inVLC March/April 2011

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1 the Valen f o c

WITH | the best of Valencia and the Community | essential festivals and gigs to see | impartial reviews | | ÂĄaprende inglĂŠs con nosotros! ...

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?

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the sun has got his hat on!

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pring is officially here, which means we can throw off our scarves, slap on sun-cream and head out for some fun!

Once Fallas finishes, most of the Valencian Community catches its breath until Easter, so there’s no holiday page this month. However, we have all the rest of the essential information to help you make the most of everything on your doorstep from cinema and music to investigating the community town of Burriana.

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We've also got some interesting articles for you to enjoy. Glasgow goes up against Valencia in I heart Valencia, Eoghan speaks to international photographer Nacho Bofarull and we check out the hottest fashion in Santo Spirito Vintage.

No matter what you do this month, have fun and stay in touch.

Enjoy the read, Andy, Kelly & Sean

Intermediate First certificate Advanced

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 & Clara Photos Front cover and I heart Valencia Marcin 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.

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The latest News keeping you up to date Hotspots Free in Valencia we're feeling adventurous I heart Valencia sees Glasgow v Valencia Shop to visit takes us to Santo Spirito Vintage Valencia community Burriana charm Bar of the month sipping tea in tetería laté Let's talk Expat life! Eoghan meets Nacho Bofarull Talking teaching has fun with grammar Art & culture Live music across the community Your photos of ‘time’ Music hot new musical releases The cinema v.o. releases in Valencia Read me Iain loves his books Lifestyle Green Declan is changing some habits Sport news Sport American Football & language intercambios Artist Michael Brown is brightening our lives Art to see visits 2 great galleries Recipe Lia is baking a treat Cocktails it's cherry season Health takes a nap Charity looks at ONCE Animal how to pull Events & classifieds keep you in the know

15 March 44BC. A seer told Julius Caesar harm would come to him not later than the Ides of March. "But, the Ides of March have come", said Caesar, to which the seer replied "Ay, they have come, but they are not gone."

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News

Black Economy | The Association of Savings

First certificate

Banks (FUNCAS) has released the findings of a study in which it believes that Spain's black economy is accounting for 17% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country with up to 4 million non-declared (or black) jobs.

Estimates suggest that this means the Hacienda misses out on €30 billion in taxes.

The number of people working in this way has increased from an estimated 1.4 million in 1980.

Old Money | As the recession bites the shop owners of Mugardos in northwest Spain have come up with a novel way of trying to boost income.

Since March 1 shops are allowing people to pay for their goods using the old Spanish peseta. 60 shops are part of the initiative and they have found that people are travelling from all over to spend the currency which has been redundant since April 2002.

The reason for this is that the Bank of Spain in Madrid still converts pesetas to euros and the townsfolk hope they can get enough to make the trip to Madrid worthwhile.

Less oil dependency | March 7 saw new speed limits introduced throughout the country.

This was one of 20 measures that the Government implemented as a precautionary measure given the unrest in some oil-producing countries.

The new speed limit of 110 km/h is set to be trialled for 4 months but may be extended.

RENFE prices will also be reduced by 5% over the 4-month period to help encourage usage and spending on street lighting is set to be reduced by half.

Spain spends the most per capita on street lighting in Europe and is planning to introduce energy saving bulbs over the next five years too.

Holidays | Until 19 March| Fallas in most towns, villages and the city. Download and print our free 4 page Guide to Fallas from www.issuu.com/invlceditor/ docs/invlc_fallas which includes a handy timetable for most Valencia events.

8 April | San Antonio de Benagéber. Fiesta Segregación celebrates separation from Paterna, becoming an independent municipality in 1998.

15 March 1984. 20 million viewers laugh when eccentric comedian and magician Tommy Cooper collapses on stage while performing on live UK TV thinking it part of his act. It wasn't. He had died from a heart attack.

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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 have some good, cheap fun. We'll be: 1| checking out the burning of the statues. What's more impressive is how quickly the streets are returned to normal afterwards leaving only the odd scorch mark.

2| taking a picnic and heading for the mountains.

Spring is the perfect time to get walking without melting.

Try the diverse ravines and valleys of the Sierra Calderona Nature Park. There are 18 villages within the Park, with their own charm and hikes. www.sierra-calderona.es 3| going into local markets and asking for something we've never tried before. There're many flavours, textures and sensations that you might be surprised. We found amazing rollitos de anís at Rusaffa market.

Rollitos de anís (roscos) are typical Valencian desserts with three popular varieties - lemon, egg, and, our favourite, aniseed. The aniseed version is very subtle, and makes for a pleasant crunchy biscuit. The recipe can be easily and cheaply made at home, which is the reason why its popularity has continued throughout some of the poorer times of the country.

The biscuit is traditionally eaten at Baptisms, or simply with coffee or at breakfast time although we found it perfect at any time.

Not all bakers offer them, and we had to visit a few to find them again, but they are worth asking for. They are sold by the kilo, or you can just ask for the number you want (we paid €1.15 for 12).

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15 March 1988. Montpellier. The home of French nougat-making sees a would-be bank robber lose his nerve at the crucial moment. To get rid of the evidence - the gun - he eats it. Turns out to be made of nougat.

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Free/cheap in Valencia

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I heart Valencia

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his month it's a battle of cities, with the third largest populations of both Spain and the United Kingdom going head to head. Valencia, situated here on the eastern coast of Spain and Glasgow, which sits on the western coast of Scotland. Let's get ready to rumble!

Round 1| Origins - Valencia (or Valentia Edetanorum as it was known) has been around since 137BC when the Romans set up camp here on the site of an older Iberian town to take the fight to an Iberian warlord called Viriatus. When the Arabs took over they called it ΔϳγϧϠΑ (Balansiyya). Through natural changes over the years this became Valencia in Castilian and València in Valenciano. Valencia means valor or strength.

The area on which Glasgow now stands has been settled since prehistoric times but the name of Glasgow (or Glas cau) came about in 1116 from its previous name of Cathures. Glasgow itself means Green Hollow although it is sometimes glossed up to mean Dear Green Place.

Winner Valencia

Round 2| Size - Valencia city at the most recent count (2009) recorded a population of 809,267 (compared to Seville's 704,198) and Valencia Community a total of 2.3 million. The Glasgow conurbation also has a population of 2.3 million but in the city itself the population is recorded at 580,690. Interestingly, if this match occurred at the turn of the 20th Century, Glasgow would have won easily with a population of over 1 million when it was the 4th largest city in the whole of Europe after London, Paris and Berlin. This was reduced by largescale relocation and the development of new towns to ease the poverty and housing problems in the city.

Winner Valencia (just).

Round 3| Gifts to the world - Valencia boasts two Popes, three Kings including Jaime II of Aragon, many writers including Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, architect Santiago Calatrava and Valencia Club de Futbol. This is an amazing achievement in itself but the list for Glasgow is just endless despite its lack of Kings and Popes.

Given its previous status as Second City of the British Empire here are just some famous Glaswegians: three Prime Ministers of the UK (Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Andrew Bonar Law and Gordon Brown), the first Prime Minister of Canada (John A. MacDonald), the 1st First Minister of Scotland after devolution (Donald Dewar), scientists Joseph Lister and Nobel Prize-winning Sir William Ramsey, football legends Rangers and Celtic (whose 1967 European Cup winning team all came with players from a 30 mile radius of Glasgow), and of course Alex Ferguson, father of modern economics Adam Smith, architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, musicians such as Wet Wet Wet, Lulu, Simple Minds, Franz Ferdinand, and Mark Knopfler (from Dire Straits), actors such as Gerard Butler, Robert Carlyle, John Hannah and James McAvoy. And of course comedian Billy Connolly and star of the big screen Scrooge McDuck! I could go on.

Winner Glasgow for sheer scope of achievements.

16 March 1912. South Pole. Lawrence Oates, suffering bad frostbite and worried about slowing the progress of his colleagues, leaves Scott's tent saying "I am going outside and may be some time". He's still not back.

Round 4| Education and the Arts - Glasgow is home to the 4th oldest University in the English Speaking world (after Oxford, Cambridge and St Andrews) and has been a seat of learning since 1451. There are 168,000 students in Glasgow. The University of Valencia was set up not much later in 1499 and Valencia currently has approximately 55,000 students. Glasgow is the home of one of the richest art collections in the world which can be seen in the 9 museums housed in 13 art galleries and museum locations across the city including the Burrell Collection and The Hunterian Museum (the oldest in Scotland). Valencia also has a rich and diverse art and museum scene including the interactive science museum, MuviM, the Museum of Ceramics and the Valencia History Museum.

Winner – Glasgow having been a University for longer and having a richer collection of arts.

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Round 5| Important historical moments - Valencia grew to the beat of many drums - Roman, Moor, Visigoth, Catalan and Aragonese. It is believed to have printed the first bible in any of the Romance languages. The last person in Spain to be killed as a result of the Spanish Inquisition was in Valencia, it was the capital of the Republic for some time as Franco's forces marched on Madrid and it was the last major Spanish city to fall to him. It is believed that the cup that Jesus used at the Last Supper is situated here in Valencia Cathedral.

Glasgow, from its humble beginnings, grew to be the second city of the British Empire after the Act of Union between England and Scotland in 1707. It became extremely rich on the back of this, predominantly through heavy industry and shipping.

By 1870 it was producing half of all British ships and a quarter of the worlds trains but problems surfaced in the 20th Century when Glasgow (like Valencia in 1981) had tanks rolling on its streets. After the Russian Revolution and the War against Germany the then Prime Minister David Lloyd George sent 10,000 troops and read the riot act to stop a left wing uprising in 1919.

Winner - Valencia for being important throughout the ages.

Overall its a win for Valencia.

And its warmer!

17 March. Guinness, shamrocks and folk songs at the ready - it's St. Patrick's Day. Originally a slave from Britain he escaped his Irish captors before becoming a bishop and banishing all snakes from the island.

First certificate

I heart Valencia

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Shop to visit | Santo Spirito Vintage

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ith Spring well on its way, the fashionconscious are shedding the layers and rethinking those big lived-in jumpers.

Perhaps it's time for a new look, or just an opportunity to add a few new pieces to the established look. Either way, Santo Spirito Vintage is going to be hot on your list to visit.

We popped in to say hello.

So tell us a little about you...

We are Tomás Ruiz and Jorge Vento and we recently opened Santo Spirito Vintage, which is one of the few Vintage shops in town. We take the name from an area in Florence, Italy which is full of artisans, artists and Vintage shops, where we have both lived having loads of fun.

Far from religious thoughts, the name of our little local business is a tribute to that wonderful neighbourhood.

We sell all kinds of clothes here, having a vast selection that goes from high end fashion couture, to denim classics such as Lee or Levi’s, 60s & 70s Adidas, Lacoste, Fred Perry, 80s crazy prints, military pieces, funky dresses, sunglasses, tailored blazers, hats, etc.

What made you start the shop?

Jorge: I’m a designer myself and I’ve been working in the fashion industry for a while…I've worked for several fashion brands in the last few years (Alexander McQueen in London, Salvatore Ferragamo, Guess Europe in Florence and Gant in Stockholm) so for me, even if it’s a bit different from what I’ve been doing before, it’s still related to it…

Tomi: Jorge and I are really good friends and we had been thinking for years about how there was a lack of Vintage shops back home in Valencia, and since we both loved it, and we were confident that we could supply people with nice pieces, we just decided to take the risk and open Santo Spirito Vintage. For many years, I’ve also been a crazy collector of all kinds of old stuff, especially 60s and 70s tennis items.

18 March 1584. Russia. Ivan the Terrible dies, allegedly in sorrow at the death of his son three years previously. A touching story - until you find out it was him that killed his son in a fit of rage. Terrible indeed.

Shop to visit | Santo Spirito Vintage

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Why should people come?

We think that people will love the store since it’s located in a really charming area of the city, the atmosphere here is calm and relaxed, so the shopping experience is much more enjoyable than in the usual fashion chains, and of course, the main reason for people to come are our products: we have amazing clothes, original and unique, designers or brands that no-one else in town has and all of it at a very affordable price.

Where do the clothes come from?

Our clothes come from everywhere in the world, mostly from Northern Europe and Italy…but we like to bring the best from everywhere, so we like Italy, England and France for tailoring and high end fashion and the US for sportswear and streetwear. Looking for vintage is like looking for treasures in a way, you never know what you're gonna find...or where you're gonna find it!!

How do you find the reaction to you given that the Spanish don't really do 2nd hand?

The community has accepted us in an incredible way, especially the younger generations.

Everybody travels nowadays, so people know Vintage is big abroad and they love to be able to buy it here, too. Anyway, our customers are from all ages, genders and social status, people who have their love for special clothes in common.

So what sort of prices do you have?

Each piece is different from the other, but you can easily find T-Shirts and tops starting at 3€, dresses or shirts for around 12€…we also have some couture pieces from Gucci, Balenciaga, YSL etc for a bit more, but still very affordable to almost anyone!

Anything else you want to tell us?

Just thank you for giving us the opportunity to present our shop and we want to welcome everybody to Santo Spirito Vintage and to follow and 'like' us on Facebook!

Calle Tapineria, 18 Tues - Sat 10.30am-2.30pm, 5pm-9pm

19 March 1936. Switzerland. Armed with just a knife, sea-shells and that bikini, Ursula Andress, born this day, emerges from the sea in Dr. No and no man (never mind James Bond) is unlikely to ever forget it.

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Valencia community | Burriana

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Having commented on a number of occasions about the fact that it is almost impossible to get into a church in the Valencian Community because they are almost always closed, thus being unable to view the, usually, incredibly ornate decoration that has been so wondrously restored with hefty chunks of EU money, i.e. you and I have paid for it but they won’t let us in to have a gander, my visit to Burriana’s Iglesia del Salvador surprised me on two accounts: a.it was open, and b.it was delightfully simple – or at least as simple as a Spanish church can get.

The church was constructed on the order of Jaime Primero, as he marched his way through Spain fighting the Moorish forces, and has influences of the style known as románico catalán – although I’d rather you didn’t ask me what that is as architecture isn’t my best subject.

There are seven ornate and gilded side chapels, each with a gorgeous retablo, but other than those, the church’s interior is only modestly decorated, and in some cases in need of restoration. Its glory is in the beautiful stained glass windows, not seen often in Spanish churches, framed in unadorned stone below a splendid ribbed ceiling. There is far more glory in its understatement than many of the overly kitsch, overly restored churches you see elsewhere in the Community.

As you walk around the exterior, after having stared up in awe at the 51-metre bell tower, you will find a pair of ancient bronze sculptures, both so weathered by time that they look like stone, flanking a small metal door. They seem totally out of place on their low plinths and look as if they would at one time have done service as gargoyles – although not of a very ferocious kind. Their appearance is of two cat-like creatures sat on their haunches; one has its paws raised and a big smile as if waiting for you to tickle its belly; the other has the fingers of one paw stuffed in its mouth as if chewing its fingernails or licking its paw with pleasure after having just enjoyed a supper of an unsuspecting supplicant.

To the side of the church there’s a pretty park to while away the hours, but where once the complaint along the coast was that all you heard were English accents, here those of Eastern Europe prevail.

On Calle Major, along the side of the town hall, is the Museo de Taronja, a homage to the orange and its importance to the economy of Burriana and the

whole of the Valencian Community during the 19th and 20th centuries.

At one time there were over two hundred growers exporting the fruit, and most of it went to the UK. As well as a selection of agricultural implements, photos and models, the museum displays some beautiful print publicity, mainly the labels that would be slapped on the side of a crate and the delicate tissue that would have been wrapped around the oranges to protect them on their long journey from Spanish orchard to British table. Real works of art in miniature.

Burriana fact file Population | 26,757 Distance to Castellón | 13km Distance to Valencia | 50km Places of interest | Museo de Taronja Iglesai del Salvador And nearby | Ceramics museum at Onda Fiestas | San Blas 3 Feb Fallas de San José 15-19 March Useful phone numbers | Tourist office| 96 457 0753

21 March 1963. San Francisco. Island prison Alcatraz closes its doors for the last time. Home for a time to Capone and the Birdman, Alcatraz translates into English as 'pelican' or 'strange bird'.

Burriana still maintains some fine examples of Modernista architecture, and not all of it of the highly decorated variety. The Mercado Municipal is a curious looking building – vaguely late Modernista but in the ‘railway shed’ school of design, with flourishes of stained glass depicting edibles such as rabbits, ducks, fish and – inevitably – oranges. After all, this is Burriana, said to be, at least by the Burriense, the orange capital of Spain.

Opposite the market, on the Plaça de Merced, is the soaring structure of the Casa de Cultura, well worth a look for its splendid internal courtyard, which has been converted into an auditorium, its arched and colonnaded quadrangle creating a Roman Coliseum ambience, a feeling enhanced by the headless statue on a platform above the performance area. So fragile does the support look that I’d be very nervous about performing under it.

An enormous pleated shade gives the impression that you are in the open air, but a glass roof keeps out the unfriendly elements.

The original 18th century layout has been a prison, Guardia Civil barracks and a monastery, and was totally restored in 1991. Outside is a bronze model of the ancient circular walled town, with castellated towers and four gates.

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Car | A7 motorway from Valencia Bus | HICID Buses every 45 minutes. Call +34 964 51 03 03 or ask at the bus station Train | trains every 30 minutes to VLC, cost around €5. Take around 45 minutes

For a coffee, you could do worse than nip into the Fundacio Caixa Rural, not necessarily because the coffee is any better or cheaper than anywhere else, but because of the totally over-the-top salon at the side of the café. Lined from ceiling to floor in a splodgy brown marble that looks as if the design came out of the deranged, LSD-hallucinated mind of a pop artist of the 60s. The heavily ornate chandeliers do nothing to alleviate the visual distress, in fact, if anything, they heighten it. A more restrained hand has been shown in the inlaid marble floor, a roundel of which displays the signs of the zodiac.

In one of those little bits of street theatre that occur at the most unexpected of moments, I saw a young man so busy directing a wagon through a narrow street so as not to damage the parked cars, that he was blithely unaware of the crane jib overhanging the side of the back of the wagon – until it gave the balcony of a lovely Modernista building an almighty ‘thack!’ and sent cascades of stone over the wagon and the street. Here’s hoping he was well insured!

Derek Workman To discover more about Spain, visit www.derekworkman-journalist.com and www.derekworkman.wordpress.com.

24 March 1944. Poland. 76 prisoners make an audacious bid to break out of Stalag Luft III by digging a long tunnel underground. The attempt is immortalized in the film 'The Great Escape'.

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Valencia community | Burriana

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Learn Better with the British Council

Bar of the month | tetería laté

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Luis offers 30 types of teas, he unique aspects of hence the name, all graciously Valencia, which makes served to your table. it interesting to live in, If tea isn't your thing, they are the individual and distinct offer sumptuous cocktails, and districts of the city which offer a 'cocktail of the day' for form the whole. Fun evenings €4.50, which supply a rather are often spent in Rusaffa, pleasant punch. The favourite or El Carmen, and now the is currently the fresh Strawberry Benimaclet area is shining Caipiroska - delicious! as an area to head to, and we A dinner menu is available recommend tetería laté.

Thursdays to Saturdays for €20The bar is situated down 25 with an Arabic influence in the one of the backstreets behind choice of food. There are tables, Avenido Primado Reig, only but it's better to reserve a seat to moments from the Metro and guarantee a spot. the tranvía. Owner Luis Miguel On some Sundays there Torres has run the bar for five are live musical events, with years, and he has blended it in singers and musicians adding with Benimaclet's Arabic origins. to the whole experience, check What makes the environment the Facebook page for so pleasing is the obvious upcoming events. If you're time which has gone "I love the decor and the Arabic considering a night a little into creating the right influence, the authentic teas, the ambience. The seating is relaxed atmosphere, but mostly it's how different from the norm, or looking for a new place in keeping with the Arabic friendly Luis is." to have fun, this is a great background with low but Kelly Danvers. Bar fly. place to visit this Spring. surprisingly comfy seats, some sofas, and beautifully carved authentic Teas| €2.50 Moroccan stools and tables. This combination is Bottled beers| €2 Cocktails| €6 (€4.50) instantly relaxing and soothing on the eyes.

Food| Thu-Sat 9pm-12am One rare attraction is the use of the hookah/ Calle Benicarló 37, Benimaclet shisha/water pipes for customers for €7. Since the Mon, Weds, Sun 6pm-1am smoking ban came into place the bar offers fruity Thur-Sat 6pm-2am herbal alternatives, such as apple, raspberry, or Closed Tuesdays melon (with no tobacco or nicotine) giving the place teterialate@hotmail.com a very gentle aroma.

96 133 89 47

24 March 1603. On the death of Elizabeth I, James VI of Scotland accedes to the English throne to become James I of England uniting both the crowns and the ever-warring countries.

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Expat life | Have Art, Will Travel

January 1876.

US. All Red Indians had reservations bywhen this date or be deemed hostile.

ManyAs could 24 31 March 1989.

Alaska.

11 million gallons of to oilmove pour into into Alaskan waters the Exxon Valdez runs aground. of not make it on time and the others this proclamation had been made.

2010 there is still estimated to be 26,000 gallons left from spilldid in not the even sand realise and soil.

© Fernando Duran

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sking an artist what has influenced them or an Expat where they are from is fundamentally the same question. If you are lucky you might get an interesting answer.

Photographer Nacho Bofarull was born in Barcelona technologies allow but moved to Valencia when he was two. At thirteen me that freedom." his father’s work took the family to Madrid and three Nacho has had years later to Singapore. He has attended university shows in Savannah, in Savannah, Georgia and Madrid.

New York, London When considering his work, this journeyed and Mexico City. upbringing is not inconsequential. Moving both To date he is yet to physically and intellectually contributed to his style show in Spain but says he is working on it. and passion.

"I would like to show here in Valencia, I might not The travels were not the only contributing factors sell anything, but, it’s my town, you know." of course and Nacho is quick to point to supportive It seems that in taking the unconventional route family, particularly a generous uncle who bought to his profession Nacho has built the all important him his first Polaroid camera at age six and an network of contacts outside the established Spanish indulgent grandfather who forked out for film. art world and so breaking in is challenging.

Educated at religious schools "It’s a social business, you have "When we are looking at what in Spain, the move to a "truly to build relationships. Perhaps we are told to we sometimes international" environment in it's a combination of where I miss what’s really going on Singapore as well as holidays studied and my style, but I just around us." with family members, as you happen to have built those might expect, had a profound effect. relationships outside of Spain."

Nacho speaks of the importance of art to ask He owes his living in no small part to Mexico and to questions rather than make statements, perhaps the patronage of Mexico City’s vibrant art world.

"Art is valued there, rich people spend money on it a reflection of the impact his early education had, and that’s what we need to survive." which he felt told rather than asked.

A point illustrated on a large scale by the new free By his own admission he was not the best student gallery opened in Mexico City by tycoon Carlos and didn’t like to be told what to think or believe Slim recently. and so he found more fulfillment in books and Nacho is currently preparing for a show in Mexico photographs.

City in August. The theme may be described broadly "We need things that make us think more, not to be as, "interesting told what to think, for spaces that we are example, when art is not looking at." overly explained, it’s He likes the idea of probably not true." recreational space His formative journey and the structures has seen Nacho return that house the to live in Valencia, a spectacle we are move he feels he is pointed to enjoy. lucky to have been Nacho Bofarull will able to make. be showing at Tal "I couldn’t have lived Qual Gallery, Mexico here and done what I City, in August. did for a living a few Eoghan Ryan years ago, the new ©Nacho Bofarull

Talking Teaching with Orange Language Academy

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ave you ever just thought “why the hell don’t I just put my students in a situation in which they have to use a specific structure?”. We can fire off fancy language at them all day long, but if they haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about, what’s the point? I was thinking of some of the best ways to teach some grammatical points in game-like form for my students and these are some of my favourites:

one Present Perfect Passive: Changes Split your students into two groups and send one group out of the classroom. The group that stays in the classroom has to make a series of changes i.e. move bags, open windows, cover the teacher with jackets, etc. When the second group come back into the class, they have to describe what has been changed e.g. The windows have been opened, the teacher has been hidden, the bin has been moved, etc. two The Causative have| Lottery Tell your students that they have won x on the lottery and elicit the things that they would buy. Draw them on the board or, better still, get the students to draw them. Now get them to imagine six months down the line now that things have broken or become a little run down. Elicit who would do the job. You? Don’t be silly! You’re rolling in it! Get them to think of the verb and the object i.e. wash/ the car. Once you have a decent sized list, introduce the structure would have + object + past participle of the verb. Great fun! three Past Simple/ Past Continuous| Alibi The academy’s been robbed, some computers are missing and your students need to get to the bottom of it. Explain the situation to them (you could even write a mock front page of the local paper) then choose two ‘suspects’ to go outside e and work on an alibi. The rest of the students udents are ‘police’ and will have to interview ew the suspects separately. If the police ce find 3-5 mistakes in the alibi, then the suspects are guilty. If they don’t then the suspects go free.

As teacher you can act as the suspects’ ects’ lawyer telling them which (grammatically incorrect) questionss they are not allowed to answer.

four Present Continuous for future plans| Holiday Get your students to research a holiday in pairs and sell it to the rest of the group. The research can be done as homework or during class time (if you have a computer lab or something similar). Students then have to choose the best holiday. five Future Perfect Simple/ Continuous| Life Plans Draw a road on the board and, along the side, dot some signposts with dates on them i.e. next month, next year, 2015, 2030, etc. Get students to copy the road and complete the little sign posts with actions that will have happened/ will have been happening during that period of time. Make sure students do NOT write complete sentences, just a few key words from the phrase. Put them into pairs and get them to say the complete sentences, e.g. By 2020, I will have been learning English for twenty years or By 2015, I will have passed my driving test. Good fun and great for getting them to using a very uncommon grammatical structure.

I’m sure you’ve got a multitude of similar games in your arsenal for these situations, but sometimes just creating the right situation is much better than a series of timelines on the board. If you’ve got any good ideas that you use in class, please send them in to us.

Orange Language Academy has been an American run language school for the city of Valencia and its provinces since 2005 offering all types of language related services. They run the Mon language exchange at The Bohemian Café and the Tues and Weds nights at the Portland Ale House. Find out more at 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… demonios – on earth/ the hell e.g. ¿Dónde demonios lo has puesto?

Where the hell/ on earth have you put it?

25 March 1957. Italy. Forerunner of the EU - The European Economic Community is created when Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Holland and Luxembourg sign the Treaty of Rome.

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Live events

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s always the city and the community is buzzing with live events. We've struggled to fit them all this month! Here's what we're looking forward to... and if you have any music recommendations coming up, let us know!

Q Festival| Casal Fester, Alzira, El Palau de la Musica| (VLC)

2/04 An independent festival where all proceeds support NGOs committed to developing countries. Confirmed artists: Sexy Sadie, The Primitives, Reverend Soundsystem, Estereotypo, Fuzzy White Casters, Virginia Diaz dj, Shining Crane, Limbotheque, Jin Ron Chico, Lupe Catalá. €15 tickets www.qfestival.net or ticketmaster.es SOS 48| 6-7/05 Murcia These guys are offering an early bird ticket offer of €34.99 for a limited period. Line up includes Editors, Everything Everything, MGMT, Patti Smith, Suede and many more. www.sos38.com Benicassim Festival| 14-17/07 With the line up almost complete, we can confirm that FIB are still offering a 10% discount for residents (people who are empadronado) in Valencia.

4-Day ticket €160. www.fiberfib.com

Benidorm Low Cost Festival| 21-23/07 There's no harm in getting your tickets early. The line-up includes Mando Dio, Cut Copy, Crystal Castles and many, many more.

Visit www.lowcostfestival.es. €60.

Sala El Loco| 17/03 Megaphone Ou la Mort. A mixture of French, English and Spanish head up the ‘Ayuda en Acción’ concert with support from ‘The Someone Elses’. Tickets €5.

5/04 La Pegatina A fun and extravagant musical group celebrates their new CD launch Xapomelon. Starts at 21.30 and entrance is €12.

7-9/04 Semi finals of international Emergenza festival.

01/04 The Cure tribute band ‘The Exploding Boys’ will be playing from 22.30 (€8/10). www.lococlub.org Jimmy Glass| C/ Baja, 28 (VLC) This place often features some great talent from the local

25/03, 08/04 & 15/04 Jiri Belohlávek directs 'Resurrection', Gustav Mahler’s symphony in celebration of the 100-year anniversary of his death. €20-40.

13/04 Suisse Romande Orchester under the direction of Marek Janowski and the participation of Boris Brovtsyn on the violin, will perform the following pieces: M. Ravel, Le Tombeau de Couperin, E. Chausson, Poem for violin and orchestra op.

25; M. Ravel, Tzigane. €25-50. www.palaudevalencia.com Durango Poligono Industrial La Closa (Meliana) Durango 26/03 Heavy Metal Tribute Fest with ‘Killing Machine’ (Judas Priest) and ‘Seek ‘Em All’ (Metallica) €10/13 (23:00).

09/04 There’s also a Woodstock tribute (€12 on the door) featuring everyone from Led Zeppelin to The Doors.

16/04 Clash/ Ramones tribute night (€9 – on the door) www.durangoclub.es Go Team| Sala Mirror (above) 30/03 Brighton based Indie rock sextet similar to Sonic Youth with an innovative mixture of blaxploitation and Bollywood soundtracks, double dutch chants, old school hip hop & distorted guitars.

Nacho Vegas| Sala Mirror (above), 31/03 folk/rock singer brings his Cave/Cohen/Dylan influenced tones to us at 21.30. €15 on ticketmaster.es.

Excuse me| C/Tomasos 14 (VLC) Always an eclectic taste from Northern Soul to rock, pop and indie. On Facebook.

Café del Duende| C/ Turia, 62 (VLC) A great place to catch some decent flamenco from Thursday - Saturday from 23:30. www.cafedelduende.com Café Mercedes| C/ Sueca, 27 (VLC) A nice, cheap jazz venue in the heart of Ruzafa where you can find free jam sessions on Sundays from 20:30. www.cafemercedes.es Music Box| C/ Pintor Zariñera, 16 (VLC) & Radio City| C/ Santa Teresa 19 (VLC) Open daily with visiting DJs and Tuesdays offer live flamenco music at Radio City (23:00, €7 with free drink). www.myspace.com/themusicboxclub and www.radiocityvalencia.com

and international scene. You can see the Pete Robbins Trans-Atlantic Quartet on 22/03 (21:30) for €12 and The Sanz/ Miller Quartet on 29/03 (21:30) €14. www.jimmyglassjazz.net Asian Dub Foundation| Sala Mirror C/ De San Vicente Mártir 200 (VLC), 25/03 Around since 1993, they are an anti-racism, Mercury Prize nominee fusion of rap, dancehall & ragga music which they blend into their own sound. €20 on ticketmaster.es 28 March 1930. Turkey. Kemal Ataturk decides that Constantinople will now be called Istanbul and Angora (where the wool comes from) will be Ankara, the new capital of the country.

Your photos | Time

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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 editors favorite wins a prize. This month's favourite is by John Phillips !

John Phillips | Internal workings

Philip Calambakas | A recent trip

Christophe Polin | Walking through time

Please send 1 photo per person & only send your own photo for copyright reasons.

There are other terms and conditions - email us if you want to know them.

Monica Ferreira | A contrast of time

Next month’s topic is ‘life’. Look forward to seeing your pictures.

29 March 1971. California. Charles Manson is convicted of 9 deaths including Sharon Tate at Roman Polanki's house. UK band Kasabian got their name from one of his 'Family's' cult members.

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Music

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here were so many new albums out this month that we were spoilt for choice. A great situation to be in! Here is a compilation of our favourites and we hope you enjoy them. If you have any to recommend, get in touch at invlceditor@gmail.com Album most likely to win prizes | 21 – Adele With the follow up to her award-winning debut album ‘19’, Adele doesn’t disappoint on her second. Many have already been eagerly awaiting this since a sneak preview on Jools Holland in November. Her voice, along with her song writing has matured and has seen the North Londoner move away from her poppy sound to a more soulful, bluesy alternative that was apparently influenced by her bus driver who continually played contemporary Nashville music during her US tour.

Standout Tracks | Rolling in the Deep, Someone Like you Album destined for use on an Indie flick | Asleep On The Floodplain – Six Organs Of Admittance Ben Chasny uses a mixture of sounds to accompany his twangy guitar sound on this haunting folk album. An artist who has been recording consistently since 1998, Chasny has worked with a number of different contributors including Devendra Banhart and Sunn O. Standout Tracks| Light Of The Light, Hold But Let Go Album from an old favourite | The King Of Limbs – Radiohead The release of Kid A in 1999 marked one of the biggest changes in Radiohead’s sound favouring a much more rounded, electronic sound. The results have seen a band who have undoubtedly grown away from their original Indie rock roots.

It won’t be everybody’s cup of tea, but still a worthy listen and one that will be listened to by a large and loyal fan base.

Standout Tracks| Morning Mr. Magpie, Feral, Separator

Other releases| Beady Eye, Lykke Li, Gill Scott-Heron and Jamie xx, Glee – Volume 4, P J Harvey, Sonic Youth, Mogwai and many, many more.

Music news| Reading and Leeds festival tickets are to go on sale on March 21 whilst the event itself will take place 26-28 August. Headliners include Foo Fighters, Kasabian, Kings of Leon. (Website under construction).

‘Go f*** yourself’ – Beady Eye lead singer Liam Gallagher on Radiohead’s new album. The outburst came in response to the album title being a reference to a 1,000 year-old tree in Wiltshire.

The new Libertines documentary ‘No Place/ Good Place: The Rime Of The Modern Mariner’ will premiere at this year’s East End Film Festival in London.

The film, narrated by Carl Barat, will screen 27 April – 2 May. Clips on www.nme.com

29 March 1461. England. Edward VI claims the English crown with victory over the House of Lancaster in the War of the Roses after the bloodiest battle ever on British soil. 28,000 die.

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number of Oscars for both The King’s Speech (reviewed in Dec/ Jan inVLC) and Inception might help out with some sales for both films. Also not gone unnoticed is the double Oscar win for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo for their roles in The Fighter; a well deserved win for a film which we hope will be gracing the screens in V.O. as soon as possible. Natalie Portman’s performance was duly rewarded for Black Swan (last month’s inVLC). It’s fair to say that these films might be enjoying extended runs due to these wins. Notable absences were awards for neither Winter’s Bone (Babel: 16:45, 21:10 & 23) nor The Kids Are All Right (last month), neither of which managed to win an award. This month, however, looks relatively quiet in terms of original version films. Although this could change for those lucky winners at this year’s Oscars.

Biutiful| (Alejandro González Iñárritu) Javier Bardem, Maricel Álvarez, Hanaa Bouchib.

He might have missed out to Colin Firth at the Oscars, but Bardem did manage to scoop the Best Actor prize at Cannes and also in the Spanish Goya Awards this year in what is being called his greatest ever performance.

At an important crossroads in life, Uxbal (Bardem) is forced to deal with the immediacy of death.

Director Iñárritu has already won many critics over with 21 Grams, Babel and Amores Perros. This particular film was the first time that an actor was nominated at the Oscars for a role delivered in only Spanish.

UGC Ciné Cité, Avda Tirso de Molina, 16, www.ugc.es Babel, C/ Vicente Sancho Tello, 10, www.cinesalbatrosbabel.com

Pa Negre| (Augustí Villaronga) Francesc Colomer, Marina Comas, Nora Navas, Roger Casamajor.

We’ve heard lots of good things about Pa Negre, a Catalan film which is set in post- civil war, rural Catalunya and tells the story of a boy called Andreu (Francesc Colomer) who, having found the dead body of a father and son in the woods, is forced to find out who committed this awful crime in order to clear his father’s name.

Never Let Me Go| (Mark Romanek) Kiera Knightley, Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield.

Based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro and adapted by serial screenplay adaptor Alex Garland, Kathy (Mulligan), Tommy (Garfield) and Ruth (Knightley) are brought up at an apparently idyllic English boarding school. The relationship between the three develops throughout their childhood and into young adulthood when they begin to seem almost inseparable.

Unable to find anyone capable of understanding their situation or what their futures hold for them, they confide in each other and tensions soon rise as their feelings soon become apparent.

Their purpose, as students of Halisham boarding school, becomes more and more immediate as they grow older, and their chances of leading a normal life seem further from their grasp.

UGC Ciné Cité: From 11 Mar onwards; times tbc

29 March 1886. Atlanta, Georgia. The Esteemed Brain Tonic and Intellectual Beverage (or Coke) is invented by Dr. Pemberton. Until 1903 it came with 9mg cocaine in each glass-full.

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Read me | Jeffrey Eugenides

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he Virgin Suicides Published in 1993, The Virgin Suicides somehow passed me by. You may have heard of the film which was also very successful and which also somehow passed me by. So, imagine my pleasure when – after having this wonderful novel recommended to me by a friend – I realised I had belatedly discovered a modern classic.

The Virgin Suicides tells the story of a smalltown suburban community in the U.S around the late 60s to early 70s, although the period is never specifically defined, many of the cultural references are reminiscent of this period in America as are the community’s social customs and mores. The plot revolves around the Lisbon family whose lives are destroyed by the inexplicable suicides of each of the five adolescent Lisbon girls – Cecilia, Lux, Bonnie, Mary and Therese – and the effect their suicides have on a group of boys who loved them, observed them from afar, failed to save them from their fate and thus had to grow up with a premature knowledge of tragedy and loss.

There are several things that I think make this novel great. First, it’s unique narrative voice – or voices plural – because this is the only novel I am aware of that uses a first person plural narrative voice. So, instead of ‘I loved her and she loved me...’ we have a passage like this – “It didn’t matter in the end how old they had been or that they were girls, but only that we had loved them and that they hadn’t heard us calling, still do not hear us...” It may seem a small matter but this highly original narrative technique lends the novel an eerie sense of inclusiveness – a feeling that the writer has something to say about this community and the suicidal girls, which crucially includes us – the reader – in their universe.

This theme of narrative inclusiveness is central to the meaning of The Virgin Suicides.

The narrative, the depiction of a community in decline – its trees being cut down, its customs slowly eroding, its beauty dying and its youth killing themselves – all this develops slowly but irrevocably the theme of the inevitability of our own decline – us, you and me – the tragedy of lost youth, a past gone forever.

This is not a happy book, certainly no feel-good summer read – but then neither was ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’ or ‘Hamlet’. Sad stories can remind us of some uncomfortable truths, that we will grow old and die – and that is why we should live and as the old saying goes “seize the day, gather ye rose-buds while ye may...”

The Virgin Suicides is beautifully written, poetic, poignant and evocative. The community it describes, the aging Lisbon house and the sense of a world disappearing into the past (epitomised by the narrator and his friends who are now middle aged with paunches and receding hair) – all this results ultimately in a melancholic story that packs a powerful emotional punch. A book for those dark nights of the soul, that alerts us once again to the power of great writing and to the fragility and preciousness of our lives and those around us.

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

31 March 1959. Tibet. Following Chinese repression the Dalai Lama is forced to leave his homeland by the Chinese. He said he wouldn't go back until the Chinese left. He is still waiting.

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ome people have accused the 'powers that be', (be they politicians, advertisers, economists, bankers, etc), of reducing us all to mere consumers and market segments.

We're not citizens of our countries, we're pie chart statistics to be manipulated at will.

Personally I believe that that is the view of many bureaucrats but it does point out to us where some of our real power base lies. We can vote every four years, march in demonstrations, and send e-mails and these are all ways of making a difference but when we purchase products we are using some of our real power, we are voting with our money and we do it every day!

When we do our shopping we are giving our backing to one type of society or another. What type of society we want will vary from person to person but we must remember that when we buy Coca Cola, Nescafé, Heineken, Samsung, etc we are giving our money to these companies, we are voting for their type of society with our hard-earned cash. When we buy in Mercadona, Corte Ingles, etc. we are supporting their philosophy for our society.

Where do we buy? is the first question we must ask ourselves. When we buy in supermarkets, hypermarkets, massive department stores, etc.

Where does our money go? Does it stay in our local communities or end up in Swiss bank accounts?

What power do they have over the quality of our food

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supply? How dependent on them are we? How do they manipulate us to buy more than we need?

Maybe supermarkets have their place but the balance has swung too far in their direction and we are losing the small local shops which give a more personal service, keep the money in the local community, bring life to our streets and provide more jobs in the neighbourhood. I suggest that we could start by switching our shopping habits and helping to inject life into our neighbourhoods.

What we buy is of equal importance to where we buy and buying from multinational companies and massive national firms is giving MORE money to those who have already too much (with the rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer).

Consider Where do they invest their profits? How do they treat their workers in developing countries?

Our options are reducing: we are often left with the choice of two multinationals, Gillette or Wilkinson Sword, Coca Cola or Pepsi... monsters with huge turnovers. Let's eliminate as many of them as we can from our shopping list. We can buy from small local companies, buy fruit 'n' veg from local producers, buy second hand goods, buy Fair Trade tea/coffee/ sugar, etc. make our own products, join or start a barter club. Sometimes it might be more expensive and other times cheaper, but we are using our power for a more humane, healthy, and friendly world.

Declan Lehane

First certificate

Green living | Alternative goals

A little goes a long way What| Use matches instead of butane lighters.

Wood is fine, and cardboard ones are better.

Why| The wood/cardboard from a match biodegrades. With lighters, the plastic ends up in landfill and butane is made from that scarce resource: petroleum.

Why not| Cardboard can be flimsy.

Benefits| That lovely sulphur dioxide smell from matches and less empty lighters cluttering cupboards and landfills!

2 April 1921. Ireland. The IRA take delivery of their first consignment of Tommy Guns created especially for them. So called due to a nickname of their potential targets - British 'Tommies'.

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Sport

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ootball| It's a quiet month - but don't let that stop you getting out to support the local teams.

Buy tickets for Valencia games from the kiosks at the Mestalla Stadium on Avendia de Suecia, on their web page, on ticketmaster.es, at any of the official Valencia football shops, or even from the La Caixa website. Just ask for una entrada. The seats at Grada de la Mar are cheap and have a good view.

For information on Levante check the up-to-date information in www.levanteud.com.

Please note all game dates and times are subject to alteration so check beforehand.

Valencia fixtures this month| 20/03 Valencia CF v Sevilla FC 3/04

Getafe v Valencia CF

10/04 Valencia CF v Villarreal CF Levante fixtures this month|

Run Fiona Run| The 7th Carrera de la Mujer (Woman's Race) will take place on 10 April and again will see women of all ages, shapes and sizes taking part to raise awareness of women's health issues, and also just to have fun.

The 5km race starts at 10am and costs €7 to enter.

The race starts on Avenida Pio XII and all entrants will receive a special commemorative pink T-shirt to wear on the day.

20/03 Deportivo La Coruna v Levante 3/04

Levante v Málaga

10/04 Racing Santander v Levante

Get more info at www.carreradelamujer.com and get your trainers on!

eeling horsey| Horse fans are in for a treat this month when the 17th Salon de Caballos comes to town from 31 March to 3 April. It's on at the Feria Valencia in Avenida de las Ferias and will feature some of the best pure breed horses around. Clothing, footwear and accessories for riding and breeding these animals from some of the best specialist shops in the country will also be there for purchase but you should be aware that bullfights are also on the bill. www.fiecval.es

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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 30 March 1867. Alaska. Purchased for about 2 cents, an acre from the Russians lead to an outcry of that 'being a lot of dollars for a lot of ice'. Turned out OK though once they found oil.

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ut-Hut-Hut!' shouts the Quarterback an instant before 11 extremely large guys attempt to move the ball towards the opposition’s goal-line in a mix of skill and sheer brute force.

Most will have seen the game on TV, but did you know Valencia is also home to 2 US Football teams - the Firebats and the Giants?

Down at the Estadio del Turia, inVLC spoke to Manu Miguel, a 5-year veteran of the Firebats. “Valencia Firebats started in 1993 (originally called the Bats). We play in the Conferencia Española against teams like Madrid and Barcelona. In the last 5 years we have reached 5 National Finals and have won 3. We have Spaniards, other Europeans, North and South Americans so we are truly international. We love the game and we hope to see more people come and support us for each game. It's a great day out and you can be sure to see some great action.”

And it's not just for boys. This year a girl's team was started. Team coach Jason O'Brien said, “None of the girls had ever played before but once they came here and played, they loved it! They are really enthusiastic and keep wanting to play for real (it's non-contact for girls) but they're not at that level...yet!” Maria Hernandes told us “I'd never really done much sport before, but I'd been watching on TV for years and thought this year was the time to give it a go - so I did!” She's loving it as a way of staying fit, but she tells me that they need more players. “We only have 8 so if there are any girls out there who fancy coming along please do - we don't bite! - and language really is no barrier.”

When the season ends, they train down at Las Arenas to keep in shape and top up their tans. Nights out are also fun and a great way to make new friends. Why not give it a go?

Training| Games| Contact| Where| Highlight| Facebook|

Tuesdays & Thursdays (9-11pm).

Saturday (12pm).

Jason 665 449 032 (English/Spanish) Estadio del Turia (next to Nuevo Centro) Firebats v in April (exact date unknown) US Football's Champions League.

'Valencia Firebats' or www.firebats.org

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o you want to meet people from other countries and learn new phrases on the way?

We've listed the intercambios that we know of to help you. Some are relaxed affairs, others more structured, some cost & others offer treats, so think about what you want and try a few out.

Monday

Cafe de las Horas The Bohemian Café

Sp/Eng Sp/Eng

8pm 8.30pm

Tuesday

Portland Ale House Laboratorio

English night Sp/Eng + Sp/Jap

8.30pm 8pm

Wednesday

Portland Ale House L'Ermità Café Infinito Bar La Red Rose, Torrent La Ola Fresca

Sp/Eng Sp/Eng Sp/Eng Sp/Eng Sp/Eng

8.30pm 7pm 7pm 8pm 8.30pm

Thursday

The Dublin House Finnigans (every 2 weeks)

Sp/Eng Sp/Eng

9.45pm 9.30pm

Sunday

Thomas & Johnson

Sp/Eng

Times TBC

Various

Active English (excursions)

Sp/Eng

www.groups.google.com - Active-English

31 March 1889. After 2 years and 7.4 million Francs, the Eiffel Tower is officially opened. Parisiens hated it and novelist Guy de Maupassant said that he ate there daily so he did not have to look at it.

Intermediate

Sport| US Football & language intercambios

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Artist of the month| Michael Brown

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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| Michael Brown location| Valencia what's available| Paintings, illustrations inspiration| Cartoons and a strange sense of humor drive Michael's work.

This graphic designer/illustrator/painter spends his days daydreaming of weird and funny characters to paint.

where| Contact him directly for commissions. prices| Depending on size and style: â‚Ź15 to â‚Ź250.

web| www.michaelsbrownpaint.blogspot.com email| barcelonabrown@gmail.com

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

Art to see

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he art scene in Valencia is hotting up, with exhibitions in hidden corners throughout the city and community. Get yourselves out there and add a little extra culture to your afternoons with some great works of art.

The portraits are numerous and reflect the spectrum of human emotion. Reticent, trusting, proud, curious, frightened, ambivalent, and delighted men, women and children looked back at me as I wandered through the gallery, returning periodically to the same faces in an attempt to harness their thoughts, hopes and fears.

Where images of craftsmen, carpenters, shopkeepers and musicians demonstrate the diversity and wealth of talents, beehives, handlebar moustaches, aviators and slogan t-shirts do justice to the fashions of past decades.

Lives less ordinary | One hundred and twenty As I pondered my own culture and my Italian and five years of history and the social reputation of Irish immigrant roots, I considered the suspicion Hungarian Romas are the well- executed themes of and intolerance experienced by those who led the this exhibition. A series of photographic images, way and their collective strength to overcome such video installations and examples of material culture portray a little well-known and even less understood prejudices. And so, these images and stories of similarly resourceful and creative people - united in people with sensitivity, honesty and humour. What celebration, devotion, grief and accomplishment appeals to me most is the curator’s desire to create left me in the knowledge that the social histories we an exhibition which balances the viewpoint of the share invariably outweigh our differences. onlooker, the interloper - as seen through their (Until 30 June) lenses - with that of the Romas themselves, in the ML form of family photo albums.

Museu Valencià d'Etnologia, C/ Corona 36 (near IVAM), VLC | Tues-Sun 10am-8pm www.museuvalenciaetnologia.es | Free!

Kipling ilustrado | Eclectic and colourful, the MuVIM’s latest exhibition is inspired by the strange and wonderful short stories of Rudyard Kipling whose tales are offered up through the visual interpretations of seven artists and their distinctive takes on his world-famous tales.

Separated into seven sections, each dedicated to an artist and his chosen story, the exhibition ranges from bright illustrations to black and white stencil designs to the more neutral tones of colour pencil prints, including stories from The Cat That Walked By Himself and Rakki-tikki-tavi to Georgie Porgie

and The Elephant’s Child.

With each part offering a view more different in both medium and vision than the former, the colonial India that heavily influenced Kipling and his works can nevertheless be detected as a common theme throughout the exhibition.

At once dark and fascinating, a sense of exotic mystery resides throughout these artists’ illustrations, continuously alluding to, but never fully revealing the complex world of Kipling’s classic tales.

(Until 25 April) Malou Herkes

MuVIM, Guillem de Castro, 8, VLC Tues-Sun 10am-2pm 4pm-8pm www.muvim.es | Free!

7 April 1891. Denmark. 'Leg Godt' which means play well in Danish provides the inspiration for OK Christiansen (born this day) who creates Lego. Lego in Latin means 'I put together'.

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Recipe | Strawberry shortcake

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ontinuing with last month’s strawberry cocktail theme, here’s a strawberry dessert to brighten your days.

Strawberry shortcake is a typical American dessert often served on the 4th of July (Independence Day), at county fairs, and summer picnics. It is so popular in the United States that it even became the name of a children’s character featured in a line of toys and television show: a little girl named Strawberry Shortcake, her cat Custard, and a whole gang of dessert and fruit themed friends and pets.

Shortcake is a lightly sweet and rich biscuit made with butter and/or cream. The 'short' part refers to shortening, which are solid fats commonly used in baking. It’s called shortening because of how its incorporation into the flour creates short gluten strands in the dough, resulting in a crumbly or flaky texture. (Bread has long gluten strands and a soft texture.)

Gluten strands aside, this is a delicious dessert and versatile because you can use any type of vanilla cake, muffin, or other sweet bread in place of the shortcake.

Lia Wallon reLIAble eats www.reLIAbleeats.blogspot.com

What to buy| (Serves 8) 1.5 kilos strawberries, washed with stems removed 75g sugar, divided in half 2 teaspoons cinnamon 250g flour 3 teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda pinch of salt 30g unsalted butter, cold, cut into chunks 425ml cream, chilled (nata para montar) plus 2 spoonfuls of sugar for the whipped cream

Wow factor| Red strawberries get anyone’s attention!

Effort| Shortcakes can be bit tricky, don’t rush!

How to make it| one Preheat oven to 200˚ C. two Sprinkle half of the sugar and 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon over the strawberries and mix gently. Set aside for at least 30 minutes. three In a separate bowl use a fork to mix all remaining ingredients except the butter and cream.

Use two knives or your fingertips to mix in butter until small crumbs form. Add 175ml of cream. Mix just until ingredients are combined. four Put dough on a floured surface. Knead twice (turn dough onto itself, flatten, repeat). Shape dough into a circle, slightly domed in the center. Cut circle in half and cut each half into 4 wedge-shaped pieces. five Put shortcakes on greased baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool. six Beat the cream and gradually add the 2 spoonfuls of sugar. Beat until semi-stiff peaks form when you lift the beaters out of the cream. seven Serve the shortcakes in two halves with the strawberries and whipped cream generously between each layer.

7 April 1832. Carlisle, UK. Joe Thompson goes to market with a view to selling his wife for 50 shillings (£2.50). An hour after starting the price is down to 20 shillings and a Newfoundland dog.

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herries have a cruelly short season. Valencia gets the cheaper South African and Chilean cherries from now on, and then the tasty Spanish cherries from May. They'll only last until around July, so get them quickly. Because of their short season and the hassle of de-stoning them, cherries don't make it into many cocktails, but their unique flavour makes the effort well worth it. In the warmer weather, add ice to your drinks and take it easy on the alcohol. Virgin drinks are easy and fun: so we've made a few virginal and naughty options!

Here's some tasty spring treats for great fun:

one Cherry Mojito!

A classic with a seasonal twist.

3 cl White Rum 5 pitted cherries 4 Mint leaves 1 fresh Lime 1 teaspoon sugar Soda Water to top up Crush the mint, cherries, sugar and lime juice.

Add rum and stir well.

Top up the glass with soda water.

Serve in highball, garnish with a cherry and a lime wedge.

two Virgin Smoothie Drink at lunch and feel revitalised.

1 cup pitted cherries 10 mint leaves 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1/2 cup soda water (sugar to taste) 2 ice cubes (Add 2cl rum for a kick) Blend the ingredients in a mixer.

Serve in a hurricane glass (or a highball) with a cherry.

three Cherry Vanilla Milkshake For drinking by the pool.

2 1/4 cups pitted cherries 1 cup vanilla icecream 1 cup milk 1/2 vanilla bean, split (Add 2cl Amaretto for a twist) Blend cherries, icecream, milk.

Scrape the black paste from inside the vanilla bean into the mix; blend until smooth.

Serve in a collins glass with a cherry on top.

Tip| take the stone out with a strong straw push the stone through the flesh.

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the number of cherries to be eaten a day which could help reduce inflammation for arthritis sufferers. the number of times a person has had intercourse in their lives, before they can consider their 'cherry popped'.

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Health | Siesta

First certificate

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cientists at Allegheny College in the U.S. have found that having a little siesta during the middle of the day reduces blood pressure. So, if you ever felt guilty before about having one, now you can smugly tell your friends that it’s ‘for health reasons’ and not ‘because I’m in Spain’, ‘because I can’ or ‘because I’m addicted’.

Apparently, getting 45-60 minutes of a nap during the middle of the day is completely healthy thy and compensates for the two hours of sleep that we currently don’t have, but used to have over ver 50 years ago. Combine this with the fact that we work longer, more irregular hours and that some of uss get home and watch TV until the early hours, we can’t n’t get to sleep because we’re worried about something, ething, etc.

The list could go on.

Let’s be honest, we always knew that the Spanish were on to something with this cheeky daytime aytime kip.

The traditional siesta sleepers will alwayss tell you that a siesta should never be a deep sleep ep like the one that you have at night. When I arrived, d, I was convinced by my friends to have one on the sofa with an orange or a set of keys in one hand nd so that, every time I drifted off into the land of nod, od, the sound of the falling object would wake me back up.

Any grogginess or sluggishness I experienced enced was

normally because I had slept for too long or too deeply.

The results of the discovery show that ‘having a nap’ during the day has “cardiovascular benefits by accelerating cardiovascular recovery from mental stress” according to Ryan Brindle and Sarah Conklin Ph.D. The study involved 85 healthy students who were split into two groups (one of which had a siesta, one of which didn’t). Results showed that those who had had a nap showed much lower levels of blood pressure than those who didn’t.

Sarah Conklin finished by saying that napping gives “healing and protective benefits”.

Report taken from www.medicmagic.net /one-hour-nap-canreduce-blood-pressure. html, originally published in Springer’s International Journal of Behavioural Medicine.

8 April 563BC. Siddhattha Gautama is born in what is now Nepal. One day while sitting under a Banyan tree in Buddh Gaya he became enlightened. He is now better known as Buddha.

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ou will have seen the people sitting in their little booths, or standing on street corners outside supermarkets and bars, yet you may know very little about who they are or what they do. So this month we're taking a closer look at ONCE. ONCE stands for Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles, which is the Spanish National Organisation for the Blind. It has been in existence since December 1938 and is recognised worldwide as one of the pioneers within the World Blind Union, which was set up in 1984 to speak for the visually impaired among us on a global level.

Their day-to-day work is to help provide a platform for personal autonomy, improve education, increase access to jobs, provide financial support and basically to help improve the social standing of people suffering from this particular form of disability.

They do not restrict their work to Spain either having close links providing help to the blind in some of the poorest parts of European Europe and Africa. They provide Braille books and texts to help assist the education of those who otherwise would not have access to it.

Employing over 40,000 disabled people their main income comes from the tickets that you see the vendors selling on the streets - the cupón.

So what is the cupón? In essence - it is a lottery ticket. You buy a ticket for €1.50 and that is your entry to the daily draw which you can see broadcast nightly Monday to Friday on several Spanish TV channels. Five balls are drawn and the basic idea is to match what you have on your card with that on the screen.

Prizes are big, tax-free and there are over 500,000 winners every day. The basic prize - i.e. that of the right to another free ticket which occurs if you match either the first or the last numbers on your card with those that are drawn. If you get more matches in the same order as they are drawn you are in line for a bigger and better prize and if you match all five in the right order then you will walk away with €35,000. There are 50 x €35,000 prizes every day.

If you feel tempted there are other types of tickets with different prizes, like the Cuponazo we bought!

Of course you may never win the big one but why not stop and purchase a ticket every now and again anyway. It's another situation where you can practice your Spanish and you can be sure that at least some of your money is going to a very worthwhile cause.

www.once.es 10 April 1633. London. Thomas Johnson's shop becomes famous all over the city as people queue up to see and taste his new offering. The humble banana had arrived in Britain.

First certificate

Charity | ONCE

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Animals| On the pull

55 -58

The number of millions of years ago when the first known primate lived. It was called Plesiadapis and lived in North America and Europe.

Name| Alice Age| 11 months Size| Small Health| Castrated & health vaccinated.

Personality| Bright & bouncy.

Appearance| Ratonero

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

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o you have problems pulling the ladies?

Perhaps there are lessons to be learnt from our cousins.

Kimberley A. Phillips, a psychologist at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas has undertaken a study of the brain images of capuchin monkeys with some intriguing results.

Previously it had been noted that both males and female monkeys of different monkey species rub pee into their fur. To do this they pee into their hands, and then transfer it onto their feet and hindquarters. The frequency of this activity is doubled by alpha males when they are being solicited by females. During sexual activity the females pull on the males hair, and then put their hands to their noses.

These new brain images show that the male urine sends sexual signals. And the more mature the male monkey, the better for the female, which leads to a higher 'activity' between females and males with testosterone in their pee.

"Apparently, a male covered in urine is quite attractive," Phillips said.

Although this study looked at the female brains, it should be noted that females also use this technique - so ladies take note.

Should you be considering improving your pulling technique for this weekend, perhaps our primate friends have got it right, and we can learn a thing or two.

This urine-washing study appeared online February 15 in American Journal of Primatology. www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ ajp.20931/abstract

12 April 1961. Space. Vostok 1 spends 108 minutes orbiting the earth and makes a household name of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. His death seven years later (at age 34) has been subject to various conspiracy theories.

Events & Classifieds

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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 3 April | Calle La Pau, Cindy or Nicolas, 960 80 25 13 or 695 100 540.

Olocau Rastro/Table top sale | Sun 27 March | 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 20 March, 17 Apr (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 7 April. 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.

Language Interchange | We are a group of 4 or 5 Spanish People over 55 years old interested in exchanging English-Spanish conversations with English speaking People. We meet every Monday morning from 10-12 on 1st floor of "Cafetería San Patricio", in Valencia, Plaza del Ayuntamiento, 3. For any questions email.- jv.buso@terra.es Language Interchange | We are two retired Spanish people; we want improve our English; you teach us English and we teach you Spanish. (In the city or in the towns) serespcar@yahoo.es

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n 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.

Finished with your inVLC ? Pass it on to a friend..!

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CURSOS DE VERANO EN EL REINO UNIDO 2011 Durante el mes de julio mejora tu inglés combinándolo con un intenso programa social que incluye excursiones, deportes y actividades lúdicas, en Centros acreditados por British Council y alojamiento en familias seleccionadas con régimen de pensión completa.

CHURCHILL HOUSE. RAMSGATE curso junior (12 -15)

LANGUAGE IN TOTNES curso senior (16 -21+)

Para ampliar información y solicitar reserva: acude al British Council (Avda. de Cataluña, 9) o llamando al teléfono 963 392 980 www.britishcouncil.es

BRITISH COUNCIL — 70 YEARS IN SPAIN