Greetings. Sorry about the lack of proper blogging, with pictures n that, but the internet is still not installed in our flat. As with most things in Spain they will do it when they are damn well ready and not a moment before. The internet lady was VERY clear when she said there was to be no putting off photos onto her computers. Theres a little girl next to me watching the Jonas brothers on Youtube. When will they just stamp ´Property of the Disney Corporation´on their heads and end the chriade? The sooner I can stop coming here, the better.
I thought I would thus use this lull to treat you all to a little history lesson about Pamplona. I realise now that this won´t be too comprehensive as when researching (typing into Google) the history of Pamplona there are more results for the history of Pampers. Why does the world need over 600,000 pages about the history of Pampers? Nonetheless...
Pamplona ¡s named after the Roman general Pompey the Great. The article also helpful informs me that the Roman empire didn´t last forever, no one told me. The original people of the area were the Vascons who despite being conquered never stopped asserting their independence. The number of Basque flags and banners for Basque independence around the city demonstrate that that independent streak is still very much alive. Charlemange paid a visit and like any bad guest just hung around before smashing your city walls and leaving. This makes me feel like I may have misjudged CAN, they are clearly still scarred by this and that is why my account is contributing to paying for the upkeep of the things. Rest assured if Charlemange tries it again I´ll be ready with a group of angry townsfolk. Being dead for over a thousand years hasn´t lessened my suspicion of him.
Pamplona´s golden age was the 11th century, so I´ve just missed it´s peak. It became the independent kingdom of Navarre. Navarre is still the name of the region and the people are still fiercly proud of it, some of the kids I teach write their nationality as Navarese. Pilgrims travelling on the Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela travelled through Pamplona which led to a boom that only Catholic walkers can provide. To this very day there are still loads of pilgrims walking through the city on the same route. They all have huge bags and more than one walking stick. Not much of it is religous these days just people in the 60´s whose kids are out of the door, the mortage is paid off and they have nothing better to do than walk the length of Northern Spain. Their grown kids sitting at home head in hands crying over just how much of their inheritance has been spent.
It became a part of Spain in 1512 and was used as a fortress town to keep out the French. It did so until Napeleon strutted in as he did throughout most of the rest of Europe. Being a fortress town it wasn´t allowed to expand beyond the walls so it only started to grow in 1915 when they finally cottoned on that the days of citadels had passed. This accounts for its small size.
The running of the bulls comes started in the 14th century when people tried to speed the bulls going to market by offering themselves as bait. Maybe I could use the same tactics with the internet people? It became competitive and before you know it there are over 1.5 million drunk tourists sleeping in your bus stops.
As you can see it isn´t a hive of historical activity, but its not bad.
Other than that I live to lesson plan. I forgot how busy you can be. TEFL not the doss you might believe, I never thought of it as a proper job until I started. I finally met our new house mate, he claims to be doing masters but all I´ve seen him do is watch TV and eat pork burgers. He´s nice though. Other than that I´ve been developing an addiction to flavoured milk (some have crack I have milk, each to their own), rediscovered a love for CNN and finally found a shop that sells mince. Oh and I spend a lot of time defending Charlton to Spaniards, who know nothing about football, with sentiments along the lines of "Just because you´ve never heard of them..." and "Have Osasuna just beaten Barnet in the Johnson Paint Trophy? No, I didn´t think so."
I hope I´ve not bored you, I probably have.
love love love x
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