Langdon

15th of August, 2006

1. Vicente Blasco Ibáñez- A writer, he was born in Valencia in 1867. Was responsible for publishing a radical republican journal, El pueblo, and was put in jail thirty times for political activism. Became world famous for his war novel, Los cuatro jinetes del Apocalipsisur (1916). He traveled throughout South America , before returning to his native land at the beginning of World War I. “He died a voluntary political exile.”

http://coloquio.com/famosos/blascoibanez.htm

2. Joaquín Sorolla- He was born in 1863. At the young age of fifteen, he began painting in Valencia , his hometown. At eighteen, he went to Madrid and found employment at the Prado Museum . He went to study in Rome four years later. It was there that he mastered his techniques of shading and highlighting. In 1911 The HSA got him painting for the New York Library in 1911. His works are now in his house in Madrid , the Museo Sorolla.

http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=786&page=1

3. Barraca- It is a type of house in Spain usually built from brick, straw and mud plaster.

http://www.iswcs.org/iswcs2006/acompanying.php?menu=visitor&section=tourist_programs

4. Chufa- It is a type of food with taste resembling a nut. It has been used in the popular drink horchata, which tastes much like soy milk, for hundreds of years.

http://www.xmission.com/~dderhak/recipe/horchc.htm


5. Oldest Horchateria- Two in Valencia lay claim to being the oldest. Horchateria de Santa Catalina and Horchateria el Siglo can be found in the Plaza Santa Catalina directly across from each other.

http://www.openroad.com.au/tor_travel_vivavalencia.asp

6. There is a song called “ Valencia ”. It is by Helmut Lotti and here are the lyrics.

”Valencia es la tierra de las flores
De la luz y del amor
Valencia tus nmujeres todas tienen
de la rosas el color
Valencia la sentir como perfume
En tus huertos el azahar
quisiera en la tierra Valenciana
mis amores encontrar


La blanca barraca la flor de naranjo
La huerta pulida de almendros en flor
La turia de plata y el cielo turguesa
Y el sol Valenciana van diciendo amor


Amores en Valencia son floridos
Como ramos de azahar
Quereres en Valencia sus mujeres
Con en alma suelen dar
Pasionens en la huerta Valenciana
Si le dan el corazon
Sus hembras ponen alma y ponen vida
En un beso de pasion


Valencia es la tierra de las flores
De la luz y del amor
Valencia tus nmujeres todas tienen
de la rosas el color
Valencia la sentir como perfume
En tus huertos el azahar
quisiera en la tierra Valenciana
mis amores encontrar”

http://www.jencomics.com/artist_h/helmut_lotti_lyrics/valencia_lyrics.html


7. The name of the most famous Valencian Acrhitect is Santiago Calatrava. Here is the address of his studio. IN HOC SIGNO VINCES C / Marques de Sotelo 1-11° 46002 VALENCIA SPAIN

http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Santiago_Calatrava.html

8. La fideuá- It is a dish unique to the region. It is like paella, only hollow noodles are used instead of rice, and the meat is usually seafood.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fideu%C3%A0

9. Acequia – It is an irrigation ditch that was constructed during colonial times in Spain .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acequia

10. Dama de Elche- This is the Lady of Elx, a polychrome stone bust that was discovered in 1897 at L'Alcúdia, an archaeological site near Alicante . Most scholars agree that The Lady of Elx is Iberian art of the 4th century B.C.E. This constitutes the Hellenistic and the Roman periods. Most think the bust represents a woman wearing a headdress. A few people, not many, think it represents a man. There is evidence that it was once used as an urn.

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/esanchez/dama.htm

The following pictures were taken last Friday night, during a long walk home with Jeremy and David, which we were forced to take after the bus that was to drop us off close quit running and dropped us off even further from home than we were when we got on. It was a muggy night, and I had already removed my shirt. I let my cumbersome jeans down to my ankles and asked Jeremy if he thought it would be inappropriate for me to walk the rest of the way home with this look. Not even considering that it would lengthen the trip significantly, for that is reason enough to advise against it, Jeremy responded and asked why I did not just take them off and carry them home, along with my shirt. I thought this was an idea crazy enough to work, so that is what I did. It was a much cooler trip home for me. That much can be said. While lying in bed that night, I realized that the predominantly nude trip home served as confirmation to what I suspected when I first arrived in this foreign country. Nudity does not really matter to these people. I really did not get any second glances, and I passed numerous people, young and old. People eating, people socializing, people whom I could tell were homeless passing me on the streets- hardly one thought twice about the fact that there was a 21 year old kid in nothing but boxers strolling down the streets of their city many hours into a Saturday morning in July. This is simply not done in the States. Not only this, but as it has been overstated in previous posts, it is not abnormal to turn the television to a local channel past midnight and see Hardcore pornography.
Contrary to what Jeremy would have you believe, I do not condone this, nor do I condemn it. I was just throwing it out there when I told him about it.

Of course by now everyone is aware of the fact that if you go to the beach here in Valencia, you will probably see more than one woman topless. I am not pointing this out to be a pervert, rather to say that I believe they place much less value on how they look here than those in America do. If you are of the female persuasion and you weigh over 120 pounds, you probably would not be caught dead wearing a string bikini, much less not having on a top at all. But here it is of no importance. Beauty comes from within, is their motto, and that is something that I respect way more than any measurements on a pretty girl.

Now that I have gotten the nudity talk out of my system, I will close by saying that I am very excited about going to the Museum of Arts and Sciences today. It is the scheduled activity for today. Tuesdays we have Salsa dance lessons, Thursdays we go to the beach to play volleyball, and today we get to go to what all the natives say should be our number one destination while here in the city. If that is not enough fun for ya, a few of us just bought tickets to see a bullfight here on Friday night. When many people think of Spain, they think of bullfights, so it will definitely be cool to do something unique to the region before I return home.

Enough rambling. Love to all those back in the States who are enjoying air conditioning and hot showers while we are freezing our butts off over here in their showers, and sweating our tails off in their restaurants. Look forward to seeing you at the end of the month.

Hasta luego,
C. Langdon