Madrid was great... but a little bit rushed. Food was great... so was the wine and Sangrias... mmMmmm... it was a shame that it was so cold, but all in all I had a lovely break from London. Only to return to work for 4/1 on the day of the silly protest in the city. It actually worked out quite well though since we had dress down policy for a couple of days and we had the company quiz night which meant more free alcohol, also meant we didn't have to try get home in the madness with everyone else trying to get home =P

Little rants to get out... such as losing my pink camera. Pink seems to not be going well with me. First I broke my pink suitcase, then I had my pink hello kitty lunch box stolen at work... now my pink camera gets lost. Pink is properly against me it seems. What's going on??? I didn't lose it while I was in madrid where there were many opportunities of it to get stolen and the likes... but noo... I drop it on the train going home from Waterloo (well, I suspect so)... so a big fat well done to meee!!!  I guess these things happen... you know, shit happens. It's just a camera, no big deal. To be fair, I've been taking hardly any pictures for the pass year due to laziness. I didn't take many pictures while I was in Madrid and was just shoping Belle and Silvana would give me a copy of their pics. One, they took better pictures with their super cameras (exaggeration here, but they have a Digital SLRs). There really was very little use of my little Panasonic camera which is just as good as a camera phone these days so I really should have just left it at home... *sigh*

Now I've done my little rant, I wanted to share my first experience of watching a bullfight. This was the first time and probably only time I'd ever watch bullfighting. Although I had been to a several bull rings in the pass when I had visited Spain, I knew what to kinda expect, it really was something else when you actually sit and watch in the flesh. I guess normally, you only see highlights and snippets. I found it very disturbing... I think at the start I was close to crying because I thought it was so inhumane. Towards the end of the first bull death, I had my hand over my eyes as the bull collapses and the horses come out to pull the dead body circling the bull ring. Not nice at all. There were quite a several occasions when the bull was pretty close to us (we sat about the 3 row from the bottom) and you could see the blood coming out like a fountain of blood, yet still charging at the red and pink flags. It wasn't like one on one either, there were 4-5 flagmen who tease the bull and give the main bullfighter a break. It's like 6 people bullying the bull to death basically. As they stab the bull with these barbed sticks ripping into the skin, they continue to tease it... as you watch it panting, really struggling to breathe. Then after some time some one comes and stabs it with a spear... again, you watch the bull struggle but continue to charge at the red flags.... kinda continues until eventually the bull can no longer stand up and the fight finally ends as the bull dies under the sword. Very bloody... very gross. 

I guess I should've have expected it, I blame my ignorance as I was really quite shocked at the whole thing. However, I would say it was an experience, perhaps not something I was all that comfortable with, but it was quite interesting. Belle bought us to the attention that Spanish don't really eat beef, so then it poses the question, what on earth do they do with the bull after they kill it?

Anyway, pictures at some point when I get hold of them... until then, peace out!

Was reminded yesterday that I actually have a blog, then I realised I hadn't made any entries for a very long time. It's a little annoying cos there's so many things I wanted to share with everyone, but I've just been much too lazy to login and make an entry... then I completely forget. Can't believe I just left my Cruise trip entries... it's much too old for me to continue with them. =p

I guess it only makes sense if I just update goings on since the start of 2009. It's coming up to a year since I officially accepted Christ. Since then, I really feel like a new person... I suppose not entirely, but it's started from my spiritual being then working outwards. Being completely blessed, so blessed I have blessings overflowing to bless those around me too. Things I had been working on so hard on my own, in my own strength, I realised that I've been walking in a brick wall again and again. Things are just so much easier when you put them in hands of God. Father will then give you the strength, open your path, open your heart, open your eyes and ears so you may discover the plan He has for you. Things aren't always easy, but you need not make things harder for yourself by wanting to to do it all alone.

I went to Stream of Praise (讚美之泉) concert at church last night and it was seriously amazing. I had been really looking forward to it for a very long time, had some high expectations too... but not only did they meet my expectations, also exceeded. Through the concert, you just know there was God's presence. I don't think there's anything more amazing than being blessed enough to have such certainty that God is right by your side... no matter what. That aside, the atmosphere last night was awesome. Never had I seen people of all ages singing and dancing like that, it was a true celebration and you can see kids, grandparents, mums... people of all ages just not caring about what everyone else thinks and just praising God. It was such a fun and blessed evening. If anyone wants to borrow a CD, drop me a line.

The pass week I had gone a bit mad with sample sales. Although I think I did pretty well holding back from turning into a mad woman wiht millions of bags of crap, I did spend a fair amount of money on stuff I REALLY liked. Need to thank Belle for passing me all these sample sale invites. Normally when I go to these sample sales, they're usually full of substandard, rather crappy stuff sold at some silly price still. I think it's probably the result of the credit crunch; the stuff in the sample sales have been really good! They're not cheap still, but there's a lot more variety, a range of very good and standard quality goods... even current season! (That's probably the really cool part). I guess it's just as well highstreet shops have been going downhill. Since the credit crunch, it's seems to be the trend that they all sell poor quality, poorly designed stock at rip off prices everywhere. With some huge efforts trying to buy something fairly nice in shops for the pass couple of months, I've failed miserably. So it's pretty good being able to buy some good stuff in sample sales for the same price as what I'd pay on the high street.