NERD YOUR ENTHUSIASM (2)

By: Blanca Rego
October 6, 2021

One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of (one of) their nerdy obsessions.

RAIN

I grew up in a place in which it rains around 130 days per year. I am talking about two cities in the Northwest of Spain, Ferrol and A Coruña, where I was born and I lived until my early 20s. One hundred thirty days of rain per year means that, usually, it rains every week, even in summer. Sometimes, in autumn and winter, it rains every day of the week. When you grow up in a place like that, rain is not something that you hate or that disturbs your daily life, it is just a part of you.

Most people assume that Spain is a really sunny place, but that is a cliché that only applies to some regions. Ferrol and A Coruña are in a region called Galicia, in the Atlantic coast, quite far from the sunny Mediterranean coast and the South.

A funny story about Galicia and its rain it is that it rains so much that in our language—Galician—we have more than 70 different words for rain: Arroiada, babuña, babuxa, babuxada, ballón, barballeira, barbaña, barbuza, barralla, barrufa, barruñeira, barruza, bátega, borraxeira, breca, cairo, cebra, chaparrada, chaparrazo, chaparrón, choiva, chuvascada, chuvia, chuvisca, cifra, ciobra, dioivo, fralleira, froallo, lapiñeira, marmalla, marmaña, meliada, meluria, mollapitos, mollabobos, mollaparvos, molura, morriña, orballeira, orballo, poalla, poallada, poalleira, torboada, torbón, treboada, trebón, trobón, tronada, xistra, zarampallada, zarapallada, zarracina, zarzallo…

Now I live in Barcelona, in the Mediterranean coast, where the weather is quite different. In Barcelona, it rains around 55 days a year. I think that here they only have around 10 different words for rain.

Most people think that rain is annoying and depressing, but for me it is the best thing in the world. It is calming, it cleans the air, and it makes everything smell better—especially if you live in a big city, where pollution is always in the air.

When I was living in Galicia, I did not think about the rain. Rain was just a routine. Now, I love when it rains. I love walking in the rain and making videos and sound recordings. I love searching for rain videos and rain sounds from around the world. Rain is much better than any kind of music. I love making rain sound remixes using field recordings and movies. I even have an archive from rain scenes from movies.

I guess that I nerd about rain because I miss the rain.

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The pronunciation of Galician rain words: framework:afield podcast
Around the world in 57 rains: framework:afield podcast
Sounds for Seven Rain Forecasts: soundcloud
Archive of rain sounds: Internet Archive

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NERD YOUR ENTHUSIASM (2)

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