inVLC May/June 2011 by inVLC Magazine

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weather is sweet, yeah! As we move into the sunshine and heat of the Summer months, and the streets start to throng with people with incomprehensible maps of El Carmen in their hands, our thoughts turn to lazy days at the beach, ice-cold drinks in shady plazas and saying prayers for a nice, cooling breeze as we attempt to sleep. Yes, with the sweet thought of the onset of Summer, this month's inVLC brings you a diverse selection of articles that have been carefully crafted by our great team of contributors. We never

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know what they will write, which we hope comes across as fresh and interesting content for you. If you have any comments or want to let us know about anything interesting please e-mail us. You can also contact us through our Facebook page 'inVLC' which is where we issue information as and when we ﬁnd it to keep you up to date with the best of what's happening in the Valencian Community. And do remember to 'Like' us. Enjoy the read! Andy, Kelly & Sean

A lo largo de esta revista encontrarás distintos niveles de diﬁcultad indicados en la parte superior de cada página y recuadros con vocabulario debajo del texto. Para la pronunciación hemos incluido la fonética.

about us inVLC is for all people in the community of Valencia: whether born here, visiting for a day, or living a new life in the sun. We hope to guide you on what’s going on in the community, help those living in it, and support language learning with a bit of added fun. Translations Javi & Rebeca Photos Front cover ML Contact information email invlceditor@gmail.com phone 639 740 746 - English speakers phone 628 831 400 - Spanish speakers facebook inVLC If you have any thoughts, comments or complaints or want to advertise, please email or phone us. Important numbers & Embassies / consulates Fire | 080 Local police | 092 Medical | 061 General | 112 French | 96 351 0359 USA | 96 351 6973 British | 96 521 60 22 Dutch | 96 341 4633 German | 96 310 62 53 Legal chat We do our very best to strive for accuracy in this magazine but we cannot accept responsibility for unintentional errors or omissions, accuracy of advertisements or contributors’ opinions. We aim at all times not to oﬀend. depósito legal V-816-2006 We use CreatorSilk paper It’s chlorine free & the wood used is from sustainably managed forests. We do this because we’re nice & want to reduce our environmental impact.

index 4 5 6 8 9 10 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

The latest News keeping you up to date Hotspots Free in Valencia is feeling square I heart Valencia sees paella v the roast dinner Shop to visit takes us to Blue Moon Holidays and fiestas are alternative fun Valencia community Jérica is towering above us Restaurant of the month we enjoyed El Molinón Let's talk Expat life! expats are supporting each other Talking teaching loves the pronunciation Art & culture Live music across the community Your photos of ‘Natural’ Music hot new musical releases The cinema v.o. releases in Valencia Read me Iain loves his books Lifestyle Green Declan wonders what green is Sport news A day in the life Richard is out and about Artist Valerie Stead loves the nature Art to see visits 2 great galleries Recipe Lia is getting local goodies Cocktails are tangy and fresh again Health how happy are you? Charity looks at Greenpeace's latest battle Animal is flying by Events & classifieds keeps you in the know

15 May. Feast Day of Dympna the patron saint of the insane. After her mother died, her father embarked on a mission to ﬁnd a lookalike. He failed, and after his daughter rebuked his amorous advances, he decapitated her. Happy families.

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I want to ride my bike | Valencia en Bici are holding a photo competition to promote the European Week of Sustainable Mobility. You have until 7 September to submit a photo or short ﬁlm on the bicycle as a means of transport throughout history. The best 10 in each category will be shown in an exhibition and prizes will be awarded. Information & rules at www.valenciaenbici.org

Dodgy | An investigation is underway into reports that Valencia's super-architect Santiago Calatrava has been paid €5.8 million of public money for work that has not been carried out. The money has allegedly been pocketed despite both the conference centre in Alicante and the proposed three towers to be built at the Arts and Sciences being put on indeﬁnite hold.

Smells like teen spirit | Valencia University's Law and Economy Faculty was eﬀectively closed down on 5 May after 1000 students, recruited via a Facebook group, decided to hold a protest in the building as they were unhappy the University was not holding its traditional paella party. The conﬁdence of the protesters was no doubt fuelled by the huge botellón (drinking party) in Tarongers prior to the We are family| 5 May 2011 was event. an important date for families with children in the Valencian Community with major changes made to custody laws. In the event of parents breaking up it is no longer legal for one party to be denied access for a non-legal reason e.g. because the custodian doesn't want the ex-partner to see the child, or through accusations without evidence being made. The new laws are wide-reaching and have come about primarily to protect the rights of the child to have access to both parents. For information see www.icav.es/ archivos/docs/sdf20110331.pdf

16/05/1919. Birthdate of Wladsiu Valentino (Liberace) the ﬂamboyant piano player. In 1956 he sued The Daily Mirror who had called him 'the biggest sentimental vomit of all time'. Awarded £8000 despite it being potentially true.

ant to see the Valencian Community on the cheap? Every month we'll list some great spots

where you can enjoy Spanish culture, nature and good, cheap fun. This month we'll be:

1| taking a trip to Denia. The sea is so clear, that we are taking our snorkels and looking for octopus. 2| wandering around the Feria Alternativa in the River Turia from 10-12 June. 3| doing a plaza tour. One of the most appealing aspects of Spain is attractive, tree-lined, shaded squares, often filled with tables and chairs and caña-supping locals. It's not complicated, just round up some of your friends, and get yourself into your local town stopping for drinks and tapas in the plaza's cafes. Your town doesn't have plazas? Take a bus to the next town and have an adventure. In 1756 came the first cobbled streets in C/ del Trench, followed in 1840, when José Campo oversaw improvements with more cobbles, new plazas and grand, open spaces. In post war 40s, essential repairs were made to the city, and in 1951 the Plaza de América and the Glorieta were modified. Other planned alterations had to be put on hold following the Turia floods of '49 and '57, as this

problem had to be dealt with ﬁrst. With the economic climb in the 70s came major changes in the main squares that we see and enjoy today, such as those in Plaza del Ayuntamiento. As with all old cities, within each square lies stories of the past, such as Plaza del Mercado, where bullﬁghts and hangings took place on the gallows until 1599 - although there's no sign of this now.

16/05/1990. Death of Rat Pack's Sammy Davis Jr. After his wife found that he owed millions in back taxes she insisted that the body be exhumed and $70,000 worth of jewels that were buried with him were removed.

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his month we’ve got a culinary face off between the Sunday Roast and the beloved Valencian paella. Who will win between these two fantastic traditional dishes? Round 1| Origins Round 2| Healthiness There are two stories that surround the traditional Difficult to work this out as the differences in both Sunday Roast (or Sunday Lunch, Sunday Dinner, dishes can change depending on which variation of Sunday Tea, Roast Dinner), both of which are worth the dish that you choose. a mention. The first is that, during the industrial I opted to compare the Paella Valenciana (with revolution, families left a cut of meat in the oven chicken and rabbit) with the Roast Beef & Yorkshire before they went to church. This would then be ready Pudding as these are the two variations that came to for when they got home after service. The other mind. To get my results I used www.caloriecount.about.com and introduced the is that during medieval times, the villagers would provide the food for their master for six days a week. ingredients for each recipe to serve four. For the Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding, the total On Sundays, they would meet to practice battle amount of calories totalled 3,564 (1629 from techniques in the field and provide Fat), the total amount of fat came to 181g general entertainment for which with 61.7g of saturated fat. they were rewarded with oxen The amount of cholesterol roasted on a spit. came to 1251mg, the quantity of sodium reached 2880mg The modern form of and carbohydrates totalled paella originated in the th 112.2g. The dietary fibre totalled mid-19 century in the 4.5g, the sugars – 3.6g and area near Lake Albufera in the protein came in at 344.2g. the community of Valencia. The website concluded that this However, rice-based dishes particular recipe ranked a B- in terms had already become popular of nutrition. due to Moorish influence before For the Paella Valenciana, the total amount of they were eventually expelled in the calories were 3,817 (1537 from fat), the total amount 15th century. Rice had therefore become a staple of fat came to 170.8g with 33g of saturated fat. in the region and was mixed with vegetables and The amount of cholesterol came to 829mg, of fish under Christian influence as an attempt to sodium 8985mg and of carbohydrates – 226.8g. The make the dish suitable for Lent. Fish was always a dietary fibre totalled 37.8g, the sugars – 25.7g and predominant ingredient along the East coast and, on special occasions, locals got out the paelleras to the protein at 333.8g. The website concluded that this recipe ranked B+ in terms of nutrition. cook a tasty paella. Winner - Paella Winner - Draw

17/05/1938. The Marquis of Bute sold half of the Welsh city of Cardiﬀ in a deal worth £20 million. A colossal amount of money at the time but the new owner got farmland, theatres, 250 bars, 1,000 shops and 20,000 houses.

Round 3| Preparation & Consumption Anyone who has sat and watched their mum put a Sunday Roast together has certainly marvelled at the delicate orchestration required to juggle all of the various pots and pans on the hob as well as in the oven itself. The average cooking time for a Sunday Roast can take between two and three hours (again depending on the ingredients). A special focus on timing is required to ensure all of the separate vegetable accompaniments like carrots, brussel sprouts, parsnips, roast potatoes, mashed potato, gravy and Yorkshire puddings are all ready on time. Whilst in my household I always remember my mother putting it all together, it’s not unheard of to see the occasional dad don the apron on a Sunday afternoon after an afternoon visit to the pub. The smell, that warm, post-beer Sunday feeling, especially after braving a winter’s morning playing football or taking a walk round a few of the local pubs, is something I still look forward to when I’m back home. The paella has been honed to perfection after years and years of practice and is almost militantly prepared with rarely any deviations from what has become a very standardised recipe. However, the recipes can vary depending on the region in which it is cooked. The timing when adding ingredients is also of the essence as well as control of the flame itself, which is a lot more difficult when dealing with natural fire rather than cooked on gas. Traditionally, the paella was cooked by men over an open fire using orange and pine branches which gave it its distinctive aroma. You’ll often see guests grab a spoon and help themselves by eating directly out of the paellera, which is great if you’re quick enough to get your elbows in. If you’re invited to one, you’ll find yourself arriving at the agreed time then drinking and eating other bits and bobs that guests have made until its nice and ready. The preparation time can take between 2-2/5 hours, but is well worth the can stretch right on into teatime on a many wait and ca afternoon. a sunny a Winner - Draw

Round 4| Variations Well, plenty of options here! You can have either beef, chicken, lamb or pork with your roast along with an endless number of vegetables such as carrots, swede, turnip, parsnips, broccoli, green beans, etc. Not too mention those amazing diﬀerent gravies that you get around or those wonderful roasties that you cook in the stock from the meat. Yum! In terms of paellas, we’ve got Valencian, mixed & seafood. Any others are simply rice dishes, which are very similar apparently. Winner - Sunday Roast

Round 5| Satiation Now this is where opinions could very well divide. I always felt that a Sunday Roast was a bit of a beast in terms of size. This could largely be due to the fact that my mother was always trying to fatten me up as a youngster and often led to natural rejection after constantly being told to eat more. I almost always failed to ﬁnish a roast and felt completely bloated for the rest of the day. The paella, on the other hand, has always ﬁlled me up nicely and never failed to impede any further merriment throughout the rest of the day. Winner - Paella! Complaints and abuse to the usual email address please!

Overall it's a win for paella, but it's not conclusive, even the inVLC team are in dispute!

19/05/1989. A fraudulent trial at Cardiﬀ Crown Court is stopped when the accused passed a note to the judge which read 'Your honour, I have superglued my mouth to draw the public's attention to the mistrial and injustice in this court'.

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Shop to visit | Blue Moon

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ecently arrived couple Laurent and Sophie moved from bustling Paris nearly nine months ago in search of a quieter place to live. They decided on Valencia and, like many of us, haven’t looked back since they made the move. Combining Laurent’s passion for music and Sophie’s love of fashion, they have recently opened combined venture Blue Moon on C/ Ercilla, seconds from Plaza del Doctor Collado. The shop itself is what Laurent calls “a kind of Rockabilly fashion, but a little sexier” with products ranging from shoes and dresses to jewellery and guitars. What seems to strike the average passer by, and they pass round here in great numbers, are the amazing colours and eye-catching products that can be seen from outside. On my first visit to the shop, I saw a man enter, crane his neck to look around the shop and say “¡Qué tienda más bonita!” after which he promised to bring his daughter in next time she was in town. Granted, the shop itself is very heavily female focussed with dresses, shoes, shirts, T-shirts and many different types of accessories. “Most people have simply stopped and taken photos”, Laurent said. “They haven’t come in and bought anything, but it’s a start. What’s important is getting our brand name out there and recognised.” “There are places like this in Paris and in London, but there doesn’t seem to be anything like this in Valencia so we’re hoping that it will be a success,” he told me. Most of the products come from Spain, the UK, the USA and France, but all have that similar, sexy Rockabilly style that is difficult to find anywhere else in the city. The owners speak English, French and Spanish (although Laurent is very modest about his level having been here for such a short time he manages to carry a conversation with enviable ease). Another group of tourists stop, take photos, look at their map to check where they are going and continue walking. “It’s a good sign,” Laurent says. “Better they do that than just walk on by.” With those words, he switches on the kettle and offers me a cup of coffee and sticks on a Richard Hawley album. “I’ve never seen myself as a shop owner, but better this than working for someone else.” I wish him good luck and head off. Another welcome addition to the city of Valencia indeed!

C/ Ercilla 1, Nr Pl. Dr Collado, El Mercat 627 496 652 bluemoonvalencia@yahoo.es Facebook: Blue Moon Valencia Mon: 5pm-9pm, Tue-Sat: 11am-2pm, 5pm-9pm 20/05/1799. Birth of French novelist Honore de Balzac. Despite writing for 15-18 hours every day, his masterpiece, the 143 volume 'The Human Comedy', which was to cover every aspect of French life, was never ﬁnished.

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Feria Alternativa | 10-12 June 10am-11pm | River Turia, VLC As always for this yearly event, the stalls will be set in the perfect location of the river bed, and the theme for this year will be social control. There you will find local and Valencia | All month There are small processions in organic fruit and veg, handmade and original pieces of jewellery, different barrios across the city unique items of clothing, for the next couple of months, workshops and art, and of celebrating a number of course, some local food and drink different saints. to keep you satiated with live For pictures and more music and dancers entertaining information on where and when, check out www.fiestasancristobal. you all day. net/calendariovlc/junio.htm Our favourite is probably going to be Nuestra Señora De Los Desamparados, when she visits the Barrio del Botanico o de Quart on Sunday 12 June. The sight of her, with the towers as the backdrop will be phenomenal. hat an exciting month ahead. We're already prepared for the ferias in the park, and taking a trip to the local towns for their festivities.

The party usually carries on quite late unoﬃcially, so if you're at a loose end and like the drums, amble to the Puente de las Flores once the sun sets. www.ﬁraalternativa.org/terra

June 10th| L'Alcúdiade Crespins, San Onofre 10th| Quart de Poblet, San Onofre 13th| Alboraya Dia dels Peixets, Xeresa San Antonio de Padua, Caudete de las Fuentes San Antoniode Padua 16th & 17th| Genoves San Pascual Baylón 17th| Vallés San Juan Baustista Courtesy of www.docv.gva.es

All information correct at time of print. Check with the local tourist information when making plans.

20/05/1506. Death of Italian navigator Christopher Colombus (Colon). He died aged 55 in Valladolid still under the belief that his voyages to the West Indies had actually been to the east coast of Asia.

Valencia community | Jérica

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lmost the ﬁrst view you get of Jérica as you drive up from Segorbe is the imposing Torre de las Campanas, the Mudéjar bell tower, unique in Valencia and forming an unmistakable silhouette as it overlooks the town.

Mudejar emerged as an architectural style in the 12th century on the Iberian Peninsula as a result of the Jewish, Muslim and Christian cultures living side by side. Unlike Gothic or Romanesque, Mudejar did not involve the creation of new shapes or structures but reinterpreting Western styles through Muslim influences. It is accepted that the style was born in Toledo, as an adaptation of architectural and ornamental motifs, although it became most highly developed in Aragon, especially in Teruel. The style is characterized by an extremely refined and inventive use of brick and glazed tiles in architecture, especially in belfries. Tilework will often be cobalt blue and white, although a lustrous green predominates in Teruel. Also found are airy patios with a fountain or tiled reflecting pool, and repeated motifs like square flowers and the eight-pointed star rather than faces and images. Also eye-catching is the Torre del Homenaja, the strong central tower of Jérica castle and almost all that is left of the original fortifications that stood guard over the river Palancia from the rocky heights of the Peña Tajada, the cleft rock. As you drive into the village you see a large painted mural on a wall, depicting bulls charging through the streets but done so badly that you think it would probably be best if the poor beasts were taken immediately to the slaughterhouse. You see a few of these ‘why did they waste their time painting them’ murals as you walk through the village and you can’t help but think that either the town hall is very amenable or they were done at night. With its round Moorish towers, Gothic arches and narrow cobbled streets, Jérica is a little gem of a town and, as in many such pueblos that have little room for gardens, most of the countless balconies and walls are covered with colourful plants, especially off the prettily-named Calle de Pequeño Horno, the Street of the Little Oven, just up from the Iglesia del Cristo de la Sangre on Calle Historiador Vayo. During winter the plants glisten with greenery but they must be a sight to behold in summer.

21/05/1979. Elton John becomes the ﬁrst western pop star to play in Russia when he performs to a sell-out crowd in Leningrad. He ﬁnished his set with the Beatles 'Back in the USSR'.

Also on Calle Historiadoro Vayo is the town hall, housed in what was originally a hospital, and beside it is the Museo Municipal, where you can see examples of 14th -19th century ceramics, religious artifacts, local archeological ﬁnds and gravestones. Ask for the key at the town hall. (Between the church and town hall, number 65 is a delightfully restored módernista house, painted ochre and white. Try to get a peep inside if the stout wooden doors are open because behind the beautifully painted façade is a metal workshop, complete with its own shrine – although such is the Stygian gloom that you can’t see to which virgin it is.)

Car | V21 to Sagunto, then A23. Takes 1 hour. Bus | HERCA: 964710363 SAMAR: 963495609 or ask at the bus station. Train | C-5 del núcleo de cercanías de Valencia Valencia-Caudiel.

In the tourist information oﬃce on Calle del Rio you can pick up a town map that describes a walk around the main points of interest, but Jérica is the sort of place where, when you get lost, the locals will usually walk you to where you want to go. In that polite village sort of way a blackboard is hung up on the arches opposite the Fuente de Santa Águeda, an outrageously ornate Baroque font (or fuente-retablo as the tourist promo has it) courtesy of Ceveceria Pablo, to keep locals up to date as to who their next football match is against. It is hung under a plaque dedicated to German Monleón, after whom the plaza is named and whose moustachioed image glares down at passers by – probably because the home team lost again. To the side of the arches, the Portal de Santa Ana draws you into the winding streets of the old town but when you get tired of walking you can spend a pleasant half hour or so sitting outside a café on the small square in front of the grand Fuente de Santa Agueda and watch the world go by. Derek Workman To discover more about Spain, visit www.derekworkman-journalist.com & www.derekworkman.wordpress.com.

22/05/1915. Gretna Green. Famous for the blacksmiths where eloping couples would run away to to get married, this was the scene of the UK's worst ever train disaster when 237 were killed when troop and civilian trains collided.

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PUB QUIZ

ou u may have seen pub quizzes advertised, but ut what exactly are they and what do you have to do? Read our pub-quizmade- easy guide, brush up on your general knowledge and try out your new skills at one of the pub quizzes listed below! Pub quizzes are usually weekly events. As in any other quiz, your knowledge is tested by a series of questions. But don’t worry, you won’t be on your own- you’ll have the support of your team. It is up to the quizzers to form teams- some pubs insist on a maximum team size (usually between six and ten). The team members decide on a team name which they write on all their answer papers. Quizmaster The person asking the questions is known as the quizmaster. Quizmasterss also mark and score answers submitted ed by teams. A bit like football referees, quizmasters can be the object for the e quiz participants (hopefully jovial) complaints!

Cheating! This comes in many forms and, for the ‘bad boys’, can be the real fun of the quiz! Great ingenuity can be applied to stealing answers from other teams including mind-reading, x-ray vision, bribery and just plain looking at other answer sheets. With the mass use of mobile phones and mobile internet access, cheating has gone virtual, with covert calls and texts often being made in the toilets! But, be warned, most quizzes now ban mobiles and nullify the score of any the use of m team found to be cheating in any of its forms. Drinking Well it is a Pub quiz, so some drinking is usually involved. Attitudes vary on this. inv Some teams strive to keep drinking to a tea minimum, minimum holding to the view that “A sober mind is an alert mind”. Others seek inspiration in the Bacchanalian muse. muse Weaker teams just drink for consolation. cons

Entry Fee People often have to pay to participate and this is often used as prize money Rounds There may be between one and more than half a dozen rounds of questions, totalling anything from 10 to 80 questions! Rounds usually include questions on the following topics: General knowledge, history, geography eography and science, news, sport and entertainment. nment. It’s quite common to have a music round d where h songs and/or singers need to be identified.

Prizes Priz Prizes are awarded to the highest scoring team, and possibly runners-up as well. But the real prize is just winning and able to taunt the other teams. being ab >> Pub Trivia >> Triv Quiz / Concurso de Trivia Tuesdays Sally O’Brien, Av Aragón, 8 21:00h Tuesd Wedne Wednesdays Sinpy Jo’s, C/ Cádiz, 43 23:00h Thursdays Dublin House, Pl. Patriarca, 6 21:00h Thursda Sundays The Portland Ale House, C/ Salamanca, 10 20:00h

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had passed El Molinón on a number of occasions on my adventures and was always intrigued by the stacked up crates of empty cider bottles. It was several days later, when walking along the other side of the narrow Calle Bolsería, that I noticed its amazing logo: a Saturday Night Fever image of John Travolta holding a bottle of cider above his head pouring it into a glass below. I decided to drop what I was doing that afternoon and pay the place a visit with some friends.

El Molinón is a Sidrería (cider house) and restaurant in the heart of El Carmen. It’s about a ten second walk from Plaza de Tossal and is an absolute joy of a place to sit down for a meal or to just pop along for a bottle of cider and a nice plate of jamón. The restaurant is Asturian, the food is very typical from this region and this also explains the huge quantities of cider, which is guzzled in there every week. The name itself comes from the football team Sporting Gĳón’s football stadium situated deep in the heart of Asturias. A bottle of the cider will set you back about five euros and can be shared between 2-3 people. You can sit/ stand at the bar or sit down at one of the many benches. It’s this cosy atmosphere and its typical tapas dishes that I particularly love about this restaurant. The food is a little more expensive than most places, but these are typical for this particular area. A meal for six cost us 10-12 euros each and included a fish pie, a large bowl of mussels, some baby fried green peppers, a scrambled egg/ asparagus revuelto, baby cuttlefish, a plate of mushrooms and a round of coffees afterwards. For those wine drinkers who simply cannot bare the thought of drinking cider, there is no lack of options here either. Each tile on the downstairs wall acts as a small blackboard where the different wines and prices are displayed for all to see. Caña | €2.50 Cider | €5 Tapas | €5-11 WIne | €13+ C/ Bolsería, 40 El Carmen, VLC Mon-Fri 10am-12pm 963 911 538

22/05/1981. The Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliﬀe is found guilty of murdering 13 women, attempting to murder 7 others and was sentenced to 30 years. His reign of terror had lasted 12 years.

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Restaurant of the month | Sidrería El Molinón

Expat life | Amity

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hat do you do when everything seems to be going against you? First you lose your job, then, as a result you lose your work permit and so can’t get another gig and then, to make matters worse, social welfare is cut off ... oh, and you are a husband and father of two. Efe Omoregie Obaseki has had a tough year by Europe and we need to help people see what it is any standards but he has turned his frustrations into really like.’ action, helping others in the African community here One of the more pressing issues for Nigerians in Valencia. here is prostitution. A huge proportion of the female Efe, from Benin, feels that, even with a Nigerian immigrants are targeted and recruited specifically Union here in Valencia, the services on offer are too because of the desperate situations they find top-down orientated and that more needs to be done themselves in. With little support and resources, to give a voice to ordinary Nigerians on the ground. options are limited and exploitation is rife. Through his newly registered NGO, Amity Efe says, ‘Prostitution is in the bloodstream of Organisation International, Efe is hoping to achieve Nigerian girls, to address this problem we have to two main goals. He calls it ‘a collective forum’, to address the economic situation that people face, help the Nigerian community integrate better in both back in Nigeria and here.’ Valencia, and secondly, to help Efe is quick to stress that there the community to re-establish are a lot of good things happening themselves as part of in the African community. Church Nigerian society. groups provide support and some There are thousands of are actively helping women to find Nigerians living in the Valencian a route out of prostitution. CeiMigra Community and Efe feels there is much to be done to are providing invaluable services, including free help people and to give his people a better image. legal advice, language classes and professional So many Nigerians like other Africans come to courses. Efe himself is working as a volunteer Europe with great expectations. They come for a teacher and feels that there is a need to raise better life, escaping poverty, war, the limitations of awareness both in the Nigerian community and the their homeland, for many the journey is harsh in the wider local community of these positive steps. extreme but what awaits them can be worse. Often He laughs when we talk about the challenges of bringing Nigerians together and sharing information. burdened with the weight of debt from ‘sponsors’ ‘We rely on English, you could put 50 Nigerians in and unable to work here legally, the situation can this room and they would be speaking 50 different quickly turn desperate quickly and they are ripe dialects … it’s difficult.’ for exploitation. For Efe and his family their situation is precarious There is a need to ‘reduce the zeal to leave Nigeria but for him it is key to put his energies into among the young’ and that by sharing experiences something positive. they can get accurate information to these people. You can find Amity Organisation International on ‘Life here is not what we thought it would be, Facebook. Eoghan Ryan there is herd mentality at home when it comes to

24/05/1844. 'What Hath God Wrought?' The ﬁrst message sent by Samuel Morse from Baltimore to Washington via the telegraph wire. Ironically Baltimore is probably best known now for TV's The Wire.

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ronunciation has left many a student completely bewildered. Especially when faced with homophones like ‘sun’ and ‘son’, ‘pear’ and ‘pair’ and even ‘no’ and ‘know’. Show any Spanish speaker footage of an American Spelling Bee and they will often look confused as to what exactly is going on. What’s so hard about spelling things? Well, not much if your language is much more phonetically consistent than ours. Ever since the famous ‘GHOTI’ example (credited There are also some general rules you can give to William Ollier in 1855) was shown to me on my to students which sometimes help them when TEFL course, I have always been fascinated by this trying to ‘guess’ how the word sounds e.g. words part of language teaching. How do you pronounce that end ‘-ble’, ‘-gle’, ‘-kle’, ‘-ple’ or pretty much any GHOTI? Well, it’s pronounced (fish). Why? Well, consonant plus ‘-le’ are normally pronounced with if you take the from ‘rough’, the from ‘women’ the consonant sound plus . There will always and the from ‘nation’ then there you have it! This be exceptions, but teaching general rules like this was an example used by George Bernard Shaw in his can help them get a ‘feel’ for the language and how quest for spelling reform of the English language. groupings of letters sound. Beware of these rules So bent on eliminating these irregularities from the being affected by any added prefixes or suffixes language, Bernard Shaw actually left a large part of to words, which alter stress and pronunciation his will to form a new phonemic system. It turned out drastically e.g. ‘finite’ and ‘infinite’ to be an insufficient, albeit substantial amount, for . Then there’s always the old favourite such a mammoth task. ‘comfortable’ , which students inevitably I always joke with my students that pronunciation try to pronounce using ‘for’ and ‘table’ . will keep me in a job regardless of how much Spanish Words they will have learnt in some of their speakers improve. An ex-classmate of mine found first classes. himself in Japan making a living simply modelling Repetition and individual & group drilling can pronunciation. A Japanese teacher would teach the iron out any of these problems within the classroom. class and when he/ she came across a difficult word, We are much more fortunate to be able to simply say he would stand up and model the word for both the the word rather than stick to exercises from a book teacher and the students. Not a bad gig if you can (admittedly often useful too!). It’s much more fun get it! with children as they are often less selfThe consonants are varied and conscious and unperturbed by mistakes fairly tricky to master, their sounds or embarrassment. Do not neglect it, almost always have an however, as it can also be done in a equivalent in Spanish, which much more light-hearted way with make them easier to adults without losing any of its pronounce. This is made usefulness. even easier for Valencian If you have any ideas or speakers who are familiar teaching stories that you with the and would like to mention in the sounds. Castillian has magazine, send them to us at five vowels and Valencian invlceditor@gmail.com. has seven whereas English has twenty different vowel Orange Language Academy has been an sounds, which, accompanied American run language school for the city of by various weak forms, is a source of constant Valencia and its provinces since 2005 offering all types of language headaches for students. I’ve always found that phonetic script is lost on anyone not studying English related services. They run the Mon language exchange at The Philology at a university or post-university level. I often find myself writing the phonetics as a Spanish Bohemian Café and the Tues and Weds nights at the Portland person would in order to make things easier e.g. Ale House. Find out more at ‘inuf’ = enough. www.orangeidiomas.com For those of you who really want to get down to learning the language, we’ll be bringing you an expression each month. This is our job. Your job? Get out there and use it! Then tell us how you got on… sentirse como pez en el agua – to be in one’s element. e.g. Dáme una guitarra y me sentí como pez en el agua. Give me a guitar and I’m in my element. 25/05/1925. Bible fundamentalists bring a charge of blasphemy against a Tennessee school teacher for teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Nicknamed the 'Monkey Trial' so perhaps accordingly the prosecution won!

Live events

e’ve still got those festivals around the corner along with a few important visitors confirmed to come. As usual we’ll root out the important live performances in the community so you can just turn up and enjoy the music. Sala El Loco| C/ Erudito Orellana, 12 (VLC) 27-28/05 SOL – Música, Ecología y Paz| On 15, 20-22, 27-29 May Beatles weekend! Cover bands will be giving the Fab Four’s at the Galeria Color Elefante on C/ Sevilla, 26 in Ruzafa songs a working over (€15-18 per day). www.lococlub.org there will be a music festival in support of music, ecology Sala Matisse| Campoamor 60 (VLC) 28/05/2011 22:30 and peace. It kicks off at 19:00. Tickets cost €7 and include The highlight of the month has to be Carlos Chaouen, a free ecological drink, a free ecological bite to eat and a whose award-winning style will delight in this acoustic tree to plant. www.festivalsol.com. session. Entrance is a mere €10. www.salamatisse.es Cirque du Soleil - Corteo| Universitat de València 16/05 El Palau de la Musica| (VLC) 21/05 (21:00) Spain’s very - 10/07. Admittedly, it's not the show with the semi naked own curly haired pop singer David Bisbal will be entertaining man in the bath, but it is Cirque du Soleil, so it is guaranteed us with his vocal delights (€44-100). to be stunning. €35+ www.cirquedusoleil.com Iggy Pop and the Stooges| That’s right! Iggy and his 23/05 (19:15) Nordwestdeusche Philharmonic will be on boys will be rocking the Viveros on 9 Jul. Tickets will be €40, in Sala Iturbi for 'members only'. but are currently not on sale. 24/05 (20:00) Cuarteto Prazak will be playing the sounds of Beethoven, Zemlinski and Dvorák (€17). Seal| Yup! Another one on at Viveros on 18 July along Starting on 27/05 and continuing throughout the rest of with Iggy Pop as part of the Feria de Julio. Spongebob Squarepants| Happy days! Spongebob’s the Spring on Fridays, the Valencian Orchestra will be on. coming too! Two sessions - 10 Jul, 20:00 & 22:15. €15-30 and it will start at 19:30. Primavera Sound| Poble Espanyol, Barcelona 25-29/05. 01/06 (20:00) Special benefit concert for ONG Acción Marianista. www.palaudevalencia.com Mercury Rev, The Flaming Lips, Grinderman, Interpol, Sufjan Stevens, The National, Pulp, Fleet Foxes, DJ Shadow. Full Durango Poligono Industrial La Closa|(Meliana) line up at www.primaverasound.com. A ticket for the entire Durango 20/05 Michael Monroe & White Cowbell Oklahoma (€25/ 28 – on the door). festival will cost you €175 + P&P or, for those on a budget 28/05 (€12/ 15) Durango (and with jobs) €70 for a day pass. celebrates its fourth anniversary with Benicassim Festival| 14-17/07 FIB is a rock ‘n’ roll celebration. Includes hotting up to be one of the best festivals The Stone Circus and The Sheenas. in Spain! The line up includes Arcade www.durangoclub.es Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Mumford & Sons, Auditorio Marina Sur| Explanada del Portishead, The Strokes and more. 4-Day Puerto (VLC)| 30/05 Much awaited super ticket €165 now, but prices go up to €170 shaker Shakira will be here at last. €50+ on 19/05. www.fiberfib.com www.ticketmaster.es Benidorm Low Cost Festival| 21-23/07 Excuse me| C/Tomasos 14 (VLC) Klaxons have joined Mando Dio, Cut Copy, Crystal Castles and many more. €60. Always an eclectic taste from Northern www.festivallowcost.com. Soul to rock, pop & indie. On Facebook. Disco Sala Mirror| San Vicente Martir, Café del Duende| C/ Turia, 62 (VLC) 200 (VLC) 20/05 Hip Hop from Zaragoza A great place to catch some decent in the form of Sho Hai will be paying us a visit (21:30). flamenco from Thursday - Saturday from 23:30. www. Jimmy Glass| C/ Baja, 28 (VLC) This place often features cafedelduende.com some great talent from the local and international scene. Café Mercedes| C/ Sueca, 27 (VLC) A nice, You can see the Bartolomeo Barenghi & Horacio Fumero cheap jazz venue in the heart of Ruzafa where you Dúo on 17/05 (21:30) for €12 and the Bruce Barth Quartet can find free jam sessions on Sundays from 20:30. feat. Perico Sambeat on 31/05 (21:30) €14. www.cafemercedes.es Friday nights 'Jazz es Dúo' will give you a chance to Music Box| C/ Pintor Zariñera, 16 (VLC) & Radio City| see some decent jazz for only €4 from 22.15-midnight. C/ Santa Teresa 19 (VLC) Open daily with visiting DJs and www.jimmyglassjazz.net Tuesdays offer live flamenco music at Radio City (23:00, €7 Pop Club Deluxe| C/ Poeta Mas y Ros, 42 (VLC) 25/05 with free drink). www.myspace.com/themusicboxclub and (21:00) Valencia’s very own indie/ rock/ pop group Mazoni www.radiocityvalencia.com will be playing their tunes. €4.

26/05/1966. South African runner Zola Budd born. Famously managed to get a UK passport in 13 days permitting her to run for Great Britain in the Olympic Games and get round the South African athlete ban.

Your photos | Natural

ach month we’ll give you a topic for the following edition. Email us 1 high-resolution image with a sentence describing the photo by 31st of the month. We’ll choose a few entries to print and the editor's favourite wins a prize. This month's favourite is by Steve Horler!

Hele

n We stwa te

r|An atura

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rden little ga y m m ro orler | F Steve H

Philip Calamb akas | Niagra Fa lls

l Park ationa N e t i osem rcia | Y Rick Ga Please send 1 photo per person & only send your own photo for copyright reasons. There are other terms and conditions - email us for them.

Next month’s topic is ‘colour’. Look forward to seeing your pictures. invlceditor@gmail.com

26/05/1865. General Kirby Smith surrenders in Texas on behalf of the last Confederacy field army of any significance to effectively end the American Civil War. It had lasted 4 years and claimed over 600,000 lives.

tor

Music

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usic reviewers Chris Kellett and PJ Evans have been busy, so you can experience all the enjoyment that true musical talent can give. We're always open to hearing from you, so get in touch with your recommendations!

Album to brood to | C'mon - Low 3 piece Low's sound is slow, sparse and minimalist. Their songs are based on a simple idea: simple, repetitive guitar lines, accompanied by dual male/female vocals. C'mon is all about tension, a simple guitar riff or vocal melody, which slowly becomes darker and more menacing. Their songs threaten to reach a climax but they never do and here lies their beauty. They always return to the sweet dulcet tones that started them off. Or else they fade out, as if a disaster was avoided seconds before the moment of impact. Standout Tracks | Especially me, Majesty/Magic Album to think to | Helplessness Blues - Fleet Foxes There was something fresh about Fleet Foxes' vocal harmonies on their debut album. This sound came to define them, and it has been imitated to various degrees of success by a number of their contemporaries. Helplessness Blues is, as second albums should be, a more complex and challenging record than its predecessor. All the original ingredients still remain – the vocal harmonies, soft folky acoustic guitars, however, the band have added new depths to their music. The music complements, never competes with the vocals, which confidently guide both the tone and direction on the album. Standout Tracks| Helplessness Blues, The Shrine, Grown Ocean, Lorelai Album to do the robot to | Tron: Legacy Reconfigured - Daft Punk and various artists Who could have been more compatible with the look and feel of this classic remake? French duo Daft Punk opted for a combination between 'the analogue and the digital', supplementing their traditional synthesisers with a 90 piece orchestra. But in keeping with the remix culture of electronic music, Disney brought together a host of DJs to 'reconfigure' Daft Punk's original, upgrading this soundtrack to an outstanding electronica compilation. Paul Oakenfold, Boys Noize, Moby and others do a good job of turning the tracks from the original into songs you're sure to hear throughout summer. Standout Tracks| End of Line (Photek Remix), Derezzed (Avicii Remix) Other releases | Manchester Orchestra, Beastie Boys, Paul Simon, Gorillaz, Stevie Nicks, Moby and more. Music news| Popular web streaming site, Spotify, announced this month that it would be reducing access to free music. Members will be limited to 10 hours a month and will only be able to listen to individual songs up to 5 times. Time to find an alternative source then.

After the lukewarm reception of 'Angles', Strokes' guitarist Nikolai Fraiture tweeted that the band were going to record some new material. So, even though 'Angles' was a long time coming you may have their 5th studio album on your ghetto blaster soon.

Bon Iver's long awaited 2nd album will be released on 21 June. The album will be self titled and a tracklisting can be found on the band's oﬃcial website, www.boniver.org. There is also a (very!) short video preview available at pitchfork.com.

27/05/1840. Virtuoso violinist Nicolo Paganini dies. He contracted syphilis and was prescribed poisonous Mercury to cure it. He died from overdosing on it after upping the dose after also contracting tuberculosis. Not nice.

Bad news for cinema lovers in and around the Valencia Community who are quite partial to the odd original version film as UGC Cine Cité Valencia closed its doors to the public on 29 April. The French company has claimed that they wish to pull out of the Spanish market although the rest of the cinemas in Spain will continue to be operational having been bought by Cinesa. Anyone who has visited the Mercado de Campanar will have noticed the number of shops closed/ closing over the last year or so. The loss of the cinema at the hub of the complex will mean a final nail in the coffin. A sad day for cinema in Valencia. Two new films will be on at Babel this month:

No Tengas Miedo| (Montxo Armendáriz, 2011) Lluís Homar, Michelle Jenner, Belen Rueda. Troubled 25 year-old Silvia (Jenner) decides to take control of her life by confronting the people, emotions and feelings that darkened her youth. In a ﬁght against adversity and, more importantly, herself, she learns to control her fears and become an adult fully in control of her life. Director Aremendáriz was nominated for Best Foreign Film in 1998 for Secrets of the Heart and has won two Goyas for original and adapted screenplays.

Babel, C/ Vicente Sancho Tello, 10, www.cinesalbatrosbabel.com Filmoteca, Plaza del Ayuntamiento, 17 www.gva.es

Babies| (Thomas Balmès, 2010) Bayar, Hattie, Mari, Ponĳao This 'documentary' is the study of a year in the life of four babies from four different backgrounds: Namibia, Mongolia, San Francisco and Tokyo. Balmès studies these different backgrounds and the effect it has on them during the first year of their lives. Balmès’ documentary promises to show all the similarities and differences of his four subjects capturing the first trip in one’s life, which is both unique for each person and universal to us all.

Film festival| There will be a festival hitting the screens this month courtesy of La Filmoteca in La Plaza de Ayuntamiento. A celebration of the life and works of composer Bernard Herrman (1911-1975) will take place between 3 May and 15 June. Films will include Farenheit 451 (Truffaut, 1966), Taxi Driver (Scorcese, 1976), Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941), The Day The Earth Stood Still (Wise, 1951), Obsession (De Palma, 1976), The Wrong Man & North By Northwest (Hitchcock, 1956 & 1959) and Jason & The Argonauts (Chaffey, 1963). All films will be in original version. Keep an eye on their website for exact times and dates www.ivac.gva.es

Plus| The 10th International Festival of Short Films | 16-26 May| Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8.30pm and 10.30pm at Radiocity, C/ Santa Teresa, 19. www.radiocityvalencia.com

27/05/1988. A Canadian man is acquitted of murdering his mother after the jury believed he had been sleepwalking when he drove 14 miles to her home, hit her with an iron bar and then stabbed her.

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Cinema

Read me | Jung Chang

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ild Swans – Three Daughters of China The history of the 20th century can seem like one horriﬁc crime after another. From World War One to Vietnam to the genocides committed by Hitler. Perhaps the only relief from such depressing horrors is to be found in the individual stories of courage, the human stories that remind us that even when evil seems to have taken over completely, goodness, compassion and love endure – and never die. This is the lesson at the heart of Jung Chang’s factual and harrowing account of her own, her mother’s and her grandmother’s lives during China’s 20th century nightmare. Wild Swans begins with Chang’s biography of her grandmother Yu-fang, born in 1909. China at that time was still basically a feudal country with some shocking traditional customs. Yu-fang’s feet were ‘bound’ at the age of two years (the bones broken and the foot bent inwards on itself to create a smaller ‘more feminine’ appearance). This was of course excruciatingly painful and Yu-fang never walked without pain during her entire life. Yu-fang was sold by her father to be a concubine to a powerful warlord and endured several lonely years before the old general died and she was freed to marry a local doctor, with whom she had Chang’s mother. The story shifts to begin relating the life of Chang’s mother, who at the age of ﬁfteen began working for the Chinese Communist Party and joined the revolutionary red army of Mao Zedong. After reading about the horrors of life in pre-revolutionary China one can understand how Mao gave such hope to ordinary people wanting to rid themselves of warlords and a patriarchal system of feudalistic social exploitation. The sad truth of course is that one exploitative elite – the aristocracy, was merely replaced by another – the Communist Party. Chang goes on to describe the initial success of the revolution which was then undermined and

destroyed during the 1960s ‘Cultural Revolution’ designed to root out ‘class enemies’ and consolidate Mao’s hold on power. Chang’s mother and father – privileged Party officials, who had supported Mao and fought for him in the revolution – enjoyed several years of comfort and success before being denounced, stripped of their positions and persecuted mercilessly – which included arrest, torture and public humiliation. Chang herself grew up during this period and describes her childhood and her parent’s fall from grace with surprising objectivity. As she becomes the principle focus of the story we learn of her experiences as a teenager forced to work as an agricultural labourer in the countryside and later – after Mao’s death and the return of some semblance of ‘normality’ in China – Chang’s determination to get an education. Chang studied English and eventually was able to leave China on a scholarship to Britain, where she now lives. Wild Swans can be a depressing read at times but it is an important book for anyone who wants to understand the recent history of the world’s most populated nation. Equally, it is a warmhearted and generous tribute to Chang’s parents and her grandmother, who suffered so much yet never gave up on hope for a better life. Chang is a fine writer and this is an engrossing read. Published in 1991 Wild Swans – a historically accurate autobiography - is banned in China. Iain Armstrong Bikes| The monthly bike meeting of VLC will take place as usual on the first Friday of the month. This aims to promote bikes and bike safety in VLC. Place| Plaza de la Virgin, VLC Time| 7.30pm

28/05/1588. The Spanish Armada, which at the time, with 130 vessels, was the largest ﬂeet ever assembled at that time leaves Lisbon under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia with a view to invading England.

Green living | What is it, to be green?

had finished my article this month regarding economics, politics and nature but my editor wasn't happy, and said that most of it didn't have anything to do with the Green section. So I asked myself what is 'Green' exactly? Obviously my editor and I have different concepts of what 'Green' is. This is not surprising as there are many who believe that being 'Green' is to recycle glass, paper and plastics, others think that it is to eat organic food, or use alternative medicine... As there are as many concepts of 'Green' as there are green things I would fill the magazine and my editor could be even less happy than now. All 'Greens' are in the process of learning and expanding our horizons of what 'Eco' is and in a few weeks we will have changed again. However I do think that we 'Greens' have a lot in common and we are generally going in the same direction.

I would like to say what I think 'Green' is, as this might be useful to you in clarifying my/your ideas, which will be important in knowing where we are going to and why we want to go there. I would like to start by saying that in a sane world 'Green' really shouldn't exist but as we have a culture/society that has a death wish and wants to burn down our own house (planet) with us in it then those of us that see this as total madness have been branded as 'greens' or ecologists or tree huggers, anything to make us sound crazy. It's curious that the mad are calling us crazy!! Fundamentally 'Greens' believe that we (the human race) are an inherent part of nature, we depend on it not only for physical welfare and our very survival but also for our spiritual well-being.

What| Turn the tap oﬀ when you brush your teeth. Why| Brushing 2x a day with the tap on can waste up to 5 gallons a day. Why not| You enjoy water music. Beneﬁts| Reduces resources, cost & chemicals needed for cleaning the water!

How do you feel when you see a beautiful view? How do you feel when you see a rubbish dump? This would give you some idea of how you would feel when you experience beauty (nature) and ugliness (the destruction of our blue planet). We believe that all decisions and laws should be made with the protection and maintenance of nature and the planet, which obviously includes people, as the foundation of our society. Neither jobs nor industry nor energy nor money nor inﬂuence nor control nor power... should be given priority over nature. We consider the left/right political system as 'past its sell by date', it's completely irrelevant to the modern world and becoming less relevant every year. Though we are not crazy enough to think that we can achieve this overnight, we don't want to kill the patient altogether. Our society is sick and we want to cure it not kill it, what we really want to do is to take real steps towards a new healthy culture/planet/ society and we are doing that as individuals, groups, workers, professionals. We also believe that everything is connected to nature, be it health, economics, politics, food, science, construction, work, play... all is related to nature and we have to move forward on all fronts. Sometimes we get down when we see the stupid and barbaric acts being done in the name of progress/ jobs/money but in general we are optimistic and in the end common sense will prevail.

So, am I green?

Source| Good housekeeping

A little goes a long way

NB: Dear editor, I promise that next month's article will be more practical, maybe about solar energy! Declan Lehane

31/05/1837. Death of Joseph Grimaldi, the comic actor and clown who ﬁrst appeared at Drury Lane Theatre at only two years old. Known as 'Joey' all clowns since have been called Joey after him.

Sport

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Football| With only a couple more games to go in La Liga it's clear that the city's two teams have each achieved their separate goals this season. Valencia look like winning La Liga 2 (i.e. the one that Real Madrid and Barcelona aren't in) and if they do, they will qualify automatically for next year's Champions League and Levante have survived their first season back in the top division and finished ahead of many of the more fancied teams. This is all the more impressive given the lack of financial clout at both clubs and the departure of some of the bigger stars at the end of last season. No doubt this summer will see the loss of some more players and the capture of some new ones. Will they be able to repeat their success of this season? Here's hoping. Season tickets can be bought for about €350 and are great value over the course of the season with the cheapest tickets for the Real Madrid and Barcelona games being €65 and even then extremely hard to get at that price. Levante fixtures this month| 15/05 22/05

Valencia v Levante Levante UD - Real Zaragoza

Football exhibition| Down at the Arts and Sciences, the Príncipe Felipe Science Museum has teamed up with Valencia CF to look at football from a scientiﬁc point of view. This fascinating exhibition shows just how closely linked sport and science has become with scientiﬁc and technological developments helping to create the very best performances in the athletes. It's all very interactive, and additionally, it comes with the story of Valencia CF themselves with a time-line of their history and lots of silverware on display. It's on until 30 June.

Valencia ﬁxtures this month| 15/05 22/05

Valencia v Levante Deportivo de la Coruña v Valencia

Motor racing| Formula 1 24-26 June sees the F1 show coming to town and we'll cover it in more detail in the next issue but if you want to make sure of your ticket to the second noisiest show in town (after Fallas) then head to their website www.valenciastreetcircuit. com. Tickets start from €50.

Looking for customers for your business in the Valencian Community? Contact us on invlceditor@gmail.com ¿Estás buscando clientes para tu empresa en la comunidad valenciana? Ponte en contacto con nosotros invlceditor@gmail.com 31/05/1838. The last battle on English soil takes place at the Battle of Bosendon Wood when 40 peasants and a Cornish wine merchant led an armed uprising. 100 soldiers were sent to deal with it and it was quickly all over.

A day in the life in VLC| Richard Ellis

iving in Valencia and the Community is surprising, varied and exciting and everyone sees something diďŹ&#x20AC;erent. We thought it would be fun to see what other people see. For one day, a reader will take a photo of what they can see on the hour, every hour for 9 hours. This month, Richard Ellis shows us his Friday. Contact us if you want to have a go. invlceditor@gmail.com

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01/06/1966. Folk purists were up in arms when their hero Bob Dylan plugged his guitar into the mains. Cries of 'Judas' were heard and Dylan replied' I don't believe you, you're a liar' then to his band 'Play it f**king loud!'

Artist of the month| Valerie Stead

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e want to support new and up-and-coming artistic talent in the Valencian Community. Each month we'll choose one artist at random and devote a page to that artist. name| Valerie Stead location| Near Olocau email| valstead@googlemail.com inspiration| Nature, shapes and beautiful colours. The feel of silk is inspiring and the way colour can transform it.

history| She has always been interested in arts and craft, and since living here (10 years) she has been able to indulge her hobby.

what's available| Silk embroidery, and acrylic painting on silks. presentation| The works are either framed or set as wall hangers, or made into structures, like the boxes below .

style| Valerie works with several different mediums and styles. She paints on hand-made silk paper, painting flowers, seascapes, trees etc. She uses acrylics for lots of different subjects and many contain fabric work. She also makes very detailed embroideries with pictures of birds and nature.

exhibition| Mezcla Artistica| 8 - 22 July | Works of Cheryl Morton, Mieja Corsen-van Poppel, Linda Koppen-Houtkooper and Valerie Stead.

prices| €30 - 300

Centro SocioCulteral de l'Eliana, Plaça Jutge Miquel Comes, 1, l'Eliana. Monday - Friday 9am-9pm

If you, or anyone you know, would like to feature in our art pages, contact us at invlceditor@gmail.com

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his month our art lovers have found a diverse selection of art from classic beauty in a stunning location, to modern funk in the heart of Russafa.

n exhibition with belles on (until 26/6) | What better an exhibition to celebrate the reopening of Centre del Carme than the star-studded Retrats de la Belle Époque. Set over two floors within this magnificent gallery, the exhibition does exactly what it says on the tin, offering a host of spectacularly beautiful paintings from some of Europe’s most acclaimed artists working around the late 19th and early 20th century, including Sorolla, Sargent and Boldini.

Gallery 1 ﬂaunts predominantly large scale works and depicts the great and the good from a time when economic status and social standing were proclaimed, amongst other ways, by the commissioning of huge self and family portraits and where elegance and poise were the order of the day. The second gallery hosts smaller works, though equally as vibrant, and depict their subjects in a variety of social settings. Through these paintings, we experience the artists’ desires to move away from the traditional portrait towards images which oﬀer the sitters’ environs equal prominence and celebrity. A stunning exhibition and another cultural coup for this great city. ML Centro del Carmen, Museo, 2 - El Carmen, VLC Tues-Sun 10am-8pm Closed Mon | Free!

artografía Russafa: Seven streets, seven places, seven questions (until 28/5) | A jumble of faces stare back through the camera lens, some giggling self-consciously, others unblinkingly nonchalant or reserved; a pick ‘n’ mix of accents and voices which give their replies to the questions that we as the viewers cannot hear. As the latest art project to be found in the heart of the bohemian Russafa neighbourhood, Maria José Gutiérrez González’s exhibition oﬀers an interesting take on his neighbouring streets and their multitude of multiethnic inhabitants. From nationality and religion to interests and future goals, the answers to the artist’s seven questions come at us through a montage of faces and voices, forming an association between this medley of nationalities, ages and genders as it

goads us into working out the hidden questions behind the answers. Not merely an art exhibition, the artist sees this as a sociological take on the everyday; on the people we pass in the street that serve us our coffee or bread, who we sit next to on the bus to the sounds and details of the surroundings we seldom notice from one day to the next. A personal map of a city, the exhibition urges you to ponder the significance of these one-word responses, what they reveal about the person behind the exterior mask and the common quirks and coincidences that we all share despite the diversity of our backgrounds. Certainly worth a look, the exhibition goes some way to exploring identity and its contemporary significance in an ever more multi-cultural urban environment. Malou Herkes

Arquitécnica Ruzafa, C/Puerto Rico, 28, VLC Mon-Fri: 12am-2pm, 5pm-8pm www.arquitecnicaruzafa.com| Free!

03/06/1946. Paris unveils bikini swimwear. Named after the Bikini Atoll Islands of the Paciﬁc where the ﬁrst peacetime atomic tests were made as the creator thought the bathing costume was 'highly explosive'.

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Art to see

Recipe | Clóchinas

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t’s May and it’s time for clóchinas. Clóchinas (cloxines or clotxines in Valencian) are the Mediterranean variety of mussels and are available locally for only a few months a year. Mediterranean doesn’t mean that they have to come from the Mediterranean; it instead refers to their size, colour of shell, and flavour. If you are buying clóchinas here they will most likely be from Valencia, Galicia, or Tarragona, but you might also find clóchinas from as far away as France. Valencian Clóchinas are known as especially flavourful due to the mineral rich waters that they are cultivated in. Clóchina cultivation has been a part of the Valencian community since the 19th century. Traditional cultivation methods are still used today and are said to contribute to the clóchinas excellent flavour and economic success.

The harvest of clóchinas is based on the lunar calendar, beginning with the full moon in April and ending with the waning moon in August. Usually Valencian clóchinas start to show up at ﬁsh counters at the beginning of May. I was told by a local ﬁshmonger to remember that the season is during the months without the letter ‘r’ – May, June, July, and August. The typical Valencian way to make clóchinas is to steam them with lemon juice, sweet paprika, bay leaf, garlic, olive oil, and the small dried cayenne peppers called Guindilla. I like to use some of the typical Valencian ingredients and include white wine and shallots as well.

What to buy| (Serves 3-4 as an appetizer) 125 ml cold water 125 ml white wine 1 clove of garlic, minced 2-3 shallots, chopped 1 bay leaf 2 spoonfuls of olive oil 1 guindilla (optional) 1 kilo clóchinas, scrubbed clean and debearded Salt and pepper Chopped ﬂat leaf parsley

Wow factor| It's fun sharing the plate between friends Eﬀort| Easy, with only 15 minutes preparation time! How to make it| one Put all ingredients, minus the clóchinas, salt and pepper, and parsley, in a medium size pot and bring to a boil. two Once boiling, add a dash of salt and pepper and the clóchinas. Cover, and steam for 3-5 minutes. Watch carefully to make sure the pot doesn’t boil over, you might need to reduce the heat slightly. three Discard any unopened clóchinas before serving – these should not be eaten. four Put clóchinas and cooking liquid into a bowl and sprinkle with parsley. ﬁve Serve with bread to soak up the broth.

Clóchinas should be purchased and cooked on the same day. Use a dull paring knife or a tough scrubbing brush to clean the outside of the shells. Debeard (which means to remove the ﬁbrous hairs) the clóchinas by grasping the tough hairs between your thumb and the paring knife and pulling. Discard any mussels that are open or broken before cooking. Lia Wallon reLIAble eats www.reLIAbleeats.blogspot.com

the length in cm that a Mediterranean mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis can grow to. However Clochinas from Valencia are signiﬁcantly smaller than this.

04/06/1913. UK. At the Epsom Derby suﬀragette Emily Davison threw herself under the King's horse, Amner, to highlight sexual inequality for women. She was critically injured and died four days later.

Lime cocktails

n the warmer months, tangy and sharp lime cocktails are perfect for supping in the shade as the sun beats down. Here are some virgin, and not so virgin drinks for you to have fun making with your friends for afternoon fun, or simply for enjoying the long evenings.

Here are some tasty treats for great fun:

one Mojito The classic. 4 cl light rum 1 Lime, squeezed (3 cl) 2 tsp sugar 2-4 mint sprigs 2 drops of Angostura bitters Soda/ ﬁzzy water/ lemonade Lightly muddle (crush) the mint & sugar with a splash of soda water until the sugar dissolves. Add lime juice, rum and shake with ice. Pour the cocktail over an ice ﬁlled tumbler glass with the squeezed lime skins.

two Honeymoon Cocktail For pure heaven. 10cl apple juice 10cl freshly squeezed orange juice 1/2 lime, squeezed 2 teaspoons honey

three Long Caipiroska For drinking by the pool. 5cl vodka 2 teaspoons of sugar 1/2 lime Soda water for a longer drink (or use lemonade)

(Add 2cl rum for a kick) Half ﬁll a shaker with ice, add all ingredients. Shake and strain. Serve in champagne ﬂutes. Garnish with a twist of orange peel.

Slice limes and muddle with sugar in the glass. Fill with crushed ice, pour on the vodka, top up with soda water and gently mix. Try adding some local strawberries or other fruit in to the muddle for an extra twist. Serve in a tumbler.

Tip| To make squeezing limes easier, roll them on the counter top, whilst applying a light pressure.

5 The number represented by the word 'Lima' in Malaysian, Indonesian and Tagalog languages, which is the Spanish word for lime (and amusingly, slime in Finnish).

1747 The year that James Lind observed the beneﬁts of citrus fruits on scurvy. This lead to the nickname 'Limey' for British Sailors after the Navy supplied lime juice to reduce illness.

Health | Laughter is the best medicine

“

Intermediate

merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.” – Proverbs 17:22

There have also been investigations (with Wandering through the El Carmen maze early positive results) into effects on the immune last weekend, I was struck by my surroundings. system, blood sugar levels, relaxation and sleep. It was neither the dramatic architecture nor For those of you without enough laughter in the lush gardens, but by the sounds of chatter your life, not to worry! Scientists have discovered and laughter which emanated from the cafés an injection of bacteria that will make you happier. and benches around me. For a country in a The injection was originally intended to fight cancer poor situation, its people were taking the by stimulating immune systems and destroying time to break away from the obvious route of tumors, but, instead, the effect that it had on the depression, to speak, giggle and laugh. And it’s patients was an improvement in mood and quality infectious; I felt my mood lifted by seeing their of life. smiles and through feeling their happiness. Laughter is certainly an important part of my Although laughter hasn’t been definitively life and that of the people who I’m surrounded by. researched, there are still many medical It forms an immediate bond between people from professionals who vouch for its beneficial properties: both psychological and physical. different backgrounds and cultures, it diffuses William Fry, a pioneer in Laughter Research, found tense and often stressful situations and is a that ten minutes on a rowing machine was the welcome sound, which comes from those many plazas, bars, restaurants and any other place where equivalent to one minute of hearty laughter. people meet and enjoy each other’s company. Maciej Buchowski, from the University of Imagine those first few months speaking Spanish Vanderbilt also found that 10-15 minutes of or English for the first time and having to overcome laughter burned 50 calories. Researchers at the University of Maryland those awkward situations without it. studied the blood flow of a group of people by So here’s to laughter. It might not be a showing them either a comedy or a drama. They substitute for healthy exercise, but it still manages found that those who had seen comedies had to make things that little bit more positive on a blood cells that behaved normally whilst those who daily basis. watched dramas had restricted blood flow. Sources| www.cbsnews.com, www.helpguide.org, www.newscientist.com Social Benefits: Strengthens relationships Attracts others to us Enhances teamwork Helps defuse conflict Promotes group bonding

Mental Health Beneﬁts: Adds joy and zest to life Improves mood Relieves stress Enhances resilience Eases anxiety and fear

Physical Health Beneﬁts: Boosts immunity Lowers stress hormones Decreases pain Relaxes your muscles Prevents heart disease

04/06/1944. The evacuation of Dunkirk was completed. It started on 27 May and under heavy fire from German artillery, the fleet of yachts, fishing and civilian boats saved over 338,000 troops from certain death.

hen Greenpeace first started out, it was called the Don’t Make A Wave Committee and came about as a protest against nuclear testing in the tectonically unsound Alaska. Since its foundation in 1971, it has moved from strength to strength (and from country to country). Greenpeace’s goal is to “ensure the ability of the earth to nurture life in all its diversities” and has worked on a number of issues including global warming, deforestation, overfishing, commercial whaling and anti-nuclear issues. It is for this reason that we wanted to do something about a recent project called 'Protect the Arctic'. The claims are that oil companies have targeted the arctic citing the fact that there are vast oil deposits under the ice, which need to be tapped. The results of such a venture would essentially destroy the arctic and speed up climate change. In addition to this, any kind of oil spill would be almost impossible to clean up due to seasonal ice. A recent group of photos posted on flickr server to highlight both the beauty of this particular part of the world in order to raise awareness of these planned drills that will inevitably destroy it. Factbase| Founded in 1971. Headquarters in Washington D.C., U.S.A. 2.8 million supporters worldwide. Regional offices in 41 countries. Important achievements| -halted seal slaughter in Orkney in 1978, -exposed toxic waste trade in 1994, -forced Danish authorities to reject toxic waste for incineration from Australia last December.

40 0

age of Greenpeace, when it celebrates its birthday on 15 September 2011. Happy Birthday! The annual mean temperature at the North Pole in degrees fahrenheit.

The photos can be found at www.flickr.com/ photos/greenpeaceuk/sets/72157626426270123/. The photos from Greenpeace UK truly are remarkable and include shots of various animals and wildlife along with the melting ice itself. As I write, Greenpeace activists have been forced down from a rig due to Force 7 winds, but have not given up the fight. The rig – from Cairn Energy’s Leiv Eiriksson – is the only one on the planet due to begin deep sea drilling in the arctic. Cairn’s boss Bill Gammell has compared the venture as “like going to the casino”. The rig will be the first of its kind leading the 'Arctic rush'. This is not the first time that activists have had a run in with arctic drillers or Cairn Energy in particular. Last year activists climbed another of their rigs after outrunning the Danish Navy in order to do so. The objective was (and is today) to prevent the company from drilling until weather conditions prevent them from doing so. If Cairns were to manage to achieve results with their exploratory drilling, the market would be flooded by oil companies in search of the coveted substance. Visit www.greenpeace.es or www.greenpeace. org to find out further information. Keep your eye out for further developments in the news as the current attempt to explore underneath the arctic is (hopefully) thwarted by Greenpeace activists.

www.greenpeace.org www.greenpeace.es

Have the following issues on their agenda| climate change forest oceans

agriculture toxic pollution nuclear problems

05/06/1898. Birthdate of Spanish poet and playwright, Federico Garcia Lorca. He died in 1936 when he was shot by an anti-communist death squad near Granada. His remains have never been found.

First certiﬁcate

Charity | Greenpeace

Animals| The birds are on the move

77 15-30

age of the oldest known Greater Flamingo, living in Adelaide Zoo, Oz. percentage of the day that a ﬂamingo spends preening itself. That's more hours than all inVLC editors put together.

reater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) is preening its feathers and preparing itself for its public viewing in Spain. This stunning bird spends its year moving from one country to another, choosing top locations for breeding, socialising and feeding. It can be seen from Africa to Asia to Europe, and its stunning colours, its grace and majesty and its love of socialising in groups makes this one of the most beautiful birds to see. It has gracious long pink legs, and pink bill with a black tip, and although its feathers are candyfloss pink, the wings are a striking red and black underneath, making for some great photos of them out-stretched and en masse. There are some great locations for seeing their breeding spots locally; Fuente de Piedra lagoon, near Malaga was a top spot for breeding, although numbers had reduced in recent years, last year's reported figures were up to 30,000 flamingos in the lagoon; Ebro Delta in the north-east in the Tarragona province; plus a couple of other locations in the Southern part of Spain. In addition, Salinas de Santa Pola (the Santa Pola Salt Lakes) is a natural park, just over the border into Alicante Province, which has permanent sightings of large groups of flamingos. For those of you interested in rare birds, a couple of Lesser Flamingo Phoenicopterus minor have also been spotted at the local beauty spot Albufera in previous years, so you could be lucky and see them make a return trip this year. Whichever place you choose to visit, remember the essentials: a hat, sun cream, and something for the mosquitoes, which might take a fancy to you.

Info| P.E.P.A on 650 304 746 www.pepaspain.com

www.fuentedepiedra.es/es/index.html www.guiarural.com/turismo_rural/Tarragona/ parque_natural_del_delta_del_ebro.html www.santapola.com/turismo/htm/para_ing.htm www.albufera.com 08/06/1988. Japan's Nippon Airways announced that it had cut mid-air collisions with birds by 20% by painting huge eyeballs on its jet engines.

Events & Classiﬁeds

f you’ve got an event coming up or you are buying, selling or donating anything, drop us an email and we’ll try to give it a mention in the next issue.

Markets| Mon-Montroy, Tues-Monserrat & Turis, Weds-L’Eliana Piccassent & Villamarchante, Thurs-Alaquas & Lliria, Fri -Turis, Torrente & Chiva, Sat-Real de Montroy & Torrente, Sun-Alborache Rastros | Rastro Montroy | Sun 5 June | Calle La Pau, Cindy or Nicolas, 960 80 25 13 or 695 100 540. Olocau Rastro/Table top sale | Sun 22 May | Social Club Centre, Urb. La Lloma, Olocau, 10am-2pm. Raising Funds for Charity - Food & Refreshments available - Spaces FREE - Tables available €1 each. Carolyn 962555819 or 664809608. Masia Rastro | Sun 15 May, 19 June (every 3rd Sun of the month)| Mas Pavia Restaurante, Masia Pavia Urba, nr Monserrat. Pitches are FREE (no more than 2m per stall), just turn up, Stallholders from 9am. Amanda 625819734 or sparklesinsunshine@gmail.com for directions. IWC | Monthly coffee morning will be 2 June. It's at HIPERCOR C.Comercial Ademuz, Av. Pio XII, 51 Valencia, on the top floor restaurant. It's a group of ladies who get together for support, friendship, business networking, fund raising and activities. See www.iwc-valencia.ning.com for more information. Car for sale | Fiat Cinquecento 1996, 900cc, good condition, low milage, very economical and reliable. 500 Euros or nearest offer. Telephone 657549430. Curso de Reiki Nivel 1 | 28 & 29 May at the Hall next to Cafe Infinito in Calle Poeta Mas y Ros (Metro Amistat). Call 625813003 for more information. In the number puzzle, each letter is represented by a number 1-26. Crack the code! 3 letters are already in place. In Sudoku, every row & column of 9 numbers & 3x3 box must include all digits 1-9 in any order.

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