Corrida de Toros

The bull fight is an important part of Spanish history and culture that we had the chance of witnessing this past weekend. It is a part of a week called La Fiesta or Corrida de Toros ("Race of Bulls") and the actual running portion occurs in Pamplona during July 7-14, and some of us will be taking part in these festivities that weekend! TEAM PAMPLONA! :D

When I watched the first bull going through the ritual, I was definitely squeamish and disturbed. As the fights progress, however, I saw it more as a dance and joined in with the cheering/booing crowds. Furthermore, having gone to both the amateur and professional bullfights, I learned a little bit more about the art of bullfights.

First, the bull is let into the ring, full of energy and anger from being starved and locked up. Each bull is no less than 450 kg. In fact, the ones we saw were at least 480-520kg, huge beasts!

To tire the bull, 6 assistants wave magenta and yellow capotes ("dress cape") to run the bull from corner to corner and sometimes into the walls.

Next, 2 horses with full padding and an armored rider (picador) comes out into the ring, ready to further agitate the bull and injure him with a lance to his back.

In the next stage, the tercio de banderillas ("third of flags"), 3 banderilleros(the assistants) take turns piercing the bull's back with barbed sticks to further anger and weaken the bull.

In the final segment of the ritual, the matador takes center stage with a sword and red cape and proceeds to do a graceful dance with the bull, proceeding to show his control over the bull's actions and to weaken the bull further. The matador then maneuvers the bull into a position where he can stab his sword through the bull's back and heart in one move.

If the matador performs well, the crowd will wave white handkerchiefs at the presiding dignitary to award the matador an ear of the bull, or two if the matador performed exceptionally well. In the professional matches we saw, one matador was awarded one ear during his first match and then 2 ears during his second match.

Although I had to get used to the first few bulls and the blood being spilled, I'm glad I had a chance to experience such an important piece of Spanish culture and am looking forward to Pamplona where I can further enrich my experience of the Running of the Bulls! :D - Bing

Garkay and I went to Barcelona before we came to Guardamar. Our hotel was really close to Sagrada Familia and it was amazing!
(If you try really hard, you can see Sagrada Familia on the left side.)
I wish I can go back and spend more time in Barcelona.




















I really enjoyed our field trip to Alicante, Murcia and Elche. Alicante, Murcia and Elche were beautiful and I wish we had more time to tour.
Left: Alicante/ Right: Murcia (The river is really wide compared to Guardamar.)
This picture was taken in Madrid on dia del Espana.
I also loved our three day weekend!
I loved team Madrid :) and our tour guides were awesome! (Team Madrid should post group pictures!)

It is strange but Spain reminds me of Korea a lot. Korea has similar Mercadillo on street every week. Also, the way drivers drive in Spain is very similar to Korea. (They don't stop when they see stop signs.)
Many little things remind me of Korea pretty much everyday.


I think I am the only Korean in Guardamar.
I am not kidding! (I feel so special and alone.. at the same time.)
If Alex is going to teach an architecture studio in Guardamar with Seoul University, I want to warn Korean students that Guardamar does not have any Korean restaurant here.
I miss KIMCHI so much!

-Christine

p.s/

Alex, Can we babysit Isabella?
She is so cute!
I will make sure that Bing is not gonna kidnap her.







I love this picture.
Bruno should be our mascot of Guardamar studio.

Castles

Guardamar is one of the important coastal cities for defending intrusion. However, Guardamar Castle is destroyed during an earthquake, and nobody really knows exactly how it was before the earthquake. One of our assignments is to rebuild the Castle of Guardamar. We went to see Alicante and Elche to see how other cities rebuild their castles.

This is the Alicante Castle

Everything looks original in the Alicante Castle

-A view from the top of the castle

This is the Elche Castle. A modern museum is

built as an addition that integrated with the castle.

The restoration part and new addition to the castle are very obvious. Comparing to Alicante, the designer of this castle took an opposite approach.

Two fieldtrips gave me different perspectives of how we may rebuild the Guardamar Castle-Si

Sagrada Familia in Barcelona

GaudiのSagrada Familiaに行って、実際に彼の作品を目にし、その空間を体験したことは大感動だったのは言うまでもないのだが、彼のデザインコンセプトにも刺激を受けた。
彼が植物に触れながら育ったことが、彼の建築に影響したのだろうか。
コラムは木の幹のように伸び、上にいくにつれ円形に近づき、複数に枝分かれし、天井を支えている。
この形は、こんなにも高い天井にいくつものSkylight（天窓）を作ることを可能にしている。
それ以外にも、Organicな形をしているものはほとんど植物の形からアイデアを得ている。
それが本当に構造的にも重要な役割を果たしている点は、ガウディの技術的な才能も示している。


-Eriko

Watching a game at the Pension

Last week, a group of us went to the Pension to watch the Spain vs. Honduras game. One of the guys sitting at the bar saw us cheering for Spain and wanted to buy us drinks, but Lisbeth didn't let him.

Everyone is really into the world cup here, unlike in the United States. It's a shame that our team doesn't get a whole lot of attention in the states, because they are actually pretty good. But now that they've been eliminated, I guess we're all gonna cheer for Spain!

-Garkay

Elche Field Trip

Our class went on an excursion to Elche yesterday to visit the MAHE museum. As the museum was a hybrid of modern and ancient architecture, our task was to observe and analyze the relationship between the two. It was interesting to note how the people moved through the museum, beginning underground away from the ancient castle and eventually ending inside the castle walls.

The exterior appearance of the castle seems to be preserved, but as the individual moves through the museum, one begins to observe an invasion of modern architecture that attaches itself to the walls and foundations of the ancient castle.

Above left is an example of how modern and ancient architecture exist together and below this is the exterior façade of the castle.

shots from above...

Our first assignment was to photograph the mercadillo, its a weekly market that takes over the streets, I knew I wanted to take my photos from a unique angle, a unique perspective… so I decided to climb on some roofs to get a shot from above. I guess I was pretty inspired because it’s becoming a theme for my trip here…


This is one my the shots of the market from on top of a roof



Me on the roof, Shawn had to give me a boost so I could get up, an old lady was yelling at me from the building next door, the only thing I recognized was “por que?” I just kept pointing to my camera and saying “fotos…fotos”



This is a shot from the 4th floor of the public library, somehow I got a lady to let me and Shawn in her office to photograph the market from her window, nice lady…



In Murcia I went to the top floor of the new Town Hall, there was an office with a window facing the Iglesia Catedral de Santa María AKA Catedral de Murcia, there was about 5 people in there talking, but there was a lounge area so I didn’t feel awkward going in, but when they noticed me I just pointed to the camera, then the window, and one of the ladies opened the door to the balcony, pretty cool! and another nice lady...



Last night Guardamer had a big bonfire celebration called the ‘Night of Magic”. I climbed up the lifeguard tower to get this shot, there’s no ladder or steps for the first 10 feet or so, I had to jump and pull myself up because Shawn wasn’t there to give me a boost :U( he was hanging out with KENNY! :U)

-SCOTT ANDREW REITZ