*Fiestas and Fireworks*

Year after year, the city of Valencia prepares itself for a celebration that demands their time and devotion, inviting people from around the world to welcome a new season through fire and light. It is the city's pride and joy that people flock to take part in; the festival of Las Fallas.

This was my favourite 'fallas'

The fiesta takes place annually in March to celebrate the beginning of Spring and to throw off the final drags of winter. The festival is 5 days of loud fireworks and crackers, street parties and the giant, satirical monuments that are known as 'fallas' and 'ninots'.

The monuments tower over the city

From the moment we arrived, we could see that the party had begun in parts of the city. We walked to our apartment, past the 'ninots' and wondered what they were. They represent the age old tradition of burning the supplies of torching excess winter supplies and, over time, took form and shape of people and grew in size. On 19 March, the day of Saint Joseph, patron saint of carpenters and a public holiday in Spain, the monuments are burnt and thus the festival of 'Las Fallas' ('The Fires' in Valenciano, the language spoken in the area) was born.

Hello random strangers!

We adventured into the city, not knowing where to go or what to do but wanting to party and experience what the city had to offer. We landed up dancing the night away and having midnight kebabs to keep our energy levels revved before wandering around the busy streets and making new friends along the way. I found a photo on my camera the next morning; we were all smiles but I have no idea what the names of those strangers are, yet in that moment we just happily enjoyed each other's company.

The next day we made our way to the centre of the city to listen to the daily noisy event of 'la Mascleta'. At 2pm firecrackers are set off and a fanfare of gunpowder ensues for the next couple of minutes. Thousands are drawn towards the 'ayuntamiento' ('town hall' in Spanish) to watch the concert of noise and smoke. Feeling the 'doof doof doof' in my chest as the crackers went off was exhilarating and after it finished, the people slowly dispersed into side streets to carry on with their drinking and partying.

The crowd slowly started to disperse after La Mascleta

The city doubles in size to about 3 million people during the festival. I wasn't surprised when the 5 of us that had gone together, were separated during the day. With so many people in the streets and with each of us looking at different things, it was bound to happen. By the time we found each other again, we were all exhausted and decided to go home to relax before going out again that night.

The streets came alive through music, dance and drink

As we walked home, firecrackers were being let off every which way we went. I could never really quite relax as I jumped at every single one I heard and had to watch out for where they were being thrown; I was constantly twitching as if I had an odd disorder. The festival has been known to be a little dangerous because of the free-for-all mentality of playing with crackers and, of course, accidents do happen. Children as young as 5 were lighting their little cherry bombs, with no safety gear on, while parents looked on with a sense of pride. I did enjoy the smell of the gun powder though; it reminded me of my own childhood.

Sitting on the bridge,
waiting for the fireworks

I was most excited for the famous fireworks display that lights up the night sky. However, for some unknown reason I was expecting more grandeur and allurement. I think this was my own fault though because my friends happily enjoyed the fireworks. That's what you get for going in with a certain expectation. Lesson learned. Looking back I think that they were really great but in the moment, I seemed to have been searching for magic that just escaped my grasp. Genuinely though, the pyrotechnics were an amazing sight.


Afterwards we went for a drink but I lost my 'ganas' (my desire to go out) and wandered the streets hunting for a taxi to go home. That was a failed adventure all on its own because no free taxis could be found anywhere, so we ventured through the city trying to find our way back to our temporary abode; our feet aching and our bodies tired.


We woke up on Sunday, not ready to go home but a little beat from the hustle and bustle of the festival. As night approached, we got on our bus and took the 3 hour trip home. I looked out the window and saw an orange full moon rise and that helped to ward off my Sunday night blues.

One more thing I can happily and successfully tick off my bucket list: Las Fallas (Spain 2014)

15m tall Moses sits in the city centre

Only in South Africa

"I believe that South Africa is the most beautiful place on earth. Admittedly, I am biased but when you combine the natural beauty of sunny South Africa with the friendliness and cultural diversity of our people, and the fact that our region is a haven for Africa's most splendid wildlife, then I think that we have been blessed with a truly wonderful land"

- Nelson Mandela

I come from a country with a turbulent past and not so steady future. We are a complicated people with complicated feelings towards our country. South Africa is really a special case when it comes to our different cultures and lifestyles and how it affects our opinions about important local matters. But with all that said and done, I have to share why South Africa is truly one of the most unique places to grow up in. We are unique and vastly different to other cultures because we have so much diversity that we are, ironically, one of a kind. Europe seems an odd place to live, with odd customs and strange traditions that I find perplexing.

Our lekker way of speaking
We have the best slang terminology. Our slang is a mix of languages; from Afrikaans to Zulu and Khoi San and even Portuguese! English comes alive with bright and colourful words that give the language flavour.
Now now - soon, but different to "just now": "Ja ma, I'll do it now now."
Ag - an exclamation: "Ag man, don't be silly"
Babelaas - hangover: "I'm a bit babelaas from last night"
Eina - ouch or sore: "Is your head eina?"
Lekker - cool or good: "I had a lekker holiday"

Braai is better than barbeque
South Africans don't barbeque like the rest of the world. We braai. And we don't braai meat; we braai boerewors and vleis.

It's not ketchup. It's called tomato sauce
And the best tomato sauce is by far South Africa's favourite "All Gold", with its famous 36 tomatoes. I don't know how many of my international friends "correct" me. "Don't you mean ketchup?" No. I mean tomato sauce. What does the word "ketchup" even mean?

The proper school year
School starts in January and ends in December. As how it should be; with reasonable holiday periods in between school terms for kids not to get bored. Summer holidays and school terms are too long in America and Europe. We much prefer our school year.

We don't speak Afrikaans because we're from Africa
Too many times I've been told this while travelling abroad. I shake my head at people's ignorance but, to be fair, I can see where they get the assumption from; yet we all know what happens when we assume! Afrikaans is a dialect language of Dutch with smatterings of other languages that gives it a different feel on the lips compared its mother tongue. It is not Dutch, although it is the daughter language of it. I guess it is an African language in its own right.

We are not just black and white
We are truly a rainbow nation. We are black, white, Indian, Asian and coloured and yet we are all South African! I love it. We all seem to fit into a ticking box. Within each "box", we diverge even further into our own separate cultures. I still forget sometimes that other countries aren't as diverse as ours. We have no one main religion so even on Christmas, you'll find something open.

Christmas in summer
Christmas means sunshine and beaches; holidays and summer rains; shorts and dresses. Two Christmasses now abroad in Europe and I can honestly say that there is nothing better than a Christmas Day lunch in the garden followed by swimming in the pool or spending the day on the beach.

Rooibos tea is more popular than black tea
I grew up drinking rooibos ("red bush" in Afrikaans) since I was a little girl and I remember my family in Poland asking us to send them boxes of it before it became popular abroad. We don't call it red tea though. It is, and forever will be, rooibos.

We play soccer not football
The country is divided on this, depending on who you speak to. Some of us, like me, will call it soccer but many of my friends who follow the English league, will go into heavy debates about how it is not soccer but the age old game of football. It doesn't really matter though because the sport comes second to rugby; our pride and joy.

We raise silkworms as a hobby
As kids, we raise silkworms as pets. I remember how excited we would get each season when it was time to trade and see who had the most silkworms until our parents decided that enough was enough, and we threw our shoe boxes away, which we kept filled with mulberry leaves for the little guys to munch on until they cocooned themselves. When they emerged as pretty little white moths, we would watch in awe as they laid their eggs on the sides of the box and died. I think this was my first lesson in the cycle of life and death.

We have the coolest currency
OK, so the rand isn't particularly strong and if you ask any South African, they'll tell you how much they hate it but even though it's this, that and the next thing, it is still the coolest looking cash I have seen on my travels thus far. I still feel proud when I show my students our coins and notes. I mean, come on, we have animals and the newly added Madiba. Who wants presidents and kings when you can tell how much money you have got by looking at which animal of the Big Five is on the note.

Where are the animals in the rest of the world?
You can pretty much go to any reserve and see zebra, buck and giraffe. Walk into my house during the summer and I guarantee you'll see a rain spider somewhere. We're careful of snakes and let's not get started on the monkeys at the coast. Our bird life is famous and Cape Town is world reknown for whale sightings and cage diving with Great Whites. Visit the Kruger and you'll find our precious Big Five. Where are the animals in Europe? Nothing in Spain and you have to venture into the forests of Poland to maybe catch a glimpse of something wild. My British friends had a debate on whether Scotland even had snakes. I still find this puzzling and kind of funny. How do you grow up not camping in the bush and having to be careful of the hippos and hyenas?

My childhood was pretty epic, with summer vacations at the iconic Vaal Dam, raising silkworms, trying to whistle like the man in the All Gold tomato sauce commercial (thirty sixxxxx), calling our domestic worker Gogo ("granny" in Zulu) as she helped raise me and was part of our family, not understanding that having black friends was newly socially acceptable, and other typical South Africanisms.


We, as a country, might be young and have many problems but one thing I can say and hold true to, is that my country has made me special and I will always be a daughter of Africa.