Spain update

So it’s been a while since my last post… what with my trip up to the north of Spain for five days, catching a cold from my roommate, and writing the ten pages or so I had to turn in this week, it kinda fell to the bottom of my priority list. But that’s enough excuses, there’s lots to catch up on!

AVILA
…was super windy! But worth it to walk most of the perimeter of the town on the city walls. Here’s me in a rare partly sunny moment:

I’m sitting atop the city walls, and in the background you can see the cathedral that was actually built into the walls!
And in Avila, I had my first opportunity to try out Spanish hot chocolate. And I think one cup was enough for me. It was so thick I had to eat it with a spoon—like piping hot pudding. I don’t want to know what they put in there to make it that thick…

SEMANA CERVANTINA
The weekend before my trip up north there were celebrations in Alcalá de Henares of Semana Cervantina, a week honoring Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, whose home town was Alcalá. There was a medieval fair in the plaza and all the booth workers were dressed in Medieval garb (it must have been some sort of rule). I’ve never seen such getups! And cool booths that sold cool things that I would never buy! Like miniature wood-burning stoves and a giant chess set made of wrenches, pipes, bolts, and screws. I even saw an entire nativity set made out of leather. And there were basket makers, wood carvers, even a guy who was working on a larger-than-life rendering of Don Quixote in tin. A Don Quixote Tin Man! But my favorite part were the authentic medieval bands that made their way through the streets and crowds dressed from head to toe in medieval clothing of course, playing some wind instruments I’ve never seen (or heard) before, bagpipes, drums, and complete with jugglers and an interesting bald man with eyeliner and a yellow python wrapped around his neck. Oh, and the food. The guy at the gyro booth (I know, aren’t gyros Greek?) got really excited when I ordered my gyro ‘picante’. He started whooping and yelling, rang a bell, crossed himself, and then with a wink handed the gyro to me and called me ‘guapa’. The gyro was pretty amazing, but not that ‘picante’. =)


CORRIDA DE TOROS
Last Sunday I went to my first corrida de toros in the historic Plaza de Las Ventas in Madrid, mecca of bullfighting. I bought the tickets off of the internet, so I wasn’t sure how great our seats would be, but we ended up being pretty close. The man that showed us to our seats told us they were ‘the best in the house’. =) This is me and Jenny before the corrida started.

When I first studied bullfighting, my initial reaction was in disgust at its cruelty and inhumanity. But when I learned I´d be coming to Spain, I realized that a truly authentic cultural experience would include bullfighting, and that I needed to put a little more effort into trying to understand this tradition that has been a part of Spain´s history for centuries, with the first corrida taking place in the eighth century to honor king Alfonso VIII. So my first weekend in Spain, I watched an entire corrida on TV and was completely fascinated, asking my senora endless questions about the order of events, the rules, what the audience’s reactions were. There was a lot more to learn than I thought, and I was really interested to know more.
I have to say that being present for a real live bullfight is pretty amazing. I had a few breathless moments where I thought the matador was totally gonna get gored. And Spain has hard crowds to please. I was perhaps most entertained by the men around us that seemed to think they could do a better job out there in the ring. Three bulls were sent back after a few minutes in the arena because they were deemed unfit to fight, and after each bull was sent back, more and more of the audience got up to leave.
Believe it or not, bullfighting is as much as a controversial issue in Spain as it is in other parts of the world. A large percentage of the population is against corridas, with good reason. It isn’t a fair fight. Each bull that enters the ring will die that day—even the three that were sent back, because they had already been injured badly. For that one corrida, a total of nine bulls were killed. And although I do admit that there is a lot of talent, skill, fluidity, and technique involved in bullfighting, not to mention bravery, I don’t think it’s the sport for me. I’ll stick with futbol. But one last note before I wrap up my thoughts: the issue of bullfighting is really much more complex than I have energy to explore here, but if you’d like to discuss it with me sometime, I’m game.

And now for a few other updates:
What I’m listening to: Juanes. Let’s hear it for Colombian rock!
My most recent gripe: Mechanical pencils are hard to come by here in Spain, much less good ones. I suppose I could try Corte Ingles, the huge department store chain that is known for offering American products, but I don’t want to pay 5 euros for a pencil. And batteries! Why are Spanish batteries crap? Give me Energizer or Duracell!
And in parting, I leave you with a random thought: I just found by far the coolest Spanish verb ever. And I‘ve found some other cool verbs before too, like olisquear—to sniff. Or estornudar—to sneeze. But this one tops them all: zigzaguear—to wind around (or, clearly, to zigzag). I am so integrating this word into my vocabulary!

More soon on my trip up north!