Sevilla, Bullfighting, and Church

Sorry for taking so long to talk about the weekend, I've just been busy and wiped out. My body is still having trouble adjusting. I usually sleep like 4 hours a night without taking sleeping pills.

So Friday a bunch of people from base were invited to go to a bullfight in Sevilla and about 30 went. The bus ride took a long time because there is only like one freeway to Sevilla and it was rush-hour when we left. Along the way we saw this amazing Mosque, but the view from the bus was really difficult to get a shot with the camera so you'll have to wait for that. The road system is pretty similar to the US, but some signs are different. Also we saw a lot of graffiti and this one spot was amazing. It had a couple of faces and other cool things painted on the wall; probably professionally done.

We finally got to Sevilla and got off the bus in front of the stadium. The entrance was like 20ft tall and really cool. It only cost 34E (euro, I don't have a euro button so just assume E next to a number means euro) which is like $40. Think of the Colosseum and how it's a complete circle with stone seats, it was a lot like that. Everyone dresses very very nice. There was a 15 year old kid that was wearing a suit...I had on jeans and a Tshirt.

The Matadors wear very bright colors and very tight clothes. The bright colors are to attract the attention of the bull and the tight clothes are so they don't get caught on the bull's horns. The bull comes out with a small spear in the top of its back to make it angry and want to attack the Matadors. So there are three Matadors with capes/flags/whatever that they flail around in front of the bull to make it charge them. After a while there will come another Matador with two arm length spears that they jab into the bulls back. Once that is done a single Matador will be out there with a cape and sword. They yell "Hey!" at the bull and make these crazy stances when the bull charges literally inches from them and the Matador doesn't move at all when the bull charges. When the fight ends, the Matador stabs the bull in the spine with the entire 2ft sword, hoping to kill it. If it doesn't die, then another guy comes out with a small dagger and stabs the bull trying to sever the brain stem; if they hit the stem then the bull drops dead instantly. The whole spectacle is very bloody and violent, so it's not something that I would go to often but I wanted to experience it. One bull was stabbed in the lung through his back and he was puking up buckets of blood; it was sad.

Sevilla is large and beautiful. The city really comes to life at night with cars, trains, and people everywhere. They have McDonalds, KFC, and a few other American things around. I spent the night with 4 girls and walked around. We stopped at an ice-cream place kind of like Cold Stone. Lots of stores have windows that open up to the outside and people can come order right off the street. It's considered rude to enter any store without saying "hola". The Rio Grande in Sevilla is about two football fields wide and at one point there is literally a basketball court in the water...I'm not kidding. One day I want to go play in it. The architecture(?) is amazing. Everything is old and has shingles like in Arizona. I only saw the Cathedral from a distance and don't have a picture yet, but I will go back one day and get a few nice shots of it soon.

Church was pretty cool. It's held in a building in an alley, not it's own separate building like in the States. There were only about 60 people total and probably half of them spoke English. Anyone that spoke only English got to listen the lessons being translated on headphones. Emily, you would absolutely love this place. Singing hymns in Spanish is really fun and to my surprise, all the songs still rhyme. There are only a few singles around my age (meaning 18-30). The couple that brought me to church are American; the Carlyles. They are moving out of there house at the end of the month and I am going to be moving in after them. They cooked me and the Bishops family dinner last night and it was amazing. Apparently, according to everyone, the Spanish food is really bland so it looks like I'll be cooking a lot at home.

Well that's pretty much it for now. Later.