Halloween is a fairly new tradition here in Spain. They normally celebrate All Souls Day more than Halloween. But as countries become more influenced by the US, Halloween seems to creep into the festivities. Several kids wore costumes to school and many teachers tried to do some version of trick or treating (since very few kids would actually participate in my favorite event ever!). Even if the kids weren't wearing an actually costume most of them had on some form of make-up, most of it being pretty elaborate as well. For a country that's pretty new to the Halloween thing, they sure have the make-up part down! Trick or treating with the first graders was hilarious because just saying trick or treat was near impossible! However, all the kids seemed to love it! But then again who doesn't like dressing up and then getting candy?!
The Spanish understand Halloween costumes as always being something scary. Which is actually what the original idea was when Halloween costumes began. However, as most Americans know, Halloween is no longer only for the frightening costumes. So I decided to be a ballerina. It was the cheapest costume I could think of since all I needed to buy was a tutu. But the first class I went into, when a kid asked what I was, the professor responded, "she's a ballerina, but a Halloween ballerina because she's in all black (with a pink tutu)." Really, I was in black because that was the color of clothing I already had (black tights and a black cami!).
I brought my camera with me to document all of the cuteness that attends San Fernando. Most of the kids loved getting their photos taken. My favorite part of the experience was when children would say "Natalie take my picture please!!!" and then they would pose and give me the facial expression of a mug shot, as if this was the most painful experience they had had that day! Take a look here to see some of the most precious kids ever and to view some fine examples of the requested mugshots!
That night, my friends and I dressed up (I was a ballerina again, the others were a scary skeleton, David Bowe, and America-she had an eagle shirt and a red, white, and blue afro). We tried to get into a club but the line was about a mile long so we eventually just headed home. However, being as it was Halloween the universe decided I had to be tricked somehow and my phone was stolen from me! Thankfully there was no roughness, I actually barely even noticed. But that's what happens when you forget to be vigilant in a crowded area and instead try to enjoy a beautiful Halloween night!
Monday, November 4, 2013
Strikes on Strikes on Strikes
Last week there was a huge educational protest in Madrid. Thousands of students, teachers, and parents marched the streets of Madrid to oppose the new Wert educational law that was supposed to go into effect. There are several things that come with this bill including higher fees for universities, allocating more funds to the private/public schools (they are a result of not having enough public schools for the population so the government now pays the salaries of some private school teachers who teach public school kids), even more harsh budget cuts for public schools, and making religion a bigger part of public education (right now students have the option of taking Catholic religion classes or opting for the alternative class, this new law would make it mandatory to take the religion class and it would count for a grade).
Being a foreigner in the protest, I felt a little guilty. I'm here in Spain teaching and being paid by the education department. The same department that has laid off a huge amount of teachers and cut the salaries of the teachers that remain. Since I was a little confused on everything that was being protested, I asked a professor, Ana, at my school about the strike. During our discussion, which helped me understand so much, Ana told me that last year (the education reforms have been going on since the recession) three teachers were let go but they gained an auxiliar (my job). After this Ana said something along these lines "so the government obviously has funds, they just aren't always allocating them to where most people think they should." This is largely where my guilt stemmed from. I know she wasn't saying that she thought there shouldn't be auxiliares, but it's also hard to look at the facts and see that I, a foreigner, am here while some actual Spanish citizens no longer have their teaching positions. However, I think that our positions as auxiliares are important considering many adults are trying to learn/improve their English to secure better jobs. These kids will already be a step ahead of the game if they successfully master English before their job search. And since I'm teaching such young children, I hope by the time they grow up there will no longer be the 25% unemployment rate and they will have a much brighter future. One can hope!
Participating in the protest was quite fun. At one point we were mixed with a huge group from a university who was shouting several chants, a few of which I eventually deciphered what they were saying. We also managed to walk next to a drum circle for a while. That was quite interesting and incredibly fun to sway along to. I heard rumors that there was a little violence eventually. But the whole time I was walking along, everyone was calm and barely seemed to acknowledge the police presence. I was glad I went. I've never participated in a protest that big. The streets were literally full from near my house all the way to the center of the city. One news source even had the title of "Thousands of teachers, and millions of students protest in Madrid." I'm not quite sure if the millions was a bad translation or if there really were millions (that seems highly unlikely considering Madrid's population is 3 million). But it sure felt like millions of people were marching!
The week after the education strike, there was a transportation strike. It wasn't all of the public transportation in Madrid (thank god), just the renfe employees. Renfe is a company that operates the longer distance trains in Madrid. So for me, that meant the train I take to school would be affected. The employees were demanding better wages and hours, I believe. The last three days of October were all day strikes and then when November began I believe they moved the strike to only the commuting hours with some fridays being full day strikes. I literally understand nothing about what's going on or how my train's schedule is being affected. All I know is that I need to be at the train station by 7:45 because sometimes the train leaves at 7:50 and sometimes it leaves as late as 8:05. So thankfully the strike hasn't really affected me. But who knows, next week it could change times again because the strike is no longer a whole day strike! I was also surprised to look at the renfe website where they announced the days and hours of the strike, to see that the strike would last the entire month of November! We shall see how my commute ends up going!
Being a foreigner in the protest, I felt a little guilty. I'm here in Spain teaching and being paid by the education department. The same department that has laid off a huge amount of teachers and cut the salaries of the teachers that remain. Since I was a little confused on everything that was being protested, I asked a professor, Ana, at my school about the strike. During our discussion, which helped me understand so much, Ana told me that last year (the education reforms have been going on since the recession) three teachers were let go but they gained an auxiliar (my job). After this Ana said something along these lines "so the government obviously has funds, they just aren't always allocating them to where most people think they should." This is largely where my guilt stemmed from. I know she wasn't saying that she thought there shouldn't be auxiliares, but it's also hard to look at the facts and see that I, a foreigner, am here while some actual Spanish citizens no longer have their teaching positions. However, I think that our positions as auxiliares are important considering many adults are trying to learn/improve their English to secure better jobs. These kids will already be a step ahead of the game if they successfully master English before their job search. And since I'm teaching such young children, I hope by the time they grow up there will no longer be the 25% unemployment rate and they will have a much brighter future. One can hope!
Participating in the protest was quite fun. At one point we were mixed with a huge group from a university who was shouting several chants, a few of which I eventually deciphered what they were saying. We also managed to walk next to a drum circle for a while. That was quite interesting and incredibly fun to sway along to. I heard rumors that there was a little violence eventually. But the whole time I was walking along, everyone was calm and barely seemed to acknowledge the police presence. I was glad I went. I've never participated in a protest that big. The streets were literally full from near my house all the way to the center of the city. One news source even had the title of "Thousands of teachers, and millions of students protest in Madrid." I'm not quite sure if the millions was a bad translation or if there really were millions (that seems highly unlikely considering Madrid's population is 3 million). But it sure felt like millions of people were marching!
The week after the education strike, there was a transportation strike. It wasn't all of the public transportation in Madrid (thank god), just the renfe employees. Renfe is a company that operates the longer distance trains in Madrid. So for me, that meant the train I take to school would be affected. The employees were demanding better wages and hours, I believe. The last three days of October were all day strikes and then when November began I believe they moved the strike to only the commuting hours with some fridays being full day strikes. I literally understand nothing about what's going on or how my train's schedule is being affected. All I know is that I need to be at the train station by 7:45 because sometimes the train leaves at 7:50 and sometimes it leaves as late as 8:05. So thankfully the strike hasn't really affected me. But who knows, next week it could change times again because the strike is no longer a whole day strike! I was also surprised to look at the renfe website where they announced the days and hours of the strike, to see that the strike would last the entire month of November! We shall see how my commute ends up going!
Segovia
On Saturday, Clark and I went to Segovia (a city located in Castilla de Leon). It is located about 60 miles outside of Madrid, so we took a high speed train! It was my first experience with a high speed train. The entire journey was over in 20 minutes! It felt just like a regular train, much to my disappointment. However, it was nice to only be on the train for such a short amount of time to get so far.
Segovia was extremely interesting and breathtakingly gorgeous. The city center is exactly what I picture when I think of Spain: old apartments lining the streets, cobblestone plazas, churches that look like they're about to crumble. Some areas of Madrid have their Old Spain moments, but Segovia looked as if it could be 400 years ago and the buildings wouldn't look that different (minus the electrical signs, etc.). I really enjoyed going and hope to maybe go back!
Here's a link to the photos!
Segovia was extremely interesting and breathtakingly gorgeous. The city center is exactly what I picture when I think of Spain: old apartments lining the streets, cobblestone plazas, churches that look like they're about to crumble. Some areas of Madrid have their Old Spain moments, but Segovia looked as if it could be 400 years ago and the buildings wouldn't look that different (minus the electrical signs, etc.). I really enjoyed going and hope to maybe go back!
Here's a link to the photos!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)