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we're looking up WITH | clash of the china | parties & holidays | the best of Valencia and the Community | new locations | ÂĄaprende inglĂŠs con nosotros! ...

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in the cold November rain...

As we take the first steps towards the approaching Christmas and New Year periods, those of us who live here start to look out the jackets, jeans and thick jumpers which have been hidden away throughout the summer months.

So, go grab yourself a warming coffee, and let's run down what we have for you in this month's magazine.

As well as all our regular news, sport, cinema, art, music and food sections we also have a fight in not one but two china shops as Valencia's Lladró takes on England's Wedgwood. We also head to Ayora for a quick break and go shopping for delicious Italian food at Gusto Nuovo.

It all gets technical as we look into the new phenomenon, QR codes. And we reveal who's won this

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month’s photo competition 'looking up' and update you with all this month's holidays and fiestas in the Valencian Community. All this and all for free. Amazing!

Don't forget that all our reviews are independent, written by a member of our team who has visited, and loved, loved, loved the bar, restaurant or shop. Whilst we can't promise that you'll love it as much as we do, we hope that gives you confidence and trust in us. Look out for the independent review logo in future editions.

Remember to keep up to date throughout the month and find out what's going on and when by 'liking' us on Facebook and Twitter.

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.

Sales Vincenzo Translations Clara and Javier Front cover & Competition winner 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 is barking mad I heart Valencia smashing china Holidays and fiestas are low key Valencia Community we visit Ayora Technology we break it down New openings Gusto Nuovo New openings Kiss my Feet Let's talk Expat life! Eoghan looks for help Your photos of 'looking up' Map Talking teaching is encouraging Art & culture Music hot new musical releases Live events only the best make it to the list Sport hot news The cinema v.o releases in Valencia Read me Sean loves his books Lifestyle Charity needs you Green Declan is still on water Recipe pomegranate seeds brighten the night Artist Sandi Goodwin is inspired Art to see knows art A day in the life Ewen is being touristy Cocktails to warm your cockles Animal when wolves make pets Events & classifieds keeps you in the know

15/11/1899. A young Winston Churchill is captured by the Boers while he is reporting on the war as a correspondent for the Morning Post. He escaped a few weeks later deciding that politics may be an easier career path for him.

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I give you my word| Spain at the polls.

20 November sees the Spanish General Election. Up for grabs are the 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies (which will determine which party will be in control of the country and will hold the post of Prime Minister of Spain), and the 208 seats in the Upper House (Senate). Realistically only two of the 50 registered parties in Spain have a chance of winning the incumbent PSOE party and the PP. Current Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is not standing so whatever happens Spain will have a new Prime Minister come the end of the vote counting and he will be either Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba (PSOE) or Mariano Rajoy (PP).

Hot cartoon action| 26 -27 November Valencia Manga Show is back. Only €6, at Feria Valencia, the no 62 EMT bus goes runs directly. Clothing, music and loads of fun. www.salondelmangadevalencia.es Delayed| Stock City Feria Outlet.

For administrative reasons the Fair Outlet of November 2011 is postponed until March 2012.

Money for nothing| Ryanair.

This November 1 saw another inventive way for Mr O'Leary to fleece his passengers with the introduction of a Cash Passport scheme. It's now the only way to avoid the company's £6 each way per person booking fee and replaces the option of using a debit card to avoid the fee.

Before you rush out to buy this card you should know: It will cost you €6 (although this is redeemable against future flights you take), you will also be hit with a €2.50 monthly inactivity charge if the card is not used at least once every 6 months, a mighty 5.75% charge is levied on foreign transactions, €2 for each ATM use (regardless of country), with a 50p transaction fee if it is used in the UK (after April 2012), and brilliantly, you need to load it up with €150 worth of credit prior to usage.

Millionaire blues| Camps on trial.

Expect large amounts of screen time and newspaper space to be taken up with the trial of the ex-Partido Popular President of Valencia, Francisco Camps, and the PP’s ex-General Secretary in the region, Ricardo Costa, which starts here on 12 December after Camps' request to be tried under the Supreme Court of Spain was rejected.

The pair are accused of taking bribes in the form of gifts from the Gürtel network which was found to be involved in obtaining large contracts in exchange for cash type deals.

Bodies revealed| An exhibition which uses dissected human specimens to provide you with a visual textbook to your own body. Heron City, Valencia. €12 adult. www.bodiesvalencia.com

16/11/1960. Gone with the Wind's Clark Gable dies this day after completing the filming of 'The Misfits' with Marilyn Monroe. This would also be Monroe's last film but quite frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.

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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, low-cost fun. This month we'll be:

1| visiting the local parks to enjoy the autumnal colours, the muted bronze of the leaves, contrasting with the bright yellow and red seeds in the pods, all accentuated by the lower lying sun.

2| enjoying Boscos Encapsulats in the Botanical Garden in Valencia. An exhibition of nature-inspired multi-dimensional shapes. The local cats are a bonus. €2. Until 18 December.

3| going to Xàtiva. It's a great city to visit anyway, however now the streets are a little calmer for ambling about, taking a walk along one of the routes, drinking the local wine and visiting the castle.

1.54 The height in metres that birthday boy Toulouse-Lautrec grew. He came from a French aristocratic family, with parents who were cousins.

Imbreeding left him with disabilities, with a full size adult torso but with legs which stopped growing at 70cm (27.5in).

However, it is his finely painted works of the late-19th-century

Movember fakie| So you can't grow a moustache for Movember? No problem! inVLC has got a solution. instructions for use: 1. cut along dotted line*, 2. apply with double sided sticky tape 3. enjoy! www.movember.com or .es *adult supervision may be required

bohemian lifestyle in Paris, including his commissioned work for the Moulin Rouge for which he is most famous.

Throughout his career, which spanned fewer than 20 years, ToulouseLautrec created 737 canvases, 275 watercolours, 363 prints and posters, 5,084 drawings, some ceramic & stained glass work.

Friends with Van Gogh, Louis Anquetin and Oscar Wilde, his parties were drink-fuelled and wild. He died at 36, 100 years ago, from alcoholism and syphilis complications.

www.freemoustache.com

17/11/1800. The US Congress meets for the first time and John Adams becomes the first President to live in the Executive Mansion (which would be later renamed as the The White House).

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I heart Valencia

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n this month's battle we pit two of the world's leading exponents of fine pottery together as Valencia's Lladró squares up to England's Wedgwood. While the term porcelain will be familiar to most readers, in English speaking countries the word 'china' or 'fine china' may be heard instead of the Franco-Italian word 'porcelain'. This china reference is used with regards to the country of origin of the very first porcelain pieces.

If you live here in Valencia you should be familiar with the Lladró shop opposite the Palacio del Marqués de Dos Aguas on Calle Poeta Querol, and for tourists most guidebooks will suggest a visit to the shop/factory as a must-do while you are here. Wedgwood on the other hand is one of the leading makers of quality porcelain in England. Lets set those bull's loose...

Round 1| Origins The Lladró company was started in 1953 by brothers Juan, José and Vicente Lladró in the village of Almàssera which is just to the north of the city of Valencia. They originally created ceramic vases and jugs before moving on the sculptures for which they are world-renowned. The original workshop was expanded several times before they moved to their current location in Tavernes Blanques in 1958.

Wedgwood was started back in 1759 by Josiah Wedgwood in the town of Burslem which is now part of Stoke-on-Trent in the English Midlands. He had previous experience as a potter and was given the chance to start his own company through a mixture of family gifts and a large dowry (after marrying a distant cousin of his). Other factories soon opened and so many pottery manufacturers were situated in and around Stoke that this area of England became known as 'The Potteries'.

WINNER – Wedgwood – Still going strong after 250 years!

Round 2| Big break In 1969 the brothers opened the Lladró Museum and Professional Training School in Tavernes Blanques to impart their knowledge and experience with the idea of maintaining the original vision and philosophy of the brothers and passing this on to a new generation.

This 1,000,000 square feet (92,900 m2) complex is responsible for every single Lladró creation and employs over 2,000 people.

In 1865 King George III's wife Charlotte fell in love with Wedgwood's creations and allowed him to call his product line 'Queen's ware' which went on to do incredibly well across Europe at that time. This in turn allowed Wedgwood to purchase a large estate in Staffordshire to act as both his factory and his home and to start to produce porcelain on a much larger scale.

WINNER – Lladró – An incredible success story.

18/11/1978. Cult leader Jim Jones murders three newsmen and a congressman who had come to investigate him in Guyana. He then orders 900 men, women and children to drink Kool Aid laced with cyanide. All die.

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Round 5| Desirability Porcelain while not everyone's cup of tea is highly collectible and Lladró, without a shadow of a doubt, is top of most porcelain lovers' wish lists. The intricacy of the production, with even individual fingers on the pieces being hand-crafted one by one, means the quality of the finished product is without equal and in turn can command huge prices. The Queen of the Nile piece (left) for instance has a price tag of €120,000.

Round 3| Scientific innovations Lladró reinvented the firing process of porcelain. They reduced the normal three-layer firing into a one-layer firing which reduces the amount of time that the figures need to be in the kiln and also gives Lladró porcelain a crystalline look which when combined with pastel tones gives each Lladró its signature look.

Wedgwood, on the other hand, was the first to create a kiln which accurately measured the temperature inside. Something that we now all take for granted with thermostats.

Wedgwood was also famous for his 'Jasperware'. This is a type of stoneware that you will recognise from its pale blue colour, which is now known as Wedgwood Blue, and was based on the Portland Vase, which the Romans created between 5-25AD and is now housed in the British Museum.

WINNER – Wedgwood – Helped to kickstart European porcelain production.

Round 4| Popularity and popular culture Lladró figurines have featured in several well known TV series including US comedy Will and Grace where in one episode the storyline revolved round a well loved, but broken Lladró figurine. Mafia crime series The Sopranos featured Lladró in two episodes, one where Carmela Soprano first boasts about her Lladró figurine and in another where she smashes it in a fit of rage with her husband. Seems to be a theme developing when it comes to Lladró appearing on TV...

Wedgwood is by and large made on a larger scale so modern day pieces are comparatively cheap.

However for an antique one you are looking at thousands of €s but with that you are also getting a little bit of porcelain making history for your money.

WINNER – Lladró – for the amazing craftsmanship in their pieces.

Wedgwood, being an older company, is perhaps a more traditional type of company who you may think did not seek to be as populist as to be on TV, but then they did appear to have an amazing lapse of taste when they created a series of Barbie dolls in porcelain back in 2001.

WINNER – Lladró – Barbie porcelain? Seriously?

OVERALL WINNER 3 – 2 and that's a great win for Lladró, Valencia's relative new-comer on the porcelain scene over a bona-fide giant.

Even if porcelain is not your thing you should try to make a quick visit to the shop. It will leave you open mouthed in wonder at the craftsmanship – and possibly the prices too!

19/11/1969. Brazilian football legend and erectile disfunction spokesman Pele scores his 1,000th competitive goal in just 909 games. He couldn't keep it up for much longer eventually scoring 1216 in 1254 games.

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Learn Better with the British Council

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his month we’d like to look at a development in methodology which is increasingly relevant in Valencia as the province builds its plurilingual education programmes. CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) is basically teaching of other curriculum subjects like Maths, Science, and Geography etc in English.

WHY IS CLIL IMPORTANT? With the expansion of the European Union, diversity of language and the need for communication are seen as central issues. Even with English as the main language, other languages are unlikely to disappear.

Languages will play a key role in curricula across Europe. Attention needs to be given to the training of teachers and the development of frameworks and methods which will improve the quality of language education.

The European Commission has been looking into the state of bilingualism and language education since the 1990s, and has a clear vision of a multilingual Europe in which people can function in two or three languages.

HOW DOES CLIL WORK? The basis of CLIL is that content subjects are taught and learnt in a language which is not the mother tongue of the learners. # Knowledge of the language becomes the means of learning content # CLIL is based on language acquisition rather than enforced learning # Language is seen in real-life situations in which students can acquire the language. This is natural language development which builds on other forms of learning # Fluency is more important than accuracy and errors are a natural part of language learning. # Learners develop fluency in English by using English to communicate for a variety of purposes.

THE ADVANTAGES OF CLIL CLIL helps to: # Improve overall and specific language competence # Prepare for future studies and/or working life # Develop multilingual interests and attitudes # Diversify methods & forms of classroom teaching and learning # Increase learner motivation

CLIL LINKS http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/ Lots of lesson plans and resources that can be adapted for CLIL http://primaryclil.org/ Training resources for primary CLIL teachers and trainers http://teachunicef.org/ Lesson plans and resources on topics from the Millennium Development Goals to water and sanitation.

BRITISH COUNCIL — 70 YEARS IN SPAIN www.britishcouncil.es

Holidays and parties

15-31 November 21| Ontinyent 22| Alfafara (A), Santa Cecilia (A) 25| Jarafuel, Pavias (C), Santa Catalina 28| Onil (A) 30| Alcúdia San Andrés Apóstol

1 December - 16 December 5| Chulilla Santa Barbara, Lloc Nou de Sant Jeroni, El Perelló Fiesta de la Eatim, Torralba del Pinar (C) Santa Barbara, Balones (A) 7| Castello de Rugat, Gavarda, Piles, Pinet Inmaculada Concepción, Tuéjar Vispera de la Purísima, Ain (C) San Ambrosio, Benasau (A),

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8 December - Día de la Inmaculada A day to celebrate the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Special services will take place in churches and cathedrals around the Community. For those wishing to join in, check for details at the location of your choice.

The essence of the holiday is that the Virgin Mary was born with no original sin. Catholics believe that humans are born with original sin, and have to be baptised in order to be cleansed of it and to allow them into heaven.

Original sin is the absence of holiness into which humans are born, and not connected to any actual sins that a person commits.

There are rumours of a puente (a holiday on the Friday) on the 9th December, but this hasn't been confirmed yet.

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6 December - Día de la Constitución A celebration of the 1978 Spanish referendum.

Whilst this day is historically very important, there will be very little to see or do on this day in Valencia. Most of the locals head to their pueblos for the weekend if there is a puente (a holiday on the Monday) or for the day if there isn't.

The referendum came after the death of Franco, with 88% of people agreeing to a new constitution to change to a constitutional monarchy and democracy.

Remember that national holidays will mean fewer buses, and most shops, banks and supermarkets will be closed.

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he holidays this month remember historical events of the past and celebrate religious views.

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Playboy ban lifted.

1978 Sale of contraceptives ban lifted.

1981 Divorce legalised.

Quatretondeta (A) 9| El Mareny de Barraquetes, Benafer (C), Higueras(C), Antella La Purisima, Benillup (A) 10| Venta del Moro Nuestra Senora del Loreto 13| Villanueva de Castellón Santa Lucía 16| Guadasequies Courtesy of www.docv.gva.es

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

20/11/1975. General Francisco Franco dies and his successor King Juan Carlos returns Spain to a democratic system of Government for the first time since the civil war in 1939.

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Valencia community | Ayora

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s you travel down the N330 from Confrides to Ayora you are skirting the westward edge of the Valencia region as it touches Castilla-La Mancha. This area is Spain’s principal producer of honey, especially those with orange and rosemary flavours. Uniflora indicates that a honey’s flavour is derived from only one flower, and milflores that the bees have visited a variety of flowers.

The last village in the Valle de Ayora is Ayora itself, whose 5,500 inhabitants represent half of the population of the entire valley. You enter Ayora through small cornfields and tall crops of maize and the first thing you see is its castle keeping a watchful eye over the small, low-level town.

The castle, more formally known as the Palacio Fortaleza del duque del Infantado, can be reached by taking one of the steep streets from the Plaza Mayor, the prettiest route being via Calle San Nicolas, where all the houses are whitewashed and feature a band of blue outlining the door and window frames. It was built by the Marqueses de Zenete during the middle years of the 13th century, over the remains of an earlier Arab stronghold. Sadly in ruin, you still get an idea of its original size by the castle keep, two patios, kitchens, gardens and aljibe - the water deposit.

Almost enclosed by the skirts of the castle is the Iglesia de Santa María la Mayor, begun in the 15th century and added to by almost every architectural style until it was completely restored in the 18th, following an earthquake that did considerable damage to many of the grander buildings in the area. Ayora seems particularly keen on its churches because in the Plaza Mayor the parish church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción has on display the impressive 16th century altar piece, the Tablas de Yáñez de Almedina and the Milagro del Ángel (Angel’s Miracle) by Vicente López. Those of a religious tourism bent will be in seventh heaven in Ayora because it has more hermitages than any other town in the municipality – seven in all, but if you want to see their interiors, you have to arrange visits with the parish priest.

At least one resident showed a sense of the ridiculous when he built the houses in the corner of the street in front of the Parque La Glorieta. Complete with crenulations and Moorish arched windows, he proved that, indeed, every man’s home is his castle.

For pre-history buffs, on the road to Alpera, eleven kilometres south of Ayora, is the Castellar de Meca, one of the most important Iberic village remains in Spain. Throughout the area are remains of the Roman Empire in Spain and the region is rich in ancient rock paintings.

Honey has been produced in the Valle de Ayora since time immemorial and the quality of its production was governed by the Ordenanzas Municipales del Valle de Ayora from 1344 to 1747. These days the Sociedad Cooperativa Apícola de España watches over the artisan production that still uses many of the ancestral processes. If you want to know everything there is to know about honey, visit Ayora during the last two weeks of October for the Corte de La Miel (Honey Festival), although honey and honey products can be bought at shops throughout the valley.

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

Ayora fact file Population | 5.469 (2010) Km to Valencia | 109km Patrons | La Virgen de la Asunción, El Santo Ángel Tutelar de la Villa de Ayora, San Andrés Place of interest | The Castle Fiestas | (for the saints) 30 November, 2 January, 15 August (lasts 1 week) Useful info | Town Hall | 96 21 91 025 www.ayora.es

Car | A35 & A7. Takes 1hr 40 Bus | Monbus. Takes 2 hrs 15, 2 x daily. www.monbus.es Train | Change at Almansa. €20 single. www.renfe.com

22/11/1963. JFK is shot and killed by a) Lee Harvey Oswald? b) an unknown marksman behind a grassy knoll? c) Castro sympathisers? d) Mafia bosses? or e) something more sinister? Take your pick conspiracy theorists.

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he world isn't stopping for anyone, and Spain is now catching on to the technological phenomenon of QR codes. Other countries are already on board, so here's a run down on the whats, the whys and the hows.

What is a QR code?

Good question. It stands for a Quick Response Code, and the name doesn't lie.

What does it look like?

QR is basically a square version of the barcodes that you see on your food packaging at the supermarket.

What does it do?

It gives you information. You might want to know more about an offer or a company than can fit In an advert. So the code gives you access to more. This could be a special offer, allow you to enter a competition, give you information about a company, take you to their website or Facebook or Twitter page.

How does it work?

You scan this code with your smartphone, which sends information to your phone, which you can read there and then, or save until a later time.

How do I scan QR codes? one For starters you need a smartphone which is basically those new phones with all the bells and whistles. two Then you need to download an application, which will let your phone read the code. These are free and there are loads of them. We use QR Droid, but they are all similar. three Open the programme, and hold your phone up in front of the code. You don't need to take a picture or press any buttons, your phone is smart, so it will do all the work.

You'll be given the information. If it's a link to a website, then the website address will appear. If it's an offer, then you'll see the special offer.

Want to practice?

We've put a code on the orange, in the KandABooks advert on page 22 and on the map on page 16. Download the application and see where it takes you. A whole new world is opening up! Don't miss out.

23/11/1876. Spanish composer Manuel Maria de Falla y Matheu is born. His successful works included Nights in the Gardens of Spain, El Amor Brujo, Ritual Fire Dance and The Three Cornered Hat.

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New openings | Gusto Nuovo

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ho among us has never heard of ravioli, limoncello, mozzarella or Chianti? Almost all of us know that the melodious sounds of these words leads us to the homeland of good food: Italy. But now our passion and appetite for these Italian delights can be indulged in a brand new Italian shop called Gusto Nuovo. We paid a visit to the shop, to find out what they were all about.

This warm and friendly store, which only opened in October, is already a reference for lovers of good cuisine.

It is situated in central Russafa at C/ Avenida del Reino de Valencia, 16. We met and had a good chat with the owner Andrea, who took us on a journey down the Boot (Italy).

"Gusto Nuovo is a young company born from the desire of a group of people who love the Italian culture of food and its more than century-old culinary tradition. The aim of our initiative is to make the excellence of the typical Italian enogastronomic products available abroad. From Sicilia to Sardegna, from Campania to Lombardia through Umbria and Toscana, our goal remains that of quality research in the wake of the great regional traditions of our land with its wealth of fragrances and its colours and textures." Andrea explains. "My job consists of selecting and offering to our customers the best that our wonderful and plentiful country can offer."

"All the products we offer have a story to tell: conserves of fish or vegetables from small producers in Sicilia; something like 20 types of fresh handmade pasta like ravioli, gnocchi, tortellini or agnolotti and over 60 different qualities of specially made dry pasta coming from Gragnano, a town near Napoli where the production of pasta is a family tradition. In addition to this, the possibility of finding famous Italian sweets like cannoli alla siciliana with ricotta, tiramisú and many more."

Obviously we cannot fail to mention the ultimate representatives of Italianness: cheeses (parmiggiano, provolone, mozzarella di bufala, formaggi di fossa), cold meats (speck, bresaola, mortadella, pancetta), and last but not least - wines. "Chianti, Sassicaia, Barbaresco, Fiano di Avellino, Nero d’Avola are only a small selection of the art winery from Il Belpaese (synonymous with Italy). At Gusto Nuovo we have a vast wine cellar where you will find the perfect bottle of red or white wine for a romantic dinner or for an original gift. And don’t forget the section of sparkling wine, coming from the DOCG (denomination of origins controlled and guaranteed) zone of Franciacorta situated in the north of the country."

Christmas is coming and the staff at Gusto Nuovo are preparing a sweet surprise. Andrea says, "We want to share with our customers an Italian tradition and for the next holiday we will offer the possibility of tasting a typical Italian Christmas recipe in Valencia: the artisan panettone!"

Check out Gusto Nuovo yourselves and indulge yourself in the Italian lifestyle!

Vincenzo Quagliariello

Gusto Nuovo, Avenida del Reino de Valencia 16, Near Mercado de Russafa Mon-Sat 10am–2.30pm / 5.30pm–9.30pm 961 042 820 www.gustonuovo.com 24/11/1859. Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species, based on his travels to and around the Galápagos Islands. The Church was outraged and his theory did not receive its rightful accolades until the 1930s or 40s.

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lose your eyes. Try to imagine thousands of tiny mouths nibbling away at your feet while you are up to your knees in water. No, it’s not the beginning of a B-movie horror flick about piranhas in the Amazon, and no, we’re not trying to scare you!

We are actually talking about something which is altogether much more pleasurable: a fish pedicure.

The little creature that makes it possible, is called Garra Rufa; a species of freshwater fish which lives in the river basins or springs with thermal temperature of 38-42 ºC in the Kangal region in Turkey. The fish is also known as the ‘Doctor Fish’ due to its medicinal qualities and these tiny but hard-working fish never seem to tire of human flesh.

Oh! Are we scaring you again? Sorry. Don't worry - they can’t actually eat our healthy skin as they don’t have any teeth so everything is perfectly safe and hygienic. Not only do they leave your feet feeling silky smooth they also give you a magical micro-massage while they get to work. After a long hard day of sightseeing or shopping in the beautiful city of Valencia, it’s almost the perfect ending - a foot soaked in warm water with a thousand soft kisses leaving you feeling relaxed and wonderfully rejuvenated.

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"For centuries, in the Middle East people have been using this method to treat psoriasis, eczema and various other types of skin conditions; mainly in Turkey, where the Garra Rufa has been medically researched and from where our fishes have a certificate of origin." "We all want to feel good" - says Joanne - "as this is how we achieve well-being, therefore our feet are a very good place to start. Many clients have actually described the feeling as ‘floating on air’ after the fish have done their magic."

So how does it work? "Simple, you get to sit on a nice comfortable padded bench and dip your feet in warm water while the tiny fish use their suction shaped mouths to suck and nibble away the dead skin." And that's it! Simple and very relaxing, as well as useful for the treatment of particular skin affections.

A fish pedicure could be the perfect gift this Christmas or a chance for the girls to get together to pamper themselves and have a right good laugh at the same time. If you'd like more information contact Joanne Imrie at Kiss My Feet, c/San Valero 1, 963214830 or visit www.kissmyfeet.es.

Vincenzo Quagliariello

We spoke to the owner of one of the first spas in Valencia to use this technique, Joanne Imrie, about the benefits of a fish pedicure in terms of our health and well-being.

"It could be said that we take our feet for granted. We spend nearly all day, every day on our feet and we need to show them some tender love and care. And that's what we provide: a gentle, natural way to un-wind right here in the city. Apart from the beauty treatment aspect there is also the therapy aspect to take into account."

25/11/1969. Peace-loving singer and Imagineer John Lennon returns his MBE in protest against British involvement in Biafra and their support of American involvement in Vietnam. Bloody hippies!

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Expat life | Mental health in the expat world

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n the nucleus of our cells we have the divine and when we open up we become love." So says Margarita Llamazares, a psychologist who works with the expat community. Margarita is originally from Santa Cruz, Tenerife and now shares her time between Valencia and Madrid. Speaking to her, one gets the feeling that this is not simply a job for her; this is vocational.

Action and physical movement are related but movement Margarita’s journey to this profession did not begin in the classroom but in India where she spent three years and was is more difficult for adults as we don't channel energy in the same way and are more self-conscious, she says, "children exposed to so-called alternative therapies and spirituality. are always moving, they are little Buddhas". Dealing with When she returned to Spain she studied psychology, as the world and its problems means opening up, not turning she felt she wanted, "the tools of academic knowledge". away. "Expats are often people seeking a It makes for a fascinating combination of "You need to destiny, they are escaping from routine, the traditional and alternative. As she says maybe family or surroundings but any ghost herself, "Zen is not for everyone." find something you have will follow you." that makes you These academic tools certainly give added feel good, credibility when she speaks about the We may have wanted to escape routine, we something that spiritual grounding and living in the moment, may even thrive on change, but there are some strong tenants of eastern philosophy, but she common needs. "We need a reference point, allows you to be can then quote Freud in the next breath. "I we need context… we see reality as a small yourself and then box, but sometimes we need to shift this point don’ t want to put myself in a box", she says. have the discipline of perception and that’s what awakening is".

The journey is a continuous one. "When you Working with expats was a natural to do it." discover who you are, you have to continue, progression for her. "One of my teachers was you must keep moving." Along that journey, we working with foreign people. When people are away from their culture, they need special support, I thought I could share our lives, and we will need to feel like we have do something in this domain." a floor under our feet, to stabilise. "We need to be selfShe describes expat life as, "living on the border contained but will between cultures with many different ways of seeing seek a companion on life." The challenges that expats face may sometimes be the way. In a way superficially different to those of other people, but she we are looking for a does not see a great deal of difference in the way that these mirror, something problems manifest themselves or how to deal with them. that gives She does mention one specific difference. She sees it as us validation." an accelerated world. "You live a high-speed life. You want Having spent things fast. You are out of a comfort zone and you want time with her, I things faster." suspect anyone’s journey would be For Margarita, there are some key elements to richer for crossing maintaining mental health. "Do something… like Nike," paths with Margarita. she says, "Just do it". "You can go to the cave, but the cave Eoghan Ryan of your heart, not your bed. You need to find something that makes you feel good, something that allows you to be Margarita's blog is yourself and then have the discipline to do it." psituarte.blogspot.com

26/11/1867. Mrs Lily Maxwell of Manchester becomes the first woman in the UK to vote after being placed on the electoral role by mistake. A bodyguard was required to protect her from opponents to suffrage attacking her en-route.

Your photos | looking up

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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 editor's favourite wins a prize. This month's favourite is by Marcin!

Katy Mann | Little Sam

Marcin | Looking up to the sky Steven Sandells | The only way is up

Pascalle de Vries | Monkey see

Please send 1 photo per person & only send your own photo for copyright reasons. There are other terms and conditions - email us for them.

Philip Calambakas | CN Tower Next month’s topic is ‘it's mine’.

Look forward to seeing your pictures. invlceditor@gmail.com

06/12/1921. Independence for the 26 Southern States of Ireland is granted and they become known as the Irish Free State (now Republic of Ireland). The six northern counties formed Ulster and remained as part of the UK.

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1 La Galeria, C/ Baja, 38 2 KandABooks, C/ Tapineria, 18 4 Dhaba, Pl. de Don Juan de Vilarrasa, 6b 5 Lenguas Vivas, C/ Palleter, 43 6 Sopranos, San Francisco de Borja,6 7 La Gnocca de la Tia, C/ Verger, 1 8 Portland Ale House, C/ Salamanca, 10 9 Blue Moon, C/ Ercilla, 1 10 British Foods.es, Central Market 11 Gusto Nuovo, Av/ Reino de Valencia, 9 12 Orange Language Academy, C/ Santo Domingo Savio, 68 13 Kiss My Feet, C/ San Valero, 1 14 Mad Hatter's Coee Lounge, C/ Serrano Morales, 3 (c) OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA www.openstreetmap.org/

Talking Teaching with Orange Language Academy

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’ve just had a conversation with a student of mine. One of those conversations that we’ve all had after class about how much they need to learn English and whether they’ll have the level they need this time next year.

It puts you, as a teacher, in a difficult position. Do you say yes to them and watch them bounce out of the classroom with a spring in their step? Or, do you say no and watch them slump out of the classroom wondering why the hell they had bothered signing up for classes? It can sometimes feel like someone has asked you how long a piece of string is.

I tend to err on the side of caution in such situations and tell them that it simply depends on how much they study outside of class. Once you’ve told them this - that it all depends on how much work that he/ she puts in at home, you will find yourself in the position of being asked for advice about what books to buy, what they should practice more of and what would be the best way to go about this. Again, this all depends on the student in question and I would always tell them to identify their weaknesses and then work on those first; it could be grammar, it could be listening, it could be speaking. For each area you can think of, there is probably a perfectly good resource available somewhere.

Your school might have self-access material. If it does, then this should be your first point of call. If not, then the following might be of interest to your student for each of the five skills: Grammar| There is tons of stuff on the Internet. See the websites section for our recommendations.

Try www.amazon.co.uk for any specific books as they will now ship to Spain for free if the order is over €25.

Reading| They can start with this very magazine which has articles with vocabulary boxes suited to each level.

Again, the quantity of material available on the Internet is overwhelming. Plus, why not tell them to pop down to KandABooks where they can get a decent deal on some second-hand novels and text books. They also have graded readers at the moment. www.kandabooks.es Listening| Films should be the first choice here. Probably one of the finest resources that we have in terms of being able to see the language used in its natural environment.

The Orange Language Academy has a fantastic selection of podcasts for learners at www.orangeidiomas.com Speaking| The number of intercambios going on in and around the Valencian Community makes "no one to talk to" an almost redundant excuse. Café de Las Horas on Mondays at 20:00, El Laboratorio on Tuesdays at 20:00, Portland Ale House on Tuesdays & Wednesdays at 21:00 and many others. Intercambio information is on inVLC's Facebook and Twitter page so 'like' or 'follow' them to know more.

Visit www.youtube.com and check out people actually doing the exam that the student needs to do.

Writing| Probably the most difficult for them to do on their own, but, providing you have time, you could set them an extra composition every now and then, highlight their mistakes without correcting them so the student has to think about them him/herself.

Websites| Here are some other great places to help: one www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish - great for all skills and full of games, exercises and print outs. two www.flo-joe.co.uk - for teachers and students who are preparing for FCE, CAE and CPE. Covers all areas of the exam with sample exercises in an interactive format. three www.learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en - again loads of stuff for students and teachers alike. Plenty of stuff for all areas and lots of games thus injecting a little fun into learning. four www.englishexercises.org - great for learning specific grammar points in an interactive way. Lots of songs, too and teachers can make their own exercises. five www.cambridgeesol.org/test-your-english - of course, if your student wants to know their level and they’re not sure, this could be a gentler way of letting them down if your worried about dashing their dreams. Takes about 25 minutes.

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 & the Tues and Weds nights at the Portland Ale House. 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... no tener nada que ver con – to not have anything to do with e.g. Eso no tiene nada que ver con lo que te digo.

That has nothing to do with what I’m telling you.

29/11/1864. 400 unarmed Native Americans are slaughtered whilst negotiating a peace treaty in Colorado. They even took to waving US and white flags when the surprise attack by 1,200 troops took place.

Music

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very month we review the best new music out there and try to keep you up-to-date with those important goings on in the music world. PJ Evans and Chris Kellet kick us off with their album reviews.

Intermediate

Album That Mixes The Old With The New | We're New Here - Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie XX The XX's DJ, Jamie (XX) Smith, has completely reworked the late Gil Scott-Heron's final album 'I'm New Here'. He was, during his important career, a jazz poet, musician and activist and this can be seen in all of his work. Smith's reworking in no way detracts from the original and in fact does something that Scott-Heron couldn't quite manage, that is re-contextualize the powerful lyrics for a younger generation, besides 'I'm New Here' had been Scott-Heron's first release for sixteen years. Definitely worth a listen for anyone interested in hip hop, dance music, jazz or poetry!

Standout Tracks| Home, NY is Killing me Album to bop around to | Days - Real Estate Real Estate are indeed guilty of sounding a bit too much like 'The Shins' but it's easy to forgive them after producing an album of such top quality. It really is easy, melodic listening. Each song is a gem in its own right. 'Days' is the bands second offering and marks a significant raising of the bar for them. 'Days' excels in its crisp, radio-friendly, sing-along style. Here we have a collection of beautifully understated pop songs, which continue to enchant after each repeated listen. Even the instrumental 'Kinder Blumer' contributes something unique to the album. Fans of the Mighty Boosh should be sure to check out 'Wonder years', which has a very 'Call of the Yeti' feel to it. Also worth mentioning is the tuneful 'Out of Tune', which is where the band really pull out all the stops.

Standout Tracks| It's Real, Out of Tune, All the Same Album to do the robot to | Hurry Up, We're Dreaming- M83 M83, the lovechild of French born musician Anthony Gonzalez, continues to go from strength to strength. 'Hurry Up, We're Dreaming' is a double CD, and clocking in at way over 80 minutes and comprising 22 tracks, you'd be forgiven for thinking it a daunting task. But from the word go it becomes clear that this is a recording of remarkable scope and intelligence. Still drawing influences from its shoegazing roots of the late 80s/early 90s, Gonzalez continues to make music that is both original and fresh and which revisits a forgotten generation of music. It's so unashamedly 90s at times and yet in no way does it feel antiquated. Unmissable.

Standout Tracks | Raconte moi une histoire, This Bright Flash, Year One, One UFO, Echoes of Mine.

Other releases | Tom Waits, My Bloody Valentine, Florence & The Machine, Lou Reed, Metallica, Beyonce, Pixie Lott, R.E.M., Justin Bieber, Miranda Lambert, Megadeath, Kelly Clarkson, Coldplay, Marilyn Manson and many more...

Music news| 12-15 July inVLC Facebook were first in Valencia to let you know Benicàsssims news The Stone Roses has signed up to play in July 2012!

The early bird tickets are already sold out, but 4 day tickets are now on sale for €165. www.fiberfib.com.

A posthumous album for the late, great Amy Winehouse is due for release on 5/12.

The title of which is 'Lioness: Hidden Treasures'. Amy was the first British female to win five Grammys, incl. Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

Canadian Justin Bieber has become the first artist to receive 2 billion YouTube video hits. Not bad for someone who didn't know what 'German' meant in an interview last year. He was discovered through his home-made YouTube videos.

After an incredible Royal Albert Hall performance, an elated 'Songwriter's Hall of Fame' nominee, George Michael, confessed that he would love to work with Justin Timberlake.

Kings of Leon have slammed QANTAS for shutting down operations just before their Australian tour.

Drummer Nathan Followhill tweeted ‘Dear Qantas, u suck, thanks for f**king up my trip 2 Oz.’

30/11/1983 Dutch brewing giant Alfred Heineken is kidnapped in Amsterdam but was tracked down and found by Dutch police relatively quickly before any harm was done or ransom paid. How refreshing.

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Live events

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very month we pick out the best live music in and around the Valencia Community for those of you who want to get out and enjoy music as it should be heard. If we hear of anything else coming up, we'll Facebook it.

The Subways| 18/11 (00:00) Indie/

El Palau de la Musica| (VLC) The renewal of the abono for the winter 2012 season on 12, 13 & 14/12.

Check out the Conciertos Benéficos to see some great music from €6-8.

17 & 27/11 The Banda Municipal de Valencia play, limited free tickets will be available.

18/12 Special Christmas concert, €free www.palaudevalencia.com

alternative rockers have added Valencia to the agenda. Ticketmaster & Fnac €15 www.wahwahclub.com Real Estate| 01/12 (22:00) In addition to having an awesome album (page 18), this group will be playing Sala Wah Wah with support group Beat Connection. Ticketmaster €15/18

Nick Lowe & Geraint Watkins| 15/12 (21:30) That’s right! The all round legend will be visiting us for an early Christmas treat promoting his new album ‘The Old Magic.’ €20/25 Big Hollers, singing the blues at the following places: Kaf Café 15/11, Ferocarril 1870 19/11, Café Infinito 24/11, Sorbito Divino 27/11, Arte&Facto 03/12, El Asesino 14/12 & The Loft Lounge 16/12. More blues from Nasty Boogie at El Volander 13/11, Lemon Hops (Burjassot) 17/11 & Liverpool Pub 02/12, Danny Boy & Snake Dancers at La Edad del Oro 25/11 & Los Fabulosos Blueshakers at Sala Novelty 09/12.

Durango| C/ Llanterners 35, Poligono

Rock City| A new venue in Tavernes Blancas. 5/12 Gothic metal group Moonspell pop over from Portugal (21.30) €22 8/12 Kultrún Batucada bring their drums out for rythmic fun (21.30) €6 16/12 Black metal Norwegian band Gorgoroth (21.00) €22/25 www.valenciarockcity.com

Sala Mirror| San Vicente Martir, 200 Jimmy Glass| C/ Baja, 28 (VLC)

(VLC) A popular place for dance music lovers with a wide variety of DJs. 18/11 (21:30) Indie group Polock will be visiting Valencia during their European tour. www.discomirror.es 17/12 (21:00) 37th Anniversary of Hip Hop Festival. Acts like DJ Soyez, Metro, Latecnika, and Payo Malo. €15/20

Sala Wah Wah| C/ Campoamor, 58 (VLC) Great venue with a lot of local and international acts visiting.

24/11 Andre Williams and the Goldstars (22:00) €15/€18 www.wahwahclub.com On Facebook.

The Jazz Festival finishes on 18/11.

22/11 Sacks, Kamaguchi & Seperrazz will be playing from 21:30 €12 Piano Due Sessions will resume as from 25/11. Free, but you must spend at least €4 whilst there.

29/11 (21:30) The Joris Roelofs Trio will be bopping away for the princely sum of €14. www.jimmyglassjazz.net

Excuse me| C/Tomasos 14 (VLC) 25/11 4th Anniversary In Flagranti DJs (UK) free before 3am with flyer €8 w/o.

26/11 Beatamix 2/12 Tiago On Facebook.

La Closa (Meliana) 19/11 Woodstock tribute with La Kozmic Band (Joplin), The Stoned (the Stones - for the bozos), and Ten Songs of Good Times (ZZ Top – hmm, were they at Woodstock?). (23:00) €12.

26/11 Mike Tramp (Freak of Nature) & Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus €tbc.

03/12 Valencia Ska Festival. €tbc 03/12 WC Edgar will be treating us with his Texan sounds (23:00) €tbc.

16 & 17/12 Celebrate the birth of our lord with two bleeding ears. €10/13 (day) & €18 (2 days) Tienda Tipo & Harmony Discos. www.xmassmetalfest.tk & www.durangoclub.es

La Caverna| C/ Cuenca, 70 (VLC) A very cosy venue and you’ll often find a mad gig going on. All the latest at www.lacavernaclub.blogspot.com Café del Duende| C/ Turia, 62 (VLC) A great place to catch decent flamenco dancing, music & tales from Thurs-Sun from 23:30.

19/11 Irene 'La Seranilla' (dancer) 25/11 Leo Molina (dancer) www.cafedelduende.com

Music Box| C/ Pintor Zariñera, 16 Sala El Loco| C/ Erudito Orellana, Sala Matisse| C/ Campoamor, 60 (VLC) & Radio City| C/ Santa Teresa 19

12 (VLC) 24/11 (21:15) ‘40 years with Queen, 20 years without Freddie Mercury.’ 20th anniversary. €12/15 26/11 Josh Rouse and The Long Vacations €15/18 29/11 (22:30) We go all jazzy with Carmen París and Melissa Aldana visiting on their 2011 tour. €15/18 09/12 (21:30) Ska favourites The Toasters will be bringing their sounds to VLC. Jamaican DJ beats. €10/13 www.lococlub.org

(VLC) 26/11 (22:30) Indie rock bands Lehnmotiv and DeNiro will play back to back for €6. www.salamatisse.es

Pop Club Deluxe| C/ Poeta Mas y Ros, 42 (VLC) Always a safe bet for a bit of music of a weekend. On Facebook.

Café Mercedes| C/ Sueca, 27 (VLC) A nice, cheap jazz venue in the heart of Ruzafa with free jam sessions on Sundays from 20:30. www.cafemercedes.es

(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 & www.radiocityvalencia.com

Festival Musical Urbano de Valencia| Until 29/11 www.festivalurbano.org

LA3| C/ del Padre Porta, 4 (VLC) 18/11 Mystery Jets www.la3club.com

DJ

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(€tbc)

02/12/1804. Napoleon is crowned Emperor in Paris by Pope Pius VII and one year later to the day his troops defeated the Austro-Russian forces at the Battle of Austerlitz.

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Like 'inVLC' on Facebook for more sports news & events

Sport

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adel| 21-27/11 - Ever wondered what would happen if you mixed tennis with squash? Then wonder no more and get yourself along to the VI International Padel Pro Tour to be held at the University Sports complex at Av. Blasco Ibanez complex between 21-27 November when the world's best players of this new hybrid sport will be competing. Tickets between €10 and €50. www.tutempo.es

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unning| 27/11 Not one but two races that day when the 10km Carrera Divina Pastora Valencia and the 31st running of the Valencia Marathon both take place with the same start and finish lines, one after the other.

Expect the roads around the Arts and Sciences Buildings to be very busy. www.maratondivinapastoravalencia.com

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ootball| Can both Levante and Valencia continue their great starts to the season in La Liga and, in the case of Valencia, can they progress further in this year's Champions League too? Big games this month include Valencia v Real Madrid and Levante v Sevilla. Head along and support them if you can.

Buy tickets for Valencia at the kiosks at the Mestalla 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.

Get your tickets for the Levante games at the football stadium on the day. www.valenciacf.com www.levanteud.com/

© Valencia Basket

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alencia Basketball Club| 15/11 Asvel Villeurbanne - Valencia - Eurocup 20/11 (12:30h) Ucam Murcia - Valencia - League 22/11 (20:30h) Valencia - Telenet Oostende - Eurocup 26/11 (19:30h) Valencia - Assignia Manresa - League 29/11 Lukoil Academic - Valencia - Eurocup 04/12 (18:00h) Real Madrid - Valencia - League 06/12 (20:30h) Valencia - Lukoil Academic - Eurocup 10/12 (20:00h) Bizkaia Bilbao Basket - Valencia - League 13/12 (20:30h) Valencia - Asvel Villeurbanne - Eurocup www.valenciabasket.com

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ootball| Valencia fixtures| ** 19/11 Valencia CF v Real Madrid Liga 23/11 (19:45) Valencia CF v Racing Genk Champ. League 26/11 Rayo Vallecano v Valencia CF Liga 02/12 Valencia CF v RCD Espanyol Liga 06/12 (19:45) Chelsea v Valencia CF Champ. League 10/12 Real Betis v Valencia CF Liga Levante fixtures| ** 20/11 Atlético Madrid v Levante La Liga 27/11 Levante v Sporting Gijon La Liga 04/12 Barcelona v Levante La Liga 11/12 Levante v Sevilla FC La Liga

** Fixture dates are not cast in stone - check local papers/ internet for more information nearer the time.

03/12/1967. In Cape Town, Dr Christiaan Bernard carries out the world's first heart transplant. The heart was from a 25 year old who was found dying after a road accident. The 53 year old recipient lasted 18 days.

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Cinema

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The Help| (Tate Taylor, 2011) Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard An adaption of the novel written by Kathyrn Stockett, which spent over 100 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list has now been given the celluloid treatment

by Stockett’s childhood friend Taylor. Set during the 1960s in Mississippi, the story is about a maid called Aibileen (Clark) and an aspiring writer called Skeeter (Stone). Together they document life during the civil rights movement from an African American point of view and Aibileen’s courage to speak out encourages more and more women to come forward with their stories.

Yelmo: 15:40, 17:20, 18:25, 20:00, 21:15, 22:40

Advanced

very month inVLC brings you the best that cinema has to offer in and around the Valencia Community.

This month we’ve got a variety of Versión Original films for you to enjoy.

The Adventures Of Tintin (Steven Spielberg, 2011) Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig I used to love that ‘Herge’s adventures of Tintin’ at the beginning of each episode and was a fan of the comic books to0.

Well, now the pea-headed, quiffed hero has been given the motion-capture technology treatment with the voices of Bell and Serkis providing the voices for Tintin and Captain Haddock respectively. Both of whom head on a journey in search of the sunken ship of one of Haddock’s ancestors.

However, it turns out that they are not the only ones looking for it.

Yelmo: 15:30, 18:0, 20:30, 22:50, 23:00

Margin Call| (J.C. Chandor, 2011) Zachary Quinto, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Demi Moore After last year’s Inside Job and The Company Men, we should have expected that the number of films about the financial crisis of 2008 was not going to stop there.

This thriller is based around several key people working for an investment bank during 24 hours when the crisis was just about to begin.

The causes of the crisis themselves are not overtly explained and the company itself remains nameless.

Instead the film opts to focus on the lives of the people involved and how they are affected by it all.

The big names on board should more than justify a visit to the cinema to see this.

Yelmo: 15:25, 17:40, 19:55 Babel: 16:45, 19:00, 23:00

Contagion| (Steven Soderbergh, 2011) Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law After a trip to Hong Kong, Beth (Paltrow) and her young son fall ill and die from a deadly illness that doesn’t seem to affect her husband Mitch (Damon).

What follows is the spread of the infection through the US and the situation is exacerbated by the snaillike pace of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who fail to recognise the seriousness of the situation.

The disease eventually spreads worldwide and a rush to find the source of the virus and a subsequent cure. Sounds a little bit like 1995’s Outbreak, with an equally impressive cast on display.

Yelmo: 19:50, 20:30, 22:10, 22:45, 00:20

Filmoteca in Pl/ Ayuntamiento is showing a variety of films for only €1.50 or a 10 session pass is €10! www.filmoteca.es

Babel, C/ Vicente Sancho Tello, 10, www.cinesalbatrosbabel.com Yelmo Cines, Avda Tirso de Molina, 16, www.yelmocines.es Filmoteca, Plaza del Ayuntamiento, 17 www.filmoteca.es

04/12/1948. George Orwell completes his horrifying literary vision of the future '1984'. If he could have foreseen that it would indirectly spawn the TV show 'Big Brother' he may not have bothered.

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Read me | Julian Barnes

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Sense Of An Ending There will have been jubilation last month for Julian Barnes’ as his latest effort - A Sense Of An Ending - won The Man Booker 2011.

The Leicester-born author had already been nominated three times with Flaubert’s Parrot (1984), England, England (1998) & Arthur & George (2005) respectively. No one can really say that he didn’t deserve some recognition, especially for A Sense Of An Ending, which is nothing short of impressive.

Tony Webster takes us back to his school days, his little group of friends, which is infiltrated by the fiercely intelligent Adrian Finn. Finn impresses his new group of friends as well as the teachers of the school, one of whom offers him his job when he retires. Tony eventually goes off to university and starts going out with Veronica – a girl who seems intellectually superior and rather snobbish with regards to his collection of books and music. The boys stay in touch throughout their university years and vow to keep in touch by post.

Their lives soon drift apart, however, and the suicide of Adrian brings them all together for one last time to commemorate their friend’s life.

All of the hallmarks of adolescence mark the first part of the novel and even go much further before we arrive at the second, where we find Tony, a retired volunteer at a local hospital, divorced husband of a wife he still meets from time to time for lunch and the father of a daughter called Susan. All seems well until one day an envelope comes through the door and he is left an inheritance from an unlikely source.

soon come back to haunt the narrator and force him to take on board some revelatory facts that seem to have been missing from his side of the story.

The novel itself shows Barnes at his best. His writing is succinct, intelligent, insightful and, at times, downright hilarious (I don’t think I’ve read an author write about the perils of constipation so well!). The idea that things are misconstrued and distorted by how we remember things happening rather than how they actually happened proves to be a fertile subject for the author’s musings. Our memories make us who we are, yet they are often largely distorted by our own subjectivity. By questioning this, by questioning the memories upon which our lives our built, Barnes makes us look at and question ourselves - the people we have become.

Books say: she did this because. Life says: she did this. Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren't.

Julian Barnes

Tony and Adrian’s early musings on the nature of history are proven later on in the novel as Tony’s version of the events leading to his friend’s suicide - an angry letter denouncing both Adrian and Veronica turns Tony’s world upside down when he realises his words to have been devastatingly prophetic for both of them. The consequences of the letter

The pace of the book is incredibly fast and we are taken from Tony’s school days, through university, flying past marriage and already over a divorce before we even know it.

Whilst not the shortest Man Booker Winner (Penelope Fitzgerald’s Offshore, 1979), it comes a close second.

I managed to finish it in five days, reading a few pages with morning coffee and then large chunks on my way to work and back. Barnes doesn’t waste a word with his vibrant and evocative prose. It just shows you that a decent storyteller can get across what he or she wants to convey with the minimal amount. Set to become a modern classic and welldeserved winner of this year’s prize.

Well done, Mr. Barnes!

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

05/12/1872. The Marie Celeste is found abandoned and drifting in the Atlantic with a full cargo of alcohol giving rise to the commonly heard English phrase 'it's like the Marie Celeste in here' when entering empty bars.

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ecently, as part of setting up a charity, a friend and I visited El Preventorio Infantíl de Nuestro Señora del Amparo, in Real de Gandia. It is a children’s home that we had heard was in need of some help and so went for a visit. As we approached the building through the orange groves that carpet the small valley in front of the home, it occurred to me that it looked like a villa.

I spent the month of August working in a children’s home in Darjeeling, India and the superficial differences couldn’t have been more pronounced. The building is set back into the hill with a playground out front and a school attached at the side. The kids were playing as we pulled up.

We had arranged the visit with Hermana Amelia, a young Nun from Paraguay, who has lived and worked at the centre for nine years.

As she showed us around we started to ask questions and bit-by-bit garnered a clearer picture of the challenges faced by the sisters who run the residential home. There are only three nuns taking care of fifty-six children aged between three and thirteen. During the day when the kids go to school this is manageable but in the evenings it is chaotic. Hermana Amelia is not one for complaining but when I joked about her not sleeping she admitted that most nights she goes to bed between 1 and 2am and is up again at 5.30am. That supposes that none of the kids need help during the night.

The government funds the school, but the residential side receives no regular funding. It is a fantastic facility and is spotlessly clean but there was no toilet paper or

soap in the bathrooms. There were no toys or books in the bedrooms. They get food from the Red Cross and sporadic donations from the local community but they are effectively living hand to mouth. There are beds for another fifteen children, and while there are six on a waiting list; the sisters simply do not have the resources to take them in.

It struck me as we were leaving after our second visit that under the surface the needs of these kids was every bit the same as those in India. The centre operates on a hierarchy of needs. They provide shelter, food, education and some psychological help but the ratio of fifty-six to three just doesn’t work when it comes to the emotional needs of the individual children. Just like in India, their need for affection, support and love is acute. Just like food and shelter, it is a universal need.

As a first small step in a bigger commitment to the home we are collecting clothes, books, shoes and sports equipment (New or good quality second-hand) for the children at various locations around Valencia. If you would like to donate, make a financial contribution or more information please email me at ryan.eoghan@gmail.com Eoghan Ryan

for his knowledge about extracting acetone (which was needed to make cordite for firearms) from maize.

First certificate

Charity | El Preventorio Infantíl de Nuestro Señora del Amparo

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Green living | cool, clear, water, part 2

First certificate

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t takes a lot of our energy and our resources (electricity, pipes, maintenance, land, repairs, treatment....) to have water on tap in our homes. So it is up to us to use it sparingly and we covered how we can do that in the last edition of inVLC.

The chemicals in the plastic are leached into the water (especially when the water is heated by the sun or other heat sources) and there are many opportunities for this to happen before the bottle gets to you. So it's best to avoid drinking from plastic bottles as much as possible.

The water that we DO use passes through our homes and comes out obviously dirtier than before it came in.

It also takes a lot of money and energy to clean it before it goes back into the environment but there are a lot of chemicals used in the cleaning of our homes, which are very difficult to separate from the water before it returns to nature.

By eliminating these chemicals from our homes and replacing them with environmentally friendlier alternatives we can contribute to a healthier environment and healthier homes.

The following chemicals should be eliminated from our homes: Bleach - lejía, caustic soda sosa cáustica, hydrochloric acid aguafuerte, ammonia - moníaco and phosphate - fosfato.

It's important for us to use clean, healthy water for drinking and cooking. It has been shown (google 'water contamination by plastic') that mineral water stored in plastic bottles is contaminated by the plastic.

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These are not only bad for our environment but also bad for the health for those who are living in the house, who have to breath in the fumes from these chemicals. They not only kill the bad bacteria but also kill the bacteria that are necessary for our health (remember the super bugs found in hospitals).

Of chemicals commonly found in homes, 150 have been linked to allergies, birth defects, cancer, and psychological abnormalities.

Consumer Product Safety Commission These can be replaced by cheap and environmentally friendly substitutes: Vinegar, lemon, washing up liquid, bicarbonate soda, salt, cream of tartaric cremor tártaro, borax - bórax Bórax and cremor tártaro can be found in Drogerías or Herboristerías. If you prefer to use branded products, Ecocover and Ecoline are two environmentally friendly brands and can be bought in your local Herboristería.

This is apart from the massive contamination caused by the plastic bottles and plastic in general when they are dumped. For example, there are two islands of plastic (google 'plastic floating in Pacific ocean') twice the size of the state of Texas (696,200 sq km, Spain 506.000 sq/km) floating just under the surface of the sea. One is called the Western garbage patch in the Pacific ocean between Hawaii and Japan, the other is called the Eastern garbage patch between Hawaii and California. These obviously cause all sorts of problems for marine life.

There are two possible solutions to this problem of using plastic bottles; The first is to use filters on the tap water and there are many types of filters depending on how much you want to or can spend. Personally, I haven't got a filter but there's lots of information available about the different types and the costs involved on the Internet or in shops, etc.

I use a different option; I buy 10 litres of mineral water in glass containers from an organic shop. At first I bought two glass containers and the water in them. The containers cost €5 each and the water was €2.30 each.

They are heavy but there is a bus from near my flat in Benimaclet to the shop so I don't have to carry them far and I can go and come back on the same ticket! Then when one is empty, I bring it back to the shop and get a full one for €2.30. The 10-litre container lasts me about a week and I always have a back up container just in case I can't go one week.

Declan Lehane

A little goes a long way What| Use vinegar & washing up liquid to mop your floors.

Why| Leaves the floor bright and shiny.

Why not| You like using lots of chemicals in your house.

Benefits| Nice clean floors without the chemical overuse. The vinegar smell will dissipate quickly.

07/12/1941. The Japanese attack the US Fleet at Pearl Harbour without warning nor declaration of war bringing the US into World War II. Five battleships, 14 other smaller ships, 200 aircraft and 2,400 people lost.

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lthough there are some companies which produce pomegranates all year round, the fruit itself is naturally subtropical and the core season in Spain is from October to January. It grows in the eastern part of Spain, particularly in the Alicante Province. For those who are new to the pomegranate, the seeds on the inside are edible when pink, and are best when a pink to red colour.

The Spanish name is la granada from the Latin from grānātus - seeded. The town of Granada itself was renamed after the fruit, following the end of the Moorish period.

One of the fascinating elements of the pomegranate is not the taste (which can be sweet or sour, but mostly sits happily in the middle), nor the way to extract the seeds (which is a knack - see the hint below) but actually the nutritional properties and the use of the seeds in herbal medicine. In clinical tests, it has been proven to go some way to prevent some forms of cancer, the common cold and some viruses (www.clinicaltrials.gov). It has been used as a form of medicine since 1500B.C. It appears in stories frequently throughout time - some Jewish scholars believe that the pomegranate was the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, whilst in Greek Mythology, the tiny seeds of the pomegranate are the cause of the winter. Hades tricked Persephone into eating some seeds of the pomegranate whilst in the Underworld - eating whilst there is against the rules of The Fates. Therefore she must spend 6 months of every year in the Underworld as punishment, and her mother Demeter, Goddess of Harvest, mourns her, and refuses to allow anything to grow.

Cut the fruit in half, score each exterior four to six times, hold the half over a bowl and smack the rind with a large spoon.

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What to buy| (Serves 4) 2 fennel bulbs 1/2 pomegranate seeds 1/2 finely sliced red onion 1/2 large cucumber a bunch of flat leaf coriander a small bunch of parsley 7 ounces of feta cheese 2 t/sp white wine vinegar 3 tbl/sp extra virgin olive oil 2 pinches of caster sugar 2 pinches of salt & pepper

Wow factor| Fresh and Exotic.

Effort| Easy!

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The number of pomegranates which are on the Coat of Arms of Granada.

How to make it| one Mix salt, pepper, oil, sugar & vinegar in bowl. two Quarter the fennel. Remove the rough outer leaves & the hard central core. Keep the wispy fronds. three Finely slice the fennel and onion lengthways. four Slice the cucumber in half moons. five Roughly chop the herbs, and crumble the feta. six Add fennel, cucumber, herbs and feta to the bowl and mix. seven Finally top with pomegranate seeds. Do not mix in. eight Garnish with the fronds.

09/12/1895. La Pasionaria (Dolores Gomez Ibarruri) is born. She was a fiery and passionate orator known for her speeches against the fascists in the Spanish Parliament. After the civil war she fled to Russia.

First certificate

Recipe | Pomegranate and fennel appetizer

Artist of the month| Sandi Goodwin

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W

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| Sandi Goodwin location| Valencia inspiration| She is drawn to the colours and textures of the Valencian landscape, its history and architecture, especially its Arabic legacy.

"I lived much of my life in New Zealand and gained my early inspiration there, but since coming to Valencia, the beauty of the land, buildings and pueblos have blown me away.

The way I see and paint has changed, I am experimenting much more with new colours and forms. I am thrilled to be painting here, in this city, in this province." style| Abstract what's available| Acrylic paintings, small pen and watercolour sketches. prices| â‚Ź95-â‚Ź495 exhibition| Mid-November/December at Le Pont des Arts, Plaza NĂĄpoles y Sicilia, 1, Valencia www.lepontdesarts.es phone| 636 790 267 web| sandigoodwinart.tumblr.com email| sandigoodwinart@gmail.com

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

Like 'inVLC' on Facebook for more art to see

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he longer you look at an object, the more abstract it becomes, and, ironically, the more real." (Lucian Freud)

Opposites attract (Until January 8)| While working at GOMA in Glasgow, I was constantly met with the remark, “I could do that.”, in reference to abstract art. “I’m sure you could,” I’d reply, “but can you?”. Although a tad bold, rude even, I’d always expand on this rejoinder as best I could. And so, too with Jose Manuel Ciria’s Opposite Concepts 2001 – 2011. Devoutly reticulated images, semi-abstract figures, recurring themes and concepts and a perceptive visual account of the history of art dispel the notion of what might otherwise be considered within the capabilities of mere mortals.

Through balancing a combination of large-scale works and small, more intimate pieces, the artist is able to passionately create something fearlessly original without losing his origin. A limited and yet emotive colour palette; predominantly blood red, the blackest black, tertiary greys and cold naked white add to the drama and sense of urgency. His tools are numerous: oil, acrylic and graphite both caress and attack paper, aluminium, plastic and sailcloth, and include the unabashed use of a ballpoint pen to tremendous effect.

Encuentros de Ira, in particular, illustrates Ciria’s unquestionable artistic ability. Although the treatment of each square of this enormous grid is unique, this piece is so perfectly balanced that your eye refuses to settle; the entire piece is the focal point. Incredible.

IVAM, Calle Quevedo, Guillem de Castro 118 | 96 386 30 00 Tues-Sun: 10am - 8pm www.ivam.es| Free!

Materialeza (until 8th January)| Swathes of canvas loaded with abstraction and thick paint more akin to crude oil than that normally found on an artist’s palette.

Huge vibrant canvases, like magic carpets, parked and patiently waiting, ready to rise up and transport you to anywhere in the world. Colours, gentle and subdued on collision with the most vibrant offerings of the spectrum.

So, what does it all mean?

I don’t always read an exhibition’s accompanying text.

Sometimes I just like to wander around and take in the spectacle in an oblivious, unconstrained sort of way. I envisage myself as having a sensory blank canvas and try to imagine what has appeared there at the end of my expedition. All very esoteric, you may think, superior and ‘arty’; a ‘Let’s see if I got it – oh, yes I did! Clever me.’ sort of attitude. But that’s not the motive; far from it. In fact, I often completely misconstrue an artist’s visual narrative, and, if not this, simply can’t fathom the relationship between what I’ve seen and what I’ve read.

So what does this have to do with Dario Basso’s Materialeza - a painful and yet beautiful story about the magnificence of nature and the tragedy of its brutal betrayal by man, and where East meets West meets North meet South? Well, in short, this exhibition reminds me that it doesn’t matter a hoot whether you ‘get it’, or not. It’s just so spectacular, so powerful, so completely alive that, no matter the artist’s intention, journey or story, great art is great art.

ML Centre del Carmen, C/ Museo, 2 - 4 | 96 192 26 40 | Tues-Sun: 10am - 8pm, Closed Mon| www.centredelcarme.com | Free!

11/12/1936. Edward VIII abdicates to marry Mrs Wallis Simpson and leaves his timid, stuttering brother George VI to the crown at a time of great uncertainty in the world. Somebody should make a film about it...

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Art to see

Warming cocktails

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t's official. Autumn is here. So we're putting our woollies on in the evening, and making some warm cocktails to heat us up from the inside. Valencia does cracking hot chocolates and so can you, made virgin, or extra special, so put your jacket on, and get yourself onto the balcony with one of these.

Here are some tasty treats for great fun:

one The adults hot chocolate Fresh and minty.

6cl Peppermint schnapps Hot chocolate Whipped cream and chocolate shavings for garnish (optional)

Pour the schnapps into the glass.

Top up with hot chocolate.

Stir.

Garnish with whipped cream and shaved chocolate.

Serves 1

two Autumn delight Warming.

4cl Whisky 18cl Warm apple cider Fresh cinnamon

Pour the whisky and warm cider into a cocktail shaker.

Shake and strain into the glass.

Dust with cinnamon.

Garnish with 2 apple slices and a cinnamon stick.

three Black stripe Sweet and refreshing.

6cl Dark rum 1 tsp Molasses or honey Hot water Lemon twist* Cinnamon stick for garnish

Serves 1

Pour the rum and molasses or honey into the glass.

Twist a lemon twist over the glass and drop it into the glass.

Fill the glass with hot water.

Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

Serve in old-fashioned glasses.

Serves 1

Serve in Irish coffee glasses.

Serve in Irish coffee glasses.

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The number of times more expensive than silver, that cinnamon was in Roman times.

©Spencer Ritenour

*Tip| For a lemon twist, use a potato peeler to peel off a little of the zest over the glass to release the oil into the cocktail.

A day in the life in VLC| Ewen Murray

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iving in Valencia and the Community is surprising, varied and exciting and everyone sees something different. 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, Ewen shows us his Monday. Contact us if you want to have a go. We're looking for non-city residents especially. invlceditor@gmail.com

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12/12/1896. Marconi gives the first public demonstration of radio in London. Five years later to the day he carries out the first cross-Atlantic transmission between Poldhu, Cornwall and St John's Newfoundland.

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Animals| From wolves to pets Foster/ permanent homes URGENTLY required Name| Tyler Age| 18 months Size| Medium/large Personality| Affectionate, friendly to other dogs and cats Appearance| Podenco parentage Health| Castrated & health vaccinated Info| P.E.P.A - 650 304 746

D

ogs are believed to be the first animals to be domesticated by humans, a process which started 15,000 years ago. The animal we now know and love was originally a grey wolf, an animal which is ironically not thought highly of. We don't know if the wolf had already started to evolve into a different species, or if the process of domestication began the process of change.

The early benefits for the humans would have included protection and warning systems from predators, aid in hunting, a method to dispose of food scraps, and an opportunity for warmth. It's believed this is where the Aboriginal saying “a three dog night” stems from, meaning an exceptionally cold night.

Towards the 1980s a shift took place within Europe, as the dog was seen more and more as a family pet than as a guard dog, being kept indoors, benefitting from a higher standard of living, and becoming one of the family. This change is now taking place in Asian countries, such as China and Taiwan. Initially the elite of China kept dogs as pets, however, during the Mao period, the Communists condemned pet ownership as bourgeois decadence.

Although laws are being altered to reflect the changing mindset, it is perhaps the cancellation this September of the 600 year old Jinhua Hutuo Dog Meat Festival which is the most telling.

Not all countries have benefited from the domestication movement from wolf to dog. The reptiles, birds and

www.pepaspain.com

tortoises of the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador for example, suffer at the jaws of the domesticated dogs, brought over to the islands by locals choosing to move from the mainland to the archipelago. Whilst there are many iguanas, surely Darwin would shake his head at the introduction of predators to these stunning and supposedly protected islands.

In mythology however, dogs generally have the positive representation of watchdogs. Cerberus is the three-headed watchdog who guards over the gates of Hades, and Garmr, a four-eyed dog who guards Helheim. They're not viewed so highly in Judaism, where they are represented as scavengers. Christianity on the other hand uses them to represent faithfulness, perhaps showing throughout time there have always been dog people and non-dog people.

14/12/1911. Roald Amundsen and 3 companions become the first people to reach the South Pole, planting a Norwegian flag there, and, what must have felt like a dagger through Scott's heart when he saw it a short time later.

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.

Markets | Mon-Montroy, Tues-Monserrat & Turis, Weds-L’Eliana Piccassent & Villamarchante, Thurs-Alaquas & Lliria, Fri-Moraira, Turis, Torrente & Chiva, SatReal de Montroy & Torrente, Sun-Alborache Rastros | Montroy | Sun 4 Dec (1st Sun of month)| Calle La Pau, Cindy or Nicolas, 960 80 25 13 or 695 100 540.

Olocau | Sun 27 Nov (last Sun of month)| Social Club Centre, Urb. La Lloma Olocau, 10am-2pm. Spaces free, Tables €1 Carolyn 962555819 or 664809608.

Masia | 20 Nov, 18 Dec (every 3rd Sun) | Mas Pavia Restaurante, Masia Pavia Urba, nr Monserrat. Free Pitches (2m max), Stallholders from 9am. Amanda 625819734, sparklesinsunshine@gmail.com for directions.

Lliria | 11 Dec (every 2nd Sat) | Bellamy's Bar, 18 Avenida Polideportivo, Domeño, Tables free. 962728708, Lyn 625217777 magpiesbar@yahoo.com

IWC| Monthly coffee mornings. An independent organisation run on an voluntary basis offering: Support, Friendship, Business networking, Fundraising, Activities.

1 December & 12 January. HIPERCOR - C.Comercial Ademuz, Av. Pio XII, 51 Valencia, top floor restaurant. www.iwc-valencia.ning.com Internations events| A monthly meet up of international people. Sign up or simply check the website for more information at www.internations.org Valencia Loves You| VLY is a group created for the international ladies of Valencia looking to expand their social and professional network. For more information and monthly events join 'Valencia Loves You' on Facebook.

For sale| Complete Set of Golf clubs €250 (good condition), 4 Hippo drivers, 1 Slazenger Fat Cat, 1 Mizuno Driver Tzoid, 9 Mizuno Irons Tzoid (including pitching & sand wedges), 1 Ping pal, 4 putters, 1 Knight touch Star putter, 2 Mac Gregor woods, Black golf Bag (Roca) & trolley (Regal), Chiva, 693269391 For sale| French doors (mahogany color) good condition with 8 glass panels each, etched motives. (H 2.03cm , W 1.20cm.) €130 Chiva, 693269391 For sale| Moto, 4 years old, runs well. €250, 125cc, Craig 673576951 Reason - leaving VLC. Thanks| Naturaleza y Animales (Pedralba animal rescue society) would like to say a very big thank you to Carol and Dave Bellamy of the Magpies Bar, Casinos for raising over €350, with their July funday. Naturaleza y Animales rely on donations to give help to stray and injured animals. Lin on 962707229, or for a Spanish speaking person, 669819495.

Learn Spanish| Want to learn Spanish? Bilingual native teacher available €10/hr, references available.

Call Nacho on 628 892 061.

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.

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

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