Entroido (Carnaval)

In Galicia and other parts of Spain/Europe/the World, Carnaval is well underway. Traditionally a time for people to act wild and out-of-character before the somber 40 days of lent, it's now just a time to dress up and have fun.

On Friday we celebrated Carnaval in school. A group of the teachers dressed up as tourists, and I was their tourguide. I've dressed as a tourist before, but this time it was impressive since I didn't have access to my parents' wardrobe. However some of the teachers really went all out to pull off the look. Aside from the teachers, I would say 1/2 or less of the students were dressed up. Disappointing. There were mimes, zombies, guerrillas, a monk, and Minnie Mouses. After the costume contest there was a dessert contest, with chaos reigning around the table filled with delectables. Then everyone went outside to witness the burning in effigy of Sr. Minister Wert, a man loathed by students of all ages for his drastic cutbacks in Spanish education. The school day ended in kids karaoke-ing to classic Galician songs. Cool.

The teachers had a traditional Entroido meal-- cocido, which includes garbanzo beans, steamed cabbage/other greens, pork shoulder, chorizo, steamed potatoes, and other types of meat I ate without knowing the body part (it was better this way, trust me). For dessert we had apple empanada, and the typical Carnaval "orejas", fried dough folded to look like pig ears, and topped with sugar and/or cinnamon. We probably could've rolled out of there, so much food!

 Saturday was a friend's birthday, and an important night for going out Entroido-style. There was an attempted surprise party, but apparently this group has yet to pull off a true surprise party. Anyways, our theme was Noah's Ark, appropriate because of the incessant rain in Lugo this year. We even made a boat out of cardboard, and walked around places in formation. Which reminds me...there was another group dressed as Amish people, and they walked around under a barn roof hahah. Our ark included: a tiger, penguin, rooster, monkey, octopus, turtle, koala, cow, Waldo, and of course the old man Noah himself. Miraculously, it barely rained at night. Tonight we return to the streets in more costumes, because tomorrow nobody works. Happy Carnaval! Bo Entroido!