Fin [The End] en España

This is my last blog entry in Madrid, Spain. I offer a popular rhyme that I learned 30 years ago, and I am now being totally unoriginal in using it:  Colorín colorado, este cuento se acabado; all good things come to pass.  The three weeks have gone by too fast and I found myself growing comfortable with a new routine - so much so that the final few days I found myself leaving the apartment without my camera and being less present during my walks to class along la gran via.  When I started this I did not know how I might reconnect with Spain.  I came here more focused on the language practice but I resulted in feeling and remembering things unexpected.  I attribute a great deal of the experience here to the connections I made at the language school, Don Quijote, in Madrid.  I've done a similar program in Munich, Germany with the Goethe Institute for about the same amount of time (one of those great training benefits provided to me by my previous employer that I allude to in one of my first blog entries).  The language was German of course.  Because of the cultural differences, and my own disposition, the language teachers here in Madrid seemed much more connected with their students.  Let me be clear, if you were available to connect so were they.  Not everyone of course makes the connection... well, and you know... some people's baggage or predisposition simply doesn't permit it.  I don't know how else to express this.  Let me try and summarize what I think I have learned in this brief refresh, and I'm not talking about the language.

I will try not to compare the economic or political system here to any other - I think that is something left to minds greater than mine. I will only comment on what I've seen and experienced because I think it has made an impact on my perspective moving forward.  Things are not easy in Spain.  They have a social welfare system that provides for people to a certain extent.  In the 25 years they have been in the European Union they have steadily implemented measures to create a social welfare net working towards a European ideal of what a civilized society should be.  I am amazed at the social, infrastructure, and cultural changes and advances I see.  I cannot list them all, but they are many.  From legalizing gay marriage to almost eliminating class distinctions in their language, it is not the Spain I knew 30 years ago at age 17 and 18.  I say things are difficult because their government and public sector is quite large, in times of feast this is ok, but during times of famine it has created a great deal of hardship and uncertainty.  As in the USA, it is particularly hard on the younger people.  Finding work is extremely difficult and I have noted that many or most are pessimistic about the future.  Again, I think there are some parallels with my own country, but the crisis here seems much more severe. [updating this post with a link to a useful and informative article from the New York Times on the subject:  Safety Net Frays in Spain, June 27, 2010, Madrid.]

Today in the last day of class we watched scenes from an old Spanish film produced during the time of Generalismo Francisco Franco:  Bienvenido Mr. Marshall.  If you want to take a walk into Spain's recent past, this film shows you that Spain has seen worse times when it was isolated from the rest of the world - very much like Cuba in many ways.  They are leagues away from what they were in those days.  I'm not sure the younger folks appreciate this.

Returning to me and my departure, I want to end  my final post by sharing a song I've come to appreciate only since returning to Spain and it has haunted my thoughts about returning to Seattle.  This is my last geek moment, and I will translate the parts of the song that I think are most impactful.  Follow the link and listen for yourself if you have time or inclination.

Rosana - Para Nada (excerpt):

¿Para qué continuar viviendo deprisa? [why continue living so fast?]

buscando la suerte en la mierda que pisas? [looking for luck in the shit you walk through]
te vas a volver a quedar sin volar ¿para qué? [you'll still be unable to fly, what for?]
Para nada, para nada [for nothing, for nothing]
¿Para qué? ¿para qué? para nada [what for, what for?  for nothing]

¿Para qué fusilar el olvido? [why shoot your oblivion?]
¿para qué si te pones a tiro? [why be shot?]
¿para qué? para nada [for what? for nothing]

The song ends on a positive note.  To paraphrase:  not for nothing,  you can break the ropes, you can drink life, you can fly.  This is the perspective and spirit that I leave with.

I'll be thinking about what to do next with my blogging.  I welcome any ideas.

Thanks for reading and following my time here.  Un abrazo muy fuerte.