Thursday, June 20, 2002

its funny, today is june 20, its supposed to be the day of la huelga general (general strike). while in other parts of the country, such as sevilla and other parts of andalucia, the work stoppage has actually been effective in crippling the cities and high participation and occasional violent outbursts make it seem like la huelga is indeed a big deal. however, here in madrid, the capital of the country, its really not such a big deal. when i went out this morning, i noticed about half of the places were closed, mostly all the small shops cause the owners are afraid of angry teamsters and picketers looting their stores. all the large stores or otherwise important places remained open, brushing off the day that was supposed to be for the people to take back what is rightfully theirs from the evil, capitalist influenced government. the only real sign that anything unusual was happening was in sol, which is essentially the center of the city. there were a lot, i mean lot of policemen in riot gear and even a load of swat teams ready for anythign and everything. fortunately, or unfortunately if you were a cameraman for the news anxiously waiting for something to film, nothing really happened. there was a bunch of graffiti on buildings and statues and stuff saying "20-J Huelga General" or stuff like that, but nothing really that effectively altered daily life here. i found that odd since this is the capital and biggest city and whatnot, i just figured this would be the main stage for whatever could happen. so what is the strike all about you ask? it actually makes sense when looked at through a spaniards eyes, but for americans, it really seems outright silly. what it all boils down to is the spanish government, under pressure from the rest of the european union, has reduced unemployment benefits and the employment guarantees that their once much more socialist system promised to its citizens. spanish labor unions and workers are naturally furious with the reduction of their benefits, and they are frustrated with the lack of response from the government their complaints have been met with. as a result, they hoped to have a general strike today to show the government that they will not be pushed around. they picked today mainly because there is a conference of european delegates in sevilla this weekend to discuss globalization issues. . .to the average american who has been brainwashed with the protestant work ethic and programmed to think that hard work is the only road to success (such as i admittedly have), this strike seems somewhat ridiculous. the reduction in benefits was really not that drastic, and with how inefficient the spanish economy is, spaniards could stand to work a little bit harder. i guess the bottom line is which do you prefer: efficiency or pleasure. . .im not entirely sure where i stand on that one yet . . .

Wednesday, June 19, 2002

so there's a little more about Granada below, not much more though, i cant do it justice by description with just words. . .so the waitress at the vietnamese restaurant in torremolinos was absolutely beautiful, i wasnt entirely sure if she was ethnically spanish, but for lack of a better word she had a completely unique look to her. . .actually a little bit like kristin kreuk from smallville (i know pz just got all excited. . .). at any rate, i kept tryin to talk to her when she came to the table but she was so fast when she came and went that it was a challenge. finally when she slowed down i went up and asked where we should go that night. now my spanish has been improving, and she understood me, asked me if we wanted to go where tourists are or not, and when i said no, she recommended puerto marina, which ended up being pretty fun. i asked if she wanted to come with us, but she said she had to clean up and close the restaurant (which was actually messy and closing), so we went just the five of us to puerto marina . . .so monday morning my family and i had a plan to go to the reina sofia, an art museum in madrid with a great collection of modern art, a lot of dalí, miró, and picasso. on our way there on the subway, it was crowded as hell and all four of us were kinda packed together in the middle of the train. i forgot to tell my mom to always carry her purse in front of her instead of on the side, and when i stopped paying attention for 30 seconds and started blankly at the floor, i guess someone asked my mom a question she didnt understand so she had to bend down and got distracted. . i heard her say she felt bad that she cant answer questions cause she doesnt speak spanish, but i didnt think anything of it. then when we were getting off the subway, someone pointed out that my mom's purse was open, and when she checked, her wallet was missing. . .a shame, cause if i had been looking up or paying attention, i probably would have been suspicious when someone asked my mom, an obvious tourist, a question about the subway system. . .luckily she didnt lose much money, had to cancel a few credit cards and it was a big pain to do so, but she took it well, laughing it off and saying she at least learned a lesson and has a good story to tell. . . attaway mom. . .

Sunday, June 16, 2002

what i'm realizing is i dont have enough time here, which is kinda pathetic. you would think 7-8 weeks would be enough to see all of madrid and then some other cities too, but im traveling somewhere pretty much every weekend, i just got back from torremolinos (on the costa del sol) and granada this morning. with all the traveling and class and whatever work i have during the week, there's not nearly enough time to explore madrid, let alone the rest of the country. anyway, i went to torremolinos friday morning, on a train from madrid to malaga and then a quick bus to torremolinos. in a nutshell, i didnt like it. . .at all. the second i got out of the train station, it felt like much more of an american city, and when i looked around a bit, i realized EVERYONE there were tourists, which was kinda annoying. its on the mediterranean sea, which i hadnt seen before so that was nice, and the beach and water near the mountains was definitely pretty. mainly what i didnt like was that i didnt feel like i was in spain, it was a bunch of americans, germans, and a few spaniards. whatever though, at least i saw the med. friday night was kinda fun, we ate at a vietnamese restaurant, a nice change from somewhat bland spanish food, and asked the cute waitress where we should go. she told us to go puerto marina, which seemed to be hidden from civilization but turned out to be this crazy bar scene with all these rich europeans who dock their yachts in the marina and go party for a day or two. it was surreal, but definitely a good time. on saturday we went to granada, less than 2 hours away by a bus ride through the mountains, which was nice. anything i didnt like about torremolinos was more than made up for by Granada. we went straight to la alhambra, a moorish palace and fortress on a hill just outside the city. it was absolutely incredible, and supposedly the view of the sun setting behind it is amazing, but we had to miss it to catch our bus, a shame. from the very little i saw walkin around the city for a bit, i liked it a lot. reminded me of a mix between sevilla and madrid, contemporary yet really historic at the same time. really unique. my parents came into madrid today, so i hung out with them all day, theyre sleeping now (shh). i dont know where to take them now though, EVERYTHING closes on sunday, so its kinda annoying, we'll figure something out. . .oh, and ive learned that picking travel partners should be a very, very rigorous interviewing and screening process. .. some people are irrationally difficult about the most trivial things over which we have absolutely no control. . really can suck the life out of something. . .its ok though, it wasnt that bad. i think thats it, need to sleep. . .