Running "With" The Bull

Katie and I recently spent the weekend with her family at the Falles festival in Valencia, Spain. Katie's Dad had witnessed the spectacle when Katie studied there in college, and was so impressed that he was determined to show it to the rest of us. Thus Valencia was part of their itinerary while visiting us. I must admit that I was skeptical of Falles prior to going--it's difficult to get an idea of the magnitude without seeing it in person. I guess you'll have to take my word for it. If you have a chance, I highly recommend checking it out. Here's the Wikipedia description as I wouldn't know how to explain the whole thing. You can also check out our photos here.

In Valencia, we tried to buy bullfight tickets. I thought we were successful, but in fact we had bought tickets for an event where they bring out a bull, attach flames to its horns, and let it parade around the bullring. The crowd is invited to come out and do their best to play matador. This is done a total of 6 times (i.e. 6 bulls). The entertainment is watching your average Spaniard get as close to the bull as possible. Whereas a real bullfight is like a night at the theater (pagentry, tradition, etc), this is more like NASCAR... no one really wants to see someone get hurt, but we're all secretly hoping the bull gets its horns on somebody. We saw 2 close calls but (thankfully?) nothing serious.

Things got really interesting when Katie's brother and sister both went into the ring**. They got to see at least 2 bulls up close! After mulling it over, I finally gave in and went down--I'm sure I wouldn't have gone had they not done it first. I'm such a sucker some times. In the photo, I'm on the far left (in the white shirt) running in full stride away from the bull. It looks like I'm far away from the toro, but when you're down there it seems so close! I was only in the arena for a few minutes, but it felt much longer! What a rush (that I don't need to repeat). So that was my bit of excitement for the weekend!

**I have a photo of Mike and Mo in the bullring that I could share here, but hey, this is my blog not theirs.

The European Union of Beer

At the supermarché near our house, they sell a truly generic beer. I only know of it because I often see our neighborhood street punks (the ones with 3 dogs each asking for money in front of the market) buying it. I'm not positive, but when the guy in front of you in the checkout line is only buying Top Budget beer and nothing else, I don't think that's a good sign.

Anyway, I had to buy a can just so I could write about it. This 500 mL can (17 oz) costs a whopping 0.33 € !!! By comparison, baguettes--which are cheap--cost 0.60 € each. I have my doubts about whether Europe can truly be unified, but the common currency (the Euro, €) and this can of generic beer are proof that progress is being made. This can has beer written in no less than5--yes, FIVE!!--different languages!! It's not just a buzz but a foreign language lesson.

I haven't actually tasted the beer yet, but I'm sure it's fabulous. I think it's only because of the great wines that French beer isn't better known. I assure you that they wouldn't just put the two lions and crown 4.7% vol. crest at the bottom of any can of beer. In all seriousness, they sell plenty of good beer here in France, much of it Belgian.

And before I go, here's today's language lesson (you might want to buy a 6-pack to study at home).
beer = bière (french) = bier (german) = cerveja (portugese) = cerveza (spanish)

Airbus Strike!

The major industry in Toulouse is aeronautics, primarily all things related to Airbus. Airbus has been experiencing a number of problems with the delivery of its latest jet, the A380. This combined with the lack of a competitor (until recently) to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has been a big hit to the bottom line of Airbus and it's parent company EADS. So after much delay and a big meeting between Jacques Chirac and Angela Merkel, EADS finally announced their restructuring plan , Power 8, that will trim costs (and jobs) while boosting efficiency (i.e. profit). The bottom line for France is that several factories may be sold/closed and roughly 4,000 people laid-off/fired (of a total of 10,000 layoffs distributed amongst the Airbus partner countries).



This week there was a one day work stoppage and demonstration in the streets of Toulouse. As I'm currently in the midst of my own 1-year work stoppage, I went to witness the events and take some pictures. According to the French newspaper le Monde, no less than 10,000 people were thought to have participated. All in all, I thought the demonstration was pretty tame (even my Airbus friend who himself marched called it "calm"). This huge mass of people weaved their way through the heart of the city to the main square in front of city hall. To my surprise, city hall had a large banner (see top photo) proclaiming, "Toulousans with Airbus and it's Partners".



There was some speeches about the demands of the workers (keeping work in Toulouse, not closing factories, no layoffs, & protecting the French aerospace industry being the principle ones). It'll be interesting to see how this issue plays out in the coming French presidential elections. The left-leaning candidate has pledged to stop the layoffs is she's elected. Whatever happens, the demonstration definitely got a lot of attention. And after reading about various strikes and demonstrations, I finally got to witness my very first one!

French Idol

[Note (14 April): I used to have actual video here, but it got really annoying because it would play the minute you loaded the blog. So click HERE to see the actual video footage]

I managed to catch the 1st episode Nouvelle Star 2007 which is the French version of American Idol (they even have the same graphics). I actually watched the show because I had seen ads showing clips of this unbelievable b-box guy. I never really got into American Idol (I think I'm the only one) so I'm not sure how common such a talent is, but I was completely blown away by his performance. No knowledge of French needed here. As for the rest of the show, I found it a bit slow--many of the songs being performed were ones in English but with terrible French accents. They do not sound good.