sorry it's been a while

but nothing has really been happening. but yesterday was fun! it was a bullfight. i'll explain:
there are 3 matadors (bull killers) with their respective teams. there are six bulls- 2 for every matador. they go nonstop. when the bull is released into the arena, there are several men with colorful capes standing around. they wave them (i'm sure you're familiar with this) and the bull chases them. he gets very agitated. soon after they make him run around for a while, a man on a horse comes out. he carries a long pole with a blade on the end. the cape men make the bull run to the picador (stick man) and the picador plunges the blade into the back of the bull. this makes the bull even angrier. if the picador keeps the blade in too long, the people get mad and start to yell- they don't want suffering. he pulls it out and the bull chases the cape men again. then they repeat the poking and the picador leaves. then come men with banderillas- colorful streamers on wooden poles with spikes on the end. there are three men, each with 2 banderillas- 6 banderillas total. these men run around the bull (with no horse or protection or anything) and stick the banderillas in the bull's back. if they fall out, he did it badly and the people get upset. this makes the bull even madder. finally out comes the toreador or matador. he has a very familiar red cape and waves it around to get the bull to chase it. he whirls and twirls and gets very brave, the braver the better. one of the matadors yesterday actually kneeled with his back to the bull and waved the cape. the better and braver the toreador gets, the happier the people are. they clap as people do at theatre performances in between acts. then he raises his sword and everyone goes quiet. this means that he's about to kill. he gets ready then waves the cape with one hand to get the bull to move towards him, while simultaneously plunging his sword into the back. it must miss the bone and go deep in. also, the bull must die quickly. if the bull is obviously suffering, the people get mad. then horses come out and pull the dead body away.
so we saw the deaths of 6 bulls yesterday. on the second one, the bull was obviously weak and suffering, so the people began to yell and whistle loudly. when the bull fell, some people even stood up. they yell at the president of the event to take the bull out and kill it humanely. this they did with the second bull- the president waved a white flag, and the bull was replaced with another. on the fourth bull, the toreador didn't do enough toreadoring (being brave and waving the cape) and wanted to kill too early. he failed several times to stab the bull well enough, so the people were yelling a lot. they want the bull to die quickly. when he finally killed it, people whistled instead of clapping. they were quite displeased. but it was fun, altogether.

after the fight, we went out into town. there i met the son of some friends of my host parents, so i have more friends now. we're supposed to be going out into town tonight. yay friends! =D