Fiesta Nacional

Every country has its National Holiday, usually it is independence day or something very similar, but Spain decided to make its National Holiday, a day when Columbus "found" a different civilization and the fact that afterwords Spaniards decided to attack them, take their gold and silver, and change them according to the "European standards".
However today I am not going into all the historical drama. On 12th October 2011, this past Wednesday, I just wanted to indulge into typical Spanish things. So I did. Here is the photo report of my awesome day:

During the parade

Best part of the parade

Everyone wants to be in my picture:)

"Horsee" 

Beautiful horsee

Double bottoms

Napping in Colorful Retiro

Retiro Metro stop

Corrida people

The fighting is not only inside the ring. Colombian hat? 

Mexican torero.

"Animals were hurt during filming this movie"

Banderillero was very lucky

After the corrida there was a debate between me and Frauke (my new German friend) about the Catalunya banning the corrida and the right of people to see it. Is it okay to ban it completely? Is it okay/too much to kill 6 bulls in one day? Do people who want to see it, have the right to see it? Is it that big part of the Spanish culture?

My concern was however a bit different. One of my goals while in Spain, is to understand what makes Spaniards so happy and cheerful in communication and in life? For sure it is not the economy and the government (they hate the present Prime Minister, you should hear how he was booed after the parade, and unemployment rate is above 20%) and the answer that it is the sun and all the sunlight, is just too simple for me to settle with.

Could it be a celebration of life? Someone told me that corrida is an old fashioned proof of the supremacy of a man over an animal. But could it be an intentional creation of a great fear and danger, and afterwords if/when you survive, you feel life boldly, fresher and simply are happy to be alive. After a bull almost hit a torero in the first 5 minutes of the Wednesday corrida, people were so happy to see that torero was okay that everybody was on their feet cheering. . . cheering for life?

the addition to my classes

it is already my third week at the university and I feel the need to share with you ( is there someone reading this?)  about my new teacher. He is the Political System of Spain professor. On the first day of his class he came in a blazer with a red star pin on it and said that today's class was canceled, so he can invite us to the conference on The Fight against Capitalism, that is taking place in the university.
Okaaay. . . Again, that is way too different from my Prague classes. There teachers are hiding their preferences - with some of them, even after 4 years I have no clue whether they are to the right or left. It takes great intelligence to talk about political issues without siding with any particular ideology or thought.
However my first disappointment vanished during the next class, when my teacher managed to include all ERASMUS students in the discussion, by being very patient (with all the little Spanish some of us speak) and charismatic. It was visible at times about his preferences when he called Franco - cabron (Royal Academy of Spanish language explains it as a person or an animal which does wrong things; or as googletranslator does it -asshole). Most of the time during other classes, our questions are shoved to the "manana o la proxima semana" (tomorrow or the next week to-do-list).
Other idea he through out there, was that terrorists who accomplish the independence for its region (Palestian Jamas, per se) are/ will be viewed as the liberators. It depends on three factors whether you are considered terrorist or a liberator: 1. the amount support you have from the people, 2. on which side you are, 3. if you lose it or win it. It is one of the typical political science problems: there are so many factors, that it is very hard to invent a crystal clear and more importantly correct theory that will fit them all. You just have, at this time, to take it to the case study. Sometimes it feels, as if you are walking in a dark with no map reference whatsoever.
Talking about case studies, I have the task due in 2 next weeks to write a paper on the South Sudan and Sudan internal conflict. The paper is to be about 40 000 characters long. 6 hours of sleep daily is my new mantra :)
If I will be procrastinating, more post will come soon.

beso,D