Farewell, Españas

So I guess this is my last blog from Spain!  I'll do one more in a week or so about what it's like to readjust to life in the states, but that's about it.  Thanks for reading!  Anyway,...
It's sad.  Everyone is so tired from traveling and 6 weeks of sleep deprivation that they don't even have the energy to go out and "burn the town"(english equivalent=taking the town by storm) like we've been talking about.  Therefore we are all just chilling in McDonald's next door (free wifi) and then maybe walking around for a few minutes.  A bit anticlimactic, but I'm ok with it.  I already miss Cádiz though-it was so sad to leave our house-mother.  She watched us out the door, then went to a window to watch us go down the stairs, then a different window to watch us go down the street.  She was crying, I almost cried, and we kissed eachother goodbye/hugged I think 7 times.  I pray sincerely that I get to see that wonderful lady again at some point in my life, and that we can stay in touch in the mean time.  She was truly one of the best, if not the best, parts about this trip.  Anyway, I'm heading home in the morning, so I can't wait to see all of you in person and tell even more stories. Hope you have lots of questions, and that I've sparked your interest in the land that's caught my heart forever.  Adios!

And so the page turns...

Blog:
It's my last week in Cádiz!  Kind of bitter sweet.  I love it here, and would come back in a heart beat.  However, I am at that point at which I miss a lot about home too-I have a jam-pack life there with people, activities, responsibilities, etc. that just won't go into my suitcase, and I am looking forward to coming back to them.  Anyway...
This weekend has been pretty cool.  We went to a Jazz/Bossa Nova concert on Thursday, which was pretty cool.  Then on Friday we had a packed Flamenco night.  FIrst we had flamenco dance lessons (the hardest dance I've ever attempted--including West Coast Swing).  Afterwards we ate really quickly then went to a competition between Flamenco singers, which was very interesting.  Also, this weekend the group that is studying in Valencia through UGA en España came down, so we hung out with them on the beach and took them to tapas and to show them the night life.  It felt cool to be able to share what we've learned in the past few weeks this weekend.  This morning, after finally getting up at 11 (such a hard life), we went to this local flea market that they have every Sunday near our school.  Like any flea market, it was a lot of junk with some really cool stuff mixed in.  However, there were a couple of differences.  For one thing, technology there is still behind what I'm used to-people were buying VHS tapes and music tapes...?  One guy tried to sell me Harry Potter on VHS, and I told him "I don't even have a way to play this."  Another interesting thing about Spain is that Porn is not very taboo here.  There were literally porn magazines sitting next to children's books right in the middle of the street.  It's not like there were many people buying them or anything,  but they were there and none of the locals even gave it a second's thought.  Weird...  Other than that I have just slept in quite a bit today in efforts to rest up from the weekend, and then took a walk with a couple of friends through the streets for nostalgic purposes.  Now I am going to start on homework and studying for my finals later this week.  Hasta Luego!

Blogging Failure???

First off, my sincere apologies for my inconsistent posts (hince the title).  Anyway, moving on...This weekend we went to Granda, and it has officially replaced Madrid as my favorite city in Spain.  It has all the beauty and relaxedness of the countryside with all the resources and vitality of a city.  It's my second time going there, and it was even better than I remembered it (which is impressive).  We saw La Alhombra, of course (google it-it is absolutely amazing.)  I'll also tell you a bit about it.  It was this Palace that Ferdinand and Isabel took over when they conquered the moors, and it is amazing.  My favorite quote by here is something to the tune of "I didn't conquer the Alhombra.  The Alhombra conquered me."  She was so awe-struck by it that she made every effort to preserve it and changed very little.  On our own, we also went to eat at this quaint Morroccan place that was amazing, then a few of us went to see the Cathedral because I wanted them to get to see the resting place of Isabel, Ferdinand, Juana la Loca, and Felipe el Hermoso.  Unfortunately, I remembered incorrectly and we went in the wrong Cathedral at first, but we eventually get it figured out.  Later that night we went and saw a Flamenco show, which was awesome.  ON the way there we shared a bus with this group of elderly travelers.  This gentleman (70s) came and flirted with the girls and sat with us and talked about going to a botellón with us.  It was great-we were so hyped up to go out after the show that we were dancing in the back of the bus, asking the driver to turn up the music.  Later last night we went to a discotech and danced for quite a while.  It was great, and well deserved after a week of tests.  Unfortunately, I did not have time to do any homework, so that's it for my post for the night.  Buena Noche!

P.S.  I promise a ton of pictures will get to facebook eventually.  I just want to wait until I get back home and have time to do some minor editing.  (And I do mean minor-I have taken 1800 pictures and we are only 2/3 through the trip.)

Study Break

Ok, so linguistics is no more interesting of a topic when taught in Spanish than when taught in English.  Everyone is way too stressed by two tests...It's only midterms week and people are stressing like it's finals week and there's no MLC to contain it all.  Anyway, for my study break I figured I would post a few photos. This weekend I went to Gibraltar, so I will post pics/info sometime tomorrow.  Un abrazo desde Cádiz!

The Cathedral in Cádiz

On the Ferry to Santa María

The Beach at Conil

Corrida de Toros-¿merece la pena?

As I mentioned last week, I got to see my first bullfight!  :D  We were in Sevilla and found out about it, so we managed to get our bus ticket changed so that we could come back late Sunday night and stay to see it.  We really lucked out that they let us change our ticket.  We also got really lucky with our tickets themselves.  We paid 13€ (About $20 right now).  The tickets on the sunny side (ours) are cheaper than those in the shade, because it can be a bit uncomfortable in the sun.  However, it was a cloudy evening with a nice breeze, so we felt like we were as comfortable as they were.  We also were only about five rows up from the arena, and had an excellent view.  A lot of the context of the Carrera de Toros was the same as any sporting event in the States.  People selling seat cushions (but I saved that 7€ and used a pair of jeans from my backpack), fans, souvenir posters and key chains, water, and snacks (mostly nuts) outside.  There were also several people scalping tickets, and they even took our bottle caps as we entered just like a Football game in Athens.  The tickets had row and seat number, corresponding to labeled gates just like Phillips Arena or any stadium.  It was really cool to me that something surrounded by as much tradition and antiquity as the bullfight was also afforded modern conveniences and protocols.  This is very true throughout Spain as tradition mixes with modernity.  For instance, there is a spigot in the middle of the arena so that they can wet the sand right before the match, and then rebury the spigot.  Now on to the actual event…

                It begins with a small procession as all of the participants enter the stadium to be cheered, and to pay homage to the “important people.”  By this I refer to one section of the balcony in which dignitaries sit, usually including the governor of the city or some other official, as well as officials within the Bullfighting industry.  I’m skipping ahead, but this salute to the dignitaries is also repeated right before every kill.  (Warning: about to get uncomfortable for the weak-stomached.)  The bull is darted between the shoulders as it shoots out of the gate, so he basically doesn’t stand a chance.  The Toreros or bullfighters, which the lady next to me thought were the matadors, then take turns getting the bull to charge, which tires him out.  Eventually, the two Picadores come out on padded horses and thrust two spears into about the same area.  This was the only part that made me cringe because, in the mean time, the bull looks like he is goring the horse, even though the horse remains unharmed.  It’s just hard to know that for sure because the bull even leaves blood on the padding so I was genuinely concerned for the horse.   Later the Banderilleros come out and stab the bull with six colorful dart looking things in total, two at a time (picture a gladiator move with a really cool jump).  Finally the matador comes out.  It’s very strange because, to me, the matador has the least dangerous job.  By this point the bull is moving much slower than before and is very worn out.  However, this is the most honorable job and (supposedly) requires the most talent.  After getting the bull to charge a few times and a lot of pontification on the matador’s part, he finally raises his sword.  When the bull charges, the matador plunges the sword directly between the shoulder blades into the heart.  In grand total, each bull takes about 25 minutes to kill and there are three bulls, each killed by a different matador.

                Of interest:  The bulls get progressively larger and more energetic.  On the second bull, the banderilleros missed a few times, and the final matador was a girl.  She did a great job until the end.  For some reason, when she went for the sword plunge it either went in at a bad angle or not far enough or something, because she had to try to do it again.  However, at this point (I think she had waited too long, and that’s why the first messed up as well.)  The bull could not charge fast enough for her to get the sword in, and she had to kill it by spearing it in the head or something-this was the only part that bothered me.  The goal of the matador, once it gets to that point, is to give a swift blow at the end so that the bull dies relatively quickly.  This was not the case on this bull.

                Overall, I definitely enjoyed it.  I did feel pity for the bulls, but I have to respect the fact that each bull got to die in glorious combat rather than in a dingy slaughter house.  They are also eaten afterward, and often donated to charity.  PETA would not approve, but the whole thing, overall, is done in fairly good taste I think.  I look forward to my next one.  That’s where I stand at the moment, but I am very curious.  As a little experiment, I want to pose the question to you.  How do you feel regarding the ethics of the bullfight?  Do you see it as a disgustingly violent murder, a tragedy?  Or do you see it as a time-honored tradition? I have posted a couple of pictures, but feel free to Google for more info/pics.  The teacher in me thinks this is a cool opportunity to have a bit of a forum and some conversation about it.  Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

                

Sevilla, como te adoro!

Hey guys!  I had such an amazing weekend-I don't even know where to start.  I guess I will start at the beginning.  Malik, Sam, and I got up Saturday morning and took the 9 AM bus to Sevilla.  We got there a little before 11.  We saw the Catedral, which was huge.  I remembered parts of it from my other trip to Spain, but other parts I did not.  I climbed the Giraldo Tower.  Again.  It was easier for me this time than last time, but bear in mind I am carrying my overnight bag and was in flip flops.  It is comprised of 34 consecutive ramps, which are much harder than stairs.  But the view of the Sevillan landscape is so worth it.  Anyway, some of the group went and took a bike ride around the city, but Malik and I went to the Alcázar instead, which is a huge palace with Arabic-style fountains and architecture and gardens.  We spent like two hours there.  The funny thing is that we went back Sunday with someone else and spent like another 2 hours in it, and still kept finding stuff that we had not seen before, and we still feel like we didn't see every room.  That place is so amazing!  I'll post a couple of pictures, but they do not do it justice I promise.

Our Hostal was called Oasis Backpacker's, and I strongly recommend it.  There were six of us in the room in bunk beds, and we shared a kitchen and a bathroom with a young couple from France.  The place had wifi, breakfast, was very clean, was in a great location, and was only 20 euros per person.  Again, I strongly recommend it!  It felt like we were in a hotel, but was much cheaper.  It was also cool to meet fellow travelers on the terrace.  I went up and had a glass of Sangría with a very nice lady that teaches English in New Zealand.  We talked about everything from bullfights to sign language to Portugal, and I really enjoyed it.

Ok, the next day was jam-packed with a lot of touristy stuff, but I want to jump to the highlight of the day-the Bullfight!  But it is going to be a very detailed description, so it'll be it's own blog.

Besos!  -Benjamín

 P.S. Here are some photos from Sevilla:

Us in the University of Sevilla.  We saw the building and it looked cool, then we figured out what it was.

One of the views from the Giraldo Tower

The Plaza de Encarnación, which was right next to our hostel.

Paella!!!! :D

Us from the windows of our hostel. 

This really cool private bath thing that was in the Alcázar. 

Just getting started :)

It says "To be from Madris is to know that you are already the best at something"  Cocky, but clever...

Beware el corte inglés

Here is an interesting story for you.  Yesterday, I decided to skip the beach and go to the store on my own.  It was a great chance to feel like a citizen of Cádiz instead of a tourist.  I just hopped on a city bus and went to the corte inglés (imagine a wal-mart if you don't know what that is).  My "mamá española" even told me where to buy a bonobus, which is a bus pass that gets me 10 bus trips for the price of 6.

Shopping in the Corte Inglés is pretty cool.  However, when I got there it was a lot different than the others that I have been in, and was considerably more expensive than I remembered.  Within this store there is another store, called Hipercor, and I thought it was part of the same store, so I just kept passing back and forth looking for different things.  Eventually one of the store clerks noticed and thought I was stealing something (a 5 E pack of hangers), but I was going back into the store from which they had came.  Anyway, it all worked out no problems, but I thought that was rather weird to have a store within a store.

When I got done, I got on the bus going the opposite direction of what I wanted, but it was cool because I basically got a really cheap tour of a part of the city that I would never walk to.

Soon my "mamá española" is going to take me shopping with her the next time she goes.  She goes to a little arabic store and another supermarket that she says is the cheaper.  I'm really looking forward to that.

Anyway, that's all for now I just thought I would share about my adventure.  ¡Nos vemos!

My Homestay

So I have about thirty minutes before my next class, so I thought I would briefly describe where I will be living for the next 5 weeks or so.  Nik, Malik, and I are living with this charming little lady ( I do mean little-4' 8" would be my guess.)  She is so perky though-we love her already.  We sat and just talked for quite a while last night before and after la cena (dinner), which was meatballs and french fries (Spanish?)  She has already told us "Much money I don't have, but I can make sure your stomach is full" and "Money, I don't have, but kisses plenty" --she loves kissing our cheeks.  I feel kind of bad though-a doctor told her yesterday that her knees hurt because she's fat, and then hit her butt a couple of times, giving her a complex so she isn't eating much.  I think that will wear off in a couple of days though.  Anyway, It's about time for linguistics class to start, so I'll post more later.  I will go on a photo tour tomorrow during this time and post them Thursday probably.  Nos vemos!

Hola desde Cádiz!

Ok, so I don´t have much time to write a ton because the internet cafe that I am at is about to close.  Therefore, enjoy the bulleted version of the past couple of days:
-Couldn´t sleep on the plane but that´s ok.
-I love madrid.
-Experienced the Metro for the first time.
-My host "Mama española" is hilarious and about 4 feet tall.  LOVE HER!
-She keeps calling herself fat.
Mk I´m out of time.  Check back in a couple of days.  I will have real internet on the University campus.  Chao!

Getting started

Hey!