What do You Wear to a Bull Fight?

Today I went to my first (and probably only) bull fight. I don't really know what I expected, but in a strange and barbaric way I think I can see why people get into it. I don't know how much you know about bull fighting but I quickly discovered that I knew virtually nothing about bull fighting and what I did know what strictly stereotypes. So I am going to help you to be a little more informed for the day you attend your first bull fight.

1. You should know that you WILL see the bulls die in these fights. Somehow I didn't know that before I came to Spain. I just thought they ran around the ring with a bull for the fun of it, but no they kill it. And since a bull is dying there will be blood (however, its really not that much). But don't worry after the bull is killed the meat is used.

2. There is not just one bull fighter in the ring. I was rather surprised when about ten guys walked out at the beginning of the fight. The cool part is that each guy has a specific job to do.

3. The cape things are not always red, in fact most of them are pink.

4. They do actually say ole! (or bien depending on the circumstance).

5. Well I don't really have a fifth because I didn't have many stereotypes to begin with. So instead I am going to describe what happens at a bull fight in horribly gruesome detail (not really however the videos and pictures in this post may be disturbing to some so view at your own discretion)


So to start the bull fight all the toreros (bull fighters) walk into the ring, most of them making a cross in the dirt with their foot. Then they get their cape things and kind of fool around with those for a bit and then they get into position. Then a trumpet sounds and one of the main toreros kneels on the ground and waits for the bull to charge at him.

They run around for a few short minutes then the trumpet sounds again and some men on horses who look essentially like jousters come out. The bull then attacks the horses (who are heavily padded) and the guy on the horse stabs the bull a few times.

After this stage the trumpet sounds yet again and the horses leave. Then two of the other toreros stab the bull with these spear things that have hooks in the ends so that they stay on the bull. They do this without their cape thing so it was rather entertaining to watch them run away from the bull after they stabbed it.

After this step the main torero comes out again, this time with the stereotypical red cape thing (gosh I wish I knew the name of it) and a sword. This is the longest part of the fight. The torero tires out the bull with a serious of passes. This was where I could really see why Sevillians see this as a form of art. At some points it seemed like the torero and bull were doing a dance. (except when the bull picked the torero up with his horns...that was rather exciting...perhaps it was a lift) After the bull has tired the torero grabs a different sword and stabs the bull. This is usually the blow that does the most damage to the bull. This video does include the stabbing so watch at your own risk.

As you can see the bull is quite tired at this point. After this video ended the torero was given yet another knife and he dealt the killing blow to the brain. You can see that the bull dies instantly (though another torero gives an extra stab just in case) Then a team of horses is brought out to drag the bullfrom the ring.

This happened 6 times during the course of the event. It actually started raining on our parade but that didn't stop the fight. (Our cheap tickets were worth every euro because they were in the covered part of the arena.)

In the end I am glad I went. Will I go again? Maybe if I could see the better toreros (the guys I saw tonight were amateurs). And just so you know, in terms of clothing I saw everything from men in suits to just plain old jeans. So wear what you want.

Nature Calms Me

I know it has been about a week since I last posted, but honestly during the week not much happened. I got sick so I stayed in bed a lot in the hopes of getting better before the weekend. My host mom and my professor were both very helpful in getting me better! So then for the weekend I actually had plans!! So here is the recount of my Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday I went to a town called Ronda. It's about 2 hours by bus away from Seville. So Saturday morning me and a group of 5 others hopped on a bus and headed to Ronda. With just a two hour bus drive from Seville the scenery changes so much from (rather ugly) flat landscape to mountainous with valleys. Ronda in particular is known for having the oldest bull fighting ring in all of Spain and has a beautiful bridge. So we arrived and got a bit lost, but thankfully the people of Ronda are kind and pointed us in the direction of where tourists belong. Once we got a map from the tourist office we were good to go. Our first stop was a palace. I am actually still very confused by the museum but the important thing is that it had beautiful gardens overlooking the valley.

After our walk around the palace some of us (not myself) walked down to the bottom of the bridge. I did not because I was not wearing proper walking attire and really didn't want to get sweaty and gross so I stayed at the top and took some pictures! I also sat in a little courtyard and enjoyed the musical talents of a guitarist. It was extremely pleasant. 

Here they come!

For the rest of the day we wandered around town. It was so relaxing, the weather was great. We saw yet another wedding (I see a wedding like everyday here!) We had some ice cream too, so that made me happy! Then on our bus ride home God blessed us with a beautiful sunset. 

It got a lot prettier than that but with the bus window I couldn't get a good picture of it. 

So then on Saturday I went for a hike. We hiked a total of 11.5 km (about 7 miles). Tell you what, I totally enjoyed being in nature again! I am soooo not a city girl, I find just being able to look at nature from the bus calms me. However, I would have enjoyed the hike much more had it not been over 90 degrees out. I am very sore today let me tell you! I didn't actually take many pictures because the scenery wasn't actually that pretty. It's a fairly desolate climate. But we did get to eat grapes and blackberries right off the vine. There were so many herbs out there, you could easily live out there (Or camp for a while). The one interesting was that there were these trees that shed their bark on the bottom and became orange. The guide said it was because they were naked and were blushing. 

Any idea what these are??? (I'll give you a hint the roast on a open fire while Jack Frost nips at your nose)

Overall, it was a fabulous weekend! I start classes this week so I will be sure to let you know what I am taking as soon as I know!!

La Playa y las Ruinas Romanas

So on Friday I met with my intercambio, this is a Spanish student who wants to learn English and wants to help me practice my Spanish. Her name is Myriam. So her and I agreed to meet at this cafe right on the corner near where I live. So I got there on time (fully expecting her to be late, its a European thing), but when 10 minutes turns into a half hour I begin to wonder whats up. I'm considering calling her when she walks in the door with another girl from my program. Turns out she didn't realize that me and the other girl were different people...awkward. But that's okay because I really like the other girl from the program and it made for a better dynamic with three of us chatting instead of two. After we finished our time together I went out for tapas with some friends. Tapas are essentially appetizers. Now the Spanish are smart because what you do is order a bunch of tapas and then just try a bit of everything! It's a great system. My friends then carried on to a botellon which is basically when a bunch of youth bring their own alcohol to a specific location like a park and they drink together (instead of going to a bar). Technically botellones are illegal so I didn't join them. (Good thing too, turns out the botellon got busted).

Saturday we went to the oldest city in Europe, Cadiz. Cadiz is considered a sister-city to Havana, Cuba. In fact part of the James Bond movie Die Another Day was filmed in Cadiz because they couldn't actually go to Cuba. Cadiz was also the only part of Spain not conquered by Napoleon which is pretty cool. After walking around town a bit and visiting their cathedral we spent the rest of the day on the beach! There was so much sea glass of such beautiful colors (coming your way Aunt Marcelle) and the water was wonderful! On a down side I got stung by a jellyfish. No I didn't pee on it, no I didn't die. It honestly just felt like a bee sting. So here are some pictures!

A lot of the old buildings in Cadiz are made of rock that has sea shells in it. I thought it was so pretty!

We totally crashed a wedding...

So apparently this saint will help you get married for a small price. (Don't worry people I am not that desperate!)

Guys, I didn't realize how HUGE tuna are!

We tried these things that are like figs but aren't....our guide was rather vague but they were good so that's all that matters

This is the entrance to the beach we went to.

  Today we visited Roman ruins that are only about 8 km outside of Seville. Apparently, the location was ideal for a fortress and eventually it became a town for the wealthy. These people had ginormous houses!!! They also had 2 slaves for every member of the family, which someone in my group pointed out seems silly since they could just take over. The ruins were cool overall.

Inside the amphitheater. Do you know the difference between an amphitheater and 

just a regular theater? Its that an amphitheater usually showed fights to the death. Christians died here for their faith. Thankfully, I was just walking around for pleasure.

Fun fact the word medusa in Spanish means jellyfish, I learned so I could tell my host-mom about my sting. 

A lot of the mosaics had been stolen. But my question is "How do you steal the floor?"

Finally to end my weekend I went to see a Spanish movie called "La gran familia espanola" (The big Spanish family). There was a lot of the movie I didn't understand but in the end it was a very heartwarming movie. I just wish I could have understood the whole thing. Practice makes perfect! Tomorrow, I am going to buy tickets for a bull fight. They say they are pretty gruesome but I feel I should go to get my full dosage of Spanish culture. 

Magdalenas con Magdalena and Chats with Chris

I know it has been a few days since I last blogged, but honestly until today not much of note occurred. On Tuesday the most exciting thing that happened was that our professor brought us to a convent to buy magdalenas (or muffins) from nuns. The muffins are how the nuns make their money. We stayed and chatted for a few minutes with the nuns. One was from Kenya and another had been there over 60 years. I wanted to take pictures of them because they were so sweet but I felt that would be inappropriate. The muffins were AMAZING! (Though in my very biased opinion they could have been improved by some chocolate chips).

Now I shall fast forward to today because yesterday was such a bore! Today my class visited a church (its connected to the convent we visited on Tuesday). This church is the perfect example of the convergence of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity in Seville. The church was originally a Jewish synagogue that was then rebuilt by Muslims into a church. Interestingly enough when the Muslims rebuilt the church they kept to the Jewish rule that there be no human symbols inside the church. Of course the Catholics added them later. The church, since it was a synagogue is also not laid out in the form of a crucifix like most churches. There is also a statue in the church dedicated to the first African-American saint, Saint Martin. Apparently, St. Martin always miraculously had bread to give to any hungry child that he came across. His symbol is a broom for his humility. Our professor then proceeded to get us all mini brooms as souvenirs. Before we left we talked to another nun! She didn't know how old she was because she had lost her papers, but when asked if she was happy in the convent she said she was more than happy! She also seemed like she wanted someone to talk to because we couldn't get her to stop talking to us, but that's okay, I'm sure we made her day. She then blessed us and we left. So here are some pictures from the church. I had a lot more, but the lighting was bad so a lot of them came out blurry.

Apparently, if your tombstone thingy has pillows you are important. The more pillows the more important. This particular tomb is the tomb of Hernando Cortez's daughter. 

Notice the pillars and the Star of David incorporated into the architecture. 

Me and my mini-broom! I can sweep up crumbs with it!

After class I went to the cathedral of Seville and climbed to the top of the Giralda (which I was silly and didn't actually take a picture of. Oh well, I walk by it every day on my way to class). The Giralda actually used to be a minaret because the cathedral is built where a mosque used to be. Neat thing about the Giralda is that to climb up it, you don't climb stairs, but rather ramps. The men who would do the call to prayer back in the day would ride a donkey or horse up to the top. They certainly were smart!! It was so much easier climbing ramps than stairs. There were 34 ramps in all. The cathedral is the third largest in the world surpassed only by the Vatican and St. Paul's cathedral in London. Honestly, this cathedral dwarfed Notre Dame (and sorry to the French but this cathedral is better). Here are some pictures!

Outside the cathedral is a replica of the weather-vane on top of the Giralda (Giralda in Spanish means weather-vane so that's how it got its name) 

Inside the cathedral is a courtyard where Muslims used to cleanse themselves before entering the mosque. The courtyard is filled with orange trees. (Traditionally it would be olive trees.) Apparently, the smell of the orange blossom is like unofficial scent of Seville. 

Why do they have a crocodile hanging from the ceiling you may ask? Well, back in the day, Egypt wanted to make a marriage alliance with Spain and so they sent a bunch of gifts to the king. Including a crocodile from the Nile, a giraffe that you could ride, and an elephant. Spain did not accept and the king to whom these gifts were presented is buried in the cathedral. 

According to legend, these two saints from Triana (the area where I live) came down from heaven during an earthquake to save the Giralda from falling over. Honestly, it was probably just the very smart construction of the Giralda. You know those ramps I mentioned earlier? They serve a dual purpose, they actually improve the structural integrity of the the Giralda. 

These statues, my friends, are carrying the remains of Christopher Columbus. When Chris died he wanted to be buried in the New World so he was buried in the Dominican Republic. When the French came and took over, the remains were moved to Cuba and eventually Cuba gifted the remains back to Spain. The remains are for sure Chris's because his son is also buried here and they did DNA testing to prove it. So while many churches claim Chris is there, none except Seville's cathedral know for sure. Also, to get the box open you need three keys that have been given to three different people; one of Chris's descendants, one to the bishop of the church, and one to the mayor of the city. (How very Da Vinci Code eh?) 

These are replicas of the keys that were given to the first king who conquered Seville. One of the keys has Arabic script, the other Spanish. 

Views from the top of the Giralda!

To end a picture of me and Chris spending some quality time together. I just wanted to thank him for discovering the area that then led to the to the foundation of my country!