La fiestas del Pilar AKA The festival of Pilar

The Spanish are big on fiestas, traditions, celebrations, partying and generally enjoying life. The week of 7-13th October were the Fiestas del Pilar/Festival of Pilar.

Gigantes y caberzoros on the Stone Bridge

My language challenge: Español

Still from All About my Mother, Almodovar

New month, new job, new country, new start. NEW LANGUAGE.

So, as you may know I'm living in Spain, one my main goals I wish to achieve whilst being here is to master the Spanish language.

I never studied Spanish at school, I momentarily learnt French and German but with little success and always thought that languages "weren't my forte" despite desiring this skill. This view of mine changed last year when I spent 8/9 months in Tanzania and learnt to communicate in Kiswahili and a little bit of Maasai. I came to the conclusion that the best way to learn a language is immersion, if you are faced with daily situations that require you to communicate with people in order to get by, there's a much greater push to learn the language.  The inquisition of knowledge and vocabulary evolves from a hobby, an activity, a subject at school, to something that is essentially a basic need.

Salou, Spain : Misfortunate adventure number one

There's a fine line between spontaneous and rash decision making...

At the beginning of this week I started to dream of the Spanish coast. It was a combination of things: hearing my new colleagues mention their homes on the coast and the  beginning of autumn subconsciously making the looming winter seem ever more present.

The place that kept being mentioned was Tarragona. The smaller historical city close to Barcelona and surrounded by coastal towns. Being a history lover, both Barcelona and Tarragona appealed. I mistakenly assumed that the surrounding towns would offer some of this rich Spanish culture too and opted for one of these as my main request was relaxation on the beach. So late on Thursday evening I decided to go to the closest coast on Friday after work. BIG MISTAKE! I thought it'd be best to visit both cities another time as one doesn't visit for the weather but for the history and culture. Well now I hadn't been so typically British and wanted to sun!

What is it about 2013?