Why the Berlin wall is not in Israel

If I hear it again, I will throw up. Again, and again I hear the same when talking about the anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down : how it should remind the world how "walls will never be able to "separate people", and how all other walls like the one in Israel and between the US and Mexico (interesting that it is the latter that is LESS mentioned) will come down too.

To all the liars, un-informed and one-sided of the world: The wall between Israel and Palestine and the Berlin Wall have nothing else in common, than well, being a structure made of concrete. But the reason the Berlin Wall was built was to keep their own people prisoners, to avoid them escaping. The Israeli wall is built to protect the Israeli people. Whatever reasons there might be against that wall and the means how it is being constructed are a different point, and have nothing, but nothing to do with the Berlin Wall.

Or to put it clear and straight to the point: The Berlin Wall was there to hurt the "Berliner", the Israeli Wall's aim to protect the Israelis.

As a German I can only feel sorry and ashamed that people all over the world use the symbol of the partition of my country to denigrate the people of Israel, whose well-being is one of the cores of German policy.

As a citizen of the world and a cultured person it makes me angry, seeing how one of the world's most powerful symbols of freedom is being used by anti-semites. They should be ashamed.

And to those who may find exagerrrated the label of "antisemite" for those, who constantly blame Israel for all the bad in the world and focus only on this tiny country: Why, for a change, don't they denounce the wall between the Spanish territories Ceuta and Melilla (both on African soil) and Marroco. Why don't they come to the help of the Muslim Uigur minority in China, why do we hear so few about the still existing frontiers in the former Yugoslavia, that won't let people live on either side of the ethnic fence. And: How about Corea, a nation still divided? All of these: forgotten...

Alemania desde fuera o periodismo a la española

A raiz de una entrada en el blog de Marta me he mirado algunos blogs de unos corresponsales de periódicos europeos en Alemania y he notado una diferencia grande entre estos blogs. Un buen ejemplo es el blog del periodico conservador francés "Le Figaro". Ese blog es interesante y personal, cumpliendo la funcion de un blog: Contarles a los lectores pequeñas historias y opiniones sobre el pais, historias que no se publican en el periodcio, por falta de espacio o por otras razones, y siempre con una mirada de curiosidad y afección.

Miramos al blog del corresponsal de "La Vanguardia": ( Por favor me perdonen que siempre cito "La Vanguardia". Al final es el periodico mas influyente de ese gran pais que llamamos Catalunya, y el segundo mas leído aquí (y uno de los mas vendidos en España.) El mas leído en Catalunya es "El periodico de Catalunya", pero lo boicoteo por su blatante anti-semitismo.

Miramos entonces ese blog: pues, primero vemos que no vemos nada, o sea en un año el corresponsal ha conseguido escribir casi nada sobre Alemania (al no tener conexion con la segunda guerra mundial) perfiere pues ese tema, la guerra, Russia, China y otros mas. Pues nada, no es obligación me imagino de escribir como corresponsal de un periodico influyente sobre el pais de dónde uno es corresponsal. Si quieren saber algo los lectores que compren el periodico!

Pero la última entrada, ese articulo abismalemente mal ya me llamó la atención al haber sido publicada en el suplemento de "La vanguardia" el pasado domingo. El monumental desinterés y desconocimiento de Alemania del corresponsal de La Vanguardia en Alemania muestran (entre otros) dos ejemplos: En uno dice: "Políticamente, Berlín es anómala. (...) y su alcalde gay, Klaus Wowereit, sería inimaginable en otra ciudad alemana." Falso

La ciudad de Hamburgo (segunda de Alemania) también està gobernada por un alcalde gay, Ole von Beust, del partido conservador cristiano-democrata. Hasta un pueblo pequeño de la Baviera mas conservadora tiene un alcalde gay, siendo al mismo tiempo con 24 años el alcalde más jovén de Alemania.

"Si en Alemania es la derecha sociológica la que tiene la hegemonía, Berlín es "rojo". Ya lo era así antes de 1990". Falso.

Antes de 1990 la parte occidental de la ciudad (a la cual se refiere) era gobernada por los conservadores de la CDU, siendo una de las pocas grandes ciudades de Alemania en esta época SIN mayoria "roja", siendo asi hasta el año 2001.

(Aparte que encunetro muy dudoso lo de la "hegemonia de la derecha sociológica" - como en España los "militantes" de izquierda son los que se descepcionan muy en seguida y no van a las urnas, lo que en consequencia resulta en una mayoria electoral conservadora, visible en los últimos elecciones en Alemania, y en las elecciones españolas de 1996 y 2000)

O sea, nada que dice este hombre tiene sentido y yo como cabeza cuadrada que soy (=que me gustan las cosas bien hechas) lo noto y lo comento.

Es triste que "La vanguardia" en vez de enviar un periodista español con buenos conocimientos de Alemania, con ganas de estar y de escribir desde ahi (y seguro que hay muchos de estos entre los periodistas españoles), optó a enviar a alguien quien al parecer no sabe nada de este pais - y PEOR porque hablamos de "periodismo": evidentement SIN ganas de saber y aprender algo sobre su pais de acogida...

Sobre el hecho de empezar el árticulo con una cita que cubria casi una pagina en la revista, ya no quiero decir nada: aparte de aburrido, es muy poco profesional (queremos saber lo que piensa y ve el autor...primer lei de un reportaje) y me hace pensar que el "famoso escritor valenciano" a quién cita el corresponsal ha de ser un amigo (o familiar) a quien le debia un favor...

Al leerlo me parece cada vez mas que la relación de los Españoles, y sobre todo Catalanes, que tienen con Alemania es parecida a la que tienen con Francia, aunque esa es una de amor-odio, mientras me parece que la relación que tienen con Alemania es una de odio-incomprehension (y por lo tanto muy distinto a la relacion que tienen los Alemanes con España que es una de amor-incomprehension...)

Pero, bueno, al final es pedir demasiado? pidiendo que algo se hace bien, que un periodista tome en serio su vocación y que cuente unas historias en un reportaje y que las base en una buena investigación periodistica? Me parece que no!

Why Catalonia needs a Larsson (says "La Vanguardia")

Me alegro que "La Vanguardia" este de acuerdo con mis pensamientos sobre Suecia. Lo que mas me ha gustado es que, igual que yo, piensan, que aqui también hace falta un Larsson: o sea que no hay entre todos los autores españoles/catalanes, aunque con corrupcion urbanistica, caso "Gürtel" y abusos de mujeres y trafico de sexo abundante, hay más que suficiente temas.

Y porqué no hay? Pues, creo que aqui todavia falta el coraje - o las ganas -de pintar la patria (sea española o catalana, según el sentimiento patriotico), en colores grises y mediorcres y con palabras claras y duras, tan normal y corriente en los paises nórdicos.

Cabe destacar que en el mismo articulo, dicen que el primer ministro sueco, Reinfeldt, no parece nada feliz, cuando le felicten por el exito de su compatriota Larsson: O sea, como ya dije, a lo largo tanto exito de novela y cine poniendo Suecia en el mapa de lo oscuro y malo, tendrá efecto...

http://www.lavanguardia.es/free/edicionimpresa/res/20091101/53815049408.html?urlback=http://www.lavanguardia.es/premium/edicionimpresa/20091101/53815049408.html

Barcelona ranked 1st, and Madrid 4th! ("and it's not best city to live in")

Everybody should have the right to come first once in their lifetime....the same goes for countries, cities and other non-individuals. The US have the most nobel prize winners. Germany is the world's largest exporter. Some cities are being voted the best to live in. The various lists usually consist of a mix of Canadian, Australian, German and alpine (Swiss/Austrian) cities.

The best olympic games ever have been held, according to IOC-President Juan Antonio Samaranch, in Sydney.

There are so many rankings but now, finally, Barcelona has come first on a list! And not just that: all-time rival, Madrid has come fourth, so Spain has the double honor (together with Italy) to figure twice on the list: It's the list of The 10 Worst Cities for pickpockets.

EN ESPAÑOL

Cada uno y todos debrian llegar primero una vez en su vida - y las naciones y ciudades también, por supuesto. Algunos como EEUU tienen el mayor numero de premiados con el premio nobel. Alemania es el pais exportador mas grande del mundo. Hay ciudades que son votadas como "las mejores para vivir". Estas listas por lo general son encabezadas por ciudades canadieneses, australianas, alemanas y alpinas (Austria/Suiza).

Los mejores juegos olimpicos hemos visto, segun el presidente del COI, Juan Antonio Samarach, en Sydney.

Hay tantos listados, pero por fin, Barcelona también ha llegado a encabezar un listado. Y no solo eso: con Madrid votado 4º, España tiene el honor (junto con Italia) de tener dos ciudades en los Top 10. Aplauso! Por cierto - se trata del listado de los 10 peores ciudades para ser robado.

Porque el patronal en Alemania NO quiere bajar impuestos

Ultimamente se habia oido bastante hablar desde el PP y el patronal español que hay que "bajar impuestos como en Alemania". Aqui unos hechos para entender mejor de que van las cosas. Primero hay que ver que la carga fiscal total (impuesto mas seguridad social) en Alemania puede llegar hasta un 48% o mas.

Para dar un ejemplo: una persona soltera cobrando 40.000 Euros al año cobra 2.498 Euros mensuales en España - en Alemania son1.914 - o sea mas que 500 Euros MENOS!
Un alto cargo cobrando 100.000 al año tiene 5.415 en España, en Alemania 4.338, o sea ya 1100 Euro menos!

Con ese dinero Alemania invierte - entre otros - en la cohesion social, educación y I+D (para no hablar de la contribucion a la UE...)


O sea, si igual hace falta bajar impuestos en Alemania, lo que hace falta en España no es bajar impuestos, sino SUBIR sueldos. (teniendo en cuenta que un 20% de los españoles vive por debajo del umbral de la pobreza, como comentó TVE 1 ayer)

Pero en cuanto al bajar impuestos..... ( y recuerdo que, como se veía, es una presión fiscal MUY mayor que la española...)

Hoy el jefe del patronal aleman (BDI) Hans-Peter Keitel (en una entrevista concedida a una revista prestigiosa de economia alemana, "Manager Magazin") ha pedido que NO se bajen los impuestos, para poder garantizar la cohesion social. Dice: "En la situacion en que estamos, no seria justo recortar prestaciones sociales. Iria en contra del sentido de la justicia popular." Y mas dice: "Bajar impuestos no es prioritario."
Da para pensar.

Aquí tambien un articulo interesante del periódico español "Publico":
http://www.publico.es/dinero/259745/merkel/alemania/impuestos

Why Sweden is a dirty and corrupt country where it either rains or snows

You didn't know that Sweden was a dirty and corrupt country where it either rains or snows? Then you must have been living under a stone for the past 15 years - or have no interest whatsoever in modern popular culture - either of the two, or else you would know what I am talking about.

Now I am writing this with all due hopes that the Swedish tourism board might hear about it and take action, although I may fear this comes a little late.
Because what happened (at least in my case, and I am a reasonably cultured person, with quite a knowledge of Politcs, History and the like) is that this is the image of Sweden which during these last years has crept into my mind. Let me explain: Currently I am reading the second volume of the "Millenium"-Trilogy by Stieg Larsson and there was a sentence that went the likes of: "The trafficing of women is something that is not at all investigated in Sweden, because no-one cares." And I thought, yeah, so what - we all know that! But then it hit me: Is that the Sweden that during my childhood was the home of Pippi Longstockings and ABBA? The land of social democracy come true? The land of Olof Palme, of the Swedish Welfare State - not to forget land of Queen Silvia, German queen of the hearts, before Diana took over? Except for Queen Silvia of course, some concepts of the Swedish Welfare State and the circumstances of the Palme-murder already darkened the image of this clean country, like the controversial background of the Folkhemmet-concept and the mysterious murder of Olof Palme, which has never been solved. With this murder and the speculations around it, the idea of a land far north where everybody is happy and where good people make good politics came to and end. Another mystery shook the foundations of Sweden in the late eighthies: the sinking of the Estonia.

Whether or not these occurences prompted Henning Mankell to create his best-selling Police Investigator Kurt Wallander, fact is that with Wallander a new notion of Sweden came to be known around the world. As Wikipedia says, the underlying idea of the Wallander-series (first published in 1991) was: What went wrong with Swedish society?
And Wallander was extremly succesful. My first readings of his books left me shocked of the portrait he painted of Sweden. And now it's Larsson's turn: As I said my perception of Sweden has changed - and this is more a sub-conscious notion, because I am sufficiently capable of realizing that we talk fiction. What's more we talk fiction that is admirably frank and open on what IS wrong in modern society, because, of course, none of the problems pictured in any of the books are something inherently swedish.

So what is ist that makes Sweden the land of the bad in current popular fiction. (Apart from my very personal notion that this kind of frankness and willingness to badmouth your own country is something rather typical Northern-European/-American - it will be a long way to go until we find equally famous authors willing to describe the short-comings of their own society in such a matter-of-fact and drastic way - and not just the short-comings of others - in a country south of the Alps. But that's a different story for another post. One proof though is the more-than-happy headline the respectable Spanish newspaper "La Vanguardia" gave its article on the Larsson phenomenon: "Sweden is every bit as described by Larsson" Wow, they wouldn't do it for less....How satisfying after all these years having to listen how "developed and progressive" these northern countries are!)

If we look at the history of Swedish products though, it comes as no surprise. Call me stupid, call me ridiculous, there is something that makes Sweden and the Swedes being the best in so many categories of modern life. Whatever they do, they always come first. Need proof?

Ask anybody on the street which would be their trusted home-designer? Well, Ikea would be the obvious choice. Ask them what clothes they wear? H&M is a good guess. What is by far and large the most popular, best-selling band of all time? Well, we all know... Ask a European whose childhood-books were their favourite. It would be Astrid Lindgren's. Even the Volvo cars were something special, as the car of the non-conformist but rather wealthy decision-maker. So if we compare all this with other European nations of equal size, none comes even close. Okay, Finland has Nokia and the Pisa-study, Norway is rich and has the highest quality of life anywhere in the universe. The Danes invented Lego, but what is this against the overwhelming comercial power of Ikea, H & M and of course Abba.
The Swiss invented the secret bank account and neutralism. Luckily enough they also make good chocolate and watches, otherwise the reputation would be worse than it already is. Apart from that there is not much in terms of either popular culture (Heidi apart), famous musicians or extremly succesful (and popular) companies, that are part of modern culture: Nowhere to be seen....
The Austrians invented Mozart, Sissi and Hitler, the first and latter one still being best-sellers, though at least one of them does not really work well in terms of tourism marketing

So, in the end there is no doubt why Sweden is the land of evil, a dirty and corrupt country where it either rains or snows in modern popular fiction: Once swedish authors decided to go for that topic, it was inevitable that they would end up top. Because they are simply good at what they do - whether it's pop music, children's books, accesible furniture or having a sympathetic royal family. Maybe they were just bored with being the land of Ikea, Abba and Pippi Longstocking and, yeah, they did manage to change that image. And that's why I love this country.

Who needs the EU anyway?

So Ireland voted yes on the Lisbon treaty, aimed at changing the way the EU works, trying to come to terms with an EU grown to 27 members in the age of globalization. Now it's the turn of Czech President Vaclav Klaus to sign the treaty. While I don't really understand how a president can refuse to sign a treaty voted yes by his parliament, the saying is that he wants to postpone the process until the British Elections next year. Why? Well, if Klaus hasn't signed until then, the treaty obviously won't be ratified, and the British Conservatives, who are likely to win the elections, can just start the whole process again, and we will be back where we started back in 2001.

There is just one thing that makes me wonder: While there are of course differing opinions about the EU, there was - and still exitsts - something called EFTA. The EFTA is the loose economic treaty of these nations that do not want to be part of the EU (namely Norway and Switzerland). Co-foundend by Britain, Ireland and Denmark, these countries later choose to abondon EFTA and become mebers of the EU.

Here's what Wikipedia says about EFTA:
"The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) was established as a trade bloc-alternative for European states who were either unable to, or chose not to, join the then European Economic Community (EEC) (now the European Union (EU)).
The main difference between the early EEC and the EFTA was the absence of a common external customs tariff, and therefore each EFTA member was free to establish individual customs duties against trade with non EFTA countries."

So why - to make it short - did they join the EU, and why don't those that don't want the EU to be what it is, go back to EFTA?
Easy answer? Because some of them could have never been what they are: namely Ireland, who had to vote twice to finally understand what the EU means for them. They went from a poor, backwards country to the second richest country in the EU, always powered by EU subsidaries. These subsidaries helped them to lower their taxes to a legendary 10%. This - and the obvious fact of being an English-speaking country relatively close to the US - helped them to become the European HQ for some of the most prestigious companies around, namely, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Yahoo and some others - so, yeah - not some - ALL of them! Would they have accomplished that without EU subsidaries, that turned country roads into highways, airstrips into airports and a catholic, conservative, backwards country into a modern, european powerhouse? No.
So, there you go - Ireland owes to the EU, as does Spain, and many other countries. Finally, they realized it (due to the crisis, of course: with high umemployment and even higher state deficit it is not very likely to bite the hand that fed you). For the Czech Republic the obvious advise would be to leave the EU and try to become another Switzerland. We'll see how it goes.

As for the UK, well, it is obvious that their EU-sceptisim is well founded and implies a lot of well-known British common sense. After all, the Tories still worship their farsighted ex-leader Margaret Thatcher who foresaw with all clarity, the coming of the 4th Reich with German Reunification and in her spare time loved to have her good old friend, General Pinochet of Chile, over for tea.



EN ESPAÑOL

Así que Irlanda al final ha dicho sí al tratado de Lisboa cuyo fin es de mejorar las relaciones institucionales en una Unión Europea de 27 en un mundo nuevo. Ahora toca al presidente de la Republica Checa de ratificar el tratado. Pero prefiere posponerlo hasta que hayan votado en Reino Unido, porque asi les da la oportunidad a los conversadores británicos (si ganan las eleciones) de renegociar todo y volver a dónde empezamos en el 2001.


Pero hay algo que no entiendo. Existia - y todavia existe - la EFTA (o AELC en sus siglos en español). Es un tratado de los estados europeos que no quieren formar parte de la UE (sobre todo, Suiza y Noruega). Fundado por (enter otros) Irlanda, Reino Unido y Dinamarca, esos luego decidieron abandonar EFTA y ingresar en la UE.

Eso es lo que dice la Wikipedia: Fue creado como alternativa a la Comunidad Económica Europea (la entonces UE).
La única diferencia primigenia entra la CEE y la AELC era la tarifa aduanera exterior común, y por tanto cada miembro de esta última quedaba libre de establecer derechos aduaneros frente a terceros paises.


Porque entonces todos los (pocos) paises que no quieren seguir el camino común de la UE, no entran en la EFTA? Facilissima la respuesta: Nunca hubieran sido (y no serían) lo que son. Mejor ejemplo es Irlanda misma. De un pais pobre, retrasado y al margen de Europa ha cambido (en menos de 30 años) a ser el segundo pais mas rico de Europa. Los ayudas economicos europeos han ayudado bajar los impuestos a un - ya legendario - 10%. Esto (y la indiscutible cercania a EEUU y el ser un pais anglófono) les ha ayudado a atraer mucha (que digo - TODO!) de la nueva industria. Tienen - entre otros - sus sedes principales europeos en Irlanda: Microsoft, Apple, Google y Yahoo. Lo hubieran conseguido sin ayudas europeas transformando calles de campo en autopistas, construyendo aeropuertos modernos y transformar una sociedad católica-conservadora en un pais moderno y abierto? No!

Asi que Irlanda debe mucho (si no todo) a la UE, como España y muchos otros paises.
Al final en Irlanda lo han entendido, debido al la crisis, por supuesto: Con el paro y el deficit en alza, ya no es tan fácil morder la mano que te dió a comer. Y en cuanto a la Republica Checa: Que abandonen la UE y intentan sera la nueva Suiza - ya veremos.

Y en cuanto al Reino Unido.....Pues, tanto esceptismo ante la UE - legado de la Gran Dama de los Tories, Margaret Thatcher, esa lider tan clarividente, quien con tanto certeza veía llegar el 4º Reich con la Reunificacion alemana; si, era tan al tanto del dia esa señora que en sus momentos libres le gustaba invitar al té a los viejos amigos de siempre, como el General Pinochet, para mostrar su apoyo público a ese gran hombre....


Gracias a la pagina de Marta Salazar encontré una caricatura (en alemán) de Kostas Koufogiorgos que es muy graciosa sobre la votacion en Irlanda:
http://www.koufogiorgos.de/ (hay que ir a la entrada del 3 de octubre) o directamente asi:
http://www.koufogiorgos.de/031009_irlandfarbe.html

Cuando el jefe de equipo es español...

Cita de una entrevista, publicado en el "Spiegel", revista semanal mas influyente de Alemania:
Se trata de una entrevista con la jefa de proyecto de una nueva revista cultural "Aufstieg und Fall".
Solo voy a citar una frase clave, que me ha hecho pensar:

"Oh, publicamos algunos articulos en inglés. Al final es también el idioma común dentro de la redacción, el jefe de redacción siendo español..."

http://www.spiegel.de/unispiegel/wunderbar/0,1518,640064,00.html


Alguien se puede imaginar tal frase hablando de un proyecto semejante en Barcelona? Que un alemán sea jefe de una revista catalana, hablando con su equipo en inglés (o en castellano, de hecho...) Yo no, y sinceramente creo que es esa una de las grandes diferencias entre el norte y el sur de Europa.

Uno de los jefes de proyectos de una de las empresas con que yo trabajo, es español de Barcelona. Trabaja en el ámbito de ventas internacionales (pero NO con paises hispano-hablantes) para una multi-nacional telefónica. Tampoco me puedo imaginar que cualquier alemán, sueco o danés podria aspirar a un tal puesto en España - al no ser que se trata de relaciones con el mundo germano-hablante.

Cuando vine a España, esperaba encontrar lo mismo que en los paises norte-europeos, al final me iba a una de las grandes urbes europeas, vendiendose al extranjero como "hub" de diseño y arte y mucho mas. Las cosas no son así, y no solo para mi: muy pocos de mis conocidos - filologos, psicologos, economistas, especialistas de RRPP - han conseguido encontrar un trabajo que no sea relacionado con su idioma nativo - y por lo general muy por debajo de sus cualificaciones. Makes me think...

Fins i tot, vuelvo a preguntar lo mismo: Alguien se puede imaginar tal frase hablando de un proyecto semejante en Barcelona? Que un alemán sea jefe de una revista catalana, hablando con su equipo en inglés (o en castellano, de hecho...quizas peor...)? En Alemania el inglés està aceptado como lengua vehicular en muchos entornos. Todos los alemanes hemos aprendido en el colegio por lo general - aparte del alemán, por supuesto - inglés, francés, latín o ruso, pero en casi ningún caso, español. Esto lo aprendimos después en la universidad o en cursillos o al llegar aquí. La mayoria tambien entiende el catalán, y muchos, como yo, llegarian a hablarlo si tuvieramos la oportunidad. No obstante, no sirve para mucho - ni en el campo laboral, ni en otros ámbitos.

Are you the last one?

One of the nicer traits of Spanish (or is it just Catalan, don't really know...) society is .... politenesss. And a certain kind of civil behavior. Now, I am writing this from a German point of view, and while I would say that there are many things that are nice about my country and the people, one thing definitely isn't: They don't know how to queue. Even worse, many (even the younger, well-travelled and well-educated ones) will take pride in how they queue-jump. Worst of all examples is the classic case of a new checkout opening in the supermarket. Certainly people will come running from behind, ramming their carts into your heels, making a total fool of themselves and even turning around with a grin on their face:"Ah, so you weren't fast enough then?" It really makes me want to hit them with their frozen fish fingers.

In Barcelona once a new checkout opens, the cashier will usually shout with a firm voice:"Proceden en orden.": "Come to the checkout according to your position" (really don't know how to translate that better...) So people from the different queues line up for the new queue, first the ones that were first in line, then the ones that were more behind and so on...Of course, there will be the occasional queue-jumper, but in general it works in an educated and respectful way, nothing of the frantic scramble you would experience in other places. I really like that, it just reminds of what I like about this place, there is some inherent sense of "fair play" and "common sense" ("sentido comun" is one of the more commonly used phrases actually...) and real friendliness.

When there is no queue, as in a pharmacy or a bakery, sometimes they will have you pick a number, if not, you just step in and ask for the last one in the "queue": ("Quien es) el último? or in Catalan: L'ultim? Usually the last one will already have waited for you to ask, and sometimes before you can even ask, will wave at you or raise a finger, so you know, ok, it will be my turn after that person. Of course, you will do the some, once another person comes in, as now you will be "El ultimo". So while waiting you can just stand anywhere, browsing around or just daydreaming, your turn will come. It's so easy and so educated, that I really don't know why it is only possible here....

Can I have your frog, please?

Today I had an experience that really made me question (again), if on the long run I could master living in a foreign country, or rather one where they don't speak German or English, as I feel much more confident in English than in Spanish. I just hate not being able to always say what I want and of course, being unsure of HOW to say it, sometimes even in the most common situations. But in general I come by quite well and in general, Spaniards are welcoming and friendly in a way that they will try to understand what you say (hey, it's not as it was TOO difficult understanding me anyway! :) and generally are very helpful, even in most offices. But today I had to go to an office to pick up a letter, that a lawyer had written for me on the deplorable state of my apartment. (Though that's a different story.)

When I came into the office I approached the girl at the recption desk telling her I wanted to pick up a letter ("Querria buscar una carta.") Maybe she thought I had mistaken her office for the post office or maybe I looked momentarily like Mickey Mouse, but she looked at me as if I had asked her "Could I borrow your frog, please?" And she asked: "Una carta...?????" as in "MY frog...????" Complete and utter awe, with hints of repulsion, I am serious!

The look on her face was so extremly dumb and inappropriate that I decided it would do no good to insit, I was trying to pick up a letter, so I immeditatley approached the lady who is responsible of the case, she handed me the letter and out I was.

I just thought how absolutley idiotic do you have to be to show such a reaction. Receptionist, public adminsitration, housing problems, lawyers dealing with it. How strange is it, that people come to YOU (the receptionist) and ask about letters, that lawyers that work in YOUR office write for (after all...) YOUR clients? Unbelievable....
The thing is I am sure that her absolutley fine-tuned "guiridar" sensed immediatley: "FOREIGNER, NO GOOD SPEAK SPANISH, ASKING TO BORROW FROG WHEN NO FROG HERE" so she just couldn't cope with the fact that in the end I was asking her an absolutley normal question in normal spanish...So sad...I just hope I didn't scare her too much, and she will stop wondering, why on earth that alien was asking for a frog....

Foreign living

To live in a foreign country is something I always dreamed about and it came natural to me.

Cuando era joven, en mi casa se oía música griega de Mikis Theodorakis, el melancolico "Klezmer" judio, la grandiosa Mercedes Sosa, se oía música de muchos rincones del mundo.

Los amigos de mi mama vinieron de Dinamarca, de Inglaterra, de Polonia, de Somalia, de Corea, .

En la mesa había comida de todos estos países así que para mí, era normal comer comida coreana como “Tempura” lo que muchos años después iba a redescubrir en restaurantes de moda japonesa, habia ensalada de fideo al estilo coreano, Danish Apple Pie, Polish “Borschtsch”, all mixed with Greek influences and spices, that later on I would read about in fancy magazines.

It was more common for me to eat food, that many people would consider foreign than anything that others would consider typical for my country.

My friends at that time (and I mean Kindergarten, now) were not that divers: They came from Germany, Denmark, Turkey or the United States. When we moved to Frankfurt – myself aged 10 – we lived in a neighbourhood, where 70% of the population would have roots from other countries: Our neighbours came from Yugoslavia, Turkey, Portugal, Spain – just to name a few...

Now, during summer time, windows wide open, there was other music to listen to, other smells in the staircase. At school I had a good friend who often would invite me after school. Her mother was Italian, the father Greek, in her house there would be Italian food and Greek chatter or the other way round. She would always play the music of Eros Ramazotti :) and translate me all the lyrics, that’s why still today I can follow a certain line of Italian conversation. My half-French, half-German friends were nothing exotic at all. They would introduce me to the French 80s music of Indochine, Jeanne Mas and others, music I still listen too, and which gave me a hard feeling of nostalgia when listening to this music on the radio travelling France a couple of months ago.

Though my school was not very multicultural at all all of these experiences : my mother’s friends, their accents, their appearance, the food they cooked for and with us, the friends I made, the music I listened to, made me whom I am today.

I first noticed that, when at one of my first student jobs, most of the workforce weren't native Germans, they had Yugoslav, Greek, Arab, Turkish, Russian backgrounds. I felt right among them. I made friends with some of them and was introduced more thoroughly to Armenian, Turkish – and most of all! – Greek culture. And sometimes I felt they were more at ease with me, too… no questions asked, no weirdness, just relaxed normality and healthy interest.

My nephew is half-Spanish, his father is of extremeño (the Spanish region of Extremadura) heritage - he introduced me to important icons of Catalan culture: Lluis Llach, Serrat, Maria del Mar Bonet – when I told people in Catalonia, they wouldn't or couldn´t believe it: how could – of all Spaniards! – an extremeño initiate a German to Catalan culture…impossible – but to me it was natural. But it wasn't just cantautors of course, the music of Estopa (themselves "hijos de emigrantes extremeños en Catalunya") I knew before coming to Spain…

My love and interest for Spanish and Catalan culture made me move to Spain, after having spent a year in Australia: down under I worked and studied not only with Australians and Austrians, but also with people from China, Singapore and Nepal.

I even passed a brief period living and working in Thailand - again with people of all backgrounds among them Corea, Phillipines, Israel, Myanmar and India.

In Spain I met many people from the Latin American countries, who before I had barely ever met. Life in Barcelona gave me another opportunity to meet and work with people from Spain, England, Mexico, Brazil and Italy. I met people from Mexico, Cuba, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Peru – made friends with some of them. And of course, in the end married a Chilean…Ah, and not to mention my dear friends from Switzerland! Very exotic race, too, they are! :)

I can feel at home anywhere - but the point is, after all these years, I can't call home the place where I live. I myself am too internationalized, too multi-cultural, that I can't feel at home in a place where even people from other European cultures, like myself, are constantly being labeled as "exotic". I know it's normal, and very few people have my experience and background - but I am fed up with it. Actually this post was supposed to be the introduction to the actual post on how I feel foreign here. I think this has to wait for a later post :)

Too much pride

Even though the United States might not have won against World Cup Champion Italy, they left them behind in the group ranking - and yesterday they won 2:0 against Spain, the Euro 2008 champion, therefore ending the Spaniards long series of undefated matches. Fair enough for the Spanish team, that 1 year ago - before the Euro Cup - was still considered a loser team by many "at home". Being thwarted by the US Team has left many speechless and ended all dreams to exceed Brazils long-standing record of being the team with the most undefeated matches in series.

And as always the press is quick to deconstruct all confidence commenting maliciously that the times of "Spanish pride" ("soberbia" as in one of the deadly sins) are over. The comments in the forums of the catalan newspapers leave nothing to imagination: Yesterday's defeat of the Spanish team is the second-best thing that happend in 2009 - after Barça winning the triple championship, of course.

And not just that, as always, reviewing the articles concerned on the web, the web forums have come back to the same topic, as any forum on any topic will always in the end come to: Insulting each other on the topic of Catalans vs. Spaniards

Death in the times of Facebook

Michael Jackson is dead. It is weird how the death of a person you never met, can affect you. But then Michael Jackson was part of our lifes, since we were young. For people of my generation he was one of the artists who accompanied us when we started to discover, well everything you start to discover when you are 13: love, friends, music, parties. So he did form part of our lives, like a good friend, who after graduating from High School falls out of sight, and occassionally you will hear some gossip about them and just wonder what the hell has happened to them.

But now we live in times of facebook, and I really think that just as there is a before and after Internet, there is also a before and after Facebook. Now, in real time, we can follow what our friends (also known as close friends, friends, and people I just met once for 5 minutes and later would have forgetten about, if we weren’t friends on Facebook) have to say about Michael Jackson, how they say it and what their favourite songs were. I even found out about his death on Facebook! Because nowadays it’s not Yahoo, Google, or any news page I open first when connecting to Internet – it’s Facebook!

Strange enough

Why strange enough? Having lived abroad for a good part of the last 10 years, it’s not only that I’ve seen, heard and read (and maybe smelled…) some really strange things. After 10 years I also feel more often than not “strange enough” in the places I live – like Bill Bryson, sometimes I feel I’m neither here nor there.

While others stay at home and live their lifes, I (like many others) seem to be travelling all over the world, starting from scratches over and over again. Don’t know if its good or bad, it’s just how it is. Though sometimes I have a feeling of envy – and sometimes I would also like to just settle down and call a place home, or rather be in a place I can call home. Because truth is, you may call a place home, but in the end the place might not even want to be called home – good thing though, that places can’t speak….