Weekend in Aranda de Duero

I must tell you all about the weekend I just had. I have to say that I was one of the most crazy/fun weekends of my life.

So my host mother and father both grew up in the same town called Aranda de Duero. It’s about 90 km from Palencia and is ruffly the size of Bozeman. They both have a great deal of family still there and visit quite often.

We went to Aranda for the weekend because it was the town's “Festivals.” What these are are basically a week of fiestas, bullfighting, and fun. Every town and city has their own festivals which usually take place sometime during the summer. For example Pamplona’s festival is a bunch of people running through the streets in front of bulls which the town has become famous for. So I was lucky enough to go to a festival being that most of them have already happened.

We get there on Friday night and their fiestas was already going on. In Spain you are looked down upon for going to bed before six in the morning during festivals. I called my host mother at 4:30 in the morning on Saturday to tell her I’m home and she said “What! So Soon!” It was absolute craziness. I’ll give you the highlights of some of the things I did while I was there so as not to go on for too many pages.

One thing I got to do was go to a bull fight. Now I know that many of you must be against the idea of bullfighting but please bear with me. While in Spain I felt that to have not gone to a bullfight at least once would have been a complete sin. It was such an interesting experience and one that I am so glad that I went to. Now the bull does die and all that but the culture and interesting parts that go around it is one that I will treasure forever. If you are against bull fighting on principle I suggest you give it a shot at least once in your life so as to know you really don’t like it. It’s like trying new food, you can’t say no until you’ve tried it once. A system that’s worked out good for me, otherwise I wouldn’t have eaten Pig Ear soup. A fatty and very crunch experience.

The bull fight is the corner stone of the festival and everything revolves around it. There is a large parade leading up the street that people jump into leading up to the bull ring. A very large and well made circular structure that is set up exactly like a Coliseum and lies in the middle of town. It’s surprisingly well made for only being used once a year. When the bull fight is over the people lead and even larger and crazier parade out of the bull ring and down the main street of town. This parade is made up of pretty much the entire town and takes about three hours to go through. There are bands put through out the giant mobs of thousands of people down the street and everyone is slowly dancing and moving forward then backwards. It was amazing.

So Raquel’s brother in law got me a ticket for the bull fight with him and was so excited I wanted to go. He kept taking my camera and made me take pictures with just random people off the street. He was very excited about the idea of getting a picture of me and one of the bull fighters. Something that he worked on the whole time the fight was going on and finally managed to achieve at the end of the fight. During the bull fight he keep bringing me different types of food that goes with bull fights and introducing me to everyone one there.

The bull fight begins with everyone yelling as a band of horns start to play a song that you think would announce the coming of the king. Out come the three bull fighters on gorgeous horses and also come out a bunch of little bull fighters with little pick cloaks. These less important bull fights will stand around the out side of ring behind little barriers and will come out to either keep the bull amused or moving or to redirect the bull. The three bullfighters on horses are the ones to keep your eyes on.

Now there are two different kind of bullfighting and this one was the lesser known of the two. Now when most think of bullfighting they think of a man with a red cape on the ground with the bull. That is one way but the way I watched was the second way which was done completely on horses. Both ways follow the same format and end up the same way for the bull but they do differ from each other to a degree.

Now these horses are the most beautiful and well trained horses that I have ever seen. The bullfighter has different stages that it goes through with the bull and between each stage he gets on a new horse. So by the end of each bullfight you see about 4 different horses that you can’t help but watch the entire time.

Overall there are six bulls and three different bullfighters that each go in order. One bullfighter does one bull then the next bullfighter goes until each had battled two bulls. Now the bullfighters are very well dressed and are very good at playing the audience. At many times through the fight the bullfighter will ride right up to the audience through his hand in the air and yell. This will cause the audience to cheer more and yell and such. If you’ve seen the movie “Gladiator” with Russel Crowe then you know that the fighter have to be a showmen to the mob.

Now the objective is to eventually kill the bull without ever getting off your horse. This is actually quite hard being that these bulls are huge and are very aggressive. Right when they are let into the ring they rush at one of the little bull fighters at they have to jump behind their barriers. One thing I thought was cool is that bulls actually do that whole thing where they paw the ground with both feet before they charge. I always thought that was just something that cartoon bulls do. Thought that was cool.

So there are sort of 4 stages that go to a bull fight. The first stage has to do with a sort of spear about the length of your leg. This is a very colorful spear and its knife is about the size and length of your hand. Now the bull will run at the fighter and the horse is trained to jump to the side and the fighter will bring this spear down into the back of the bull at about the shoulder blades. Now the spear head will come off in the bull and a flag will unfurl on the stick and the fighter will wave it around to the audience. The fighter will do about two of these spears to the bull.

Next stage has to do with these colorful sticks about the length of your arm. At the end is a spear head with a hook on it so it will hook and stay in the bull. There are about four of these that the fighter does which all are then hanging down the sides of the bull.
Then there are three small hooked one about the length of your forearm. All these different things go into about the area of the shoulder blades of the bull.

At this point the bull is bleeding pretty badly but you wouldn’t know it from how it keeps rushing the fighter. Before this the bull had never really seen humans and don’t really know whats going on the whole time. They are treated very well before this point and have lived all their life in field. After the fight every piece of the bull is eaten and in many restaurants you can actually order meat that’s been used in a fight. I know its not much but if that’s any consolidation at all.

The final part of the fight is the Fighter is given a long sword that is then uses on the bull. The hope is that the sword will kill the bull. On a couple of fighters it did which the audience love and all would wave some kind clothing to show their liking of the fight. The quickest death is what is wanted for the bull and when this doesn’t happen the audience doesn’t like it.

When the sword doesn’t kill the bull the fighter has to get down off its horse and go grab his red cape and a long metal spear. The fighter will walk right up to the bull and put the cape it is face and move it down to the ground. The bull will bow its head and stare at the cape as though bowing to the fighters. Its really crazy how fascinated by those things the bull are. Then the fighter will take a stance in front of the bull and take the spear to the base of the skull. This will usually kill the bull at this point.

The fighter will then walk around the outside of the ring while people throw him stuff. Nothing of importance is ever thrown though. Mostly it is only wine skins that the fighter never wants and always throws back.

Then two mules dressing in the Spanish colors of red and yellow will come out and drag the bull away. Then the ring is prepared for the next fight.

Its crazy and everyone the whole time is having a great time. They are all drinking and smoking and eating and walking around and talking to everyone in the ring. After the third fight everyone breaks out a bocadillo (Spanish sandwich) that they brought and the entire ring has a little snack together. Everyone is sharing their food and drink with everyone else and its wonderful. The Spanish are truly some of the most generous and nice people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting, and I truly mean that.

So ya that’s pretty much the bull fights. After the sixth bull everyone rushes out on the streets and fiestas until the sun comes up. It was truly an amazing time and one that I feel lucky to have been a part of.

There are a few things that I thought were cool are the festivals that are worth mentioning. All the teenagers and young people wear these multi color overalls the have writing all over. You let the straps hang down and you let people write all over the pants. Thought that was interesting. Another thing is that everyone wears the same type of blue checkers bandana. All people of all ages wear it either around your neck or on your wrist. Each year of festivals has a button that you then button on to your bandana to show how many you’ve been to.

So ya that was my weekend. Thought I’d share it with you. Sorry for going into so much detail about the bull fight but I thought it was just such an interesting experience. We came back Sunday afternoon and everyone was very tired and in need of sleep. It was very cool to see however how the Spanish don’t really consider working as way of life but more consider it a means so one can then enjoy the company of others and have a good time while doing it. So ya all is well here I hope you are all doing well. Much love.

Cody

First Day of School

Hey there everyone! I like to thank you all for your emails and messages. It’s wonderful to hear news of home and that you are all doing well. Your advice and updates are much appreciated and something that makes each day that much brighter. Do please continue and I will try to keep you all updated as well.

So today I went to my first day of school. I would have to say it went fairly well. Most of what was being said was lost on me but I think I got the general jist of things. I managed to find my first class with a little help and luckily the rest of my classes for the day were in the same room. Made it easy on little old confused me.

The school works in a way that I think more fits my liking. You have eight classes in all but only do six of them each day. The school starts at 8:30 and goes until 2 in the afternoon. You do three classes then take about a 20 minute break then go back for your last 3 classes. Being that lunch is commonly eaten at 3 or 4 in the afternoon in Spain you return home after school to eat with your family. Many students eat a little snack however during the 20 minute break so as to make it until school is out. My mom in Spain put together a nice little sandwich for me to have. It was very nice.

A little problem happened during this break though that maybe wasn’t the best. So I’ve become good friends with David’s, my host brothers, friends while he’s been gone. During this break I met up with them and they took me out of the school. We followed a large crowd of students heading toward a collection of bars by the schools. Now before you jump to conclusions I will let you know that no one drinks at these bars. What they all do is buy Bocadillos or a sort of Spanish sub sandwich. It is very good and I advice you all to get one. This leaving of the school during the break is common place and I am told “very Spain” being that the entire school was basically occupying these bars around the school.

So we hung out for a while until everyone got their Bocadillo and were set to go. I asked when we had to be back and they sort of shrugged off the question with a Spanish “tranquilo, no problema.” I thought this was sort of odd being that everyone else had already left. The one who was telling me this actually has a father who works at the school as a teacher so I thought he must know what he’s talking about.

We started to head back when I occurred to me that we are actually quite late now for our next class. Now I’m new to Spain but I’m guessing that even in this laid back country tardiness in school is probably still looked down upon. We tried a series of doors but it turned out we were now locked out of the school and had to go around the entire school to get back in.

When we get back in we were met by some stern looking people telling us to go the principal. Now my Spanish is absolutely awful but I could understand the fact that they weren’t really pumped about us being late on the first day of school. So we went to see the principal.

Now at this point I’m feelin’ kind of bummed about the whole situation. The principal is a very nice lady who had actually done a lot to make it so I was aloud to go to this school in the first place. I’m thinking that this wasn’t a great way to start off our year together and not a good way to repay her kindness.

These kids I was hanging out with are actually really nice people and have been a huge help to me while I’ve been here. They’ve all been great to me and make sure that I feel very accepted but still I wasn’t quite planning on getting in trouble with them. Next thing they do is turn to me and say “Oh by the way we need for you to pretend that you were lost and so we had to come find you. That is why we were late.”

At this point I do a “Say Wha!” So then they proceed to tell the principal that the American was confused and got lost so they (the heroic students) came to save him and had to sacrifice their ability to be on time. Now at this point I think it was a good thing that I can’t speak well enough to even begin to correct them. So I had to sit there and endure them all looking at me like I’m this confused child who doesn’t know how to see the three large smoke stacks that are coming out of the school and that can be seen from anywhere in the town.

Then the principal led us all back to our classes. Luckily my teacher was missing that day so it was just a sub. Turns out when teachers are absent the class more so just turns into a study hall. I was very lucky that the principal was unable to apologize to my new teacher for me and the only thing I was interrupting was my classmates mingling.

It’s all good now though. The mother of one of the students I was late with called my parents about my tardiness and it took awhile to explain to them I am not a complete idiot who can manage to get lost in a town that is composed of mostly wheat fields. My parents are very good family friends of the teacher who is the father of my new tardiness buddy and they all actually thought the whole thing a little funny. In the school the father came up to me and made sure I know the name of the school if I tend to get lost again and can ask directions. I consider this just one more push toward me needing to learn Spanish so I can’t become anyone’s confused American scapegoat. On the whole I think its only fitting that I start off my high school experience with a bang and now that I’ve done so can settle down and try to be less of an impact.

But other then that whole dealeo the day went great. I like all my teachers and actually managed to get to know most of my class mates. They’re all very friendly and very easy to talk to. I have this one econ teacher that is absolutely amazing and reminds me a great deal of our econ teacher back home. I think a year in Virgen de la Calle will go great and there shouldn’t be any problem from here on out ( see I do know the name of the school thank you very much).

On another note I just returned from a 3 day trip in Madrid. All the rotary students from around Spain went to Madrid to meet each other and have an orientation or sorts. I was an absolutely amazing time and one that I will not soon forget.

The other students are all great and it was such a dirty pleasure to be able to speak English to them all for 3 days. There were roughly 60 of them with all but four from the United States. There was also a German, Austrian, and two Canadians. They were all very excited to be in Spain and we all had a wonderful time together. Sadly every last one of them is from the South or East of Spain. Turns out I am the only student that is above Madrid, and I’m not even near Madrid, but I’ve come to peace with that at this point. They were all wonderful but the experience reminded me to much of American High School, something that I thought I’d graduated from. So I’ve come to peace with my personal isolation and am content with my Alcatraz of wheat fields.

Madrid was absolutely amazing. We visited the royal palace and got to see a whole bunch of statues and fountains. I was very cool and I can’t wait to go back so as to explore even more. I will at some point get to post some pictures when I am in a place that my internet abilities are not so limited.

Thank you all again and I hope you are all well and holding strong. You are all in my thoughts and prayers since it turns out that I now have a whole slue of things to pray about these days. Keep in touch!

Cody

Week One in Spain!

Hola everyone! First of all I’d like to thank you all so much for being there for me and getting me to where I am now. Only through your years of continuing love, support, and friendship am I only able to find the strength to continue on my path and push myself to new heights. I would again like to thank all those who’ve been there for me and know that without you I would have in no way been able to reach where I am today.

I will attempt to update this blog every so often so as to keep you all informed of my goings on and to let you all know I am still alive and well. It is only fair I try to keep it as recent as possible being that this experience is as much yours as it is mine. As I said, you all got me to Spain so it’s only fair I share it with you. You will have to forgive my many mistakes in grammar and sentence structure and such within this blog. As it is I am crazily trying to learn a new language which has so far managed to scramble my brain to say the least; and nor was I very good at English to start with, so please bear with me. (My attempt to piece together that last sentence will attest to that)

With that said I would like you all to know that I have survived my first 6 days in Spain. Alot has already happened and it would take a long time to put it all down but I will try to hit on the big things.

My plane left at about 1 o clock in the afternoon on Friday September 4^th out of the Bozeman airport. The two and a half hour plane ride to Chicago went off without incident or problems. I had never been to Chicago before so it was kind of fun to walk around the airport and imagine the beautiful scenery and wonder that is the home of Obama. In my head I saw streets of gold and angels to give out free hugs. As only would be fitting.

I took a shuttle to the international terminal and got ready for my plane ride to Munich. Now I’d never been to Germany before either but I had a pretty good idea that it wasn’t very close to Chicago. So I tried to prepare myself and thought “Yes We Can!” as I got onto the plane.

Turns out I was correct in my assumption. I was positioned in the back of a plane that was so large that it transcended the ages back to the Feudal system. I was put back in the very back with my other lonely serfs. The closest aisle was either over the two people to my right or the two people to my left. Both of which were very nice but it still made me feel as though I owned my own little Alcatraz.

The ride ended up taking about 8 hours which was better then expected. We had a very nice tail wind. That is a small condolence however when you can no longer feel the lower half of your body after the first 3.

It turns out Germany is a nice place. The German couple to my left on the plane was very friendly and very good at English. All the Germans I met were very fluent and eager to speak to you. However I got stopped in customs because I hadn’t signed my new passport. No one had noticed it until then so the German customs had me stay for a while and fill out a large amount of paper work so they can find out how many people had checked my passport and did nothing. They were very set on putting justice to this affair and bringing punishment to those who hadn’t noticed my little problem.

At this point I was more then a little jet lagged. I had been up for a while and hadn’t gotten much sleep being the night on the plane only lasted a couple of hours before we flew into the day again. By the time the plane for Madrid was boarding I had been up 12 hours and very confused on what time or day it is.

The plane ride to Madrid was wonderful. The plane was not very full at all and I was lucky enough to get a window seat. Flying over the Alps was an absolutely amazing experience and one I shall not soon forget. So many mountain lakes and the entire mountain range covered with snow. I try to hold on to this memory because snow is something I will not be seeing very much of in Spain.

I arrived in Madrid and was very nervous to meet my host family for the first time. A million thoughts of “What if we can’t communicate at all?”, “What if we don’t get along”, what if what if what if, flashed through my mind as I waited for my bags. So I grabbed my bags (which luckily made it) took a deep breath and met my family for the first time. Right when I walked out of the baggage claim I was hit with their yells and them all coming at me. I have to let you all know right now that they are absolutely amazing and we get along wonderfully. My father, Juan, is an economist for a French car company in Palencia and is hilarious and so willing to teach me about Spain. My mother, Raqueal, is wild and wonderful and so patient with me. My little sister, Lara, is more mature then I am and loves to try and make me laugh. They are wonderful and I couldn’t ask for a better family to spend a year with.

So the first thing they asked me when I got off the plane is if I am hungry. In Spain food is huge. You eat breakfast whenever you get up (which could be anytime of the day in Spain) then you have lunch at about 3. Lunch is the most important meal of the day and tends to be multiple courses of home made food. Raquel is an amazing cook and keeps me stuffed to say the least. I’ve learned to be aware of the possibility of multiple courses at lunch and to make sure not to eat too much on a specific course. On too many occasions so far I have had to eat myself to bursting due to lack of well planned stomach space and not wanting to be rude. Dinner then happens at about ten or so at night and tends to be smaller but still homemade and amazing. I could talk on and on about the food but I must continue.

So we drove the two hours back to Palencia talking to whole time. Juan has been taking English lessons for the last two years and is fairly good. He is a wonderful life line anyway when I completely draw a blank on what was just said to me. He makes sure to say everything to me in Spanish first then in English if need be. Raquel speaks no English what so ever but that does hold her back one bit. Most of the time I can get it in the ball park on what she is saying and usually a nod and a smile is all I need to show I sort of understand. Lara speaks a tiny bit of English but that is limited to just a few words. Basically I have no lack in constant Spanish conversation going on around me.

At this point of the first day I am absolutely exhausted but my day was in no way over. We had to stop on the way and introduce me to Raquel’s parents and stay with them a couple hours. Then we went and did the same with Juan’s parents. By the end of the first day I was nodding off where I stood.

We finally reached to our house in Palencia and had dinner at about 11. I was given my own room which was very nice and helped to let me pass out in peace. The room I was given is that of Juan’s and Raquel’s son, David, who is also on and exchange but in South Carolina. Over the next couple of days they kept me busy with getting settled in and many logistical things to get me ready for the year.

Juan and Raquel have set me up at a local gym, given me a cell phone, enrolled me in Spanish courses, got me a library card, given me a debt card, want to take me around Spain, fought tooth and nail to get me in a school, introduced me to a teacher and the principal, got me school supplies galore, gone to the police station multiple times to finalize my visa, and much much more. I am very grateful and lucky to have them as parents and everything that they’ve done for me. At this point it would take an arm and a leg to even come close to repaying them for all that they’ve done for me.

They have also introduced me to a number of David’s friends and we have gone around Palencia together. The teenagers here are very nice and excepting of everyone and my language handicap. They have taken me out on the town and showed me the night life of Palencia. It is very interesting and different from that of Bozeman. In Spain it is common to see 16 year olds in bars drinking but only do so for the social aspect. Teenagers go bar hopping as a way to hang with friends the same as you would say go the movie’s in the United States. In Spain to get drunk is extremely looked down upon and those who do it are shunned. That is why Spaniards eat so much tapas while they drink. I thought it was interesting that 16 year olds in Spain tend to be more responsible drinkers then those of some young adults in the United States.

Their house in about two km out of Palencia and in a sort of suburbs. They usually stay here during the summer until about October then move into their flat in Palencia. The flat is also very nice and within walking distance of everything in Palencia.

Palencia is next to a large river called Rio Carrion but the surrounding area is very dry. The days hear are usually quite hot and has managed to keep my Montanan self sweating. Luckily their house has a swimming pool that they share with a couple of other houses on the block so that keeps me mostly sane. The hillsides around Palencia are covered with wind turbines so as to give the city power. Palencia it’s self is a very old but beautiful city of about 80,000. The people here are so nice and friendly that it amazes me. The city its self has many parks and plazas that people can go to. It’s a very old place so all its churches are not only huge but date back to the middle ages. The cathedral in Palencia is absolutely enormous. I’m planning on taking a bunch of picture of the city so you can all see it as well. I will post them at a later date.

So far all is well in Spain and I will continue to keep you updated. This Friday I get on a train and go back to Madrid until Sunday. I get to meet all the other exchange students around Spain and do an Orientation of sorts with them for a couple days. Then I begin school on Monday which is another larger hurdle for me to leap. You are all in my thoughts and I hope you all the best. Getting to the internet is a little hard for me at the moment and can only be grabbed at specific times but you can still write me and I will try to reply as soon as I can. I would love to hear from you and all that is going on in your lives. Please don’t be shy J. I send you all my love con mucho besos y abrazos!

Cody

Coltercombs@gmail.com

Leaving Tomorrow

Yep the title pretty much says it all. Kind of excited at this point. Distracts me from my nervous sweats. No ya packing and all that jazz. I'll be ready, maybe?