Semana Santa in Sevilla!

Manuel surprised me with a quick trip to Sevilla for semana santa (holy week). Sevilla is known for its semana santa celebrations, and I'm still in awe of the experience. The whole city seems to breathe and live for this week. I will have to post some more about it, but for now I wanted to share with you two videos (from my camera) of some processions that we saw there. Click on each one to watch them:

Holy Week / Semana Santa

Semana santa is "holy week" and its celebrations in Spain are renowned around the world. For some it's holy due to its religious significance. For others it means an escape to the beach.

I'll be in Madrid for Easter, and even though it's not Seville's celebration, it still has its processions that are noteworthy to check out. To give you an idea, it's not just on Easter day. Here is the program:

PROCESSIONS IN MADRID

DOMINGO DE RAMOS, 5 APRIL
Cristo de la Fe y el Perdón

MIÉRCOLES SANTO, 8 APRIL
Solemne Vía Crucis
Nuestro Padre Jesús de la Salud

JUEVES SANTO, 9 APRIL
Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno “El Pobre” y María Santísima del Dulce Nombre
El Divino Cautivo
Nuestro Padre Jesús del Gran Poder y María Santísima de la Esperanza
Jesús Nazareno y Virgen de la Soledad
Vía Crucis

VIERNES SANTO, 10 APRIL
Jesús Nazareno de Medinaceli
Santísimo Cristo de los Alabarderos
Procesión del silencio
El Divino Cautivo
María Santísima de los Siete Dolores
Santo Entierro
Parroquia de San Andrés
Procesión del Silencio

SÁBADO SANTO, 11 APRIL
Virgen Dolorosa
Procesión de la Soledad

Amy Winehouse is contagious

Ok, forget the bad hair-do and all of the drug addictions and just listen to the music. I swear that Giusy Ferreri is the Spanish/Italian version of Amy Winehouse...

Giusy Ferrari, "Nunca te olvides de mí"



Amy Winehouse, "Back to Black"

Even nuns are down...

...with technology!!!

I bet you they were buying the Blackberry Storm.

Makes you wonder what kind of SMS abbreviations nuns would write in their messages.


GBWY - God be with you

Gvroom - Godspeed



Any other ideas?

European Balcony Decor applied to...an air conditioner!?

Interesting idea to hide a nasty looking air conditioner. Not sure if this makes it look better or worse....you decide.

Healthcare in Spain

Since I have been living here, I have had private healthcare. It's quite decent, and there are a few things that stand out to me:

1. I pay approximately 40 Euros per month for the plan itself. If I go to the doctor, the copayment is 1 Euro, unless it's urgent care (4 euros).
   
2. Medicine is not on a copayment system, you just pay for the price of the medicine. But it seems to me that most medicine is reasonably priced.
3. If I get any tests (blood analysis, x-rays, etc), the results are mine to take home. It's my responsibility as the patient to keep those documents and show them to the doctor. When I had pneumonia, I had 3 x-rays of my lungs over a period of 2 months, and I still have these at home. Patient accountability - what a concept!
4. Tests and analysis aren't very expensive. I think I pay an extra 2 euros or something. In any case, the doctors here are quite reluctant to prescribe medicine to their patients without all appropriate tests first. This is the complete opposite from the US, and I think it's because the tests tend to be quite expensive and not covered by our health insurance.

Today I signed up to the public healthcare that is covered by social security (since I'm working, I am eligible). It was relatively simple - I just had to prove my residency, social security and work status.

They gave me a temporary card that I can use for going to the public hospital, and if I need to go to urgent care and for whatever reason cannot go to my private hospital, I will be taken care of free of charge at the public hospital. Oh, and apparently when I purchase my medicine, it will be cheaper than if I were purchasing it with a prescription from my private healthcare doctor.

I asked for an appointment to meet my primary care physician, which will be this afternoon. I'm not sick or anything, but I am interested in learning about the system and will ask some very basic "I'm a stupid foreigner" questions.

Take a look at my appointment -- they print it out on a receipt!!!

Senior Love

One of the first things that I noticed when I first moved here to Madrid was how many elderly couples walk hand-in-hand in the streets.

You see old sweethearts, helping one another strut along, holding hands as if they were newlyweds.

Sure, sometimes you see them arguing in overly loud voices so the other can hear with his/her hearing aid, but more than often, you just see them walking silently and seemingly happy together.

It's very endearing...and even though I have been living here for more than a year, it still makes me smile.


For some reason, I don't have the same image in the U.S. Why is that?



Well for starters, there are a lot of elderly people here in Spain. I looked up the census data: 24% of Spain's population is 60 years and older, compared to the 14% of United States. Take a look at these population pyramids for both countries in 2009. Everything above the black line is the population of 60+ years of age. When you see this in more visual terms, you can tell that Spain's population is much more aged than the United States.


I definitely notice the aging population here, much more than I ever did in my own country.

But perhaps I notice more elderly people here for another reason. Perhaps it is because the Spanish culture is much more "street-based". What I mean by this is people go out, they are social, and they are used to walking around on the street to handle their normal errands. In the U.S. people tend to travel by a more private transportation mode - their own car. Whereas in the U.S. the elderly might be driven in a car by a family member (if they no longer drive themselves), here the elderly will take the bus and the metro, talk to their other elderly friends in the main plaza, and maybe go to a small bar for some tapas.

I'm not sure how much convalescent homes has to do with this visibility, either. The United States is known for utilizing convalescent homes more than what is considered acceptable in other cultures, but I have been told more than once that in Spain there are quite a few "elderly residences" and that it isn't uncommon here.

Twins aren't always a good thing

My friend and I were walking in downtown Madrid and we suddenly were walking behind these two really tall ladies, dressed as twins. I had to take a picture with my mobile - I know, I'm rude. But I needed proof that I wasn't drunk off of my sangria at lunch.

I promised my friend that I would explain in this article that most people in Spain DO NOT look like this and that she was equally horrified.

So, for the record (and before my friend disowns me) - Most Spanish women don't look like this, nor do they dress like this. Even Spanish men have better dress code than this...

It's Balcony Time!!!

As it's now spring (Corte Inglés, the Macy's of Madrid, has announced it's marketing campaign to inform everyone that it's now officially spring. Thanks Corte Inglés.), we can start enjoying the balcony.

We bought a small red, square table that is foldable so we can have breakfast outside and enjoy the sunlight. I decided that in my free time I would re-paint the flowerpots, as they were probably painted 40 years ago and since then they have been rather destroyed. Here are the before and after shots:

Before - Greyish blue with stains that nobody should have to see.
Bright red to match the table. I went to a store where we could buy these little trees (Picea) for a good price. I lugged them all the way back hom walking/metro in an oversized Ikea bag.

Loving Laryngitis

I've been fighting a cold and over time, my throat has been hurting more and more, until yesterday I basically could not speak. So today I went to the doctor and he confirmed that I have acute laryngitis.

Anyway, the fun part was walking around doing some of my chores without being able to talk.

I went to the social security office to update my home address. Think of it like your local DMV office - you walk in, pick a number, fill out forms, talk to someone. So I walk up to the counter and immediately signal that I have no voice to the lady - and she automatically becomes more caring towards me. SUWEEET - She's gonna hook me up with a number that they'll call sooner than later. I should use this trick more often. I was pleasantly pleased to find that everyone there was caring and patient enough to help me.

Next stop, get some fresh squeezed orange juice to wet the pipes before I go and visit the doc. I go to the least smokiest coffee shop that I can find. For those of you who have been to Spain, you can understand that this is extremely difficult. Anyway, I enter and do the same signal to the coffee guy- that I have no voice. I ask, with the best voice that I can do for "zumo de naranja". The guy looks at me and says very slowly, yet very loudly -- like I'm a retard -- "no te entiendo". Somehow a lady who was sitting much farther away understood me and told him, "she said she wanted zumo de naranja". Anytime this guy had to talk to me, he kept speaking slowly and deliberately, with a loud voice. LOL. I feel bad for mute people, they must have people who react this way all the time. Mute does not equal retard! Now I have a new justice to fight for....

Walking Strategy in Madrid

I have decided, after months of analysis, that there doesn't exist a common walking etiquette here in Madrid.

My ideas of "walking etiquette" before coming to Madrid consisted of the following:

1. Walk on the right side of the sidewalk, unless you need to enter a store or you are passing somebody who is going really slow (similar to when you are driving a car).
2. If you are about to run into someone, try to get out of their way, out of respect.

Well, that doesn't work here. My first few months here, I was practically walking in circles. Trying to pass the people I needed to, trying not to run into others and walking around them. In fact, when my mom came to visit, she did the exact same thing, further proving my hypothesis....

Madrid Walking Etiquette = Walk however the hell you want, and stay your ground as long as possible! Allow me to explain.
Take this picture as an example, so that you can understand what normally happens on the sidewalk.

• There are many people always on the sidewalk. Since there is no "right side" etiquette, people are all over the place. In fact, I'm convinced that people stay on the side closest to the shop windows so they can have the best view. Voyeurs.

• There are also "props" that get in the way. Perhaps you want to pass someone, but there's a garbage can or a tree in the way

• The type of people and what size groups are also a factor. You could be behind a family of three and that damn family will take up the whole sidewalk. Why? Because they don't care about the flow of the sidewalk or moving out of the way for other people. I really don't think that enters anyone's mind here.

There are many, many more examples that I can give. And I'd like to further qualify my theory by stating that I see this in my own neighborhood, which isn't right downtown where there are huge crowds.

So, what do I do? My whole mentality has changed. I now "play Chicken". I stare down my opponents and keep walking where I want to be walking until they finally decide to move around me!!! Or another way is to keep looking at the store window until they realize I'm not paying attention. Like they say, when in Madrid, do as the madrileños!!!

You know you're unemployed and living in "La Crisis" when.....

1. Double-digit unemployment figures sound normal.
2. You have memorized all the job vacancies in the career search websites.
3. You have edited your LinkedIn profile as "Full-time, Self-Employed JobSeeker" to sound more exciting.
   
4. You recently saw some part-time trainee position that sounded absolutely fascinating.
5. You go to a party with old friends and more than 20% are also unemployed.
6. Headhunters call you to see if YOU have job openings that THEY can manage.
7. Shops are liquidating, left and right...and you STILL don't have enough money to take advantage of the discounts!
8. Creating a new business seems more realistic than finding a job.
9. You catch up with your network of contacts, and they ask YOU for help in getting a job.
10. Living with your parents sounds like fun...

Do you have more examples to share???

Día de San Valentín

Valentine's Day is celebrated here, although it's not quite as commercial as it is in the States. Sure, you find teddy bears on display, special Valentine's day promotions, an occasional heart decoration here and there. But it's nowhere near the same level of "marketing assault" that we get in the U.S.

So what did we do? Well, our first idea was spontaneous. Let's go to Toledo! So we made our bocadillos (Spanish style sandwiches), packed up a small backpack and grabbed a taxi to get to the Atocha train station. But by the time we made it to Atocha,the tickets were sold out. Before leaving Atocha, I made sure we said goodbye to my friends - the turtles. I love Atocha station; it has an indoor garden with palm trees and other tropical plants, with a fiberglass ceiling that leaks in natural light. It's very calming and I like to see these turtles doing absolutely nothing more than soak up the light.

Anyway, enough of the turtles. So now that our day plan was a bit ruined, we took our backpack with our bocadillos to El Retiro and ate in the park. Then a nice siesta in the sun. Later on in the evening we went to a Flamenco Show in a small theater.

My Sevillanas teacher was one of the main dancers, and damn she is good. It was interesting to see a Flamenco show.

It's basically a musical - song and dance combined with a basic story. Although it's difficult to distinguish all of the words in the songs, so I'm not sure if there was one story or multiple.

The whole show was based on a group of Gitanos that are in love with Flamenco and maintaining its culture (I think).

Anyway, they are all in a house, at the Alhambra, etc. At the end of the show, they had an elderly lady come up and finish the show with a dance. This lady must have been about 65 years old and she hit every note.

These Spaniards are so emotional. Geesh. They wail and cry, then they are happy, and then proud with a bullfighter-like attitude. Now imagine these menopausal emotions combined with singing, dancing, strong stomping on the ground ("zapateo"), tears, mantones flowing in the background.

OLÉ - that's Flamenco!!!

Gala for Cantabria folklore

Every year, various companies sponsor a cultural gala for the region of Cantabria (La Gala de la Música Popular de Cantabria). We were fortunate to hear about the event on the radio and we arrived on time for our free tickets to see this grand event. It's truly amazing that this is completely free, when you realize this isn't some tiny, quirky little event but rather a formal, well-planned program.

Many thanks to:
The Choir 'Coral Salvé de Laredo'
- Approximately 50 men and women.
- One of the main singers was a blind man with a beautiful voice
- Apparently they have been to New York and D.C. to perform
The Orquestra 'Cantabria Infinita'
- With two conductors
- Always playing folklore music
RTVE (National Radio and TV)
- For making this a free event!!
The President of Cantabria
- For being such a nut, speaking with fervor and love for his region
- For singing the hymn of Cantabria. He didn't miss a word - I checked! ;-)
Yes, I asked these men from the choir to take a picture with me. Such the tourist. But I did it for YOU!! These guys form part of a choir and are dressed in typical/traditional Cantabrian dress. Since Cantabria has many ports, they are dressed as sailors. By the way, notice that we are all the same height? I now understand why I couldn't get past 5'4". It's the Spanish in me.

Learning Sevillanas - Y OLÉ!!!

Being unemployed has its advantages. I now can dedicate my time for random things that I wouldn't be able to if I were working fulltime.

I just signed up for "Sevillanas" (a style of flamenco dance) classes at the cultural center. It's only one hour per week, and I'm one of the younger students in the class. I'm convinced my teacher is a gitana, because it makes it more exciting.

Today was my first day. I was fumbling to learn all of these new steps with names I have never heard (each step is named something) and all of this in a sea of women in their sixties that were kicking my ass. That's alright, give me a week. I'll bounce back...