Well everybody it's Wednesday (Hump Day), and that sucks. Luckily it's Wednesday night and almost Thursday, but unfortunately Thursday-for me-is the worst day of the week. Here's a glance at why:
Monday: School until 2:10, futbol americano 6:30-8:30
Tuesday: School until 2:10
Wednesday: School until 3, futbol americano 6:30-8:30
Thursday: School until 3
Friday: School until 1
So as you can see Thursday is a definite weak point in this schedule. It ties for "getting out of school latest" with Wednesday, but lacks the redeeming "futbol americano." In fact it has almost no redeeming qualities except that first hour is English. But even that isn't much because it just means that I'm expected to occasionally answer a question.
*RANDOM TOPIC SHIFT*
So I don't really think Spaniards understand how difficult it is to be a foreign exchange student to Spain if you are American, especially the ones who have gone/are in EEUU. For one most of them have studied English for something like seven years whereas I only had two (I technically have only been studying for two years even though I took Spanish 1-4). Also they have English injected into them daily through movies, TV, and music whereas Spanish is much harder to find in EEUU. So the people who have lived in the US for a year (they are surprisingly plentiful) think "Oh! I know what these exchange students to Spain are going trough because I went to America!" when in reality it's profoundly different.
*RANDOM TOPIC SHIFT #2*
Spaniards have discovered the secret to eternal youth/looking older when you are young. They literally do not age at all from the age of 15 to the age of 35. It's amazing. By the time they are 15 they look about like they are in their early-20's, when they are about 35 they look to be in their late-20's. For example: there is a girl in my class who looks for all the world like she should be in college... she's 16. I didn't believe her when she first told me that so she got other people to confirm it... I looked like a douche.
But that's all it from Spain for today. Sorry for the pointless ramblings but I am quite cansado. Buenas noches.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Correction
I suppose I should clarify my last post a little. What I should have said is that I can almost always understand most Spaniards so long as it is conversational Spanish, lectures at the Institute are another story. For example, on Saturday Miguel and his friend Adrian were arguing about whether Madrid or Barcelona is better (which is an extremely heated topic here), and I was able to understand not only that they were arguing about which was better, but also the individual points that they were arguing. This is a fairly normal occurrence now.
However, there are still some things that elude me which mainly fall into three main categories which I have organized from least frustrating to most:
1) The Lola*
This category is all the people who have an accent (which is kind of ironic because I have a massive one). Lola is my professor de mates and has one of the most odd/annoying accent/lisps I've ever heard. It's even hard for the other students to understand her sometimes so I have companions in incomprehension, thus this category is the least frustrating.
2) The Javier*
This category is for all that vocabulary that I just don't have. What makes this so frustrating is that when I go home and look up what a word means, it's usually either so painfully obvious that I kick myself for not realizing it or it's impossible to remember. Anyway Javier is my psicologia professor and loves to whip out words that I don't understand, so for that I name this category for him.
3) The Pilar*
While I get better and listening everyday, there are still people who at times just talk too fast. The best example of this is Pilar, profesora de historia. She has a voice like a Sine wave. She'll start off talking in a normal tone (but really fast), progress to shouting (but enunciating her words very clearly), regress back to a normal (but fast) tone, continue to get quieter and quieter until she is almost whispering (but again enunciating very clearly), and finally return to her normal (but fast) tone to complete the cycle. She does this the whole period.
*The people for whom the categories are named are not the only ones I have trouble understanding, merely the best examples of their respective categories.
Anyway, all this comprehension has come as a result of a realization I had the other day about the Spanish language in general. This may sound a tad stupid, but it's the truth so live with it.
The Spanish language is not, in fact, a language but rather more like a mental state. You have to live the language, not just learn it. To be honest this kind of sucks because it means you have to make the decision to not only talk in only Spanish, but also THINK in only Spanish. And that isn't a decision that you can just make and that's that. You have to keep making it every single minute of every single day, constantly forcing yourself to use only Spanish. It's exhausting.
Luckily after a while thinking in only Spanish starts to get a little easier, but at the cost of your English skills. For example, today I was day-dreaming in economy class and tried to translate my thoughts from Spanish into English (which I like to do every once and a while just to make sure that what I am saying makes sense), and I just couldn't do it. It wasn't that I was thinking great abstract thoughts that have no literal translation in English (it was something about tires), I just couldn't make my mind think in English at that point in time. It was a very odd feeling.
Anywho, I should get going.
However, there are still some things that elude me which mainly fall into three main categories which I have organized from least frustrating to most:
1) The Lola*
This category is all the people who have an accent (which is kind of ironic because I have a massive one). Lola is my professor de mates and has one of the most odd/annoying accent/lisps I've ever heard. It's even hard for the other students to understand her sometimes so I have companions in incomprehension, thus this category is the least frustrating.
2) The Javier*
This category is for all that vocabulary that I just don't have. What makes this so frustrating is that when I go home and look up what a word means, it's usually either so painfully obvious that I kick myself for not realizing it or it's impossible to remember. Anyway Javier is my psicologia professor and loves to whip out words that I don't understand, so for that I name this category for him.
3) The Pilar*
While I get better and listening everyday, there are still people who at times just talk too fast. The best example of this is Pilar, profesora de historia. She has a voice like a Sine wave. She'll start off talking in a normal tone (but really fast), progress to shouting (but enunciating her words very clearly), regress back to a normal (but fast) tone, continue to get quieter and quieter until she is almost whispering (but again enunciating very clearly), and finally return to her normal (but fast) tone to complete the cycle. She does this the whole period.
*The people for whom the categories are named are not the only ones I have trouble understanding, merely the best examples of their respective categories.
Anyway, all this comprehension has come as a result of a realization I had the other day about the Spanish language in general. This may sound a tad stupid, but it's the truth so live with it.
The Spanish language is not, in fact, a language but rather more like a mental state. You have to live the language, not just learn it. To be honest this kind of sucks because it means you have to make the decision to not only talk in only Spanish, but also THINK in only Spanish. And that isn't a decision that you can just make and that's that. You have to keep making it every single minute of every single day, constantly forcing yourself to use only Spanish. It's exhausting.
Luckily after a while thinking in only Spanish starts to get a little easier, but at the cost of your English skills. For example, today I was day-dreaming in economy class and tried to translate my thoughts from Spanish into English (which I like to do every once and a while just to make sure that what I am saying makes sense), and I just couldn't do it. It wasn't that I was thinking great abstract thoughts that have no literal translation in English (it was something about tires), I just couldn't make my mind think in English at that point in time. It was a very odd feeling.
Anywho, I should get going.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Ay! Mi amor! Yo te he buscado por fin!
Football! Football! Football!!! ... But I'm getting ahead of myself.
So today I had my first exam in Lengua Castellana. Lucky me huh? Well it wasn't all bad because the teacher realize after about 5 seconds (and I'm not exaggerating) that I didn't have a chance of taking that test. So she wrote me up 3 questions to answer. They were:
Describe tu familia y ciudad.
Que te gusta mas aqui?
Que echo de menos?
I won't bother with the description but I will inform you of my other two answers!
The thing I like the most here is the food. At first it was like getting drop-kicked in the face by a large burly man named Chuck because the flavor was so strong. But now I love it. I have a LOT more to say on the topic of food and one of these days I'll get up the motivation to write about it.
The thing I miss the most I am sad to say was football (the other day I found my doodles turning into pass routes). But that's because it was on my mind because today was the day I started playing futbol americano here in Spain.
There's a team here in Las Rozas that practices less than a kilometer from my house so I can walk there are back if I need to. It's actually one of only three teams in all of Madrid (which means it's probably one of about 10 in Spain) and they're called the Black Demons... now read that again and try to tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor!
So anyway, today was the first day and I am happy to say I would have done Coach Roth proud. There wasn't a single person who I was guarding that caught a pass, and after the first hour the coaches had started asking me questions about how to do some things. I must say it's quite satisfying to go from semi-decent JV player to varsity all-star without actually doing anything other than get on a plane! So I have so high hopes for this spanish-american-football.
Anywho it's getting late and I do have school in the morning even if it is only ingles first hour.
So today I had my first exam in Lengua Castellana. Lucky me huh? Well it wasn't all bad because the teacher realize after about 5 seconds (and I'm not exaggerating) that I didn't have a chance of taking that test. So she wrote me up 3 questions to answer. They were:
Describe tu familia y ciudad.
Que te gusta mas aqui?
Que echo de menos?
I won't bother with the description but I will inform you of my other two answers!
The thing I like the most here is the food. At first it was like getting drop-kicked in the face by a large burly man named Chuck because the flavor was so strong. But now I love it. I have a LOT more to say on the topic of food and one of these days I'll get up the motivation to write about it.
The thing I miss the most I am sad to say was football (the other day I found my doodles turning into pass routes). But that's because it was on my mind because today was the day I started playing futbol americano here in Spain.
There's a team here in Las Rozas that practices less than a kilometer from my house so I can walk there are back if I need to. It's actually one of only three teams in all of Madrid (which means it's probably one of about 10 in Spain) and they're called the Black Demons... now read that again and try to tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor!
So anyway, today was the first day and I am happy to say I would have done Coach Roth proud. There wasn't a single person who I was guarding that caught a pass, and after the first hour the coaches had started asking me questions about how to do some things. I must say it's quite satisfying to go from semi-decent JV player to varsity all-star without actually doing anything other than get on a plane! So I have so high hopes for this spanish-american-football.
Anywho it's getting late and I do have school in the morning even if it is only ingles first hour.
Friday, October 9, 2009
"And that's the way it was."
So I don't have the motivation to write about food (it's a pretty big topic), so instead I am writing about the differences between Spain and E.E.U.U.
#1) Swearing in more common. Actually it's more like pretty much everyone does it... parents, little kid, teachers, etc. Everyone is just kind of desensitized to what we would call "bad words." To them they are just strong words. (Not that they won't take offense if you call them something bad.)
#2) Man-jewelry. Most guys have at least one earring and it's not unusual to have 2-3 piercings. Guys wearing bracelets, necklaces (especially one's that have a cross or some other religious medallion), and rings way more here than in Iowa.
#3) They live on a different schedule. Lunch is usually at 2 and supper is usually at 9. They still eat breakfast at 7 though. And they also eat at 11 and 5-6.
#4) There are mountains.
#5) The temperature is about 70 right now and there isn't a cloud in the sky... and this isn't usual weather.
#6) People don't say thank-you as much. When I first got here they were constantly remarking how odd it was that I was constantly thanking them for everything when I wasn't saying thank-you more than I normally do. I was talking to some people who were intercambios TO Iowa last year and they said they were kind of shocked at how much the were expected to thank people. This leads to...
#7) People are much more honest about their feelings. When I first got here I thought everyone was a tad temperamental because they would start yelling at each other over the smallest things, but that's just how they are. When they are mad, they yell. When they are sad, they cry. When they are really truly thankful, they say thank-you.
#8) Bread is awesome. I'm convinced that it is baked daily by God and just dropped down to the bakeries. (They use the chimneys as funnels to catch it.) It's amazing normally, and then I had some that had JUST come out of the oven. But candy ain't got nothing on that.
#9) If you're in school, you study like 1-2 hours everyday. The other American in my class asked somebody if he wanted to do something after school (and this person is probably the least studious in the class) and the reply was "Dude. It's Monday. I have to study!"
#10) There are no penalties in school for skipping of being tardy. However, if you ARE tardy the teacher might just refuse to admit you to class because all the doors have to be opened from the inside.
#11) The teachers also don't really do anything if you talk in class except maybe tell you to leave. So there will be times-especially in lengua castellana-where the whole class is carrying on a conversation.
#12) There aren't really clocks anywhere... you have to either have a watch or a cellphone to know what time it is.
#13) Racism is-at least in my area-much more common. Calling someone a faggot (pardon my French) is trite, but calling someone a Moor is grounds for bloodshed.
#14) Everybody smokes, unless they have a medical condition which prevents them from doing so.
#15) Everybody drinks, no exceptions.
#16) They LOVE tomatoes, vinegar, and olive oil. Everything is cooked with olive oil, usually has tomatoes in some way, and the often pour vinegar on it once it's on their plates.
#17) Clothes cost a ton. It's a big sale if you can get a shirt for 30 Euros.
#18) They don't drink very much water. I find this odd because I drink a ton compared to them, and I am still dehydrated all the time. So maybe I am just lacking the Spanish genes that allow me to retain water. Who knows?
#19) Little kids drink coffee all the time. And their coffee is more akin to espresso than to our coffee.
#20) This one isn't really a difference, but everyone thinks I am Russian. Nobody over here really has freckles... or my color hair (Whatever it is. It's getting redder)... and rarely pasty colored skin (although it's probably more common than in the US). So they all know right away that I am foreign. But people rarely guess than I am American. I have actually had strangers come up to me and ask if I am Russian. It's quite odd.
So that's my list... there are more but I am lazy.
#1) Swearing in more common. Actually it's more like pretty much everyone does it... parents, little kid, teachers, etc. Everyone is just kind of desensitized to what we would call "bad words." To them they are just strong words. (Not that they won't take offense if you call them something bad.)
#2) Man-jewelry. Most guys have at least one earring and it's not unusual to have 2-3 piercings. Guys wearing bracelets, necklaces (especially one's that have a cross or some other religious medallion), and rings way more here than in Iowa.
#3) They live on a different schedule. Lunch is usually at 2 and supper is usually at 9. They still eat breakfast at 7 though. And they also eat at 11 and 5-6.
#4) There are mountains.
#5) The temperature is about 70 right now and there isn't a cloud in the sky... and this isn't usual weather.
#6) People don't say thank-you as much. When I first got here they were constantly remarking how odd it was that I was constantly thanking them for everything when I wasn't saying thank-you more than I normally do. I was talking to some people who were intercambios TO Iowa last year and they said they were kind of shocked at how much the were expected to thank people. This leads to...
#7) People are much more honest about their feelings. When I first got here I thought everyone was a tad temperamental because they would start yelling at each other over the smallest things, but that's just how they are. When they are mad, they yell. When they are sad, they cry. When they are really truly thankful, they say thank-you.
#8) Bread is awesome. I'm convinced that it is baked daily by God and just dropped down to the bakeries. (They use the chimneys as funnels to catch it.) It's amazing normally, and then I had some that had JUST come out of the oven. But candy ain't got nothing on that.
#9) If you're in school, you study like 1-2 hours everyday. The other American in my class asked somebody if he wanted to do something after school (and this person is probably the least studious in the class) and the reply was "Dude. It's Monday. I have to study!"
#10) There are no penalties in school for skipping of being tardy. However, if you ARE tardy the teacher might just refuse to admit you to class because all the doors have to be opened from the inside.
#11) The teachers also don't really do anything if you talk in class except maybe tell you to leave. So there will be times-especially in lengua castellana-where the whole class is carrying on a conversation.
#12) There aren't really clocks anywhere... you have to either have a watch or a cellphone to know what time it is.
#13) Racism is-at least in my area-much more common. Calling someone a faggot (pardon my French) is trite, but calling someone a Moor is grounds for bloodshed.
#14) Everybody smokes, unless they have a medical condition which prevents them from doing so.
#15) Everybody drinks, no exceptions.
#16) They LOVE tomatoes, vinegar, and olive oil. Everything is cooked with olive oil, usually has tomatoes in some way, and the often pour vinegar on it once it's on their plates.
#17) Clothes cost a ton. It's a big sale if you can get a shirt for 30 Euros.
#18) They don't drink very much water. I find this odd because I drink a ton compared to them, and I am still dehydrated all the time. So maybe I am just lacking the Spanish genes that allow me to retain water. Who knows?
#19) Little kids drink coffee all the time. And their coffee is more akin to espresso than to our coffee.
#20) This one isn't really a difference, but everyone thinks I am Russian. Nobody over here really has freckles... or my color hair (Whatever it is. It's getting redder)... and rarely pasty colored skin (although it's probably more common than in the US). So they all know right away that I am foreign. But people rarely guess than I am American. I have actually had strangers come up to me and ask if I am Russian. It's quite odd.
So that's my list... there are more but I am lazy.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
La familia Moreta
So I suppose I should write something about my host family since they are kind of letting me live in their house for a year... Anyway there's 8 of them.
Daniel (Padre) is the CFO for a company called Sedecal that sells medical equipment world-wide. They have offices in Madrid, Chicago, and Beijing. He works a ton and I don't actually see him that much. He usually leaves before I get up at 7:00 and gets home sometime between 18:00 and 1:00 (usually closer to 1:00 than 18:00). He was in Chicago last week and when he got back (at 6:00), he came home, took a shower, and went to work. He is definitely one of the hardest working people I know.
Silvia probably works even harder than Daniel because she is always working! They don't have any alarm clocks in any of the bedrooms because Silvia wakes everyone up when they need to be woken up each morning. Breakfast is the only meal she doesn't cook for everyone everyday in addition to doing all the laundry (which also includes ironing everything from dress shirts to jeans to my Under Armor. They seriously hate wrinkles here). She also cleans the whole house when it needs clean; picks me, Sofia, and Paola up from school everyday; does all the shopping; and is basically one of the nicest people I've ever met.
Guillermo is the oldest of the hijos at 23. He's in his final year at university and is studying to become and engineer. I am probably more like him that anyone else in the house. Whenever we go to the fiestas or anything like that I always go home early with him because neither of us has the desire to stay for 8 hours. He also spends hours on the computer reading manga and watching anime. He's a huge One Piece and Bleach fan (for those of you who have any idea what that is) so we get along pretty well just because of that! He's also asthmatic like and a little bit of a hypochondriac, but I think that's because he gets sick pretty easily. For those of you who didn't know this, Guillermo is the Spanish version of William.
Miguel is the second son and he just turn 22 a week ago. He's studying Law and Economy. He also spent a month as an exchange student in England when he was younger, so his English is just about perfect. He's the one that we call when something needs to be explained. Everybody tries to get me to call him "Papi" because he is always worrying about how everything is going for me and he's also the one that keeps track of me when we go somewhere so I don't get kill by Spaniards or something along those lines. One time a friend and I played joke on him pretending that I had gotten lost during the fiestas and he totally freaked out! His name is the Spanish version of Michael and he is so named because he was born on El Dia de San Miguel which is a big deal here.
Daniel (hijo) is the third son at the age of 20 and is technically named Angel Daniel, but everyone just calls him Dani. He's is studying to be an industrial mechanic. He's one of those people who can fix just about anything if you give him 5 minutes and a spoon. He's the one that I share a room with but at the same time he is the one that I see the least. Partially because he speaks the least English but I also think he feels kind of uncomfortable with the whole random-foreign-kid-who-can-barely-speak-Spanish-sleeping-in-my-room-and-awkwardly-walking-around-my-house-for-a-year thing. Not that he isn't extremely nice, he just seems like he doesn't know what so say to me.
Rafael is 16 and the last boy. He is in the Rotary Exchange Program too and is living in Kingston, NY. I honestly can't say too much about him because I've never actually met him.
Paola is 11 and goes to the same school as me. I would probably have never gotten to school the first day I rode the bus without her because she has at least SOME idea of what's going on. But it's also her first year at El Instito, so sometimes we get lost but at least I am lost with somebody who speaks Spanish! Plus there's the added benefit that if there's a word to describe Paola it's sensible. She really loves Spanish dance which I can't remember what it's called but it's pretty intense and not flamenco. I think she was a little freaked out by the whole random-foreign-kid-who-can-barely-speak-Spanish-awkwardly-walking-around-my-house-for-a-year-and-following-me-the-whole-way-to-school thing but I think she's starting to get used to it.
Sofia is only 5 but makes up for by talking about 5 times as much and at least twice as loud. When I got here I couldn't understand a single word that came out of her mouth because it all sounded like a high-pitched squeal, but now I can usually understand most of what she's saying. She's also is a bit of a drama queen. For example, today I shoved the dog out of my room with my foot so she didn't speak to me for a couple hours because she thought I was being mean.
Well that's all eight so I'm all done. Tomorrow I might write about food if I have the courage.
Daniel (Padre) is the CFO for a company called Sedecal that sells medical equipment world-wide. They have offices in Madrid, Chicago, and Beijing. He works a ton and I don't actually see him that much. He usually leaves before I get up at 7:00 and gets home sometime between 18:00 and 1:00 (usually closer to 1:00 than 18:00). He was in Chicago last week and when he got back (at 6:00), he came home, took a shower, and went to work. He is definitely one of the hardest working people I know.
Silvia probably works even harder than Daniel because she is always working! They don't have any alarm clocks in any of the bedrooms because Silvia wakes everyone up when they need to be woken up each morning. Breakfast is the only meal she doesn't cook for everyone everyday in addition to doing all the laundry (which also includes ironing everything from dress shirts to jeans to my Under Armor. They seriously hate wrinkles here). She also cleans the whole house when it needs clean; picks me, Sofia, and Paola up from school everyday; does all the shopping; and is basically one of the nicest people I've ever met.
Guillermo is the oldest of the hijos at 23. He's in his final year at university and is studying to become and engineer. I am probably more like him that anyone else in the house. Whenever we go to the fiestas or anything like that I always go home early with him because neither of us has the desire to stay for 8 hours. He also spends hours on the computer reading manga and watching anime. He's a huge One Piece and Bleach fan (for those of you who have any idea what that is) so we get along pretty well just because of that! He's also asthmatic like and a little bit of a hypochondriac, but I think that's because he gets sick pretty easily. For those of you who didn't know this, Guillermo is the Spanish version of William.
Miguel is the second son and he just turn 22 a week ago. He's studying Law and Economy. He also spent a month as an exchange student in England when he was younger, so his English is just about perfect. He's the one that we call when something needs to be explained. Everybody tries to get me to call him "Papi" because he is always worrying about how everything is going for me and he's also the one that keeps track of me when we go somewhere so I don't get kill by Spaniards or something along those lines. One time a friend and I played joke on him pretending that I had gotten lost during the fiestas and he totally freaked out! His name is the Spanish version of Michael and he is so named because he was born on El Dia de San Miguel which is a big deal here.
Daniel (hijo) is the third son at the age of 20 and is technically named Angel Daniel, but everyone just calls him Dani. He's is studying to be an industrial mechanic. He's one of those people who can fix just about anything if you give him 5 minutes and a spoon. He's the one that I share a room with but at the same time he is the one that I see the least. Partially because he speaks the least English but I also think he feels kind of uncomfortable with the whole random-foreign-kid-who-can-barely-speak-Spanish-sleeping-in-my-room-and-awkwardly-walking-around-my-house-for-a-year thing. Not that he isn't extremely nice, he just seems like he doesn't know what so say to me.
Rafael is 16 and the last boy. He is in the Rotary Exchange Program too and is living in Kingston, NY. I honestly can't say too much about him because I've never actually met him.
Paola is 11 and goes to the same school as me. I would probably have never gotten to school the first day I rode the bus without her because she has at least SOME idea of what's going on. But it's also her first year at El Instito, so sometimes we get lost but at least I am lost with somebody who speaks Spanish! Plus there's the added benefit that if there's a word to describe Paola it's sensible. She really loves Spanish dance which I can't remember what it's called but it's pretty intense and not flamenco. I think she was a little freaked out by the whole random-foreign-kid-who-can-barely-speak-Spanish-awkwardly-walking-around-my-house-for-a-year-and-following-me-the-whole-way-to-school thing but I think she's starting to get used to it.
Sofia is only 5 but makes up for by talking about 5 times as much and at least twice as loud. When I got here I couldn't understand a single word that came out of her mouth because it all sounded like a high-pitched squeal, but now I can usually understand most of what she's saying. She's also is a bit of a drama queen. For example, today I shoved the dog out of my room with my foot so she didn't speak to me for a couple hours because she thought I was being mean.
Well that's all eight so I'm all done. Tomorrow I might write about food if I have the courage.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Party! Party! Party! Party! sleep. (repeat) This is life during the weekend.
So today I'm talking about the fiestas in Spain.
Fiesta has 16 definitions which are:
You also have to be extremely careful at these festivals. The first night I was at the festivals in Las Rozas I saw 3 fights that were all quite entertaining. Unfortunately these festivals also have a habit of turning into riots at about 6 so it's usually a good idea to leave at about 5 because after that things can get rather nasty. (Apparently the police showed up in riot gear at about 6:30 on Saturday night. I had already left but two of my host brothers stayed until 7 or 8.) Now all you Americans are probably saying "Why on earth would you still be out at 5 AM?!" But you have to remember that everything is several hours later here. I usually eat lunch at 3 and supper at 9 or 10. So people don't actually start leaving their houses until about 12-1, so it's not really that late just scheduled differently.
Before I continue I would like to point out that if you aren't drunk and don't try to mess with any drunk people, you will be fine. They fiestas are also a good deal of fun so if you ever get the opportunity to attend don't avoid it because something bad might happen.
But that's about it for fiestas because I have to go. I got invited to join an american football team so we're going to go check that out.
Fiesta has 16 definitions which are:
- party
- holiday
- feast
- feast day
- leap day
- fete
- feteday
- shindy
- shindig
- convocation
- frolic
- do
- junket
- gala
- carnival
- festival
You also have to be extremely careful at these festivals. The first night I was at the festivals in Las Rozas I saw 3 fights that were all quite entertaining. Unfortunately these festivals also have a habit of turning into riots at about 6 so it's usually a good idea to leave at about 5 because after that things can get rather nasty. (Apparently the police showed up in riot gear at about 6:30 on Saturday night. I had already left but two of my host brothers stayed until 7 or 8.) Now all you Americans are probably saying "Why on earth would you still be out at 5 AM?!" But you have to remember that everything is several hours later here. I usually eat lunch at 3 and supper at 9 or 10. So people don't actually start leaving their houses until about 12-1, so it's not really that late just scheduled differently.
Before I continue I would like to point out that if you aren't drunk and don't try to mess with any drunk people, you will be fine. They fiestas are also a good deal of fun so if you ever get the opportunity to attend don't avoid it because something bad might happen.
But that's about it for fiestas because I have to go. I got invited to join an american football team so we're going to go check that out.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Oh I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Weiner... That understood Spanish.
So day's theme is bullfights:
Today, I went to the bullfights for the second day in a row, and I have to say I like it. There's the argument that it's cruel and barbaric, but I for one would much rather be a bull that dies to the applause of hundreds after a fight to the death than a dog that lives in some fashionista's purse who is only there because of some stupid trend and will probably eventually be dumped on the street or euthanized.
Here's is a description of what happens in a bullfight. I just have a couple of corrections/additions.
1) The bull probably weighs more than 1000 lbs. These things are big! I saw one get his horns underneath the picador's horse's belly and pick them both up! And the picador's horses ain't no prancing ponies either! That and the fact that they are wearing leather armor and carrying an overweight, middle-aged man on it's back make picking it up rather remarkable.
2) The bull doesn't become more aggressive towards the end. By then it has lost a lot of blood and is pretty much just tired.
3) The bull actually does very little all out charging. It charges into the ring and runs about a bit. But then it eventually settles down and starts trying to kill things instead of trying to run them over. During the final stage the matador is rarely more than 20 ft from the bull.
4) In my opinion the banderilleros are the real heroes of the show. They have to reach over a charging bulls horns in order to stick the banderillas in the bulls shoulders and they don't have the luxury of hiding behind a cape!
5) After the matador stabs the bull in the heart it doesn't die instantly, it runs around a bit and then collapses. Then the matador's assistant steps up and stabs in the spinal column with a short knife thus killing it. So the matador isn't actually the only that kills the bull (so it's something of a misnomer).
6) When the bull is dead the people wave handkerchiefs if they believe that the matador has done a good job. If the president agrees, he will wave his too and thus the matador gets 1 or both of the ears depending on how the president waves his handkerchief. If he has done an amazing job that surpasses all expectations then the matador gets the tail as well.
7) While the conclusion is the death of the bull, that's not what the show is about. Despite all the machismo and swagger of the matadors it's really the ultimate version of a nerd's dream where superior intelligence dominates something that has almost every physical advantage (speed, strength, horns, etc).
Well that's all for tonight. I'll probably post pictures on Facebook eventually.
Today, I went to the bullfights for the second day in a row, and I have to say I like it. There's the argument that it's cruel and barbaric, but I for one would much rather be a bull that dies to the applause of hundreds after a fight to the death than a dog that lives in some fashionista's purse who is only there because of some stupid trend and will probably eventually be dumped on the street or euthanized.
Here's is a description of what happens in a bullfight. I just have a couple of corrections/additions.
1) The bull probably weighs more than 1000 lbs. These things are big! I saw one get his horns underneath the picador's horse's belly and pick them both up! And the picador's horses ain't no prancing ponies either! That and the fact that they are wearing leather armor and carrying an overweight, middle-aged man on it's back make picking it up rather remarkable.
2) The bull doesn't become more aggressive towards the end. By then it has lost a lot of blood and is pretty much just tired.
3) The bull actually does very little all out charging. It charges into the ring and runs about a bit. But then it eventually settles down and starts trying to kill things instead of trying to run them over. During the final stage the matador is rarely more than 20 ft from the bull.
4) In my opinion the banderilleros are the real heroes of the show. They have to reach over a charging bulls horns in order to stick the banderillas in the bulls shoulders and they don't have the luxury of hiding behind a cape!
5) After the matador stabs the bull in the heart it doesn't die instantly, it runs around a bit and then collapses. Then the matador's assistant steps up and stabs in the spinal column with a short knife thus killing it. So the matador isn't actually the only that kills the bull (so it's something of a misnomer).
6) When the bull is dead the people wave handkerchiefs if they believe that the matador has done a good job. If the president agrees, he will wave his too and thus the matador gets 1 or both of the ears depending on how the president waves his handkerchief. If he has done an amazing job that surpasses all expectations then the matador gets the tail as well.
7) While the conclusion is the death of the bull, that's not what the show is about. Despite all the machismo and swagger of the matadors it's really the ultimate version of a nerd's dream where superior intelligence dominates something that has almost every physical advantage (speed, strength, horns, etc).
Well that's all for tonight. I'll probably post pictures on Facebook eventually.
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