Big Events
Choose one of the following events that you have been to and describe it with some of the structures that you have studied in class.
I jumped at the chance to go to Galicia to try to disrupt a day of fox-hunting.
I was a bit nervous though because I didn't know anybody.
A bus full of people left Madrid in the evening and arrived in a small village near Pontevedra around 5am. It was the meeting place for protestors from all over Spain as well as the hunters.
Needless to say, I didn't manage to get any sleep during the journey.
It started to pour rain as all the protestors gathered together. I remember shivering as we took shelter. It was absolutely freezing and even hot coffee couldn't warm me up.
Many of the protestors took their cars, which were essential for following the hunters. It was easy to spot the hunters because their vehicles pulled trailers with dogs inside.
I was really tired but my adrenalin was running high as I had never done anything like it before.
I was with a group of protestors which tracked a group of hunters. The police, many of whom are hunters themselves, tried to make life difficult for us. They stopped the cars of the protestors to slowly check everybody's documents.
We followed the hunters all day and made sure that this particular group were not able to kill any foxes.
We blew whistles and used football rattles and megaphones to scare the foxes away, before the hunters could get them.
As you can imagine, the hunters were absolutely furious with us. Their faces were rather frightening, especially as they were armed with rifles.
On the way back to the village, we saw a dead fox displayed at the side of the road by a group of hunters.
Unfortunately the hunters outnumbered the protestors and so it was impossible to follow every group of hunters.
After lunch, we attended a rally in the village. Everybody was chanting and holding placards.
I doubt the rally changed the opinions of pro-hunters, but I think it is important to make your voice heard and draw attention to things.
On the whole, I think it was a worthwhile trip. We managed to save the lives of some foxes. I'd join such a protest again.
- a wedding
- a sporting event
- a football match
- a demonstration
- a rally
- a concert
- a peace march
- a special party
- a big concert
- a performance by a famous actor or singer
I jumped at the chance to go to Galicia to try to disrupt a day of fox-hunting.
I was a bit nervous though because I didn't know anybody.
A bus full of people left Madrid in the evening and arrived in a small village near Pontevedra around 5am. It was the meeting place for protestors from all over Spain as well as the hunters.
Needless to say, I didn't manage to get any sleep during the journey.
It started to pour rain as all the protestors gathered together. I remember shivering as we took shelter. It was absolutely freezing and even hot coffee couldn't warm me up.
Many of the protestors took their cars, which were essential for following the hunters. It was easy to spot the hunters because their vehicles pulled trailers with dogs inside.
I was really tired but my adrenalin was running high as I had never done anything like it before.
I was with a group of protestors which tracked a group of hunters. The police, many of whom are hunters themselves, tried to make life difficult for us. They stopped the cars of the protestors to slowly check everybody's documents.
We followed the hunters all day and made sure that this particular group were not able to kill any foxes.
We blew whistles and used football rattles and megaphones to scare the foxes away, before the hunters could get them.
As you can imagine, the hunters were absolutely furious with us. Their faces were rather frightening, especially as they were armed with rifles.
On the way back to the village, we saw a dead fox displayed at the side of the road by a group of hunters.
Unfortunately the hunters outnumbered the protestors and so it was impossible to follow every group of hunters.
After lunch, we attended a rally in the village. Everybody was chanting and holding placards.
I doubt the rally changed the opinions of pro-hunters, but I think it is important to make your voice heard and draw attention to things.
On the whole, I think it was a worthwhile trip. We managed to save the lives of some foxes. I'd join such a protest again.
Comments
There is another protest this weekend against the massacre of seals in Canada.
Check out the Equanimal web page.
This time we had to rent an appartment about 45min away from the concert place, because there wasn’t any hotel or appartment left in the town. It was in Marina d’Or (a horrible holiday town full of british and german retired people, no ofense...) announced by Camacho, the famous football coach.
I really liked some of the live concerts I saw but there were so many people in each one of them that I had to stay at the back and I barely saw any of the players. I only saw them through the big screens they put on both sides of the stage.
I was taking, at that time, some antibiotics so I couldn’t drink. Needless to say, everything is more painful and boring when everybody is drunk and you are not.
Mornings were very hot but nights were very cold, so I finished every day shrivering waiting for the bus I had to take to go to the appartment, and that left every hour...
Perhaps I am a bit moaner but I felt (as Danny Glover would say in Lethal Weapon) too old for this shit!!!!.... but if you prefer: too old fot this kind of big events...
See you tomorrow!
I've just you tubed SOS 4.8. I'm amazed - I've heard of most of the singers and bands.
Almost a year ago, I went to a music festival in Murcia called SOS. 4.0 for a weekend. Many years BEFORE THAT, I was ONCE AT A similar festival but...
This time we had to rent an APARTMENT about 45min away from the VENUE because ... It was in Marina d’Or (a horrible holiday town full of RETIRED British and GermanS - no OFFENCE...) WHICH WAS ADVERTISED BY CAMACHO, the famous football coach.
I really liked some of the live concerts I saw but there were so many people AT each one of them that I had to stay at the back and I barely saw any of the PEOPLE ON STAGE. I only saw them ON the big screens they put on both sides of the stage.
Mornings were very hot but nights were very cold, so I ENDED every day shivering,...
Perhaps I am A BIT OF A moaner but ...
See you tomorrow!
I have a laught reading your story about the protest against the hunters, it looks like you had a really adventurous day.
I think these kinds of protests are a great idea to hurdle the hunter's plans. One thing I found really unfair is the police behaviour, shame on them! Anyway, it's not a big surprise...
Moving on to the events topic, I can talk about the weddings, which I've been into 6. Almoust all of them were family weddings and the last one was a friend wedding (which means that it was the funnest one, yet means also that it was the first wedding that I'd to pay from my pocket).
In general, I think weddings are quite fun only if you don't have many of them. In that case, you can get sick and tired of them and become penniless.
After having gone to 6 weddigs I can say that usually they follow more or less the same dynamic. First of all there's the ceremony, latter there's a cocktail, then the dinner and finally the dance (time to see your relatives getting drunk).
Besides that, these kind of events are normally really posh and they boast with many amenities to leave the guests amazed.
Next year I'm having another wedding, and I'll be the bridemaid. It's going to be a spanish-british wedding, and according to what I saw until now, it'll be a bit different than an average spanish wedding.
When I think about it, we were running quite a risk spoiling the sadistic pleasure of these armed men.
I had a laugh reading your story about the protest against the hunters, it sounds like you had a really adventurous day.
I think these kinds of protests are a great idea to upset the hunter's plans. One thing I found really unfair was the police's behaviour, shame on them! Anyway, it's hardly a big surprise.
Moving on to the events topic, I can talk about the weddings which I've been to - 6 in total. Almost all of them were family weddings but the last one was a friend's wedding (which means that it was the most fun though it also means that it was the first wedding that I had to pay from my own pocket).
In general, I think weddings are quite fun as long as you don't have many of them. In that case, you can get sick and tired of them and become penniless.
After having gone to 6 weddings, I can say that they usually follow the same dynamic, more or less. First of all there's the ceremony, later there's a cocktail, then the dinner and finally the dance (time to see your relatives getting drunk).
Besides all that, these kind of events are normally really posh and they boast many details to leave the guests amazed / to impress the guests.
Next year I have another wedding, and I'll be the bridesmaid. It's going to be a Spanish-British wedding, and judging by what I have seen up until now, it'll be a bit different than /from/to the average Spanish wedding.