Girona...
I will have to backtrack a little bit here to before I left for Morocco. I spent a bit of time in Girona, which is in Catalunya near Barcelona (where RyanAir flies instead of right to Barcelona). It's actually a nice little city, with some cool buildings. But my highlight in Girona was the white chocolate croissant! I've never seen it anywhere else, and it literally melted in my mouth. Amazing...


Being in Catalunya itself was interesting, because the people don't speak 'Spanish' per se, they speak Catalan. The region is fiercly autonomous (as you can see from the graffiti), and I think that the difference in language is a big part of it. You can actually study at university in Catalan and not in Castilian ('Spanish').

Toledo...

Toledo is only an hour bus ride from Madrid, so I decided to spend a day there. It's a really nice old city, that was very important during the Moorish period. The streets are narrow, and full of cool, old buildings. The citizens of the city were getting ready for Corpus Christi so the city and streets were being decorated with flowers and banners which was cool to see. Apparently they'll have some big procession through the old town.
The old city is on a high hill with a great view of the surrounding areas, and most of the wall still seems to be in tact. I spent a bit of time in the new city (looking for a kebab which is was severely craving but of course couldn't find for the life of me) which is rather drab and ordinary. It was a nice city though, and great to get away from all the cars in Madrid for a day.

The Bull Fight...

It's one of those things that is typically Spanish -the bull fight. I decided that it was time to check one out, and with ticket prices listed as low as 4.40€ I figured it wouldn't hurt. I stepped out of the metro at Plaza de Torros - Las Ventas in front of a massive, round, brick building. Madrid's grand bull fighting ring -if you make it here, you make it the world over. It looked like something out of the Moorish period with the way the windows were shaped. It was incredibly impressive, and amazingly efficient. People marvel at how the Romans were so organized at the Colosseum, but now I can imagine how incredible it would've been. Throngs of people walking everywhere, shouting, smoking, people selling tickets, fans, snacks, and police here and there to make sure everything was alright. I bought a ticket about 15 minutes before the fight was to start, and walked up to the highest level of the building, to the second last row.
Despite being several stories up and far away from the actual ring I could hear the matador shout, and the bull ram into the horse's armour. The seats were concrete and delineated with lines. Each 'seat' was about 2 ft long and 1 ft wide. There are no aisles, and the people in the row above you have their feet at the back of your seat. For 1,20€ you can buy a relatively comfortable cushion (or bring your own), though I opted to sit on the concrete. Luckily nobody was sitting in front of me, so I had a bit of extra leg room.

The whole spectacle starts off with the different actors entering the ring, and walking around. The officials, the picadores, the matadors, the men who clean up the blood and smooth out the sand, and the horses and men who drag the bull away at the end -and they each get their applause. The fight starts with a horn, and a stunned looking bull that walks into the bull ring.

Half a dozen men with pink capes (only the matador uses red) wave and shout at the bull, making it charge at them. This is to work up the bull's adrenaline. The bull charges, and the men either run behind a wall, or play with the bull a bit. Next another horn blows, and two armoured and blindfolded horses come out. The bull eventually runs at one of the horses, there's a thud, and the bull is stabbed in the back. This obviously makes the bull angry. Soon the trumpets sound again, and the horses go back behind the walls. Next, several men will have the bull charge at them while the stab it with two long prong looking things (the ones that stay in the bulls back). Depending on how good they are, the crowd will either cheer or boo. The clip below is from the fight last night.

Another sound of the horn, and the main matador with a red cape walks into the ring. Everyone else leaves the ring; it's time for the real fight to begin. A hush falls over the crowd as the matador has the bull charge at him a few times. When the matador has the bull pass closely by his side in quick succession, the crowd shouts "Olé" or "Buen" each time the bull makes for the red cape. You can see a good succession of charges, and hear the crowd in the clip below.


After a while, everyone knows that it's time to end the fight. The matador takes his sword, and stares down the bull. A swift thrust to the back, and the sword should go deep into the bull, causing the bull to stagger around for a minute before falling over dead. If the matador hasn't made a good stab, then the crowd gets upset. They don't want the bull to suffer. The other men with pink capes come running out to get the bull to charge, stagger, once or twice before the fight has ended. If it has been a good fight, the crowd erupts in cheers, but if not there's only a mild applause. The matador gets to keep the ear of the bull as a prize.

Three horses are brought into the ring, to drag the bull away. It's usually used as meat, and sold in expensive dishes at expensive restaurants.
There are usually two bulls per matador, so the whole 'fight' can last around 2.5 hours depending on how many matadors there are. Of course the fight is before dinner (7 to 9 PM) so everyone snacks on candies, sausage, pork cubes, cheese, and alcohol.
While it may appear to be a bit bloody, it's not as barbaric as it may seem. The Spaniards tend to cheer for the bull, and get angry if the bull is teased too much or if the matador doesn't stab the bull properly and puts the bull into agony.

Visitor...
My sister came to visit over the weekend from Paris. It's only been a week since I've seen her, but it was great to have her here for two brief days. She arrived Saturday morning, and left really early this morning. We managed to see most of the important sites in the city this weekend, but I think our legs are now feeling all the walking we've done. The weather wasn't amazing, so we did have a few games of dodge the raindrops. My sister wanted to 'eat her way' through Madrid, so that's what we tried to do.
On Saturday we saw the major squares, and had some yummy tapas for lunch (patatas bravas, tortilla espagnola, and croquettas). We took a coffee break while enjoying a view of the royal palace, before going into the cathedral next to it which is controversial (for being so modern I think). We walked to El Retiro, a large park in the east of Madrid, and layed on the grass in the sun with some horchata and vanilla/chocolate ice cream. We picked up some pastries, then watched some traditional Madrid dancing as part of the San Isidro celebrations while having some sangria. For dinner (at 9:30PM) we had a picnic of sandwiches with jamón and chorizo, before heading out to a few places for drinks and more tapas.
For brunch on Sunday we had churros con chocolate (also very good, especially since the chocolate is so rich), before wandering through a few markets including El Rastro (one of the big/old outdoor markets in Madrid). We decided to check out the Prado and Reina Sofia museums in the afternoon, which was nice but a bit painful too as we'd been walking so much. Although the Dalí was rather interesting, we dragged our feet through to the exit. Continuing with the food theme we had a 'traditional' lunch/snack/dinner of kebab which turned out to probably be the best one I've ever had. we then found a little teteria near La Latina for some tea in a Middle Eastern setting. And of course we had to try some turrón (almond nugat). If I do say so myself, I think we did pretty well on the mission of eating our way through Madrid!

But of course it goes without saying that it was great to see my sister again, and I'm looking forward to seeing her again later this summer in July.
Two-Day Official Food Tally:
Tapas (x5)
Coffee (cortado)
Horchata
Ice cream
Pastries (x3)
Sangria (1.5L for 1Euro!)
Chorizo
Jamón sandwich
Cañas (a few)
Churros (x4) con chocolate
Kebab
Teteria
Turrón
Bailey's coffee

San Isidro...
May 15th is San Isidro, who is Madrid's patron saint. Thursday (the 15th) was the official holiday so most people took the Friday off too (puente, aka bridge), and of course there were celebrations all weekend.
There were all sorts of performances, dances, and fireworks throughout the city. Most of the museums were free on Saturday and Sunday, and were open until midnight. People who dress in the traditional Madrid costumes are called "Chulapos" and "Chulapas", which is a grey suit for men with a hat, and a dress with a head covering and a flower for women.
Here's an interesting comic I found in a local paper. It's a torro who says to the matador "Not for San Isidro fiestas nor for milk [an expression], Oie, I'm non-religious", referring to the fact that the saint's day is a holiday and that there are an extra bull fights over the next two weeks for the festival.

Regional Dancing...
I've arrived in Spain! The weather hasn't been as nice as it was in Paris -a bit cloudy and a few showers here and there, but the sun has come out from time to time.
I was in Plaza Mayor, one of the big squares in Madrid, and there was some sort of regional association festival. So for the better part of the afternoon groups from different regions of Spain played their traditional music, and performed dances in traditional costumes. It was actually quite interesting because the regions are quite varied and have a relative degree of independence in Spain (i.e. in the Basque region, the Basque language can be used with the local government). Unlike France, Spain hasn't had as tight central control over the various regions for a long time.

A short video of a regional dance, performed to the music of a type of Spanish bagpipe (smaller and higher pitched than the Scottish Highland pipes) and drums. Check out the pipers' pointy, black hats!

This is another short video of a regional Spanish dance, and in this one the music is performed by guitars and castanets.

Travelling Again...
It's been a busy school year. I've learned a lot, and enjoyed most of it. But now that summer's here I'm off travelling again. So this summer the first leg of my vacation will start in Paris, Madrid, and Morocco, and continuing on from there. It should be a grand adventure, and I'll be posting a few stories and photos on here throughout the summer. So sit back, and have a vicarious summer vacation.
I'm going to steal a line from Kim who quotes Mark Twain in saying "Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Italy and Switzerland...
After some time in Spain, I flew from Seville to Bergamo (just east of Milan) with RyanAir for only 26Euro which included all the taxes and fees. The flight itself was only 0.01Euro! I decided to spend the night in Bergamo and look around the city a bit, but I should've gone straight to Turin to visit my friend Carlotta, whom I met in Baoding the first semester I was teaching. It was great to see her again, and to finally meet her boyfriend who cooked up an amazing pasta dish (he's a chef at a restaurant). We spent time catching up, and going through photos and stories of China. The second day I was there she took me through the city, showing me the sites (including the church where the Shroud of Turin is) and taking me to the best gelato place in town. And all I can say is that the gelato was incredible! The best I've ever had anywhere. We also went out one evening for authentic Naples pizza which was also very good (though I should have tried it with the buffalo mozzarella cheese). Yummy Italian food!
Next stop was Geneva, to visit Conrad and Meghan. It was great to see both of them again and to enjoy Swiss chocolate and cheese. I've been to Geneva once or twice before, so I wasn't overly keen on running around and seeing all the sites, but I did wander around town and the lake for a day or two.

Chinese in Madrid...
One of the funny stories from Europe happened when I got to Madrid. I could read and understand some Spanish, but I could hardly say anything. So when I went into a little corner store to buy some fruit and juice I was a bit surprised to see a Chinese lady behind the counter. I picked an apple and said, in Mandarin, "how much is this apple?"
The lady went totally slack-jawed and stared at me for a few seconds before saying in Mandarin, "you're speaking Chinese!!?"
"Yes, I'm speaking Chinese. How much is the apple?"
The lady wouldn't let me go (or answer my question despite me asking for the next 20 minutes) because she wanted to know how I'd learned Chinese, what I'd done in China, did I like Chinese food, and all the typical Chinese questions. Her son then came in, and she said to him in Chinese "look! This foreigner speaks Chinese! He scared me when he came into the shop and started speaking to me in Chinese." The son wasn't nearly as interested as she was. The lady eventually told me how much the apple was.

Spain!
I spent about half of my European adventures in Spain, a country that I hadn't really visited before but that I'd heard great things about. So after London I flew down to Madrid (cheap flight from EasyJet!) and spent a few days there before heading to the north-west of the country. I spent some time in La Rioja (wine country) as well as in the Basque country. It was quite interesting for me to see the ads and propaganda for an independent Basque country, and to compare it to some of the Chinese propaganda that I saw while in China. Not to mention that the Basque language is fascinating (it's not related to any other language in Europe!), so I had to buy a Basque hard-rock CD which is actually pretty good. I went to San Sebastian, a Basque sea-side resort, Vitoria, the capital of the Basque Autonomous Region in Spain, and Pamplona, the city famous for the running of the bulls.
Next I headed south-east to Valencia, then down to Granada. By this time it was getting really hot in Spain, between 35 and 40C. Granada is a cool city with a lot of Arab influence as it was the last Moorish city to fall during the reconquista. I went up to see the Alhambra, where the Moorish rulers used to live and rule. It's a beautiful site, and the Moors did amazing things with design and architecture. Then you see the later Christian buildings on the site which look primitive in comparison.
Next stop was Malaga, on the Mediterranean coast. The beach wasn't as nice as in San Sebastian, but the water was warmer. I'd heard a lot of mixed review about Malaga, but I actually enjoyed the city. My last stop in Spain was Seville, where the heat was almost unbearable. Luckily the amazing hostel had air conditioning for part of the day. Once again I loved the city (despite the heat), and went to a little flamenco show which was beautiful. Very cool to see flamenco in the heart of Andalusia.
Next stop... Italy and Switzerland to visit friends.