JimenaPulse
About Jimena de la Frontera, the province of Cadiz and Spain as a whole, focused on this small village in the mountainsArchive for LANGUAGE
SPANISH CLASSES
Xemina, the adult education centre in Jimena, is having their first orientation meeting on Monday, September 24th at 5 pm. Registration is still open for those wishing to learn more Spanish, at levels middle and basic. Get-togethers with Spanish speakers wanting to improve their English are also planned.
LEARNING SPANISH
Below is a comment we received in response to another comment on learning Spanish that came for an ad for bBay (click here to see it)!
“A rather stinging comment from Tom! Many of us have tried for years to learn Spanish, with varying degrees of success, and it is comments like Tom’s that inhibit people such as myself from using more of it. Most of the critisism comes from fellow ex-pats who seem to be very smug once they have mastered the language. The local Jiminatos are very encouraging of any effort. With Tom on the case, I will be very wary now of trying out my Spanish, oral or written.
Indignant!
PS: Please do not print my name!!”
And on that page is the following comment from Prospero:
Thanks for your comment!
I have to agree with Tom’s ‘stinging comment’, though I don’t see it as such. The fact is that a lot of local people feel the same way but they won’t let you know it – out of the kind of courtesy they feel is missing from us! What they say, among other things, is: why should we learn English when they don’t make any effort to learn Spanish – there are people who have been in Jimena for many years and still don’t get much beyond ‘cerveza’. There are several excellent exceptions to this generalization, of course, some of whom came here at a considerable age. After all, nobody expects a ‘mature’ person to speak the language like a native!
One of the purposes of this site is to help redress the balance; to show that we can and do at least try to integrate despite difficulties with the language. But what I find is that the vast majority of English-speaking readers do not integrate even among themselves! The distinct lack of participation on JimenaPulse, where comments can even be made anonymously if you ask for it as you have, is ample proof of that.
A question: how often do you see a mixed table of ex-pats and locals at any of the numerous bars and restaurants around here?
One more thing: language is probably the clumsiest means of communication. What really counts is the willingness to make an effort to communicate beyond ‘buenos días’, ‘gracias’ and, of course, ‘cerveza’. The rewards for the effort are immeasurable – besides, you get to meet some of the nicest people in the world!
‘GARROCHA’
This is the target, a ring of about 5 cms. in diameter set at an angle.
The garrochista set out at full gallop.
Walking, trotting or even cantering are not allowed.
It is very easy to miss!
But there are those who seem to make it easy, though the trick, once the ring has been hooked, is to keep it on the pole. It must be handed to the judge directly off the lance to qualify.
We promised more horsey things even at the risk of losing those readers who are not interested. A promise is a promise, though. This time we illustrate what in Spanish is called carrera de garrocha. A garrocha is variously described as a lance, goad or cattle prod and is used principally at fighting bull breeding or other cattle farms, often to separate a chosen animal from the rest. It is also a countryside ‘sport’ with points given to the ways a rider can ‘turn’ or knock down a cow or bull.
This year’s Novena feria in Estación, with the riding section organized by the El Estribo association, featured a more innocuous though thrilling sport whereby the garrochista has to hook a small ring on to his pole, not an easy thing to do at all and requiring a high level of riding skills.
LA BERREA
La Berrea is what the stags do to call the hinds during the mating season. Right now is the mating season and the bellowing can be heard for several kilometres, usually at night. This is a major event that attracts lots of people to the various places it happens. If you’re lucky, you might find somebody to take you to their favourite, often secret spot, where you are almost guaranteed to get a close look at it all. If not, you’ll have to wait for next year, when the Council will probably organize a bus as it has done this year but neglected to to tell JimenaPulse (in any case there is room for only 25 passengers). By all accounts, it is a thrilling experience, one of which Prospero, after many years in the area, has yet to partake.
ACHOFAIFAS
…or azofaifas, azufaifo, azufaifos, azufaifa, azufaifas, jinjolero, azofeifa.
A lively discussion ensued when the above photo was posted on TioJimeno back in August. The argument was about the local name for this apparent delicacy (though there are those who insist they are tasteless), an argument started by Prospero when he enquired about its ‘real name’. One of the comments suggested, tongue firmly in cheek, that in English it could be ‘achofashion’. But there were those who took it seriously enough to refer our intrepid reporter to the likes of Wikipedia, with illustrations of a Chinese person next to a tree, a drink based on it, and so on. The conclusion, after a total of 15 comments posted on the article (!!), is that it is known in English as Jujube, Red Date or Chinese Date. Its scientific name is Ziziphus Jujuba – Ziziphus vulgaris. Now you know, and Prospero is relieved.
(Prospero comment: That is exactly the kind of lively discussion we would love to have on this blog, but the British penchant for ‘not making a fuss’ seems to refrain all too many of you from saying anything at all. You live in Spain for many reasons, but one of them is probably because you don’t want to live in the UK – so why behave like they do there? Come on, make your comments, it is really very simple, try it now: just below this post are the words NO COMMENTS, click on them and see what happens)
JimenaPulse 
