Warehouse of Falla

Week of Feb 28-March 3
It was so fun to have everyone back in the building after their spring break and to hear about their trips. We had a couple of family dinners so we could all catch up. Sooo cute we are.

These particular photos are from a combined family dinner we had with Apartment 3.
French onion soup, salad, lasagna, and lava cakes for dessert. To die for.


Soon life was back to normal.
Tuesday night a few of us went to a rock climbing gym and fully learned just how out of shape we are.
Freddie putting on the fun shoes.


Just free climbing. No harnesses.


Do I need to tell you how weak my forearms were after this?
I could not squeeze out my washcloth or hair after my shower later that night or hold my toothbrush properly.



More of my young'ns from this week at school
These were during science class.
Learning about sound and vibrations.

José


David

Teacher: "How does the sound travel from one cup to the other?"
Pepe: "If you say hello it is going to the other cup and the air in the cup, it is going to say hello."

Luca lost a tooth!




Wednesday night we went to a warehouse to see how fallas are made.

1st. You start with a drawing. All the fallas have a statement they are trying to make. This falla is going to be about the different aspects of Fallas. Each person in the drawing is obsessed with a certain part of Fallas. Por ejemplo, the man with the rockets is obsessed with the fireworks. The guy to the left is sneaking away with the awards. The girl on top with music notes coming out of her is obsessed with the music of Fallas. And the girl with crazy red hair is obsessed with the parties.


This will be the red-headed party girl.


The singer in the picture being painted with some sort of base coat.


Now she's up.


Here's the fireworks guy ...all ready to go!

They will take these pieces out individually to the plazas and build the falla once it's time.

Here we have a smaller part of the falla.


After the drawing, the second step is to make models of the falla pieces.


Then you make a bigger one. Unfortunately, fallas are made of styrofoam these days. They used to be made of wood, but styrofoam is easier to work with. So, yeah, we're gonna need gas masks once they start burning.



Another falla. This one will be about awesome women in the world.


Forest of fallas


This next falla is basically about how China is kicking everyone's ass in the world.
The sumo wrestler there in the middle is going to be fighting Uncle Sam.



Catalina is also going to kick his ass.


Pobre Tío


Pucker up


THEN, we got to go see OUR falla! Due to the location of our FSU building (and the small fee that the program pays) we are part of a falla. Everyone in Valencia that is part of a falla pays money for that privilege. And you have to live in a certain area to be part of a falla. During fallas, there will be different activities that only the people of that falla (called falleros or falleras) can take part in. Or at least this is as best as I understand it now. Point is, our falla is amazing.
I am going to let you look at the pictures and see if you can formulate what its statement is. Fallas are usually pretty satirical in the statements they are making.





Any idea? The picture above is probably your best hint. Our falla is a statement about the negative impact television has. Specifically, this falla was made because there is a new television company that offers a gazillion channels. Sooo the old man at the top is just zoned out and flipping through channels about to go crazy. The girl has lost her mind, destroyed her teddy bear, and tortured the cat, and the boy has clearly been watching too much adult television.


No wonder the kids went crazy.


Not sure what this guy is doing...


Maybe he'll be flippin this special light switch?


Fallas began as a small neighborhood tradition. People would create a falla to represent whatever it was that bothered them about their neighbor. Then, as a cleansing ritual, they would burn them so everyone could have a fresh new start.
Odds are, there is more to it than this, and we will just encounter that information later. But it is safe to say that Fallas is LOCA.