La Corrida de Toros

Parental Advisory: This material may not be suitable for children under 18. Really though, this post is very detailed because I want to remember everything forever. I have included most of the photos and video I took without censoring, for my own memories. I have an easily detached personality and I am not a member of PETA, so it didn't bother me much. Thus, as I told my madre española when she asked if I was for or against bull fighting, I think it is a very special and important part of Spanish culture. It's an art, a form of expression, and a legacy for some families (father to son, a toro dynasty). If you are interested in the amazing piece of Spain I got to experience, read and enjoy. If not, don't worry, there will be other posts.

May 15, 2012 - part of the Festival of San Isidro, the patron saint of Madrid. What an experience! Thank goodness I'm not an animal-rights activist because some of the group joked about joining PETA after. But I think I'm detached enough that it didn't bother me. According to the schedule I saw for Madrid, there is a bull fight every day in the month of May. And for the rest of the summer, they happen every Sunday. So there were 3 matadors and they each got 2 bulls in turn. The first two guys weren't very good (according to the old man in front of us who was screaming what I later learned were crudely-woven obscenities). But the third guy -- he was obviously great. Not only did he make it look so easy and fast, but you could just see the grace and poise and skill all over him -- from his hat-covered head down his sparkling, arched back, flowing through his arms and hands and into the red cape, resting in his pink-socked legs and especially his black-slipper-capped feet with every step and turn. The tickets were cheap so I'm sure he's probably just a nobody, but even I (knowing nothing about la corrida de toros) could tell he was an artist and that this is not a sport, but and art. At the beginning, I was a bit shocked and startled by what was flashing before my eyes. But by the end, I was completely entranced. It was really kind of majestic. Other than the nasty concoction resulting from the mix of cigar and cigarette smoke that we battled by sniffing orange peels,

it was really cool!

As a side note, Caitlin and I were actually watching a reality TV show the other night during dinner called Quiero ser Torero and the cute 18 to 19-year-old boys were learning everything from posture to strength to timing to grace. It was cool.

So here's how it works: At the very beginning, there's a parade thing where everybody comes out and we all clap for the different people and the fans cheer for their favorite toreros. It was kind of like when all the little league teams walk around Chase Field (formerly BOB) where the Diamondbacks play. 

Then everybody takes their places and a guy comes out with a sign telling what kind of bull is coming out, how much it weighs, etc. 

The bull is released and there are three rounds.

#1 - the lesser toreros

Their job is to get the bull warmed up. They are dressed in the sparkly costumes you typically think of (including the pink socks) and use a big cape that is pink on one side and yellow on the other. They get the bull's attention, he charges, they whip the cape and then hide behind a wall while the next guy takes his turn. There are about 6 or 7 of these guys but only 3 have been scheduled to be matadors. 

At the end of 5 minutes, the trumpets sound and it's time for...

#2 - the picadores and the banderilleros

The picadores are on horses that are covered in giant padding and blinded for good measure. Sometimes it gets dangerous for the horses! 

But don’t worry, none of them died. These picadors carry what looked like jousting lances. Their job is to stick the bull in the shoulders to get him hurt, bleeding, and mad. 

The banderilleros are the same guys (the toreros) from the last round, but they've traded their capes for banderillas. (Thanks to Google for the pics.)

They get the bull's attention, he charges, and just as he's about to hook 'em good, the guy plants his bandilleras right in the bull's shoulders. 

These somehow stay fastened to the bull's back and flop around for the rest of the fight. Each bull gets about 6 of these. After another 5 minutes comes the most well-known round.

#3 - the matador or torero

One of the guys from round #1 steps out. He is dressed in full garb and holds a smaller, red cape and a sword. This is where the dance gets serious. It's just him and the bull. The matador should demonstrate complete control of the bull and his movements. They should be one. Watching this was just like watching a ballet or lyrical dance where you kind of just get lost in the movement. The matador looks for the opportune moment to strike, preferably when the bull is tired, slow, close, and has his feet together. I learned this last part from the Lladró man I befriended earlier this week. When the bull's front legs are close together, his shoulders spread wide and the matador can plunge his sword straight to the heart. If the bull's feet are shoulder-width apart, there is a bigger chance that the matador's sword will hit a shoulder blade or ribs when he tries to end the dance. Here are a couple of videos I took. The guy I liked most is the one wearing blue with gold trim. 

Why is my life so great? You tell me :)

**So I realized after I wrote this whole post that a lot of it is in Spanish. Sorry about that! Google Translate is helpful most of the time.**

Today was such a great day! Here's why:

• I left on time for class so I didn't have to book it to the school.
• Our presentation about all the helado we've tried was great; followed by other fantastic themes like The Legend of Zelda, Powwow dances, How to Find a Novio on Study Abroad, and Milka Chocolate (complete with regalitos! I <3 Milka).

• Rastro (flea market) after class where I tasted the best melón (honeydew?) in my life. 
• I worked on the blog for the first time in over a week and published two whole posts. This makes 3 in one day!
• I woke myself up from a 10 minute siesta - with no alarm! This is kind of a big deal - momentous, if you will.
• I went into Madrid (surprise, surprise…we typically meet at the train station at 3:30pm to catch the 15:46 train to the Atocha station. It's been our routine for the past week and a half and I love it.) and finally got the zapatillas!!! I even had to talk to the man and ask him to go downstairs and get the sizes in the colors I wanted - I did it all by myself, very proficient-like. I love them so much! I've been geeking out about them all day. Now I can't wait to give Sam and Daddy theirs :)

• I had the best frozen yogurt of my life! It's a little shop called llaollao and let me just tell you, I will never be able to eat Yogurtland or Spoon It Up! the same ever again. Oh, and I want to buy honey when I get back to Utah and just drizzle it over every dessert I eat. Just sayin'. 

• I got on my first Madrid city bus and discovered the Biblioteca Nacional de España (kind of like the Library of Congress, I thnik) is closed on Mondays. But it is a beautifully majestic building just off Plaza de Colón  (as in Cristobal Colón or Christopher Columbus). I can't wait to go back and walk around inside.
• With the 30ish minutes we had before we needed to head back to Alcalá for la cena, we decided to drop by the stores across the street from the Prado where you can find lots of Toledo-made recuerdos and  Lladró (the other souvie I premeditated getting here after my parents brought home their Elena - a beautiful piece of porcelain from Valencia). Here is where I met my new best friend :) I've been looking at Lladró…well, since I got here…but more seriously on the past few trips into Madrid. I was oohing and ahhing at a few of the pieces when the store owner, a nice Spanish man in his 70s, greeted me and asked if I knew what I was looking for. I wasn't in a hurry to buy anything, but I figured I'd let him give me some schpiels and practice my Spanish. So I told him what I like (pastel colors, flowing hair and skirts, and flowers - it must have flowers) and that I want to buy something small because I am a student and don't have a lot of space. He recommended a few pieces and I liked his suggestions; they were ones I had been looking at. One of them was a young toredor that is only sold in Spain - he is precious :) From there, the conversation progressed to stories about the toredor and how the way he tips his hat means different things, more things I didn’t know about  La Corrida de Toros, dirty jokes about the costume, how they actually make the figurines, and how he has learned a significant amount of English simply by talking to tourist customers. I think he liked me because he ended up giving me a book about the behind-the-scenes process of making Lladró. Since I wasn't ready to buy today, I told him I'd like to come back later. He offered me his card and said he would also give me a 'good price', whatever that means. I'm still going to shop around before I make my final decision of which piece I want, but I will definitely be going back to that store. I loved that guy! Honestly, that may have been my favorite shopping experience so far.

All in all, a marvelous day filled with great company, fantastic weather, and lots of success. Vale.

Success!

Yesterday, another great day in Spain. For starters, we did some group presentations in grammar class. One pair gave us 10 Uses for a Pañelo (scarf) including a toy for your cat (complete with demonstration!), a 'smacker' for when you're mad at your roommate, a sling for when you've 'smacked' your roommate's arm into a crippled mess, and more :) The other was a biography of Justin Bieber. Thanks to Brittney and Priscilla, I had Boyfriend in my head ALL DAY LONG. It got really old really fast, but I couldn't make it go away! Swaggy.

We finished a Madrid highlights walk - a great accomplishment. It's taken us all over the city for the past three days (some major sites and some others that I never would have thought to go see - some cool and some cooler) and taught us a bunch about cools puertas (ancient gates to the city), places like the old train station, cathedrals with crypts, the royal palace, gardens, plazas, a rope-swing jungle gym where I got a sick from flipping upside-down so many times (I think the fluid in my inner ear is thickening with my progressing age, oh no!), and more.

I found the shoes!!! Daddy got slippers here while on his mission. Wait, back story. My father always, ALWAYS wears shoes. All through my childhood he would get home from work and swap his dress shoes for sneakers. Then his curious children would ask where he was going. He was never actually going anywhere, just putting shoes on. This happened every day. But we never seemed to remember from one day to the next. Crazy kids. The only exception to this ritual was Saturdays or cozy evenings when he would wear his red plaid slippers, his Spanish work boots. I love the huge impression those shoes have made in my mind! He loved them so much he wore them out - a dark day for my childhood memories. Years later, his mission companion went back to Spain and got a new pair to send to my dad - yay! So fast forward to 3 years ago, I'm in Spain for Spring Break and I am looking everywhere for those shoes I love so much - so I can be just like my Daddy. Finally, we found a whole huge window display of them, but guess what? It's stinkin' Father's Day and everything is closed! Nnnnnnnnooooooooooo..... So basically, I have been waiting years and years for these famous slippers. Since I've been in Spain, I've peeked in the window of every single zapatería I've seen (honestly, there's literally one on every corner of every street of every city we have visited in this whole danged country!) to the point of driving my friends crazy. But the search is over! In Madrid yesterday, I passed the zapatería that is going to end years of waiting. It was closed when we walked past but I'm going back ASAP. I am so happy!!

To top it all off, after a 1,5€ dinner of bread and fruit from the mercado (I love baguettes!!) and some girl bonding in the park, I spend the evening in the basement of a bar listening to a group of flamenco artists. (If I ever figure out how to upload my videos, I'll post what I recorded there.) It was the coolest little intimate setting! Picture the coffee shop from the TV show Friends, shrink it to fit typical Spanish quaintness, and fill it with 6 or 7 buddies sitting around, jamming on guitars and a cajón (the box with a hole in it that you sit on) and their hands (to clap). I was dying! My life is so picturesque I can't even believe this is for real. Vale?

The most ideal day yet.

Today was a really great day. :) I started it off by hiking with Logan and Andrea through a 'campo' which reminded me of some of the trails at girls camp. There were pine trees, rabbits, squirrels, bugs, rocky paths where mountain bikers kept passing us, lots of hills and small mountains of clay. It was kind of overcast and there was an occasional breeze. Gah it was perfect!

From that, I came home to a breakfast of toast and marmalade, magdalenas, and the best fresh pear I've ever had. It was so perfectly ripe, soft, and sweet that I peeled it and then just bit into it like an apple. Mmmm :)

After a quick shower, I put on my dress and took the train into Madrid with a large group to do baptisms for the dead in the Madrid temple. That was amazing!!! I've only heard the ordinance in Spanish once before, in Texas. But this was something totally different. The Spirit was incredibly strong and reminded me that Heavenly Father speaks all languages. The love I felt there was so...thick and comfortable. Not to mention, the building itself is breathtakingly beautiful. I mean, wow. The simple, white, carved stone reminds me of all the cold cathedrals and castles we've toured in the past few weeks, only more pure and holy.

Then, to top it all off, during and after dinner I had some great conversation with our Chinese roommate, Naomi, and my 'madre española'. I felt really confident in my language skills, which I'm discovering is kind of a hit-n-miss thing. I got to learn some cool things about the Spanish government, monarchy, and the civil war; the climate in China, traditional roles of women in both Spain and China and lots of other great stuff. We laughed and joked about housemate interviews, which made me think of my upcoming roommate contract with Angela, and it was just awesome. Then Naomi left and Luisa and I got to have some one-on-one time. She told me how grateful she is to have Caitlin and I here, now. She's definitely a blessing in my life, and apparently I am "an angel in her house". I don't know about being an angel, but I'm really glad I'm here. TTFN