitzin el tema de tornar-nos banda ampla, digueu-me alguna cosa, si us plau.
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Technorati tags: Castellers, Catalonia, Human Towers, Penedès, Vilanova, Wirdheim
ENG: ‘Fira de novembre’ of Vilanova, 2008
During the last few days, the centre of Vilanova i la Geltrú has housed the traditional, multi-sectoral November fair (Fira de novembre), which I wrote quite extensively about last year. Just like last year, although my wife and I did not buy anything, we must admit to having passed by most of the stands and our two small sons love it. Both of them were thrilled to see the Rambla full of cars, and the older one was even more excited with the cranes. The tallest one held a cabin in which you were able to go 108 meters up in the air to see the town from above.
Again my favourite part of the fira were the stage performances – a great opportunity for those who are new here to learn about the activities and quality level of some sports clubs and cultural associations. Unfortunately enough, this year the main stage had been moved to a narrow space in front of the mercat, so those who took part had to adapt their shows to a limited space.
About 200.000 people are estimated to have visited the fira activities 2008 and, in spite of the "crisis", it had almost as many exhibitors as last year (191 versus 196). The big difference were the total absence of real estate agencies - as late as in 2007 there were a lot of them.
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Here below you can find pictures and movies of the fair in general plus parts of the performances by Taekwondo and Hapkido club Chois Vilanova as well as Flow Centre, the local academy of stage arts.
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Technorati tags: Catalonia, Penedès, Taekwondo, Vilanova, Wirdheim
Again my favourite part of the fira were the stage performances – a great opportunity for those who are new here to learn about the activities and quality level of some sports clubs and cultural associations. Unfortunately enough, this year the main stage had been moved to a narrow space in front of the mercat, so those who took part had to adapt their shows to a limited space.
About 200.000 people are estimated to have visited the fira activities 2008 and, in spite of the "crisis", it had almost as many exhibitors as last year (191 versus 196). The big difference were the total absence of real estate agencies - as late as in 2007 there were a lot of them.
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Here below you can find pictures and movies of the fair in general plus parts of the performances by Taekwondo and Hapkido club Chois Vilanova as well as Flow Centre, the local academy of stage arts.
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Technorati tags: Catalonia, Penedès, Taekwondo, Vilanova, Wirdheim
Saturday, 8 November 2008
CAT: Optimista o boig?
En temps quan els mitjans de comunicació només parlen de la crisi financera i de la recessió que està vinent amb molta força, vaig invertir jo tots els meus estalvis a un projecte comercial. Sóc boig? Una mica, pot ser, però encara més sóc optimista.
Sempre he volgut tenir la meva pròpia empresa i enguany penso que ha aparegut una oportunitat. Es tracta d’una petita distribudora amb una gama de preservatius suecs com el seus productes principals, que venem sobre tot a farmàcies però també a oficines de planificació familiar i altres entitats públiques. No poc dir que va ser el meu somni de treballar amb condoms, no obstant això, el nostre proveïdor RFSU és una empresa tant ètica com solidària – tots els seus beneficis s’inverteixen a una ONG que fa campanyes sobre la salut sexual per tot arreu del món – cosa que sí m’agrada molt.
Ara comença un període plen de canvis a la meva vida personal. Amb el temps us prometo canviar tota la publicitat de l’empresa - inclouent, és clar, la nostra pàgina web - per adaptar-la també a la part de la clientela que prefreix el català. Però he de començar amb la venda. El día 1 de desembre és la diada mundial de VIH i sol ser una bona ocasió per recordar a tothom que la SIDA encara avui és incurable i que l’ús de condoms és la millor manera per evitar malalties sexuals.
Després de mesos quan em vaig sentir com un blocaire amb uns certs coneixements culturals i lingüistics però sense idees com per guanyar la vida de la meva familia, me he convertit a un simple venedor de condoms. Malgrat això tinc molta il·lusió i sento com se m’estan tornant les forces. Sí, hauré de fer moltes tasques bàsiques, però això no significa que perdré el meu interés cultural.
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Perdoneu-me si responc als vostre comentaris molt poc a poc. Encara no s’ha restablert la banda ampla a la nostra casa i, com podeu imaginar-vos, tinc molta feina durant els dies a la oficina.
Sempre he volgut tenir la meva pròpia empresa i enguany penso que ha aparegut una oportunitat. Es tracta d’una petita distribudora amb una gama de preservatius suecs com el seus productes principals, que venem sobre tot a farmàcies però també a oficines de planificació familiar i altres entitats públiques. No poc dir que va ser el meu somni de treballar amb condoms, no obstant això, el nostre proveïdor RFSU és una empresa tant ètica com solidària – tots els seus beneficis s’inverteixen a una ONG que fa campanyes sobre la salut sexual per tot arreu del món – cosa que sí m’agrada molt.
Ara comença un període plen de canvis a la meva vida personal. Amb el temps us prometo canviar tota la publicitat de l’empresa - inclouent, és clar, la nostra pàgina web - per adaptar-la també a la part de la clientela que prefreix el català. Però he de començar amb la venda. El día 1 de desembre és la diada mundial de VIH i sol ser una bona ocasió per recordar a tothom que la SIDA encara avui és incurable i que l’ús de condoms és la millor manera per evitar malalties sexuals.
Després de mesos quan em vaig sentir com un blocaire amb uns certs coneixements culturals i lingüistics però sense idees com per guanyar la vida de la meva familia, me he convertit a un simple venedor de condoms. Malgrat això tinc molta il·lusió i sento com se m’estan tornant les forces. Sí, hauré de fer moltes tasques bàsiques, però això no significa que perdré el meu interés cultural.
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Perdoneu-me si responc als vostre comentaris molt poc a poc. Encara no s’ha restablert la banda ampla a la nostra casa i, com podeu imaginar-vos, tinc molta feina durant els dies a la oficina.
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