Que Barbaridad

So Sunday, we went to our first bullfight. Once again, I WAS NOT PREPARED. Do you have any idea about what goes on in a bullfight? Neither did I. However, I learned fast. I will let photos speak for themselves (mostly).

Before the trauma...

Plaza de Toros

Just like a little pageant

This is Bull # 193, our first bull. At this point I'm thinking, this isn't so bad. It's like what you see on TV. Then SUDDENLY:

I quickly learned that first they run the bull around a little, using pink capes (instead of the red you think of) to attract it, and then the guys hide behind this little protrusions along the wall when the bull they are trying to get to run at them runs at them. Then, two guys on horseback come out and SPEAR the bull in the back with a lance-looking thing. Sometimes, the bull gets pissed and tries to gore the horse, but don't worry, Spaniards actually care about horses so they get lots of protection from potential goring. Then, one brave soul trades his cape for these other spear-y things and the caped guys marshal the bull around so the guy can spear it with colorful lances, which stay in its back the whole time. It's bleeding pretty good by this point. Then the real matador comes out with his red cape (which Paola told me is not because red attracts bulls - they are colorblind - but that it hides the blood stains). He teases the bull and makes it pass like 10-20 times, presumably to a) show his skill and bravery and b) to tire it out and make it bleed more. For the climax, he gets his sword and stabs the bull, right through the back. Then the pink-cape guys have to come back out to run the bull around a little more until it falls down, at which point they sever the spinal cord with a smaller knife. How merciful. Then the cleanup crew comes out, sweeping the dirt to hide the blood and tying the bull to a team of horses, which drags it out of the arena. Repeat five more times, and that's a Corrida de Toros.

I was shocked and could barely watch the spearing and the bleeding, but it is amazing how quickly I became accustomed to it (all except the final sword stab, which continued to be hard to watch). The bulls looked huge, although that could have been because we were in the third row, even though they were little ones (to train the matadors). There were three matadors, each of whom went twice and who also acted as pink-cape dudes for the others. The third matador, whom we called Pink Pants because of his pink pants, was the favorite. We sat right in front of a family that came from the same pueblo, so they were loudly cheering for him. The rest of the spectators agreed, and he got the bull's ear (like a trophy) for a job well done, even though the bull got the better of him at one point.

Oh yeah, did I mention that the bull knocked down one of the matadores and the pink cape guys all ran out to rescue him like rodeo clowns. Pink Pants actually got thrown in the air by the bull's horns, and was covered in the bulls blood because he landed on the bull's back. We also saw matador failure. The 1st matador (4th bull) really could not get the sword into the bull, so he ended up stabbing it like 4 times, with the whole stadium booing and hissing. We pretty much saw the spectrum of bullfighting possibilities...lucky us.

More carnage:

Pink Pants, throwing it down.

Well-protected horses.

This one got knocked over and he ripped his traje de luces (pretty outfit)

Wussy pink-caped dudes

Pink Pants showing off his bull ear

As promised...

Midterms are halfway over! And by halfway, I mean 80%, because the first two were the stressful two. As promised, I went to the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) on Thursday and to Toledo with BU on Friday.

Palacio Real:
Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside, which doesn't make much sense, because the lighting was shitty and photos would have been shitty, but I would have had something more interesting to post here than what I do have.

If you want to see what is on the inside, I guess you'll just have to do a Google Image Search.

Toledo:
Again, lots of sites that would not let us take pictures inside. What is the problem, here, people? No photos inside the cathedral, one of the most popular sights, nor in the Church of San Tomé, where one of el Greco's most famous works lies. So once again, I will direct the curious amongst you to a google search. Sorry.

On the bright side, Toledo was super cute. It sits on a hill and is surrounded by a wall, like all proper old cities do. Of course, it was surrounded by newer construction not on the hill, but who cares about that? There was an escalator that took you up the hill (it was a steep one), which I thought was the best idea ever. There were cars trying to drive through narrow streets (a common thread I have found in all the cities we seem to visit), tourists, and of course lots of mazapan (aka marzipan) which was delicious. We visited the cathedral, which we learned has a combination of gothic, mudejar (muslim-inspired), and baroque architecture, we saw some el Greco paintings, and we drank hot chocolate in a cafe that sells mazapan made by nuns (there were adorable dolls modeling it).

Inside one of the synagogues (converted of course into churches) with the best examples of mudejar (muslim-inspired) architecture
The mosque (also converted into a church)

Cool circular building, but I have no idea what it is

Garbage cans dressed up like presents

Baking Nuns

Me and the Cruzcampo man - US equivalent is Captain Morgan?

The study part of study abroad

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. It's midterm time and they are to blame. For some reason, I'm a bit more stressed out about midterms this semester than at any other time in college. Oh yeah, it's because they are all in Spanish.

Back to regularly scheduled programming this weekend (hopefully), as we are going to Toledo on Friday and I'm sure I'll have lots to say, or at least lots of photos.

Until then!

Puente

Puente means bridge, and it is that special day when Spaniards say, "Hey, it's Monday or Friday and there is a holiday tomorrow or there was one yesterday, so let's not have work or school or anything but an extended weekend!" That's right, no silly "observed" days for those inconvenient holidays that are tied to a number of the month (President's Day, I am looking at you). Instead, the powers that be (I'd like to think it was some past King who had this brainstorm) acknowledge the reality of productivity and give us the day off. This one (October 11-12) is in celebration of a few things that I enumerated in an earlier blog post: Columbus, Hispanic-ness, the Virgin on the Column, and the military.

So how did I spend my puente? On Monday, I had planned to do a day trip to a little pueblo outside Madrid, but the weather was meh and I had no one to go with, so instead I spent a couple of hours at Retiro (that one big park) reading and people watching and being probably as cold as I have been so far in Madrid, and then I went to the movies. I saw "Amador," which is like... well, the closest thing I can think of to compare it to is "Weekend at Bernie's," but more sensitive. Times infinity.

Roller Skating Dancing Man in Retiro

Palacio Cristal in Retiro

El Angel Caído - probably the only statue of the devil in the world

Tuesday was the big military parade, presided over by the King/Royal Family. Let me tell you, I WAS NOT PREPARED. This was so impressive and at the same time so WEIRD for an American to watch. I was expecting police cars and firetrucks, of which there were some, and a couple bands and some marching. THERE WERE TANKS, people. And rockets. And every soldier marching with arms swinging hugely (at least they weren't goose-stepping). Still, I had the distinct feeling I was in Red Square or something twenty years ago. And there were bands, one of which was on horseback. And then at the end, there were about 10 million black sedans that rolled through, one in which the Queen was clearly visible, and the others, which had mostly blacked out windows, held the Princes and Princesses and the King and the Prime Minister. So it's safe to say that I had a close encounter of the royal kind today with the thousands of other people along the parade route, but didn't know it until some little girl was explaining it to her mother. Thank you, Spanish eavesdropping.

That's like a Spanish flag in the sky, if the yellow were more yellow

Is it just me, or do these guys look straight outta Empire Strikes Back?

THAT IS A TANK ON THE STREET

Marching Band on horses. BU, get on this idea now.
Loving the bayonets and the arm swings. What is this, 1914?

¡Londres!

This weekend we went to London. It was a) cool to see all the sights in real life, b) expensive - why is the pound so strong? and c) a teensy bit stressful flying into Stanstead and trying to get into the rest of the city. Overall, though, I am so glad we went.

We stayed in a hostel that was over a pub in the part of the city near the Arsenal football stadium. It's north-ish London, but not too far away from the good stuff, and as always well-connected by the Tube. This Australian guy (who I think was named Rob) ran it, and he was very chatty and nice. We met people from Italy, Argentina, France, America (including a guy from Oregon State), and one man who would not tell us which country he was from, only that it hated America. And then he proceeded to try to have a conversation about how America was a bully with us - awkward.

We saw all the big sights, but were cheap and didn't go inside like any of them. We did go into the free part of the Tate Modern, which I am glad about because there was a giant room FULL of Soviet propaganda which was AWESOME. I also decided it was worth it to pay to go to the Churchill Museum/Cabinet War Rooms, which it totally was. They were preserved or refurbished to look like they did when they shut the lights off for the first time in 1945, and there was all sorts of artifacts and documents and precisely the sort of thing that I am so into. We didn't make it to the Imperial War Museum, but I am satisfied with Churchill.

Blitz Memorial - "Heroes with Dirty Faces"

Among the sights we did NOT pay to go into was the Tower of London and the London Eye. We saw Big Ben and the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, and St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey.

But the highlight of the trip was probably geeking out with Ashleigh and finding the luggage cart that is halfway into the wall at Platform 9 3/4 (it's kind of a Harry Potter thing). It was free and geeky. And thanks to Ashleigh for having the balls to ask the train station guy where it was. I was a bit embarrassed.

All the rest of the photos are on Facebook.

Real Madrid Photos

A couple of photos for your viewing pleasure of Real Madrid (from our cheap seats in Estadio Santiago Bernabeú):

View of the field from our seats

Players - Real Madrid is white, Deportivo de La Coruña is Black

Playing fútbol!

Maurinho - the Coach

And because it seems I must love people who wear the number 2... This one is Ricardo Carvalho
Iker Casillas - goalie for RM and the World Cup Champs
I thought this was sort of stereotypical and hilarious

October 4 Update: Food, Fútbol, Fin de Semana

Last weekend the program took us to Córdoba, which was beautiful. We spent most of the first day in the old part of the city surrounding the mosque-cum-cathedral and in the Jewish Quarter, which was characterized by narrow streets and patios inside houses which we could see but not enjoy. Saturday we walked around the more modern (and Christian) part, but also saw some ruins of a Roman temple and a refurbished Roman bridge. Photos are on Facebook for the curious.

What really stood out about Córdoba, though, was the food. We had berenjenas fritas (fried eggplant sticks that look like extra long and greenish french fries) and Paola and Laura were brave enough to try rabos de toro (ox tail). Other fried vegetables, gazpacho (it was killer hot outside), fancy ice cream, and Andalusian cheese rounded out my culinary experience of the weekend.

When we got back to Madrid on Saturday, we opted for something a little more familiar for our palates, and went to eat Indian food in Lavapies (literally, wash feet, but its a neighborhood in Madrid with lots of ethnic restaurants). We found one for dinner, but much to our surprise our food was more sweet than spicy. We chalked this up to wussy Spanish palates who cannot handle spicy, and wondered if maybe next time we should tell them we are American and they do not have to de-spice-ify Indian food for us.

Sunday, we went to the Rastro (literally "trace"), which is a HUGE open-air market that sells...everything. Antiques, jewelry, crafts, old books, electronics, clothes, and sporting goods were just some of the things we browsed. I bought a pair of earrings, Stacy bought a hat, and Laura bought something that would prove useful that night - a Real Madrid scarf.

The Real Madrid game was much more fun that I had imagined, and the rules of the stadium much stranger. My señora told me that most people bring in food, so she packed me a sandwich and some fruit because the game was going to happen right about dinner time (9pm). She told me that during half time the whole stadium pulls out their bocadillos (sandwiches) to eat them because there is no halftime entertainment. Well, turns out she was right, and I looked like a true madrileña with my bocadillo wrapped in tin foil in the stands. They also love to eat pipas (sunflower seeds), which was evident by the husks ALL OVER EVERYTHING. Finally, and this was the weirdest for me, is that they wouldn't let me bring in my waterbottle because it was metal. Really? What am I going to do, chuck it onto the field or something? Only plastic and disposable allowed, apparently. So I had to leave it by the turnstiles and retreive it after the game (from some official's bag. Glad I got there in time, eh?).

This weekend I'm making a quick trip to London with some friends so that my señora can go to Andorra to visit her grandkids over the long weekend. We're only spending 3 of the 5 days in London because of the expense, so I'll be fitting as much as possible into each day (which should make for some pretty exciting blogging when I return). There is also a parade on Tuesday that I'm thinking of going to, which celebrates... I'm not sure what. This weekend is 1) Columbus Day, which BU gives us off, 2) Something about Independence, which is what the parade is for, and 3) the Fiesta de Pilar, which is something about Saint James seeing a virgin on a column (pilar) and she is the patroness saint of Spain. I guess either way, it's nice to have a long weekend.