¡HUELGA! ¡HUELGA!

I hope that when I put my titles in Spanish that all of you non Spanish speakers are looking them up online to see what they mean. I'm very sneakily trying to increase your Spanish vocabulary. We had class as always in the morning, though it got off to a little crazy start. Madre did not wake up for breakfast (which is totally fine with us), so we grabbed some fruit and croissants and headed to school. (Of course later she was absolutely mortified and felt so terrible. I tried to reassure her that we are fine and she really does not need to even get up to make us breakfast. She showed us where everything is so now we can get it ourselves if that happens again but she of course does not want that to happen.) However, as we moved to a new building we now have to switch metro lines. Yesterday we had found a line that is nearby where we could stay on line 4 and just walk a little further. I was feeling adventurous and confident so Erin humored me and we gave it a try... bad decision. We ended up lost and we were late for class the second day in a row (everyone knows how I love to be late, though it was only 3 minutes so está bien). We reviewed subjunctive in class today (for those who struggle with this... meaning everyone I learned a cute little way to remember when to use it and I would love to show it to you!). Subjunctive is something in Spanish that is very difficult for English speakers, as we do not have the equivalent in our language. I would try to explain but that could be a whole other blog. Then, in Culture we talked about food. There is so much food that I still want to try here, however, the top on my list is paella and gazpacho. I don't actually think I will like gazpacho (basically cold vegetable soup) but I found a place that you can get just a little bit for 1.30. I think I will do that instead of asking Madre to make it if I do not know I like it. As for paella, hopefully we will have that at home, and if not I will definitely order it the next time I'm out. After school today we had group meetings and talked a little about things we had learned/asked Spanish speakers about body language. My teacher told me that it is "mal educado" or bad manners to cross your arms in church, as well as to look around and behind you. Interesante. After the meeting, I came back home, took a very short (30 min) siesta and ate lunch before heading off to the Museo Thyssen Bornemisza.

This is the collection of the Thyssen-Bornemisza family over two generation. There are painters represented from all around the world. I saw some Monet, Van Gogh, Goya, Dahli, Marillo and many many more. Honestly, one of my favorites was called Expusión: Luna y Luz de Fuego.
Any guesses to why I liked this one? Tell me that does not look like a scene from Lord of the Rings! Ha ha, anyways. Honestly I loved this museum. There were several beautiful landscapes. One in particular, Otoño (fall, my favorite season), was absolutely gorgeous. I had a bit of a headache walking around today, but through these paintings I was very much moved. I admire the artists that take the time and patience to try to truly capture every detail in the beautiful Earth that the Lord created for us. I could never be a painter because I do not have the patience to make a picture look how I would want it to look, nor am I good at seeing the bigger picture. I very much focus on the little details (though you cannot really have one without the other can you?-deep thoughts by Allison Crandall). Anyways, I walked around the museum, and afterwards Erin and I were going to check out La Iglesia de San Jose. Madre said she is almost certain it's the oldest church in Madrid. So we walked outside and...HUELGA, HUELGA! I had forgotten today that our teacher had told us about the "Huelga" going on. Strike. Due to the "crisis" of unemployment and economy in general, many peoples salaries have been lowered, as well as benefits for pregnant women reduced (from what I understand). Therefore, many people did not work today and were all congregating near where the museum was. I have never really seen a stirke, nor something this large so it was a little exciting.
Still, these protesters had these fancy banners and balloons that had letters (I'm guessing of organization) that probably cost money, unless they were donated somehow... I was wondering to myself why they were spending money on fancy balloons instead of making signs themselves. Still, I suppose it looked more professional and important. It also started raining that afternoon. Needless to say, Erin and I just headed back home. On our way home, however, we stopped in the Supermercado and bought some Nocilla (basically Nutella). I put it on some of our galletas (cookies/crackers) here and mmmm perfecto! So much for that Barcelona beach bod! Ha. Anyways, I rested for un ratito (a little while) and then started reading a book that Erin let me borrown. I'm only 25 pages in, but I'll let you know how it goes. Then I began working on my homework. I really have a lot to do between now and next week. Still, most of it is talking and interviewing natives about issues and culture so it will make me talke more. I'm a little excited, I just need to work up the courage to ask people (as it is not technically supposed to be with our madres). I'm going to try to talk to her daughter, Carmen, though I feel bad bothering her because she is very busy and studies all the time. We will see. After homework, we had a great dinner. We had just a noodles soup, then french fries, and something very similar to grilled cheese, only with ham and cheese. It was very good. Over dinner, Madre mentioned something about a family of little girls who lived a floor above us (as they were preciously singing loud enough to hear through our window). She said the parents were separated because the father had been abusing the mother. I remembered another girl in our group saying her madre told her that abuse is a large problem here so I asked my Madre about the subject. She said that it definitely is a very big problem here. There is still very much the idea of "machismo" here, that men are superior to woman. She said that men and women working in the same job will receive different salaries, and now many more women are working. Still she said that many woman are killed due to abuse every year. Also, she said that when a family separates, the father needs to pay the mother some sort of money (like child support). Many times, she said, the father does not like this, especially if she is with someone else and will kill her so he does not have to pay money. Ay... Also, she said that if someone is drunk, or under the influence of drugs (man or woman) their sentences are not nearly as harsh as those who are not under the influence (I don't know what the rules are for that in the US but that was ridiculous to me). Many people get away with abusing or even killing people with minimal penalty due to intoxication. She did, however, say that jails here are very comfortable. The prisoners have a lot of opportunities. I can argue for and against that, but she did say that they have opportunities to study and, therefore, find jobs when they get out which would definitely help a lot of people turn their lives around I'm sure. She said that most women in jail here are there for selling drugs. Apparently it is very easy to sell drugs here, especially for women for some reason (something about not as easily suspected in the airports and normally they get things from Columbia). Anyways... a lot of intense dinner conversation, but I really enjoy talking with her as these are things that I care about and that I'm interested in. Now I'm finishing up as much homework as possible and I'm headed to bed early tonight! We are going SALSA dancing tomorrow! BAILA!