Sant Jordi 2014

While every holiday here is incredibly fun and full of life, there is no holiday in Barcelona that compares to Sant Jordi.  It is by and far my absolute favorite.  For those that might not remember, Sant Jordi is Barcelona's answer to Valentine's Day only bigger and better.

Instead of the traditional Hallmark card, roses and chocolate, it's a bit of a twist here.  Combined with International Book Day, the tradition is that men give women a rose and women give men a book. This can be a friend, a family member or someone you love - it does not matter.  It is all inclusive.

The legend of Sant Jordi is about Saint George (Jordi here in Catalunya) rescuing the princess from the dragon.  So much of what you see during the day is images of Sant Jordi and the Dragon.  When Sant Jordi stabbed the dragon.  In the spot where the dragon's blood spilled, a rose bush grew.  And Sant Jordi plucked a rose to give to the princess.  As you walk down most every street you are confronted with table after table of either roses or books. And as you near the center of the city, these tables become larger and larger and become tents filled with people, authors and books.  Roses everywhere but not just real roses but roses created by artists - jewelry, puppets and more.  You can tell they've had to get creative over the years in order to differentiate from the competition.

My friend Jodi is in town and her timing could not have been better because I have spent the last few months holed up in our apartment during the day.  With beautiful weather on Sant Jordi, it was a perfect day to walk around town to see what was going on.  We walked from my apartment in Gracia down to Placa Catalunya - normally about a 45 minute walk but much longer when you take time to smell the roses (ok that was a really bad pun).  We took our time walking around and checking out all the sights along the way.  Not to mention there were huge crowds of people once we got to Passeig de Gracia - it was hard to walk at much more than a snail's pace at times.  I'm pretty sure all of Spain was in the general Placa Catalunya area which could explain a bit about the economy here since these people were obviously not working!

Sant Jordi cupcakes...unfortunately they did not taste even close to how good they looked.  But they were pretty at least!

Flowers and Catalan flags

Placa de Vila de Gracia - there were book sellers surrounding the clock tower

Take your picture as Sant Jordi and the Dragon

The puppet I bought Liam - the dragon goes in and out of the rose with a stick (the stem of the flower)

Catalunya (Independence flags) flag cookies with roses

A lot of booths we saw had propaganda about freeing Catalunya from Spain...in addition to selling roses and books. This tee shirt says "Make no mistake.  I'm Catalan and so I'm not Spanish"

Catalan independence and standard flag bracelets made from rainbow looms - I told Aidan he's missing a whole market here!

Finally a booth with books in English...too bad they are all tourist books!

Even El Corte Ingles was sporting it's Catalan flag during the celebrations

After we made our way thru Placa Catalunya, I had to make my way up to school for the kids' annual Sant Jordi festival.  Again, this is my favorite of all the performances they put on each year.  It is traditional, it is adorable and it brings a tear to my eye every year as I think of how lucky we have been to have the opportunity for our kids to go to such a wonderful school that does these kinds of things.

And while the Sant Jordi festival is LONG at the boys' school (it was 2 1/2 hours and there is no seating for the parents so you are standing the whole time), it is worth it and so much fun!

Liam loves any reason to celebrate!

Heads of school and the Spanish/Catalan teachers starting the festivities!

Liam's class coming out to do their performance

Liam is the first child on the left in the blue shorts

http://youtu.be/cGr5thCILPQ

Liam's 1st grade class performance

And here comes Aidan's class!

Aidan is at 12 o'clock in the plaid shorts

Now at 5 o'clock...

http://youtu.be/6EgDnXMUJeo

Aidan's 4th grade class performance

There was even a casteller performance from some of the middle schoolers!  This is no easy feat!

No festival is complete without a gegante (giant)!  In our case, it's Benjamin Franklin (the boys' school is the Benjamin Franklin International School)!

As always, the most fun performance and definitely not traditional is that done by the 11th graders. Each year, they do their own interpretation of the legend of Sant Jordi...with a modern twist.  It's a lot of fun to watch and while it would be tempting to grab the kids and go after their performances are done, we'd hate to miss out on this!

http://youtu.be/F3dFXVYEObE

11th grade dance - to the tune of Cotton Eyed Joe

That was it.  It was a fun day had by all and with love in the air, I should also note, that on a rare day that we walked home, Aidan decided to tell me that he has a girl that he likes in his class.  He wanted to know how he could tell her he likes her and if she would be his girlfriend.  OMG where does the time go?  How can my baby be at a stage where he likes girls?  We had an awesome and mature conversation the whole way home from school.  And while I'm sad that mom isn't the love of his life any more, I love this young man he is becoming.  What better day to talk about all different kinds of love than Sant Jordi??

Liam with his rose/dragon puppet that I gave him - it was a HUGE hit!

My baby isn't a baby any more!

Besos,

Julie

Sant Jordi 2013

Sant Jordi is hands down one of my favorite holidays here in Barcelona.  It's the Valentine's Day of Spain but better.  Streets are lined with kiosks of flower and book vendors.  Men give women roses and women give men books.  It's a beautiful exchange and you see men and women walking around holding their precious books and roses all day.

But my favorite part of Sant Jordi has always been the festival at the kids' school.  Normally it's just the elementary school and maybe some volunteer upper grade students.  But this year it was actually grades nursery - 11th.  It was a looonnngggg afternoon but well worth it.  Every time I see this festival, I get teary.  This is a big reason why I'm so glad my kids got to have the experience of living abroad.  They are learning about culture when they don't even realize they are learning.  And learning goes beyond math, reading and science - it's about the arts, language, culture and more.  And every time I see this festival I think, "we are so lucky to experience this and god, I love this school!".  Every time.  This year was no different.

However, this year, Liam actually participated in the dancing part.  The last 2 years his classes only did a little mini parade before the elementary started the performances.  But this year he's a big kid and he is in elementary now and it shows.  While all the grades did a great job, I have to give big kudos to these kindergarten kids - it's their first big performance, it's a lot of steps to memorize and they were amazing!!  I actually think that theirs was one of the best performances of the day just based on what skill sets they have at age 5/6 and the complexity of their dance compared to the other grades.  But maybe I'm just biased :)

Liam and his partner, Ruby... she was a take charge kind of gal as you'll see in the video

Liam chatting with his friends before the festival starts

It's kindergarten's turn!  Liam is the third group on the right....

Liam and Ruby are the second group on the left

The boys on their knees, soooo cute!  Liam is the 2nd boy on the left

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi1W2D0rwmk&list=UUyt6kiLugGYJxi2bfgGMRmw&index=1

Liam's performance - watch for Ruby making sure that Liam is standing "just" right

Aidan was actually pretty excited about his dance this year.  Normally he shies away from this kind of stuff.  But I think being partnered with his best friend, Max, made all the difference in the world.  He was all smiles which melted my heart - I loved that he was having fun with this!!  I did notice that the moment he got back to his class he was immediately stripping off the polo shirt and the Vanns.  Some things never change I guess :)

Aidan is the third from the left

Paired up with the girls, for a moment

Aidan is first on the left

Aidan and Max doing their part of the dance

Aidan and Max on the left

And again

Chatting after their performance is done

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqj7zpD6ids&list=UUyt6kiLugGYJxi2bfgGMRmw&index=2

A video of Aidan's 3rd grade class performance

I look forward to seeing next year's festival and seeing how much these two have grown over the course of a year.  Feliz Sant Jordi to everyone!!

Besos,

Julie

Love is in the Air... Diada de Sant Jordi

It's that time of year again... Diada de Sant Jordi.  Or St. George's day to those who don't live in Catalunya.  In Barcelona, Sant Jordi is like Valentines day, except instead of a Hallmark card and lavish gifts, men give women a rose and women give men a book (because it's also International Book day).  The streets are lined with vendors selling both roses and books and it's just a happy and festive day overall.  You can't help but be caught up in the good mood of the day.

However, my favorite part of the day is how the kids' school, BFIS, celebrates St. Jordi.  I was really bummed last year that the date of the celebration was changed because it was literally the only day I pulled the kids from school a day before a school break in order to make a flight (to Amsterdam).  But I won't forget the celebration from Aidan's kindergarten year.  Dressed in a white shirt, jeans and a red bandana and belt, he and his classmates did an absolutely adorable dance.  To see his kindergarten performance, check out my blog from 2 years ago:  http://www.megustatuzapatos.blogspot.com.es/2010/04/diada-de-sant-jordi-valentines-day-in.html

This year, Liam's class will also be participating, however, his class will not be doing a traditional Catalan dance.  Instead, since they are only in Pre-K, they will be dressing up as either a knight (Sant Jordi), a princess or a dragon.  Liam opted for a knight and has been waltzing around the house slaying imaginary dragons for the last 2 days.  He was especially excited this morning since he got to wear the costume to school.  He definitely garnered the attention of many passerby's this morning as he wielded his shield and sword to protect his family from the dragon.  And I saw him make many a person smile, what a great way to start the day!

Liam, I mean Sant Jordi, getting ready for school and then at the bus stop where he caught the attention of many people waiting for the clinic next door to open. 

Aidan, on the other hand, reminds me of a teenage girl and it makes me dread the teen years.  He had to wear jeans this morning (because he will have to do a dance) and I made him wear jeans with no holes (oh my god!!!!!) which meant wearing new jeans.  And as we all know, new jeans need to be broken in.  And these new jeans are skinny jeans, in style and he looked absolutely handsome.  But those who know Aidan, know that he absolutely hates to look handsome...why, it's a mystery to me...because he is and he just can't help it.  He was sooooo dramatic about how the jeans made his underwear show when he sat down and that he didn't like the green material near the zipper (I used my mother's line of "if someone is that close to your zipper, then they are too close" which at least got a laugh out of him) and that he just can't walk in these jeans.  Oh my!  I can only hope the rest of the day goes better for him!!!

As I walked along to school this afternoon, I saw many stalls with both books and roses for sale.  Now, what I saw was just a smattering of what this city has to offer today.  I was no where near Placa Catalunya and Rambla Catalunya where the streets are absolutely filled with vendors.  But regardless, I thought it was cute nonetheless!

I arrived at school intentionally 15 minutes before the performances were set to start knowing that in Spain, no one arrives on time and therefore I could secure myself a good spot to videotape the show.  And as always this show did not let me down and in fact, had me grinning the entire time.  Not only did I love the performances of my own kids, but I really enjoyed the ones done by the other grades as well. 

For Liam's pre-k class performance: http://youtu.be/Ga5NSTXMfy0  Liam is the one towards the back of the parade with the black hood, sword and shield.

For Aidan's 2nd grade class performance:  http://youtu.be/pyOmk_W7p1Y.  Aidan is the third boy from the back. 

Liam is the one holding the sword towards the back, standing up... (and my friend Nasi is in the white sweatshirt leaning on the bar)

Aidan is the third boy from the end...

The boys in Aidan's class are ready

Aidan next to Sofia as the song ends

Soooo happy to be done!!

All the classes doing the Sardana, a traditional Catalan dance

Aidan somewhat happy until he ended up having to hold a teacher's hand for the Sardana

My friend Nasi is a teacher at the P21 program which is for kids with disabilities.  They share campus space with the BFIS kids and it was nice that they were incorporated into the day with the BFIS students.   I have to say, I think they did amazing and it was great for the kids of BFIS to see beyond the bubble that we live in and that these kids don't let any handicaps prevent them from doing the same things as so called "normal" kids. 

100%

100TTThere was a huge jump in capability from the rest of the elementary school to the 5th graders.  They must just have a big change in dexterity in that year because their dance was far more complex than the other grades.   http://youtu.be/s9s1jFwuba0

My absolute favorite was the one put on by the 11th graders where they did a bit of a modern version of the tale of Sant Jordi.  Knowing that "We Will Rock You" by Queen is one of my kids' favorites, I'm sure that they enjoyed every moment of it too!   If you don't watch any other videos, you should at least watch this one for the entertainment value.   http://youtu.be/gD_oQuBcuCo

All in all it was a fun day and the kids, I think, really enjoyed the festivities. 

Besos,
Julie