Las Ventas - Ole!

Las Ventas - one of the most important bullfighting rings in the world, and we get to watch a bullfight here. This is worth a single entry in and of itself.

Bullfighting has come under great scrutiny over the years due to what they would call a violation of "animal rights", becoming less and less popular even in its home country of Spain. Which is true, at the end of the day, an animal is killed for our entertainment. I understand that, though I'm not what you'd call an animal lover. That being said, the whole process is also an art, a tradition, a passion that is to be respected. At least that's the point of view of the true aficionados out there, and it's mostly because of them that I wanted to see and judge it for myself.

We, those who chose to attend, were accompanied by a kind of guide. I forget his name, but he's a professor at one of the universities and he gave as a presentation on bullfighting beforehand. His father took him to the ring since he was a boy, getting the same seats in the same section every season. He still gets those seats and hopes he gets to carry on the same tradition with his son, and possibly his grandson after him. He is one of the lovers of "La Corrida"that make the experience worth while. He also helped explain what the hell was going on at times.

The purpose of La Corrida is not to blatantly torture and kill the bull. No. The point is to entertain with beauty and the prospect of fatal danger, as the matador proves man's control and intelligence over the brute force of the animal and in the end giving it a respectful, merciful, and swift death. This point could not be stressed more by our guide.

That being said, the corrida we went to was eh...It was a Sunday, when mostly tourists attend, just before the start of the real season, and with lesser known matadors. Therefore, it was a bit second rate. The best fight was the last (6 out of 6), with a bull that weighed 623 kilos (1350 lbs)! The matador had the best, swiftest passes. Then there was one guy that was pretty horrible. It took him at least 6 tries to get his sword in and kill his bull - bad form.

Highlights:
- The real fans and the kind of culture and ambiance they create is pretty awesome. We sat in Section 7, known to be the section were middle-lower class aficionados gather to watch the fights, and goddamn if they don't expect to get their money's worth out of it. At a good corrida with a good matador, you want complete silence. Whistling and clapping (esp. in a rhythm) is bad news. And there was quite a bit of whistling and clapping, and flat out yelling at the matador/toreros and at each other!
- Like I said, these people came here for a show, and they aren't shy about letting people know that. Know-nothing tourists who clap or speak at inappropriate times get shhh-ed at. When the toreros are speeding up the process to get away from a 670 kilo bull, they yell "Que prisas tienes?!" (What's your rush?!). Malo torero. The toreros were scared, they weren't doing their their jobs, they weren't respecting the bull, the art nor the audience. For that, you get yelled at.
-Mr. Barajas' IB Spanish class in high school. I learned oh so many random facts about Spain and spanish culture that I never thought would really become useful to me. Things like when bulls jump into the crowds. Like one bull almost did at ours! It was pretty lively, was running and ended up jumping over the first wall of the ring. QUE FLIPA LA GENTE! Everyone freaked out - it's that rare. Within 15 sec, the bull jumped in, the assistants jumped out, closed 1 door and opened another for the bull to get back in to the ring. No one was hurt thank god. But damn that was exciting!

Overall, it was an interesting experience. There's certainly nothing even close to comparable to this in the States. I still don't know a lot about the whole thing. But here's what I do know: the toros bravos used for the fights live up to 4-6 years before they get into the ring. Before that, they live their lives on huge ranches, plenty of space, and little to no human contact. Their lives are infinitely better than those thousands of cattle raised for food production. And once in the ring, though small, they have a chance to prove themselves worthy of a complete pardon and living life as a stud. While not an excuse for the death of an animal for the sake of entertainment, I still find respect and honor in that.

I don't know if I'll ever go to a corrida again, but if I did I'd want it to be with first rate matadors. At least there would be a bigger chance of a better show, more worthy of the bulls' death.

Que brilla el sol!

FINALMENTE. We've gotten another break from the weird gray-ish rainy weather and some solid sun! Pretty awesome! Time for some adventuring out in the fabulous sunlight

El Parque del Buen Retiro - the main park in Madrid. A group of us gathered for a picnic. We met at the Estanque, the large lake which people can rent little boats to row in, with food in hand, in some cases doner kebabs para llevar :) We walked a bit, sat for a while, saw the Crystal Palace. But there's no doubt a LOT more to be seen and take pretty pics of. I definitely must come back for them.

Apparently us Californians weren't the only ones missing the sun. All sorts of people of all ages were there at the park, walking, rowing, picnicing, tanning. Yes tanning. It just may be true the stereotypes of Europeans being much more comfortable in their own skin, because there were certainly quite a few of them in the park chillin' in they're undies. Makes sense, ain't no beach anywhere, so this is as close as it gets. Although, with all the people, families, hippies, hippie families, and even some hippies lighting up a joint next to us, the whole thing kinda reminded me of Davis Farmers Market...siiiigh memories.

The day was still early so we headed to the Reina Sofia museum - FO' FREEEEE! Well I'm going back to the museum for class for free later anyway, but other peeps wouldn't usually go, and it was something to do. Smaller, and definitely more modern than Prado, I saw the works of Miro, Dali and Picasso all in one day, including Guernica. Pretty amazing.

Cositas que se aprende

I'm a geek. I know it. I can't help but find some of the quirky, historical, cultural things we learn en clase interesting...sometimes. But when its cold and rainy outside, it's not that hard to be entertained. Seriously, esta Abril, casi Mayo ya. Que esta pasando???
BTW, I hope my spanglish isn't too annoying. I can't help it, it just makes everything sound so much better. If you don't understand something, I suggest seek the advise of my personal savior for the past few weeks aqui.

En todos modos, this week seemed to be concerned with learning about the best-of-the-best of Spanish culture, including what may be the quintessential Spanish film. Que se llama Viridiana, by Luis Bunuel of course. Obviously filled with references and critiques of sexuality, violation of trust, sin, religion, societal demands, mysticism, morality and what is the point of it all. At a glance it goes over my head, after some time to think, I can see why it's considered a masterpiece.

Ademas, we read parts of a novel/tragic-comedy called La Celestina. It's basically a older, longer, more complex/compelling, Spanish, version of Romeo and Juliet. It's second only to Don Quixote in fame and influence. But I must say this, plus Viridiana in one week culminated into quite frank lectures about sexuality and other related things. Por ejemplo, Celestina is an old bruja that does odd jobs, like housing prostitutes, sends messages between "lovers" and casting weird spells y otras cosas. One of things that people went to brujas like her back in the day, was that in order restore a woman's "honor" before her marriage, they sewed it back together....SEWED IT BACK! That was pretty awkward for the Prof to mime for us....

ANYWAY the novel also has a pre-over-the-ledge-suicide monologue so intense que tu vas a flipar. But according to our Prof, if we read it even in english, "Por favor, cuidate de las ventanas. Porque te convence" Love him!

Y FINALMENTE! We finally got to talk about Las Meninas in the Prado. I never quite understood why Velazquez was such a big deal. Now I do. The ideal painter, master of technique, ever developing his skill and knowledge, and opening the doors (possibly jumping ahead a few hundred years) of imagination for painters to come. God I feel terribly knowledgeable and cultured.

And how do I treat myself after learning oh so much about Spanish culture? A second trip to the Asian market!! This time Ibero-China was open, so I got me more of that sriracha. And guess what?! I FOUND THE QUICKLYS!!! It's actually inside the store. Too bad it looked kinda janky and no one was working it when I was there, but STILL! I saw the Quicklys posters and the machines to seal the drinks. Find a Spanish Quicklys: CHECK.

I don't care if it rhymes, the rain in Spain plainly sucks

Rain, rain go away - cuz you're interrupting my brief abroad fun.
Those Almodovar adventures will have to be on hold for a bit longer :( BUT that doesn't mean I can't do anything.

First adventure was my search for Ibero-China. It is supposedly a pretty big Asian supermercado, very close to Tetuan metro stop so I figured why not drop by and grab a few fried rice fixin's and a boba drink. Somehow I've yet to completely adjust to the schedules here in Spain as I went at 2pm, during lunch/siesta time when stores tend to close - FAIL. Luckily the store is also what seems to be like a 2-block semi-kinda Chinatown, so I still went in to a few stores to check it out.

Find Filipinos (la gente) in Madrid: Check. On the same street was a Filipino convenience store called Reby's, so I decided to check it out just because. The owner started talking with me, first in spanish, then a little tagalog, then finally english (too many languages swirling in my brain). He was nice and told me there was a Filipino panaderia 2 blocks down. I didn't plan on buying anything. but he was nice so I bought 2 bags of Boy Bawang corn nuts. Hmmm garlicky MSG goodness.

The bakery was kinda small as well, selection of pinoy goods not super great but okay, I shouldn't expect much. 1 siopao (filled steambun) + 1 pack of pitsi-pitsi (rice dessert with coconut) = 5euro!! What a gyp. Luckily they actually tasted good, otherwise I would've had to stick with my other Filipinos (cookies).

Me and the roomies, the 3 of us left in Madrid this weekend, decided to go watch a movie. We picked Shutter Island, VOSE (Version Original, Subtitulos en Espanol). I know kinda lame, but we wanted to watch a solid movie that we could follow. Spanish/Spanish-dubbed flick next time.
Shutter Island turned out awesome! Very well done, well worth the 7euro. Although I must say that even HERE theater snacks are overpriced - 3euro for the smallest popcorn :(

PS Happy Picnic Day to everyone in Davis! I wish the warm California sun would make its way over here for us too!

Random

I think I'm just gonna put up posts called "Random" every once in a while. Cuz things happen that aren't necessarily eventful, but they're interesting to me nonetheless. Well, here we go:

Random notes:
I learned some interesting info about Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon. A judge on the criminal court, his works include persecuting former members of the Franco regime, investigating mass graves from that regime and that of the Chilean and Argentine dictatorships, putting Chilean dictator Gen. Pinochet under house arrest, and even trying to arrest officials of George W. Bush for the justification of torture. Bad ass to say the least
Now, the precedents used under his Pinochet case are considered being used to bring about charges towards the current Pope, accused of covering up child abuse. We'll see how that pans out

On a much lighter note - fave street performers for the day: The Beatles "Yesterday" by keyboardist/violinist duo, and ABBA's "Chiquitita " by a woman on a cheap plastic harmonica.

***Shout out to my peeps back in the States who also are making their way abroad in the coming year/months: Beegs (Alyssa), Bonnie, Mia, Polly.
Let the string of international dreams coming true continue! I am so proud of us ;)

Palacio Real

Being sick kinda sucks. As does the rain and school. Well, school can be okay sometimes, lit is a bit of a pain, art is quite sucky though. Pretty sure I have reading for it that I've only skimmed. But I just had a test today and we have a substitute tomorrow so I'm blogging and watching Tina Fey videos instead :)

One of my apt. mates went to Barcelona this weekend, which was a good weekend to go considering FC Barcelona won against Real Madrid!! Again, here's holding out for the world cup. And aside from mugging attempts and airport confusion she said it was very nice. It makes me quite excited for when I go there next month, which I should start planning soon...

Aside from attempting to recover, which I have tremendously but not completely, Tuesday was a busy busy day: class from 10:30-12pm, movie showing for another class 3-4:30, dash over to the Palacio 4:55-6:00(we were also late), another dash to the Museo del Ciudad for another class 7-8. This plus run and city pollution does not help my semi-congested lungs. Coming back to the apartment with take out from the kebab place was quite comforting.

BUT the Palacio was amazing. It really is the palace where the royal family used to live in. But considering its inconvenience, and the fact that the Spanish royals are pretty much the most laid-back royals of Europe, they don't actually live there and when not using it for meetings they open it to the public. Unfortunately no pics allowed, but each room was gorgeous and lush and had its own personality. One I liked the most had an 18th century asian theme to it. Lots of nature and asian fruits and flowers in the decoration. I swear, the design almost looked like asian, less tacky, Capodimonte on the walls. Plus the armory is pretty cool, again more sharp-pointy objects and pretty suits of armor. All in all, an awesome trip.

NERD ALERT: After watching our first film "La lengua de las mariposas" we were each assigned a question to answer and present to the class. Luckily my question was about the end scene and its relation and meaning to the film. Relating it to the film and its symbolic and even social significance - my favorite kind, and in espanol nonetheless! That always warms my heart, and exercises my filmy-nerd brain.

I'm bummed/glad that its a bit rainy this weekend. I want to go out and do things, and I still plan on doing some of them of course. But it also gives me an excuse to rest and finish this sickiness for good. Cuz after so many transfers, those estacion stairs can be killer, as I unfortunately learned on Tuesday. Here's to resting up and catching up on Lost/30 Rock/GLEE!!

Templo del debod y El Clasico

So it just so happens that a few of the things to see that are mentioned in a a few of my Madrid guide books are literally in my backyard - the Parque del Oeste and the Templo del debod. The temple being closer, I decided to hit that up first.

Templo del debod is an actual Egyptian temple. It was restored and later brought over to Spain brick by brick as a gift. A Great Pyramid it isn't, but still pretty remarkable especially considering that it is down the street from my apartment, inside a park filled with people picnic-ing, walking their dogs, or simply lounging in the sun. Oh, also quite a few French tourists... I don't know why.

After that I decided to walk around the park, it being a beautiful day, already hearing about the gorgeous parks of Spain, and not really having anything better to do. The park was quite picturesque. Walking through it the thought came across my head, that as much as I love Central Park and Davis Farmer's Market, how different is it going to be for me now after this?

After about an hour of walking I got bit tired and the sun was waring on me a bit. Then I realized that Parque Oeste was nowhere where I was yet, because I was actually in the middle of 3 different parks that are all pretty much connected together. I decided to save Parque Oeste for another day, head for the nearest street and navigate my way back. On the way I might've encountered a filipino restaurant/bar called Meson La Tsibugan (?). I'll have to check it out next time. After about 2hrs of walking around I decided to treat myself with a Magnum ice cream bar and take it easy for the night, hopefully ready to go out for another adventure the next day!

BUT my body apparently did not agree with this, since the next morning I felt pretty horrible and possibly with a fever. Sickiness has been going around and I guess it was my turn to catch it. After a trip to the supermercado for some food, fruits, and juice, some Tylenol and a long nap, I began feeling a lot better. Timing is pretty crappy though considering that tonight is the famed El Clasico - the game between archrivals Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. WAAHH. While everyone headed out to a pub near the stadium to watch the game/the crazy futbol fans, I'm stuck at home. :( But I suppose it's all for the best if I want to stay healthy to do all that I want to later and for my body not to hate me. Here's holding out for the World Cup!

Prado, Caixa, y Volver

Thursday was our first field trip to the Museo del Prado - home of the works of some of Spain's most renowned artists such as El Greco, Velazquez, and Goya who we will be studying for the next few weeks.

Walking in and up to the 2nd floor where the the museum's most known and arguably beautiful works were, we passed by Velazquez's Las Meninas, one of the most famous works of Western art. DESAFORTUNAMENTE our teacher decided to plot us down on a bench 20 feet away from it while she lectured for about 30mins about spanish history and epochs and which artist belonged to which. No worries, we're going back twice.

After our trip to the museum we decided to grab some lunch. Assuming that most restaurants around the Prado would be ridiculously expensive, we opted to go little bit off the beaten path. In one small bar/restaurant we saw something on the menu about 6 tostas (toasted bread topped with any given number of things) for 24.60 Euro, meaning about 6 Euro a person - DEAL. The plate of total 8 pieces of tostas they gave us was alright, nothing to scream about. About 20 mins later we began wondering if there were anymore tostas coming - the answer was no. Apparently 6 meant 6 pieces total, and I guess they threw in 2 more just because. 6 euro for 3 pieces of toasted bread plus 2 for a tiny Coca-Cola. WORST PLACE EVER. We paid, left and headed over to Sol for ice cream. Be sure to note that we are going to that area again for more museum trips, and each time we will remember and scold that damn place.

Aside from that pure failure, the rest of the night was alright. We went to the Caixa Forum ("kai-sha" in catalan), basically an art gallery for new, young spanish artists. The building itself is pretty awesome, red all over and with a vertical garden that you must see to believe AND an enormous statue of an elephant standing upside-down on its trunk. Just the outside beats any trip I've made to SF MOMA. There was a special exhibition of Miquel Barcelo's work, a very important artist of today's Spanish artists, which was pretty cool, but the true highlight was the photo exhibition, a collection of documentary photography of events/happenings from different parts of the world. The winning collection was that of one photographer who simply took medium head shots of Pakistani women who had be violently harmed or beaten. Many of them were attacked with acid and severely disfigured, many of the reasons were due to disputes with another family, marrying a certain man or refusing to marry another. Truly captivating and heartbreaking.

The rest of the night was not as intense. Most of us in the apartment decided to stay in and rest. I got to watch Volver again show it to a few of my apt mates for the first time, something I always relish doing. I envy people watching movies like that for the first time, because there's nothing like it. I should know, I've seen it countless times. That same involvement, captivation, and suspense is never the same after you know everything that happens. Nonetheless, I still love it for all that it is and what it has meant to me.

The next day I made it a point to make a list of all the Almodovar film spots in the city that I want to see and mark them on a map. It seems a little silly to go to these places just because I saw them in a movie, I know. I don't expect to find and meet him or Penelope Cruz or anyone from his films just by being here and going to those places. But it does seem like this as close as I can get. And I'm more than fine with that.

El Rastro, comestibles, y otras cosas

The semi-major highlight of my weekend was Sunday. Instead of going to church or huntin' for some colorful eggs, me and a housemate went to check out El Rasto - the biggest flea market in Madrid. But of course, it being a Sunday during Holy Week, it was quite crowded and we weren't really in the mood for buying anything so went to have lunch after about 30 mins. The market itself is huuuuge though, and we didn't see everything. Pero no te preocupes, I'm sure I will be back some day.

Other than that, it has been quite a slow few days which I think was definitely needed after Andalusia and Toledo. *Be warned, future blogs are probably going to be less frequent and more boring.* Classes are starting and I don't think I'm planning any weekend trips until May, so the next month or so are going to be quite averagely structured. But I don't think I mind it too much, todavia yo estoy en Madrid, and I still have a few more spots to hit up in the city.

Ademas, I still enjoy the little things I notice throughout the day. Such as the many families out during Semana Santa, during which I saw a many very smartly dressed little chicos, including a pair of matching twins. Or that Beatles music still continues to be around every corner in which there is a street performer.

Other than El Rastro, the biggest trip for me this weekend was EL CORTE INGLES!! The only department store in Spain, one of which is just down the street from me. Imagine some sort of combination of Walmart, Target, Macy's, maybe even a Safeway and a traveling agency, and there it is. But I mostly went to get grocery shopping which makes me very very happy. No more 5 euro bocadillos con jamon y queso with dry bread, at least not for a while.

Note - my classes thus far in order of preference - Cine, Cultura, Literatura y Arte. Cine not only cuz it's my territory but the teacher is super nice and chill. She even brought her family's manton de manilla to class. It's those silk-shawl things from the Philippines which used to be hand-made and shipped to Espana way back when. It was really pretty, preciosa, que deseo que yo he tenido una. Es "super sexy," in the words of my professor. Also, viewing a mini-montage of Almodovar films today (Almodovar: Plano a plano), made me want to watch Volver for the upteenth time. Now downloaded con subtitulos, I'm ready to watch it and get re-inspired to explore Madrid.

Toledo

Whooo day trip to Toledo!! Only an 1hr bus ride from Madrid, and for about 9 euros round-trip, it sounded well-worth it.

Pretty much any Madrid guide book will tell you that it's a good trip to take. And it pretty much was. At the very least it was cheap - food for the day was less than 10 Euro, went to a cathedral and a museum with free entrance, and walked the just walked the streets. Yes, more cathedrals and tiny cobblestone streets, but less pics this time cuz my batteries died :( But even though all these cities that I've been to may seem very similar, they all indeed have their own unique qualities. For instance, I had no idea Toledo was so very hill-y. It's a small city, we felt like we walked pretty much from one end to another, and it doesn't seem that far considering the very pretty sights and sunny but cool day. But once the incline hits, I was wanting at least a walking cane or some sort of support. Either that or this is just another indication that I am so very out of shape and not outdoors-y at all...This is why I'm in Madrid and not some place like Australia.

Another unique quality to Toledo is that rather than having a more Arabic influence it seems very medieval and European. There are castles and cathedrals from way back when, in addition of course to a few synagogues and a mosque.

There are also many many many MANY swords!!! Part of the reason I believe is that there is a military academy there, possibly one of the first in the area or just one that is quite significant. In either case on any given street, in most souvenir shops, there would lots of swords, helmets, some armor, some sorts of depictions of Don Quixote (we were in Castilla-La Mancha region after all) and a variety of sword-like objects....One of my apartment-mates got a lighter in the shape of a sword, which is pretty cool.

After wondering around the city for about 5 hours, up and down the hills and amongst the crowds (again probably due to Semana Santa) we were ready to go. We made one last stop to get some helado (ice cream) and listen to the lady singing for monedas to tourists. Some of her hits included Hero by Mariah Carey, Ave Maria, and My Heart Will Go On - always a favorite.

Coming back to the apartment never felt so comforting. We were all pretty exhausted from all the walking, as fun as it was. After hitting up a little shop near our estacion called Dulce King (with that name, how can you not?), I'm more than ready to stay in Madrid for a while, at least for the rest of the weekend.