Wednesday | August 27, 2008

a warm spanish welcome


What else should we expect? We spent two wonderful weeks in the U.S. Seeing friends and family, going to restaurants, enjoying the efficiency and laziness of american life.

So after only two weeks, we had already forgotten enough to be annoyed (if not sincerely pissed off) at all the promblems we ran into upon our return. In general, things here in Spain run just as smoothly as in Kentucky. In fact, because we're in a much bigger city here, we enjoy the benefits such as great public transportation and never being bored. There are many little things, however, that snowball into serious frustration. For example, after 17 hours on airplanes, all we wanted to do was go home. At the Barcelona airport we went to buy our train tickets and ALL the credit card machines were down. ATM? Nope! had to walk all the way back to the terminal. Biggest airport in Spain. Cash only for the train. No ATM in the train station. nice. Okay, so I needed a bottle of water. I had a 2 euro coin. The water cost 1 euro. Okay, cool. No... wait.... the machines (all 3) only take exact change! great. Okay, We're on the train with all our big, heavy luggage. All we have to do is get off the train in Terrassa and catch a cab home. Simple. Easy. Not so much. The taxi stop, usually full of bored cabbies looking for fares, is a curbside void. Not a cab in sight. Lucky for us, there was a bus to take us home. I almost couldn't believe that we found the apartment to be as we left it. After all we had been through, I wouldn't be surprised if we had come home to find it cleaned out by robbers, or burnt down, or emploded...

But we made it. And very gratefully so. I'm sure everyone has heard about the plane crash that happened in Madrid. at least 100 ( I think closer to 150) people died. It happened the day we flew. And while it did make me more nervous than usual, I had to think about all the people that were affected. How terrible! and how scary! Most of them were families going on vacation, since the plane was flying from Madrid to the Canary Islands.

I know flying is supposedly the safest way to travel. Everyone says it. But plane crashes DO happen. They are not so rare as we like to think. I hate flying. I think it's one of the scariest things you can do. But I think it's a good lesson. Nothing we do is without risk. And I refuse to be limited by fear. I am afraid of a LOT of things. But if I let those fears dictate my life... I'd probably be curled up in the fetal position in a dark room somewhere :) Alright. That was the inspirational message of the day.

Due to untrustworthy computers, who knows when the next post will be...
Posted by devoncooper at 07:42:43 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Monday | June 09, 2008

Spain on Strike


The Spanish people have a strong history of being protesters. I guess that's why they seem to constantly be on strike. Since I arrived in September, there has been at least one group striking at nearly all times. First we had the cleaning crew for the subway/underground system. That was really unpleasant. Not only did they stop cleaning for several weeks, but during the night they would toss garbage down the entrances, so you literally had to pick your way down the stairs, avoiding old hamburger wrappers and dirty diapers. Then there was the bus drivers strike. They were required to provide minimum services, which meant one bus every 45 minutes. That is NOT enough for a city this big. I was personally affected by this one too, having to leave an hour early for work some days! Next was the garbage collecters strike. Once again, not pleasant! After that was the meter maid strike. All the police-type officials that collect the parking meter money went around and put tape and signs all over the parking meters. I think that one is still going on. Luckily, I'm not directly affected. In fact, this might be the only strike with positive consequences for the citizens, considering no one has to pay for parking right now.

And now, if everyone's predictions are correct, the two current strikes will have big, bad repercussions for the entire country. All the other strikes were city-wide. The two current strikes (both starting today) are nation-wide, and both protesting the same thing: the high cost of gasoline. First are the fishermen. For them, today is "paro total," which means no one goes out to fish. The second group are the truckers. This, after only one day, has proved to be the most dangerous and violent strike. ALL the major highways are jammed with trucks, causing a traffic catastrophe. Striking truckers are blocking entrances to major distribution centers and attacking truckers who don't comply with the strike.
With these two strikes, within a matter of days Spain is likely to run short of food supplies.

I don't have strong political leanings, and if someone's not being treated fairly, then a well planned protest or strike could possibly resolve some problems. BUT when your actions negatively affect the ENTIRE country...? And not only that, the violence! How can you prove your point with violence? We all know that doesn't solve problems...
Posted by devoncooper at 16:40:54 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Saturday | May 24, 2008

Not taking it for granted


Yesterday I had a job interview in Terrassa and Dayni had is final test for the curso cero. He is now officially free for the summer and I am kidnapping him and taking him back to Madrid.

But first, to celebrate, most of the people from his class went to the beach. We went along and it was fabulous. It kind of struck me at one point, as we were all sitting in the sand and just talking and relaxing. This is the most normal thing for many of these guys. Hey, it's a nice day, lets go sit on the shore of the mediterranian. It was a cloudy day, a little cold, spitting rain here and there. But that didn't stop us from having fun. A couple of girls went swimming in the freezing water. A spontaneous game of soccer broke out. We all ate paella, drank sangria and beer, and just had a wonderful time. For me, it was another new, wonderful experience that I can look forward to more often, now that we're moving to Terrassa soon. And for Dayni especially, I know it was great- he was away from the sea for so long in Kentucky after spending a lifetime with it at his backdoor in Cuba. It was a soul-warming experience for all of us.

Posted by devoncooper at 06:49:56 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Tuesday | May 20, 2008

A warning to all you wine snobs.

and you beer snobs too.

I'm sure everyone assumes that since Spanish people are famous for their love of wine (and beer), they must have very high standards. I am sure that in some restaurants too expensive for me to afford, there are people doing the "Sideways" thing. But all the commoners here have a different way of doing things. And it just might scare the heck out of you snobs. They MIX. That's right. You can mix pretty much anything into wine and beer here. My favorites are the "tinto de verano" which is red wine mixed with sugar and soda water. Then there's the "calimocho" that's red wine (the cheapest box you can get is usually around 45 cents) mixed with good ol' coca cola. And for the beer lovers, there is caña con limon, or light beer mixed with lemon soda (usually fanta). I thought about trying to invent my own mixture. But I'm pretty sure it's all been done before!
Posted by devoncooper at 13:02:43 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Friday | May 16, 2008

Butter on a roll

I'm in the office at work and on the radio is "It's rainin' men..." I don't really know what importance that has, I just felt the need to mention it. That's the kind of music we listen to in this office. That and Rhiana and another 2 or 3 songs that gt played over and over...

SO here is a good news update. I have a job interview in Terrassa, which is the town where Danny goes to school. If I can get this job, I will be SET! I would start in July, have August off to come home, then start again in September. It really seems too good to be true. Let's hope that's not the case. So my task now is to organize substitute teachers for my classes next friday so I can go to Barcelona. I even found a cheap plane ticket only one week in advance. Is that a sign? I'll take it!

By the way, what did I tell you? That Rhiana song just came on the sound system...
Posted by devoncooper at 06:46:53 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |

Saturday | May 03, 2008

Puente

In Spain, May 1st is Labor Day. How sad is it that my students had to teach me the history of this holiday (which originates in Chicago). Apparently I missed that part of history class. It's also not a coincidence that the US doesnt celebrate this holiday until September. Heaven forbid we should be associated with a holiday that has communist implications...
But enough of that!!! Anyway, May 1st is Workers day and May 2nd is the celebration of Madrid's rebellion against and liberation from the French army. SO we had a nice long four day weekend (called a puente). Dayni and I took advantage of the time to take a day trip to Segovia, a little town about an hour outside of Madrid. The big feature of Segovia is the Roman Aqueduct. It is absolutely marvelous!!! See pictures on my facebook page, or on Flickr.
We also celebrated Dayni's birthday (Happy Birthday baby!) And now we're getting ready to say goodbye as he once again heads out for Barcelona. BUT if all goes as planned, this should be the last of these terrible goodbyes. He finishes classes in mid May, and will be coming back to Madrid. Hopefully, in July, we will be headed home for a visit. Then, it's off to Barcelona for good. This is the plan... !

Posted by devoncooper at 19:26:54 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Thursday | April 24, 2008

A few notes on behavior


1. If it was raining, but has stopped, and you are still huddled under your umbrella like hot lava is falling from the sky, you look like an idiot.

2. If you are an old woman, you do not look nice with bright purple hair. Or orange. Or pink. Or leopard spots.

3. If you are an old man and you are pushing an empty stroller down the street, everyone thinks you are creepy and weird.
Posted by devoncooper at 13:56:40 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |

Thursday | April 10, 2008

Separation of Church and Mind... a lesson in heroes


Catchy title, eh?

Unit 8 of my favorite text book is titled “Heroes,” so I figured, all right, there are a million resources for activities on heroes, writing exercises, discussions, this will be a breeze. I expected a week or two of generic “my grandma is my hero” talks, and of course the frequent mention of Gandhi, Mother Teresa and so on. That is how it started out. No problem. For the characteristics of a hero, we came up with the following list: Strong, intelligent, generous, brave. So, a combination of Superman and Mother Teresa, right? I put a list of people on the board and decided to have a discussion. Are these people heroes? Some were controversial.... Madonna, Che Guevarra. People that are either loved or hated. And yes, I got a little debate out of them over these figures. Then I expected to skim through the other, more obviously benevolent people I had listed (Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, etc) Then, all of a sudden, one of my students said “I don’t think Gandhi is a hero” and I said “...okay.... why is that?” They continued by explaining that Gandhi was a very important person for the people of India, but that was the extent of it. They said that in today’s world, everyone can be called a hero, without really thinking about it. She said Gandhi was important, but not a hero. I asked her to add some “real” heroes to the list. Her contributions were: Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II and the children/shepherds at Fatima. I pointed out the similarities in Gandhi and Mother Teresa, but she was adamant. I guess it turns out that in her world, all heroes are Catholic.
Posted by devoncooper at 07:35:23 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Wednesday | April 02, 2008

Work, School, and Family

Okay, so it has been a scandalously long time since my last post. But seriously, the life of an English professor is not all glamour and lights! Alright, now I'm just sounding self-rightous. But I really have been extremely busy at work. The trimester ends this week and for each of my 9 classes I had to not only figure out how to finish all the material I had left (apparently my classes were moving a little slowly), but also create and give a final exam AND do all the end-of-the-trimester paperwork. It can be a little overwhelming. But it's all under control. It's really not that much work. It just feels like it sometimes. (Like every other job on the face of the earth.... teaching English is no different at all.)

Anyway, good news that the world has already heard (because I'm telling everyone)... Danny's sister and her husband just had twin girls! So Danny is a first time uncle. And although he's trying to play it cool, I know he's just as excited about it as I am.

More good news. This week at Danny's school, there is a film festival, so he has no classes (loser). But that's beside the point. He has been chosen, along with others in his class, to help shoot the new commercial for his school. So it is his first work (in a long time at least- he did similar things in Cuba too) on a professional shoot. He started out on the direction of photography team, but decided to move to the sound team due to a slight overpopulation of students vying for the attention of the director of photography. He says he's learning a lot. On Friday, hopefully, I will get to go and observe the shoot. Then there's a big party to close the festival.

So, that has been the run-down on what's going on over here. I am still looking for a job in Barcelona, and I have some good prospects. We'll see how it all goes!
Posted by devoncooper at 06:25:34 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Thursday | March 20, 2008

Toledo


As I type, I am uploading photos of Danny’s and my recent trip to Toledo, an ancient city about 70 km outside of Madrid . Toledo is famous for its “casco historico” or old town. I did a little googling, and according to various websites (wikipedia, zocodover.com, Toledo-spain.info), Toledo was a functioning city long before the Romans showed up and took it over in the year 192 b.c. It was apparently founded sometime before 400 b.c. by the Iberians. I have to admit I did not realize just how old the city is… But the ruins are amazing. And there is still more for us to see in future visits. The “old” part of the city is on top of a very large hill and surrounded by an ancient wall. The city inside the wall is extremely hilly. The streets were obviously built long before cars (and even carriages) were buzzing around. They are so narrow, they look more like alleyways. Many of the cobblestone streets are interrupted by stairs, twisting and turning in crazy directions. The city is like a maze! There are an unbelievable amount of churches, synagogues, and mosques. The city has been ruled by Iberians, Romans, Moors, and then Christian Spaniards, and everyone has left their mark.

On a more personal note, I was amazed and fascinated by the city. But I have a complaint. We were not allowed to enter the Cathedral unless we paid 7 euros. I refused. I am a Catholic. Yet I can’t go in a catholic church? This church is not just a museum. It is a functioning church that holds mass every Sunday. What is happening to the world when people are forced to PAY to go inside a church?!?! I am disgusted by the fact that ROME feels the need to charge a fee for entrance to a church. (or, to be fair, maybe Rome doesn’t know it’s happening… though somehow I doubt that) Historical landmarks or not, churches are built for one purpose only- can you guess what that is? I know what I thought it was… But I’m not so sure anymore.

 

But I digress. I am supposed to be talking about how amazing Toledo is. Toledo is famous for its cultural and religious tolerance (at least before all that inquisition stuff started. But that’s another story) and that is why there are so many different religious buildings to see.

On a lighter note, Toledo also seems to be inhabited by a large colony of black cats. They roam around looking cute and roll around in sunbeams. They also get a lot of attention from the tourists.

Ah, speaking of tourists….. They (or I guess I should say WE) were everywhere! It is very clear that the economy of Toledo relies heavily on tourism. This is good, and bad. It’s good because that means it’s easy to find affordable hotels and transportation. It’s bad because everything else is super expensive!!

So to see the pictures of this AMAZING and very old city, check out my new Flickr account. My user name is devon.cooper

Don’t forget the dot. Devon (dot)cooper. You should be able to see what I’ve uploaded.

Posted by devoncooper at 14:05:58 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |