What a long and wonderful weekend!!
Thursday I finally went and visited my school and got to meet all of the students and faculty. There are 800 students in my school with almost 30 to a class. What is interesting is that the teachers rotate classrooms instead of students. There are 3 one hour classes in the morning, 30 mins for recess, and then 2 fourty-five min classes in the afternoon. School flies by! The only place that has A/C in the school is the teacher’s lounge, hell yeah. Also when we opened the fridge, there were sooo many six packs of beer. Yes I said it, teachers drink beer on their planning hour in Spain. I wonder how long it will take me to grow the balls to bring in my own. Abita Andygator anyone??
Thursday night my roomies and I got wind of a party that was being thrown for international students and a bar called Saxo in the center of Huelva. The girls and I decided to have Taco Night and drink drink drink. The tacos turned out to be delicious. After all they do carry the Old Paso taco kits like they do in the states. We downed beer after beer and threw in a few glasses of Sangria. We sat and talked for hours, listened to music, and had a great time… a real roommate bonding experience.
The party didn’t start until midnight so we were well on our way to drunk by the time we started walking downtown. We got so lost and didn’t arrive until 1:30AM! There were still plenty of people there. Many people had their face painted with the flag from their country… because one, it was an international party and two, from 12-1 it was happy hour and you got a free shot if you had your face painted. The girls and I didn’t have our faces painted and even if we did, we wouldn’t have made it in time. We met a few people from Italy, London, etc. But mostly we were the Americans in the corner drinking beer and deciding that though we might be drunk we were not drunk enough to join the seven people on the dance floor. After Jen made a comment about us being awkward I jumped out in the middle of the bar and busted a move… poorly, but what the heck? I don’t know any of you people anyways. Like good friends the girls were right behind me and we danced for a song or two. Spice Girls inevitably came on and we sang our hearts out. By 3AM we were ready to call it a night… and look for the McDonald’s by our apartment. After stumbling back towards our edge of town we decided Mickey D’s was too far and that leftover tacos were a better choice.
Friday morning came and went until we all started stirring around two in the afternoon. We don’t work on Fridays so what the heck?! Friday we spent laying around went to our usual café for a little while. We even went and bought a DVD player! It took forever to set up but like the genius I am I got it working. The player came with a movie that was absolutely terrible. It was in black and white, the sounds effects and voices didn’t even match up with the actions. Buutt the girls and I took it easy and called it a night early.
On Saturday we got up bright and early to head to the beach. We wanted to go somewhere different and the first bus out of the station was for Isla Christina. It was very beautiful. There were tons of pine trees, which look a lot different from the ones at home, sand dunes, and blue water. The water was too cold to swim in but I enjoyed wading in it after being out in the sun. Sarah and I collected seashells that were scattered across the sand and adventured out into the dunes to check it out. We had to take a taxi to and from the station because it was too far to walk. So while waiting for the taxi to come pick us up, I got stung by a yellow jacket! All weekend it has been incredibly swollen and itchy. How annoying!
Saturday night Sarah’s friend Alejandro from Seville came into town and we decided to take him out for drinks and dinner. Ale is originally from Argentina but grew up in Seville so he doesn’t speak very much English at all and his accent is terrible! We enjoyed talking with him and it actually shocked me how much I understood and was able to communicate back to him. We first went to Buddha Bar which is a rooftop bar by the movie theater. We learned how to order mixed drinks from Ale and whoa, they make their drinks strong here. One part mixer to three parts liquor…Holy! Needless to say our Spanish was flowing good, or so we thought, by the time we were done drinking. By 11 we decided to head to dinner because we all hadn’t eaten since lunch. We chose La Mirta which was the second best restaurant in Huelva according to Trip Advisor. We got a few glasses of wine as the place was packed! At midnight the place was busy!! For dinner! I am still getting used to this. We finally got a table and ordered two cheese plates, a fish plate, lasagna, and chicken with fries. In Spain you order small dishes and share amongst the table. The small dishes are called Tapas. We ate until we got our fill and our jaws were sore from laughing and speaking in Spanglish. We turned in about 1.
Sunday was a lazy day but that is always the case in Southern Spain. All the shops are closed and everyone is spending time with family and taking strolls around town. Sarah heard of a mock bullfight that was going on in the town she teaches in, Palos. We decided to pack up and head that way to check it out. We bought our tickets and squeezed in this small arena to watch the men take on the bulls for this festival. I think we were about 10 mins into the bullfight when we realized this was the real deal. They were stabbing the bull and it was gushing blood. People were cheering and us three American girls were sitting there in shock. What did we get ourselves into!? Ale told us that there were going to be 6 bulls killed and we were almost sick. I tried to look past the animal cruelty part and acknowledge the tradition and how the men were so good at their craft. I could tell the men had trained for years in what they were doing and I respected them for that.
Spanish-style bullfighting is called
corrida de toros (literally "running of bulls") or
la fiesta ("the festival"). In a traditional corrida, three
matadores, each fight two bulls, each of which is between four and six years old and weighs no less than 460 kg (1,014 lb)
[8] Each matador has six assistants—two
picadores ("lancers on horseback") mounted on horseback, three
banderilleros – who along with the matadors are collectively known as
toreros ("bullfighters") – and a
mozo de espadas ("sword page"). Collectively they comprise a
cuadrilla ("entourage"). The word "matador" is only used in English whereas in Spanish the more general "torero" is used and only when needed to distinguish the full title "matador de toros" is used.
The modern corrida is highly ritualized, with three distinct stages or
tercios ("thirds"), the start of each being announced by a bugle sound. The participants first enter the arena in a parade, called the
paseíllo, to salute the presiding dignitary, accompanied by band music. Torero costumes are inspired by 17th century Andalusian clothing, and matadores are easily distinguished by the gold of their
traje de luces ("suit of lights") as opposed to the lesser banderilleros who are also called
toreros de plata ("bullfighters of silver"). Next, the bull enters the ring to be tested for ferocity by the
matador and
banderilleros with the magenta and gold
capote ("cape"). This is the first stage, the
tercio de varas ("the lancing third"), and the matador first confronts the bull with the capote, performing a series of passes and observing the behavior and quirks of the bull.
Next, a picador enters the arena on horseback armed with a vara ("lance"). To protect the horse from the bull's horns, the horse is surrounded by a protective, padded covering called "peto". Prior to 1930, the horse did not wear any protection, and the bull would usually disembowel the horse during this stage. Until this change was instituted, the number of horses killed during a fight was higher than the number of bulls killed.
[9]
At this point, the picador stabs just behind the
morrillo, a mound of muscle on the fighting bull's neck, weakening the neck muscles and leading to the animal's first loss of blood. The manner in which the bull charges the horse provides important clues to the matador about which side the bull favors. If the picador is successful, the bull will hold its head and horns slightly lower during the following stages of the fight. This ultimately enables the matador to perform the killing thrust later in the performance. The encounter with the picador often fundamentally changes the behaviour of a bull, distracted and unengaging bulls will become more focused and stay on a single target instead of charging at everything that moves.
In the next stage, the
tercio de banderillas ("the third of banderillas"), the three banderilleros each attempt to plant two
banderillas, sharp barbed sticks into the bull's shoulders. These anger and invigorate, but further weaken, the bull who has been tired by his attacks on the horse and the damage he has taken from the lance. Sometimes a matador will place his own banderillas. If they do so they usually embellish this part of their performance and employ more varied manoeuvres than the standard "al cuarteo" method usually used by Banderilleros that are part of a Matador's cuadrilla.
In the final stage, the
tercio de muerte ("the third of death"), the matador re-enters the ring alone with a small red cape, or
muleta, and a sword. It is a common misconception that the color red is supposed to anger the bull, because bulls, in fact, are
colorblind.
[10][11] The cape is thought to be red to mask the bull's blood, although this is now also a matter of tradition. The matador uses his cape to attract the bull in a series of passes which serve the dual purpose of wearing the animal down for the kill and producing a beautiful display or
faena. He may also demonstrate his domination over the bull by caping it especially close to his body. The faena is the entire performance with the muleta and it is usually broken down into
tandas, "series", of passes. The faena ends with a final series of passes in which the matador with a muleta attempts to maneuver the bull into a position to stab it between the shoulder blades and through the aorta or heart. The sword is called "estoque" and the act of thrusting the sword is called an
estocada. The estoque used by the matador during the faena is called estoque simulado. This estoque simulado is made out of wood or aluminum. In contrast to the estoque de verdad (real sword) which is made out of steel and is used for the estocada the estoque simulado is lighter and therefore much easier to handle. However, at the end of the tercio de muerte at the time when the matador has finished his faena the matador will change his estoque simolado for the estoque de verdad to perform the estocada.
If the matador has performed particularly well, the crowd may petition the president to award the matador an ear of the bull by waving white handkerchiefs. If his performance was exceptional, he will award two, and in certain more rural rings a tail can still be awarded.
So there it is, what happened. Thanks Wikipedia... and there's your source.
I am about to Skype my man for the first time! I feel like it's our first date or seomthing, I am so anxious and nervous!!! :)
