Bullfighting Pictures

Bullfight!

Bullfight!

My 1st Bullfight!

On Sunday, March 22, I went to my first bullfight. It started at 4 p.m. I went with my host sister, her father, and her friend. We were in the second row and had a perfect view of the circular arena. The arena had a sandy floor that was raked perfectly, like they do at baseball games. There were people selling popcorn other food and drinks just like at sporting events. There was a live band that played during the entire bullfight. An older heavier man sat in the front of the arena and he played the trumpet until his face turned red when ever the bull entered or something big happened.

Before the actual bullfight started, all the men who had jobs in the bullfight came out into the arena. First came the toureiros. Their job is to distract the bull by waving bright pink flags (similar to pictures of Spanish bullfights with the red flag). They had brightly colored elaborate sequined tight pants with jackets and bright pink tights. The forcados, the bull catchers, came out next. After the bull is stabbed many times with brightly decorated spears, they catch the bull. They wore white shirts, a red band around their waist, and flowered jackets with pants. Two men came out carrying long lances next. They help to get the bull out of the arena after the bullfight. Finally, out came three men on horseback, the cavaleiros. They were dressed in elaborate outfits as well and were on gorgeous horses. The horses did fancy steps and one could balance on its back two legs. After greeting the crowd, the arena emptied except for one of the cavaleiros and a few toureiros. The door on the side of the arena opened and the first bull came charging out. Before each bull entered, they announced where it came from, how old it was, and how much it weighed. All the bulls were all over 500 kilograms and jet black. In a Portuguese bullfight there are six bulls. The first bull came charging out and looked stunned to be surrounded by all the people. It blinked then charged at a pink flag one of the toureiros was waving. Right before the bull ran into the flag, the toureiro moved to the side and the bull had to stop and change directions. After doing that a few times, the cavaleiro approached with the first spear. The spears are wood and they are covered with shiny colored material (like what tinsel is made from). On the end is a metal arrow, shaped like an arrowhead, about an inch to an inch and a half long. The first two spears that they put in the bull are smaller, about a foot long. The cavaleiro’s tease the bull at first then they take the spear from the end so it hangs perpendicular to the ground. They approach the bull and when they have a good angle they pull up a little then stick it in the bulls back, right behind the shoulders. The crowd erupted in cheers every time a spear found its mark. The cavaleiro paraded around the arena, while the toureio’s were distracting the bull. The cavaleiro got another small spear and after putting that in the bull they used longer spears, about two feet long. The put 4-6 longer spears in the bull. The cavaleiros sometimes changed horses in the middle of the bullfight. They would exit the arena, and then come back on a different horse. They train many horses incase one gets sick or hurt. Each horse is good at different things so they pick the right horse for the bull. After stabbing the bull they lead the bull around in a tight circle so it can’t catch them. The bulls didn’t really show recognition they were being stabbed when the spears impacted them. They just continued to chase the horse. When the cavaleiro was finished, the bull had blood running from the places the spears had penetrated. The cavaleiro left the arena and the forcados jumped over the concrete wall surrounding the arena at the same time. The wall is low enough to jump over, the toureio’s jumped over it when the bull charged them, but too tall for the bull to get over. The lead forcado put on a green hat and stood in the middle of the arena facing the bull. There is a man who chooses which forcado should be in the very front. They choose based on the personality of the bull and then match it to a personality of one of the forcados. The rest of the forcados stand in a straight line behind the leader. The lead forcado shouts and approaches the bull. When the bull charges he grabs the horns and tries to hang on. Every bull kept running and smashed into the group of forcados. The men scramble to hold onto the bull and one man grabs the tail of the bull. When the bull is subdued they all let go, except for the man holding the tail. He holds on as the bull turns in a circle trying to get the man, until it’s dizzy. Then he lets go and walks away. The forcados clear the arena and a group of 5-6 cows is let into the arena. The bull won’t go on it’s own out of the arena so they use to the cows so it will follow them out. After the bull exits, the cavaleiro and the lead forcado come back out in the arena. They take a “victory lap” around the arena. Everyone cheers and people throw their hats or jackets to the arena as they pass. The forcado and cavaleiro pick them up and throw them back to the crowd. Some people throw presents or flowers, which they keep. Then a new cavaleiro would enter, and a new bull would be released. After the first three bulls, there was a short intermission. It took an hour and a half for the first three bulls to go.

The Portuguese bullfights are different from the Spanish bullfights. In Spanish bullfights there are no forcados or cavaleiros. Everything is done on foot. At the end of a Spanish bullfight they take a long sword and stab the bull in the heart to kill it, a very dramatic end. People have asked, “They don’t kill the bulls in Portugal right?” Well, no, but yes. They don’t kill the bull at the bullfight, but the next day they are slaughtered for meat. If the bulls are very brave, meaning very aggressive, there is a chance that they can be “saved”. If they are saved they go back to the fields and they are used to breed more aggressive bulls. Meaning, they get all the women and food they want for the rest of their lives. But only 5% of bulls are actually saved.

For the first week of Easter vacation, I will be traveling to Galeana (You can look it up on Google maps. It’s on the border with Spain and is in southern Portugal). The father raises bulls for bullfighting so that will be very interesting to see. Only two more days of school left! Some teachers have given up on teaching this last week. Tomorrow in physical education we just have to go to be marked as “present” then we can leave. Two week vacation here I come!

Moving

Written March 16th.

When I first received my host family information in December, AFS (the program I’m traveling through), said that I would be changing families half way through. I talked with my host family and they explained that they only wanted a student for less than three months. In September to November 2008 they had another American exchange student. I’ll call her C. C stayed with them only three months because that’s how long they were willing to have a student. Afterwards, she moved to a family right in the city of Santarem. AFS told me I would “probably” stay in the same town and school. I wasn’t sure how certain “probably” was so I was very nervous that I would have to change everything.


This weekend I went to my counselor’s house to stay because everyone in my host family was going out, either to friends or to parties. My counselor lives in the same apartment building as the family that C lived with for the rest of her stay in Portugal. My counselor introduced me to this family. The mother has four daughters; ages 18, 17, 13 and 8. The 17 year old is with C in America, living at her house as a foreign exchange student, which is neat. The 18 year old goes to a university in Lisbon and comes back on the weekends. She’s in the process of getting her license. It’s a huge process here. They can only start to get it when they turn 18. Then they have to take driving lessons and pay lots of money before taking their driving test after so many hours are completed. The mother is American, but she moved around to many countries as a child. She married a Portuguese man and ended up staying in Portugal (they are divorced now, but the kids still see him often). The mother and children speak Portuguese with a perfect Portuguese accent and English with a perfect American accent. They 8 year old will effortlessly switch between English and Portuguese in the same sentence. They invited me to stay in their apartment for the night so I did. Their family was so warm and welcoming, I instantly felt like I was at home. Saturday I saw Alice in Wonderland with my friend and hung out with the daughters in the family. I could just walk to the movies because their apartment is right in the city. I ended up staying the Saturday night too. Sunday, I went with the mother and two youngest girls to Lisbon. We went to the Hard Rock Café and walked around the city. Yes they do have Starbucks in Portugal! (Though I think only American tourists go there). They also have Ben and Jerry’s and Haagen-Dazs ice cream stores. After those 48 hours, the mother offered to be my next host family. She talked with my counselor and my counselor talked with AFS. So this Thursday, I will come to Vale de Figueira to have lunch then move to my new family.


At first I was so hesitant about having to pack and move, but I am so excited to move in with me new family. I will be going to the same school. The two youngest daughters start school the same time I do and their schools are close to mine so I can have them drive me or I can walk 25 minutes with a friend who lives near by. Vale de Figueira, my current town is about ten miles from Santarem so if I want to do something I have to plan days ahead and arrange a ride with my host parents. It’s going to be so convenient to be able to walk everywhere I need to go. One of my good friends lives 10 minutes away and I can hang out with more people after school instead of going home, which is what I’ve been doing most days. This Friday, is Father’s Day, a Holiday so we don’t have school. Next week is the last full week of school before the two-week Easter vacation.

School, Liaison, Orientation

Written March 9th.

I had my six-week orientation near Leiria from Friday February 26 to Sunday, February 28. I had to take the bus by myself to the orientation site and back home on Sunday. I have definitely improved my observation skills. When you can't understand anything, you do a lot of watching. All the students who are studying in Portugal for 6 months were there. There were four other Americans (besides myself), one girl from Chile, two girls from Costa Rica (they just arrived four weeks ago), and the four students from Argentina. There was also a boy from Thailand who had arrived late for the yearlong program and never got to go to an orientation so he was there as well. It was nice to see everyone again. All us Americans were relieved to actually be understood and to talk fast in English. Since the other students speak Spanish they have an easier time with the language. They said they could mostly understand what people say, it's just hard for them to say anything back because the accent and pronunciation is so different. The orientation leaders had to switch between speaking Spanish and English and some Portuguese so everyone could understand. We did lots of different activities and talked about how we could make the most out of the rest of our time in Portugal. One activity simulated our experiences. We divided up into three groups at three different tables and received instructions for a card game. Once the game started we couldn’t talk at all. The winner of each group had to move to another table. When the student from the other table started playing our game she was awful at it. Each table had a different game so trying to learn the new one was difficult without being able to communicate. Some students tried to help the new person, others just ignored them and some were just annoyed that they didn’t know the rules. It was a good metaphor for our experience here. It’s a whole new game, and we can’t play by our own rules. We have to learn the new rules and language in order to completely fit in. As Fernando Pessoa (a famous Portuguese poet) said, “Our language is our culture”. Once you know the language life is much easier. I still feel like I’m way behind with the language. It’s easier to read than to interpret what people are talking about. I have tutoring with my Portuguese teacher every Monday and it’s very useful. She brings workbooks meant for young children to learn Portuguese (rightly titled “SOS Portuguese”) and they help a lot. It’s funny how “American” some Portuguese people are. Her ring tone is Linkin Park and she said she and her daughter are addicted to Gossip Girl.

Thursday was “strike” day. This is when anyone who works for the government doesn’t go to work. Most of the teachers still went to my school though. I didn’t have Psychology because the teacher was striking but I still had PE and Sociology. In PE, a rugby instructor came in and taught us how to play. We each had belts that had two flags attached by Velcro. If a person from the opposite team ripped your flag off, you had to stop and pass the ball. We played with four players on a team. The object is to get the ball to your end zone, basically like soccer, but you throw and catch instead of passing and kicking. I somehow made an amazing fake and miraculously got past all four players on the opposing team to score my team a point. It was definitely the most fun I’ve had in PE class. Thursday also happened to be a rain free day! The sun was out and it was 60 degrees outside.

On Friday, the Psychology teacher did not show up again so we didn’t have class. Instead I went with my friends and we looked in some shops. It was pouring and some of the small streets were flooded. Everyone keeps saying how this much rain is not normal. There are iris’s that are already blooming here. They usually bloom at the end of April early May in NY. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned before, but there are no woods or forests around Santarem. I’m so use to looking out my window in NY and just seeing the Adirondack Mountains and the trees. There are trees here of course, just not a forest. You cannot fully appreciate what you have until you no longer have it.

Through the AFS program, each student gets a liaison, or counselor to talk to in their new home town. I just received the name of mine last week and Sunday she invited me over to lunch. I ended up staying for lunch and dinner and got back home around 11 pm (luckily my host family wasn't upset). My liaison is a woman, in her 50's. She has hosted 5 students before from all around the world. Her three grown children were there too. They live in Lisbon and drive up to Santarem about twice a month. I really liked getting another perspective of a Portuguese family. My host family is very nice, but I make sure everything is neat and organized. My liaison's apartment felt lived in. It was so nice to be able to do things like helping out setting the table and cleaning up. At my host family, the maid does it and it's so strange for me. I went back to Portas de Sol with her son and his wife because his wife had never seen it. It was neat to see all the water. It looked like a huge lake, where all the water is covering the vineyards. We went to see Shutter Island at the movies later and we ate dinner around 9:30. They had vegetables with every meal. My host family only eats vegetables sometimes and I've been craving them. I feel like I've just been eating tons of bread.

At school, I finally received my student card. It's basically like a credit card. You have to beep it to a sensor every morning to activate it. Then you can buy school supplies or test papers in the school store or food at the "bar" as they call it. They have the most delicious croissants and sweet rolls. The rolls have baked coconut on top and their so good to make a a ham and cheese sandwich.

I have another class trip to Lisbon on Friday. Hopefully it won't rain!

Food!

Written February 25. The past week it has rained everyday here. We have to take a different road to school because the road we usually take has over 3 feet of water on it. It is normal for the fields to flood during the winter, but usually it doesn’t rain for a week straight like it has this week. One village, near where I live, is completely surrounded by water and the only way to get to access the town is by boat. Firefighters bring supplies and food to the village everyday via motorboat.

I went to the movies here last weekend with my host family. The movies at the cinema are all Hollywood films so they are in English with Portuguese subtitles. Halfway through the movie, the movie stopped and the screen flashed “Interval”. In their theaters, they have a ten-minute intermission break. After ten minutes the movie resumes right where it left off. My friends and I are excited for Alice in Wonderland so when it comes out March 4 we will hopefully get to see it. After the film, we went to a sushi restaurant for dinner. Yes they have sushi in Portugal! I hadn’t had sushi for a very long time and I forgot how good it was. I think we need a sushi restaurant in Lowville…

Speaking of food… Portuguese food is very rich, but it’s all fantastic. My family buys fresh bread every other day at least. For breakfast I usually have a roll or a croissant. We always have thick white bread for lunch with a very hard crust and soft center. My family has a cheese platter they set out during lunch with at least 5 different cheeses at a time on it. I really like a type of soft goat cheese they eat. They also buy lots of Italian cheeses. My family has their own cook, a little woman who is shorter than me and probably around 70 years old. She tells my host mother what to buy every week and she prepares lunch and dinner everyday except Sunday and Saturday night. A traditional Portuguese fish is codfish. At the supermarket, the salted and dried codfish is laid out in huge piles. They have hundreds of ways to cook it. A common way is to boil the fresh codfish and serve it with hardboiled eggs and potatoes. Salt is used a lot in cooking. The cook has a huge container of salt by the stove and she reaches in and sprinkles in on everything. Instead of salad dressing, we have olive oil and three different types of salt on the lettuce. The Portuguese know how to cook pork. Every Monday, we have pork cooked about 6 different ways for lunch. They eat the ear and the brain of the pig too (I have politely declined those parts). In some instances, I have found that the policy of “Don’t ask Don’t tell” works well when trying new food. For example, I have had goose liver and pig kidney and they were much easier to try when I didn’t know what I was trying. The goose liver was in a creamed and put in a mold so it was easy to spread on bread. It was okay at first, but the after taste had me scrambling for a piece of plain bread. Pig kidney has a weird texture (like a mushroom) and a different taste. The first time I had it I had to concentrate on chewing and swallowing. The cook makes the most delicious sauces to put on all the meat she prepares. Her pot roast is par to none. For dinner we always start off with a soup, have a main meal, then have fruit for dessert. I never realized how delicious mangos were until I had a ripe one here. Portuguese pastries are mouth watering! They have a traditional pastry that has a crust of phyllo dough and is filled with sweet custard. The Pasteleria’s display their pastries in their front windows and they make me drool just to pass them. They sell cakes and sugared rolls, filled donuts and much more. In Portugal, all their stores are very specialized. The supermarkets have all different types of food and basic necessities like shampoo, toilet paper and some makeup. All the pharmacies in Portugal are exactly the same. They all have a green sign shaped in a cross that lights up outside each store. To get my contact solution, instead of just going to the supermarket like I would at home, I had to go to an eyeglasses store to purchase it.

I go to Leiria tomorrow for an AFS orientation. Leiria is about an hour North of Santarem and right on the coast. It will be great to see the other American exchange students that I came over with. We have been keeping in contact with each other through email and facebook comparing our schools and new life. I can’t wait to speak English fast again when I’m there! We are staying right on the beach, but I don’t think we will go swimming. We are supposed to bring a dish from our country, but we can’t cook anything there so I’m going to make some chocolate chip cookies today. The other Americans and I were trying to come up with American dishes and all we could think of were desserts like brownies and apple pie. One of the guys can’t cook so he’s making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I joked that I should just go to McDonalds and buy some cheeseburgers.

Bull Fighting Training

Written on February 15, 2010.

On Saturday, after running errands with the family in Santarem, we ended up watching some bull fighting training. We pulled up to a small arena on a back street in the small town in which my host family lives. The concrete arena was about the fourth of a soccer field. The walls were more than ten feet high. There was a platform around the outside of the arena where men were standing, watching the events below. There was were stands where some girls were sitting googling at the guys below. There were about twenty guys between the ages of 18-40 (mostly younger guys) clustered in the arena. The arena was muddy; in some spots the dirty water was over six inches deep. My host father explained that they train for bull fighting about twice a month. They use wild cows to train, which are gentler than bulls (or suppose to be). There were about four concrete barricades set up around the arena close to the wall. There was just enough space between the barricade and wall to fit a body and about four could fit shoulder to shoulder behind the barricade. The men clustered behind them and then a door was opened and the wild cow charged into the arena. It's hide was flanked with dried mud. The cow stood there confused in the light for a second before charging at its first victim. The men yelled to get it to change directions. They continued to distract the bull and tire it out.

The men train to "catch the bull". In bull fights, after the bull is stabbed and run down a group of guys have the difficult task of catching the animal. In the arena, one man stood in front and a group stood a few feet behind him in a single file line. The man in front yelled and the cow charged. Instead of fleeing, the man took the cow's impact fully in the stomach and grabbed it by the horns. The horns are wrapped in leather so the are a little less lethal, though they can still cause damage. The men in the group grabbed the cow and got it under their control. Once they had control, they set it lose and another group stepped up to practice catching the cow. Many guys were pushed to the muddy earth by the cow, rolled on by the animal, and basically trampled. Every time they got right back up and continued on trying to tackle the animal. Bull fighting starts after Easter so they only have a few more times to practice before encountering the real wild bull in the arena surrounded by anxious spectators. My host brother said he never wanted to be a bull fighter, because of the danger. Many men end up with permanent injuries from bull fighting. My host father said guys can start training at age 15. But little kids can also "bull" fight. He showed me a book of bull fighting and there were pictures of seven year olds catching calves. Watching was interesting, but I'm not going to have the urge to get in an arena with a wild bull to grab it by the horns anytime soon.

The Power of Teamwork

I apologize for not posting in a while. I forgot my blogger password then my internet was sketchy. This was written on February 12.

On Wednesday my class had a big history test. History class was the last class that day. I had two periods of Portuguese class before. Usually on Wednesday I also have Sociology, but I had Sociology in place of Portuguese on Monday (The teachers switched times). So I had over three hours of Portuguese class on Wednesday. During the class, students were frantically skimming their history books and trying to get in some last minute cramming. Some of them mentioned that they wanted to get the test postponed. I thought the kids were kidding, but they said they could try to. During the break before history class, the entire class waited outside the teachers office for our history teacher. Our history teacher is very intimidating so the girls pushed the guys closest to the door. The teacher came out and a brave student explained that they weren't ready for the test and they needed more time to study. She looked really angry and said something in Portuguese to the class. A kid translated for me and the teacher said if we found a free classroom next Thursday, we could take the test then. Three minutes later, we had a room reserved from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. I explained to the class that at my old school, if we had a test planned, we would take it on the day it was scheduled. Though, we never tried confronting the teacher before class started with every student from the class, not that I'm encouraging any deviant behavior... Teachers are a lot more flexible here. They don't assign much homework. I only have Sociology homework this week. But students have to study a lot more. Tests count for a large percentage of student's grades. Only my Psychology and Sociology tests have multiple choice questions along with many short answer questions. History tests have documents that you have to use to write essays (similar to DBQ essays). Students have to buy their own testing paper for every test that they purchase at the Papelaria in the school.

I do not have school on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday next week because it's Carnival. It's celebrated forty days before Easter, right before the start of Lent. People dress up and have parties. In Brazil it a much more important holiday. Here it just means no school and hanging out with friends. Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, is having many concerts over Carnival. Singer Joss Stone will be performing in Lisbon along with other bands. Happy Carnival!