Spanish city

Iberian Ham is a specialty of my current country.  It functions along the same line as Fruit Cake where relatives send them to each other over the holidays when they have no better ideas.  There are many differences between the two gifts, for one, Iberian Ham is food.  But it is unlike any edible I have ever seen before.  First of all I don't know how anyone affords to send the damn thing every year.  It appears to be the rear leg and hip of the most physcially fit pigs in history.  It would be like sending a small child across the country via fedex, or at least it would be if every one of your distant family members sent you a child every year.  Apparently for Christmas last year my host family recieved ten of these ham legs.  When I arrived in September they had given away nine to local friends and still had a quarter of a leg left.  I know how much they had left because of how the meat is stored.  Storing the leg in a fridge would be as impractical as storing your small children there.  Sure you could, but it is much easier to just mount it on a spike and leave it on the counter (The ham, not your small children).  This is because the meat is so salty it does not need to be kept cold, instead it is kept out on the counter and covered with a cloth, everyone knows that when bacteria encounter a cotton blanket they just shrug their shoulders and turn around.

Since the ham is a speciality it is sold just about everywhere, from supermarkets to bars there are many, many, pig legs hanging from the ceiling.  Many bars also have smaller sandwhiches made with the meat that are available to anyone dining on topas, which happen to be another great Spanish concept.  Topas are small platters covered with food that line the counter of every bar I have seen in San Sebastian.  During dinner time or after work people will go from place to place eating a little bit at every location and having a couple drinks.  Beers are extremely popular here but I think they would be very expensive.  I do not know for sure because Rotary rules forbid me from drinking but I'm basing this guess on what every other drink costs here.  If you order coke at a bar or restaurant it will be about half the size of an American one (355mL compared to 220mL) and more than twice the price.  Well that's not a huge deal, I mean coke has to be imported so it makes sense it would be more expensive, you could always just stick with water, that can't be too hard to get so it would make sense that it would be cheaper, right?   Wrong.  If you do order water be prepared to pay one hundred million billion times more than what you would pay in an American restaurant.  The difference here is that restaurants serve a bottle, of variying quantity, with a glass for a price of about €2, this is being compared to in the U.S where it is approximately, and I'll be general here, free.  Even in Las Vegas, the middle of the desert, water is free, I'm pretty sure because H2O happens to be necessary to life itself (H2O the liquid, not the show, I'm pretty sure that the show actually reduces life expectancy by inundating the brain with stupidness and shutting down mental capacity).  Never the less Spain charges for its drinks, and it's not like there is a shortage, it rained 28 of the thirty days in November.  In any case the high drink prices actually make a large number of people eat their meals without any form of liquid, something I'm having trouble adjusting to.

Well they usually don't drink water is what I should say.  Water and soda they seem to be pretty shy about, and fruit drinks, yeah fruit drinks.  They tend to avoid almost any liquid when eating out, well except for one.   I think it would be correct to say that the beverage of choice in this city could be properly described as: Anything that contains alcohol.  My host family does not follow these guide lines but on the whole I would say that anything a Spainyard is doing, from relaxing after work, to taking their child out for a walk, they will almost always have some booze.  But, if by some freak of nature they are not drinking, they will be smoking.  Again my family is the exception but if any stranger asks another for a light or a cigarette they will usually be met with success.  Now I'm not going to argue that smoking is not extremely dangerous, but before you judge these people think of the number of obese and overweight people in the United States.  Many people have vices, and it is not for me to judge someone for a life style choice that they might regret and wish they could change.  Let that deepness sink in for a moment.  Okay you can continue.  The smoke gets annoying in restaurants and bars because it is not banned in public places but after a while I've gotten used to the smell.  All in all I'm enjoying my life in the city and I think that after a few months living here I've adjusted fairly well.  I could see myself living in NYC or Toronto or Philidalphia after this year, although I might miss the sight of Iberian ham.

Weekend Surprises

Street entertainment is a common occurrence in cities but for me coming from the suburbs the street acts up and down 'Boulevard' are a constant source of wonder.  I can walk a few blocks from my front door and come across free entertainment just presenting itself for my enjoyment.  Here is a short description of a few sights I have come across.

First is the classic human statue.  They will do a little something for you if you pay them just a few cents.  I made the guy below dance for €.15, that is, less than a quarter.  I would have paid him more if I could have hired him to follow me around and chase random people on the street.

If only Ripley had known Spanish

I have only seen the alien one time since arriving here, and that was during a Halloween celebration.  Of course, accordingly with Spanish Logic, the Halloween party was held on November 5th, close enough right?  One popular statue person here is a woman that looks kind of like the Statue of Liberty.  She's out every weekend, posing for pictures, and giving little waves, and doing other things that statues aren't supposed to do.  She is probably doing not bad, her only competition is Mr. Poseidon, and from what I've seen he never passed statue school.  The Ruler of the Seas is out on the bridge some weekends, a solid location with a healthy amount of foot traffic.  I pass him going to and coming from the beach, and 90% of the times I've seen him he has been smoking a cigarette (as far as I know they're cigarettes).  After all that time smoking he needs a break once and a while, so the remaining 10% of his time is spent taking a lunch break.  Mr. Poseidon man could take a lesson or two from the Statue of Liberty.

Men and women frozen in place are not the only attractions trying to earn loose change.  There are a number a bands and musicians that jockey for location in an effort to draw large crowds.  Coming from the suburbs street music is a nice change of pace for me, but there are no instruments that I would call 'Traditional Spanish.'  There are some violinists, drum bands, trumpeters, and that one guy who owns an accordion for some reason.  I've heard great accordion players in my life, I define great accordion is anything that doesn't make my ears bleed, and I can say that this guy either had a horrible selection in music, or he just doesn't give a crap.  But he is a confident old guy, and I admire his singing of nonsense words, daring the world not to put a few Euros in his hat.  Drum bands have the largest crowds because they are the loudest.  Sort of how political talk shows and radio stations works, whoever screams the most is the winner.  If you're thinking that I said the same thing about how little kids think, you are right, and I stand by that, they are all the same.  But despite the drum bands having the most clout I like to linger around the string instruments.  These are usually composed of one or two people playing with background music set by a tape player.  They do not inhabit the main streets or bridges, but rather park benches and book stores.  I can not help but stop and listen and remember when Leonardo Di Caprio sacrificed himself to save that red headed girl who's name I can never care to remember.  Spoiler alert the ship is not really unsinkable.

Last but certainly not least are the uncatorizable surprises that pop up out of no where.  I enjoy them because I'm a twisted human being.  If I lacked a sense of humor I might find something inappropriate about the picture below.

"Trust me guys, he's scarier without pants."

I just want to know who authorized it.  I admit, it is terrifying, but not for the right reasons.  Who decides that a pantless vampire is somehow better than a fully dressed one?  There is a part of me that wanted to ride through his legs.  I just want to know who allowed the creation of this monster, I mean it entertained me, but I think it was for the wrong reasons.  The girl in the photo is of no relation to me, a man near by was giving me strange looks because I looked like I was taking a creeper photo of his little girl.  He apparently understands that sometimes the giant inflatable vampires are just too tired to put on pants in the morning so could not understand why I would take a picture of this beautiful weekend surprise.