30 Septiembre 2007, Domingo
Sleep, oh amazing sleep. Breakfast buffet….glorious breakfast buffet. Then finally, the weather decided to cooperate, and the sun came out. After much preparation, we headed to the beach!! Chiclana’s beach was just gorgeous…the Atlantic pro
vided many waves for the many (mostly German??) tourists to enjoy. Natalia braved the water while I preferred to walk along the huge beach to observe the people around me, and just get lost in my thoughts and the beauty of it all. I thought I was going crazy when I saw a beautiful black stallion galloping along the beach but no, it was actually real. I toed into the water, and decided to body surf with Natalia, which was fun…oh so fun..but we had to go back to have lunch very early so as to catch the bus. I wish so much we had more time then, it was really perfect…
Lunch was amazing…I think one of my favorite dishes here is salmorejo, a denser version of gazpacho. We packed our stuff and headed back onto the bus, for we had to keep a tight schedule in order to get back into Sevilla for the corrida de toros. (bullfight)…oh yes I did just say bullfight.
Although I thought I would be very much against the corrida, and in theory, I am…one must see it in order to see the beauty of the tradition. Cruelty to animals aside, it is beautiful. We got to see three famous toreros because it was the festival of San Miguel, and only the best matadors perform on the festival days. The corrida begins when the ring is half shadow, half sun…and we found our seats just as it was so, very high school football game style. Some people bought butt pillows for a euro, but the seats were not that bad. There was a band playing some music in the beginning as two men with plumes
in their hats rode out in the middle of the room to ask the President of the corrida for the fight to begin. After the President waved OK, the audience waited in anticipation for the first bull to emerge. The poor thing came out into the ring and was obviously confused for a few minutes. Several toreros waved their red capes and the bull ran towards them as they gracefully swooped the cape. The music began again and two doors opened up for the part which I learned to hate the most. Two lanzadors, guys on blindfolded (so they don’t know what’s up or that they are in a ring with a crazy bull), horses covered in soft fabric to prevent them from being hurt by the bull, with giant spears came into the ring. They tried to get the bull to run towards them, and as the bull rammed its cuervos (horns) into the horses’s soft padding, the lanzadors injured the bull repeatedly on the back to draw blood.
After the lanzadors exited the ring, three picadors came out. Picadors are the guys who run towards the bull and each artfully stick two decorated hooks into the bull’s back. This appears to be quite dangerous and requires a high degree of skill as the picadors fully expose themselves to the injured bull, and must be extremely quick on their toes in case anything happens. Three picadors do their thing and then (drum roll please) (well, more like the band begins to play) the torero (matador) comes out. He wore a sparkly, bright suit with the black hat, which one chose to throw in the middle of the ring. The matador played with the injured bull for about ten minutes or so. Whenever there was a good pass, meaning the more dangerous the better, the crowd simultaneously yelled “Ole!” Finally, when the matador decided it was time, he went and got a special sword. He got the bull into a special position, raised his sword in a pose, and then aimed to strike the bull in an exact spot in his back, where the bull suffered the least when the blade went through its heart. Some of the matadors didn’t get the blade all the way through and had to do this multiple times. When the blade went through well however, other toreros come and wave their capes to confuse the bull so it does more quickly. The saddest part is that then these special horses come out, and they tie the bull behind the horses and drag it around the ring to prove to the audience that it is, in fact, dead. At this point, the audience decided whether or not to wave their white panuelos (handkerchief) to signify the matador did a good job. Only one of the matadors got the audience to award him an oreja, ear. He walked around the ring displaying and thanking the audience for this great honor.
There were six bulls and three matadors, two bulls for each matador. So I’m really torn on the issue after seeing a fight. On one hand, it’s awful to see such a beautiful living animal die so cruelly. On the other hand, it’s a beautifully choreographed cultural escapade which one cannot understand until one sees.
All in all, it was an AMAZING experience. Natalia and I capped off the night by having tapas in Triana, supposedly the best in the world.
1 October 2007, Lunes
Today I decided to try out a French class…why not? After searching for blasted room 201 for thirty minutes I finally found it in a secluded corner of the second floor which I did not know existed. (room 200 was on the first floor thank you very much). It was French I, but as I found out from the Sevillana sitting next to me, you are expected to be fluent by French 1, or have acquired sufficient fluency to understand the teacher speaking French…I was out of that classroom before you could say “Eifel tower…”
I spent the rest of the day searching for lodgings in Europe for our travels, and Macarena’s class which was a bit boring…again about the Spanish constitution. After class, a group of us headed to TGI Friday’s to fulfill some long awaited American cravings…happy hour and enchiladas. Once again…..oh yeah…….
There was a fashion show occurring at Plaza Nervion which was nice.
2 Octubre 2007, Martes
Cine, Sevillanas and West Side Story. Boring class. Salad lunch. Boots and purple shoes from Marypaz. Espanol para negocios. Coffee and tapa with Petra. Rain. Dinner with Senora and her prima.
Sleep, oh amazing sleep. Breakfast buffet….glorious breakfast buffet. Then finally, the weather decided to cooperate, and the sun came out. After much preparation, we headed to the beach!! Chiclana’s beach was just gorgeous…the Atlantic pro
vided many waves for the many (mostly German??) tourists to enjoy. Natalia braved the water while I preferred to walk along the huge beach to observe the people around me, and just get lost in my thoughts and the beauty of it all. I thought I was going crazy when I saw a beautiful black stallion galloping along the beach but no, it was actually real. I toed into the water, and decided to body surf with Natalia, which was fun…oh so fun..but we had to go back to have lunch very early so as to catch the bus. I wish so much we had more time then, it was really perfect…
Lunch was amazing…I think one of my favorite dishes here is salmorejo, a denser version of gazpacho. We packed our stuff and headed back onto the bus, for we had to keep a tight schedule in order to get back into Sevilla for the corrida de toros. (bullfight)…oh yes I did just say bullfight.
Although I thought I would be very much against the corrida, and in theory, I am…one must see it in order to see the beauty of the tradition. Cruelty to animals aside, it is beautiful. We got to see three famous toreros because it was the festival of San Miguel, and only the best matadors perform on the festival days. The corrida begins when the ring is half shadow, half sun…and we found our seats just as it was so, very high school football game style. Some people bought butt pillows for a euro, but the seats were not that bad. There was a band playing some music in the beginning as two men with plumes
in their hats rode out in the middle of the room to ask the President of the corrida for the fight to begin. After the President waved OK, the audience waited in anticipation for the first bull to emerge. The poor thing came out into the ring and was obviously confused for a few minutes. Several toreros waved their red capes and the bull ran towards them as they gracefully swooped the cape. The music began again and two doors opened up for the part which I learned to hate the most. Two lanzadors, guys on blindfolded (so they don’t know what’s up or that they are in a ring with a crazy bull), horses covered in soft fabric to prevent them from being hurt by the bull, with giant spears came into the ring. They tried to get the bull to run towards them, and as the bull rammed its cuervos (horns) into the horses’s soft padding, the lanzadors injured the bull repeatedly on the back to draw blood.
After the lanzadors exited the ring, three picadors came out. Picadors are the guys who run towards the bull and each artfully stick two decorated hooks into the bull’s back. This appears to be quite dangerous and requires a high degree of skill as the picadors fully expose themselves to the injured bull, and must be extremely quick on their toes in case anything happens. Three picadors do their thing and then (drum roll please) (well, more like the band begins to play) the torero (matador) comes out. He wore a sparkly, bright suit with the black hat, which one chose to throw in the middle of the ring. The matador played with the injured bull for about ten minutes or so. Whenever there was a good pass, meaning the more dangerous the better, the crowd simultaneously yelled “Ole!” Finally, when the matador decided it was time, he went and got a special sword. He got the bull into a special position, raised his sword in a pose, and then aimed to strike the bull in an exact spot in his back, where the bull suffered the least when the blade went through its heart. Some of the matadors didn’t get the blade all the way through and had to do this multiple times. When the blade went through well however, other toreros come and wave their capes to confuse the bull so it does more quickly. The saddest part is that then these special horses come out, and they tie the bull behind the horses and drag it around the ring to prove to the audience that it is, in fact, dead. At this point, the audience decided whether or not to wave their white panuelos (handkerchief) to signify the matador did a good job. Only one of the matadors got the audience to award him an oreja, ear. He walked around the ring displaying and thanking the audience for this great honor.
There were six bulls and three matadors, two bulls for each matador. So I’m really torn on the issue after seeing a fight. On one hand, it’s awful to see such a beautiful living animal die so cruelly. On the other hand, it’s a beautifully choreographed cultural escapade which one cannot understand until one sees.
All in all, it was an AMAZING experience. Natalia and I capped off the night by having tapas in Triana, supposedly the best in the world.
1 October 2007, Lunes
Today I decided to try out a French class…why not? After searching for blasted room 201 for thirty minutes I finally found it in a secluded corner of the second floor which I did not know existed. (room 200 was on the first floor thank you very much). It was French I, but as I found out from the Sevillana sitting next to me, you are expected to be fluent by French 1, or have acquired sufficient fluency to understand the teacher speaking French…I was out of that classroom before you could say “Eifel tower…”
I spent the rest of the day searching for lodgings in Europe for our travels, and Macarena’s class which was a bit boring…again about the Spanish constitution. After class, a group of us headed to TGI Friday’s to fulfill some long awaited American cravings…happy hour and enchiladas. Once again…..oh yeah…….
There was a fashion show occurring at Plaza Nervion which was nice.
2 Octubre 2007, Martes
Cine, Sevillanas and West Side Story. Boring class. Salad lunch. Boots and purple shoes from Marypaz. Espanol para negocios. Coffee and tapa with Petra. Rain. Dinner with Senora and her prima.
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