Juergas for Huelgas

As a perfectly fluent Spanish speaker who often is mistaken for a true Sevillana, I very rarely make language mistakes as my accent is always so clear.  However, these things do occasionally happen to the best of us.

We always watch television during mealtimes at my casa here, and at lunch with Mama Rosa yesterday (lentil soup!), the leading news story was centered on las huelgas.  Basically, the entire country was shut down for yesterday's strikes against the new labor reforms.

No I did not take this photo.

Now, a nation-wide general strike sounds very exciting.  You know--stick it to the man, yell profanities, wave big angry signs, and all that.  The picture to the left is not actually descriptive at all of what happened in Sevilla.  Mostly, everyone was inconvenienced because 500 flights were canceled ("I'm supposed to be eating gelato in the Colosseum right now!"), stores were closed, very few buses were running, and Avenida de Constitucion was packed with peaceful protestors.


As Sarah and I ate lunch with Mama Rosa, we asked a few questions about the strikes.  At one point, she had to explain to us the difference between two very different words that sound strikingly similar with our (hardly noticeable) acentos americanas.  

huelga -- strike; such as yesterday's 2012 Spanish general strike.

juerga -- basically, partying.

Apparently, it sounded like I said juerga when referring to the strike.  Well, as it turns out...these words mean the same thing to a study abroad student when there are peaceful nation-wide strikes.  Here is how the general strike situation looks to fellow temporary Spaniards:

Order of huelga events

I did take this photo.  Go labor unions!

- Class was canceled, so my school week was shortened to a nice three days.

- Sleep in.  Duh.

- Attempt to run with Sarah--wait, what's working out again?  This concept sounds vaguely familiar...

- Flock to the river, like everyone else who also has limited concerns about the strikes.

- My favorite chino shop was closed, so I had to take an ice-less cooler of refrigerated Cruz Campo with me to sit by the river and pound Principe cookies.  Ugh.  Come on.  

- Kebab place was closed.  Heart = broken. 

 But probably healthier.

...and that's about it for the huelga side of things...

However, juerga applies to an entirely different story.  

No one had class or work, so everyone was out on this Thursday night.  My friends and I were no exception.  We had met a few Spanish hombres whilst playing by the river earlier in the day, and they badly wanted to see us again.  They also had taught us a useful new word--pagafanta (friend zone) so we thought it couldn't be a bad idea to hang out with some locals and improve our Spanish over a cerveza or two.

Well.  It turns out they weren't quite up to our level of "going out," and this factor combined with the language barrier did not bode well for the future of our friendship. 

Order of juerga events

- Use proficient acting skills to encourage los hombres to find otras chicas.  Succeed.

- Find small discoteca, walk past bouncer--holla atcha no cover charge.

Not taken last night, but still very applicable.

- Dance. Dancedancedancedancedancedance. 

- Rest.

- Dance more.

- Leave discoteca at 5:30.  Not as easy as it sounds--the place was packed.  

- Walk around, find nice bench nearby La Catedral on which to rest our tired feet.

- Help Dunkin' Coffee delivery guy load the pallet of overturned soda into his box truck.  He's a nice guy from Málaga, just trying to support his wife and family.  You are very welcome for the PR points, America.

- Toast to an interesting* evening over a nice breakfast of café con leche and tostada de jamón ibérico (coffee and a toasted ham-and-cheese sandwich) at a little local café.  

*Note to parents, grandparents, and other concerned adults:
By "interesting," I mean completely safe.  Also, parents, grandparents, clergymen, and all those who do not worship the devil and clothe themselves in sin will all be happy to hear that I no longer have a "thing on my face," as somehow my nose piercing was lost in the shuffle last night.