Check out this radio report from NPR. Personally I think the reporter is complaining just a little too much, and being just a touch rude about the Spanish, considering a major bombing had just taken place (maybe he should read the expat manifesto…)
Category: Spanish Culture and News
This is a big day in Spain, as families all over the country get together to exchange presents and eat Roscon (a ring-shaped, cream-filled cake with a plastic toy hidden in the middle – whoever gets the slice with the toy pays for next year’s Roscon).
The name, Los Reyes, refers to the three Kings who supposedly brought gifts to Jesus, hence the present giving. Although some families do now give children presents on December 24th as well (to keep them busy over the rest of the Christmas period), this is the big day. Here in Madrid my sister-in-law has just been on the phone saying “Hurry over, the Reyes have left something for you”, so it’s time to get going. Two questions: can I eat Roscon at this time in the morning (10:30), and I wonder what I’ll get!?
The situation with ETA is vexing. They still have not officially claimed responsibility for the bomb at Barajas airport that exploded at the weekend killing at least one Ecuadorian (and probably another, who is still missing), which leads many to suspect that this latest blast is the work of a new pro-violence and anti-peace-process faction of the terrorist organisation.
Whether that is the case or not, it is clear that they did use the last 9 months to rearm, just as they have done in other “ceasefires” in the past. Clearly it will be difficult to trust them again. Hopes were very high last year amongst much of the Spanish population, and the bomb at Barajas made a mockery of all those who, like me, believed that this time things could be different.
Today another 100 kilos of explosive, ready to be deployed, were discovered in the Basque country. The Prime Minister, Jose Luis Zapatero, still speaks in terms of the “suspension”, rather than the “end”, of the peace process, but it seems likely he will have to give up that line if he is to win the next elections. People are fed up with the concept of dialogue with terrorists and it is clear that ETA, in whatever shape or form, are back in full force.
More comment:
In English: ETA Gives Zapatero Golden Opportunity – The Big Chorizo
In Spanish: Excellent round ups and analysis at http://escolar.net/
“A mob of 400 people burnt the house and cars of a Spanish villager known as the “Bald One” on New Year’s Eve”, claiming revenge for seven years of his threats and violence against locals…
Categories
Vídeo Botellón
Despite being declared illegal a couple of years ago, the Botellón (youngsters gathering in the street to get drunk and have a good time), refuses to go away. Nueveochotres, a group of kids from Valladolid, have made a great video about the phenomenon:
A very sad day for Spain. The ETA ceasefire has come to an end as they plant a bomb in Madrid’s Barajas Airport Terminal 4. The bomb was placed in a van in a car park next to the airport, and was detonated in a controlled explosion by police, bringing down five stories of the building. Five people, including two police officers, were injured, though not seriously. Two phone warnings alerted police to the bomb, the second caller speaking in the name of ETA.
It seems incredible that this should have happened again, that another ceasefire should fall apart after less than a year. But perhaps I have always been too much of an optimist. What solution is there for the Basque problem now?
Links:
BBC News
El Mundo
Escolar.net
The Spanish Islamic Council has written to the Pope to request permission to pray in Cordoba’s maginificent Mosque, which is causing quite a stir in the Spanish press. Matthew at the Big Chorizo has outlined everything exceptionally well and I suggest you read his summary of events, but this is obviously a very tricky debate.
The place was built by Muslims to serve as a mosque. The Christians kicked them out and built a hideous carbuncle of a cathedral right in the middle of the mosque. There is plenty of room for everyone and dedicating an area for Muslim prayer would not be difficult. There are certain paranoid parties that are bound to see this as a step towards the reconquest of Al Andalus by Islam.
Personally I think there is room for everyone and it would be a noble gesture to let the faith that originally built the Mezquita share this astounding space. What do you think?
Now I feel Christmassy at last! On the TV behind me the children from the Colegio de San Ildefonso Naomí Sánchez y Bryan Lafebreare are singing the winning numbers and prize amounts for this year’s Christmas ‘El Gordo’ lottery. Forget all the other celebrations in Spain this Christmas, this is the big one. There are hundreds of prizes to be picked throughout the morning, but the biggest prize of all, the ‘Gordo’ (3,000,000 Euros), has already been picked, at 9.50 a.m. – see my youtube video below:
Each ticket is divided into participations which may be sold in different parts of Spain, and it seems that this year there are ‘Gordo’ ticket winners in Vitoria, Alicante, Benidorm, Onil (Alicante), Fuenlabrada (Madrid), Santiponce (Sevilla), Almazán (Soria) and Valencia – with the lion’s share going to Soria.
Discuss the lottery in this forum post
Our Notes in Spanish podcast on the lottery can be found here.
Several years ago I wrote an article about San Sebastian (posted in the forum), contrasting the beauty of this outstandingly beautiful coastal city with the urban violence known as Kale Borroka, where young ETA sympathisers with extremist beliefs (or impressionable personalities), smash and burn in the name of a free Basque Country.
People have been saying for some time that the ETA peace process is falling apart, and today’s events in San Sebastian – molotov coctails hurled at a Naval headquaters, a bank, and inside a bus – won’t do much to convince people otherwise.
Chapuza – A Spanish word for those little DIY jobs around the house (that rarely get done in this one!), and for DIY or building type work that tends to have been done rather badly.
Take the situation in the communal hallway outside our front door, as seen in the photo above. The wires on the right are feeding electricity out of a neighbours house (who has not lived there for years), into the communal passageway lights (err, isn’t that techinically theft?) They have been like this for some time, and as you can see, the haphazard way they are hanging from the ceiling indicates a chapuza total – a hack job done quickly to save time. Still, seeing as the electricians in charge come back looking completely drunk after lunch every day, this is probably a fairly impressive piece of work – it’s a wonder they haven’t electrocuted themselves by now!
Anyway, learning to live with chapuzas on a national level is one of the joys of living in Spain, and it’s my duty as a long term resident to try to fit in. At least that’s what I tell Marina when she comes home from work and declares my latest plumbing/carpentry/painting job not quite up to industry standard. Oh but is, I tell her, just take a look outside our front door 😉
(Got a photo of a great Spanish chapuza? Send it in!)
Notes from Spain by Ben Curtis 