Cinco de mayo

Today is the 5th of May, cinco de mayo if you will. In honor of this fantastic holiday I wrote a poem out of sheer boredom in class...and here it is.

Cinco de mayo

Today is the fifth of May

and in Spain, not a holiday.

I'd like to be drinking a margarita and taking tequila shots.

Instead I'm sitting in class and taking shots, I'm not.

En los Estados Unidos I'd be having a ball.

But here in Spain cinco de mayo is not celebrated at all.

But this problem can be fixed, no worries I say.

Because I'm going to the Atletico Madrid futbol game today!

Haha just thought I would share, I feel like this poem has some potential, probably become the next Dr. Seuss. Anyway, I actually just got home from the Atletico Madrid soccer game. They are the second biggest team in Madrid, after Real Madrid. They are the underdogs and their jerseys look like candy canes and I like them. Their fans are awesome, there was a group that stood and chanted the entire game, it was quite the experience. Atletico won 3-1, they game was a blast to watch.

In other more recent news, I will most likely not be going to Ireland due to the volcanic ash cloud that seems to be floating over the country...awesome.

In less recent news, I went to a bullfight (corrida de toros) last Sunday and it was my first and last bullfight. I am glad I went to experience the culture of it and try to understand how people could possibly find the killing and suffering of a bull entertainment, but after 2 out of the 6 bulls were stabbed to death, I decided to leave.

Basically, I thought this was a one on one duel between the matador and bull...false. First they keep the bull in the dark for hours before the fight, this way when they let him out into the ring, he is blinded and confused by the bright sunlight. Then he is stabbed by two men who are on horseback, then he is stabbed by 6 little stabber thingies that stay in the bulls neck/back and have poison/some kind of tranquilizer in them. Ok so now the bull is seriously slowing down and bleeding all over the place and the matador walks out. He puts on a little show and then is suppose to kill the bull with one swift stab to the neck. Welp, this usually doesn't happen and the bull is stabbed numerous times while falling over and coughing/throwing up blood. This is not something I would bring my little kids to, but some people do. Then the bull is finally killed after about a 1/2 hour of suffering and it falls to the ground and it's body is hooked up to 3 horses, which drag the bull out of the ring.

PETA would have a field day over here. I actually did a 20 minute presentation on anti-bullfighting groups in Spain and surprising around 70% of Spain is against bullfighting. There are alot of tourist that come to bullfights and some traditionalist trying to keep it alive. In my opinion, it does not need to go on any longer. I understand it is part of your culture, no, not "is" it should be "was" because this kind of suffering for entertainment does not belong in our modern world. It is honestly unbelievable that these acts are still allowed.

Phew, I'll get off my soapbox on that one. Anyway, Happy Cinco de Mayo! Not much is going on here for it, so it was a perfect day for a futbol game. Really glad I had a chance to go to a game and also glad that we discovered a cute local bar that has happy hour everyday from 4-7. haha. I will be home June 2 so I have a little less than a month left here in Europe. Time sure has gone fast.

Morgan