Daaa Bulls

I had an exam and a paper due last week so I didn't do a whole lot. Actually, weeknights I've been watching some of the prime time Spanish television shows with my host family. My favorite, which is on every Monday, is Física o Química (Physics or Chemistry). It's a show about a high school and has all the drama that you could expect; from the faculty to the students. My host sister loves it as well. Last night, she wasn't able to watch cause she has had to study finals for the past few weeks. What a shame, it was a good episode. (Last night we also ate pizza because the company TelePizza was selling pizzas for 1€ (about $1.45). It was a one day only thing. We waited in line for about an hour, but they were sure good.)

I've also been doing quite a bit of reading lately. I brought Slaughter-house Five and after I finished that, I didn't know else to read; all of the books my host family have are Spanish. A friend lent me her book of Angels & Demons. I finished it in 4 days. It was very gripping, and I can't wait to see the movie, but I don't know if I liked the ending as much. As for reading now, I don't know what to do. I think I'll check out books from the library here. They have books in English as well.

Saturday, our excursion for the week was to Ávila. It was a very scenic place (like all of the other cities we've visited), and it was most known for it's huge wall surrounding the middle of the city. It was built as a fortress way back when. They gave us tickets to walk around on top of the wall. Very cool.



But the best part of the day was that we got to see a bullfight. An actual bullfight. Not everyone went on this trip, you could elect to come or not. So everyone the whole day was like, "Oh I am so excited for this bullfight." I was very excited as well, and actually did a paper on it before I came on this trip so I was probably more aware about its significance to their culture and apparently what was about to happen.

We took our seats and kind of stuck out being a big group of American students who ooohed and awwwed at every little thing. Most of the audience there was older men who had grown up appreciating the bullfights. The first bull came out raging, and the matadors started toying with it. Before I continue with the graceful part of the bullfight, I should explain something. For all of the people that said they were excited to see the bullfight, they had no idea what to expect. They asked out loud why was the bull bleeding, or some people even cheered for the bull to hurt the matador (which is the equivalent of a foriegner entering the Metrodome to cheer for the Packers obnoxiously). I don't think it bothered TOO many people, and even some people were quite amused at us, but I still I was a little embarrassed. But not many were ready for the end when they killed the bull and dragged it out of the ring.



There were 6 bullfights in all. It was a great atmosphere. Many people brought food and drank their wine (myself included :-D ). Some of you might be wondering how I could support such a ruthless tradition. Well here was my progressive mood of the bullfight that day. Before it, I was a supporter. After the 2nd bull died, I was unsure whether I liked it or not. After the entire event, I was a supporter again, but still with reservations. I know that after the bull dies, it's whole body is able to be purchased to eat. Also, many species of bulls that are used in bullfighting would be extinct without the sport. So, there are some tradeoffs, but I still have quite a bit more to look up before I form a true opinion.



After the 5th matador, who turned out to be the most entertaining, they cut off two of the bull's ears to give to the matador, which is a great honor. (The only better thing he could have received was the tail) He took a sort of victory lap around the ring and when he came to our section, my friend Bobby Klint and I started bowing to him and yelled "We are not worthy! We are not worthy!" The matador pointed up to us, and threw us one of the bull's ears. But sadly for me, the ear tailed at the end (it's not a perfect circle you know) and I only was able to tip it. It landed back and to my right, and someone else in our group snatched it up. We were quite excited and everyone was taking pictures holding the ear. We were so worked up we were still buzzing when the last bull entered the ring and they shushed us down. But everyone else was still awed that we had received such a prize.



That was my Saturday.