mike sucks at futbol

wow. I learned that, even with my endurance, I stink at futbol. I wish I had learned to play futbol as a child...then maybe I would not have looked so silly when playing with a whole bunch of people from outside of the U.S. hehehe. I'll stick with running...no ball to worry about!

romancero gitano

Granada has many cultural events to learn more about the great Spanish poet/artist F. G. Lorca. I attended a wonderful gallery exhibit of artwork, created by artists from around the world, in response to various works by Lorca. The exhibit is titled "Lorca: Ojo con la memoria".

One night, I went to the ballet of "Romancero Gitano" in which I saw a wonderful mixture of modern ballet, flamenco dance and culture, and Lorca poetry. The stage is set in a cool and romantic section of the Alhambra's generalife gardens...SO WONDERFUL!

I was also given the opportunity to attend a memorial for Lorca (he died 70 years ago) in a small pueblo outside of Granada. I attended with my Spanish Literature class and we were given V.I.P. treatment!! ... There are many sad details about the Spanish Civil War, and one of them is the fact that Lorca was murdered and buried in an unknown location in 1936. I am very grateful that I was given a chance to see this memorial service. There was even a wonderful concert at the end...I really enjoy Spanish guitar; and we had studied the sonnets that were performed in literature class...

feria de malaga

The Spaniards know how to party...I visited Malaga one weekend, and discovered a city completely consumed by the fiestas of la feria. What a festival...

Noche 1 - Beautiful fireworks display accompanied by music...I think it was the best fireworks show I have ever seen! After the fireworks, Enrique Iglesias kicked off the concert at 12:30 am...we were listening/dancing/drinking on the beach until 5 am. We walked the city a bit, found a dive bar, returned to the beach for the sunrise, slept on two rented beach chairs until around 1 pm. We woke up to the beautiful beach-goers of southern Spain and took a nice swim in the Mediterranean *my first time* ...

Later that day...

We ate in a Chinese restaurant to see what that experience would be like in Spain...nothing special. We then used the lobby facilities of a nice hotel and picked up our bull fighting tickets.

Noche 2 - Bull fight! Brutal, interesting, very hot, 6 bulls died at the hands of the matadors...and one man was hit by a bull a few times. I am glad I experienced this piece of Spanish culture, but I can see why some people are not fans. I think it might be more interesting if the bulls were fighting each other.

Later that night we took the bus to the fair grounds, just happen to meet up with 3 Spanish friends from the beach concert, and danced in the discotecas until 5 am. I was falling asleep on my feet by the end of that. We returned to the bus station, slept a bit in the grass in front of the bus station, bought tickets, and passed out on the trip back to Granada.

late postcards

I have returned to the U.S., yet I have still not updated my blog with the second half of my adventures in Spain. I will be doing that now, despite the fact that it feels a bit lame. I feel like it is the equivalent of buying people postcards and then handing them out upon your return to the country...it means a lot more if you send the postcards while you are still abroad (with foreign stamps). Oh well!

Check back for the posts! And eventually more photos...