I love my job so much! These are some of my coworkers. Bolivian flag in the background :)This week the strike was horrible. The metro always is polite and announces strikes a week or so before. Some background: the economy in Spain is horrible. The unemployment rate is worse here than in Greece and Portugal. So a lot worse than the USA. It is currently a horrifying amount of 19-20%. And as things are worsening, there are more and more strikes. It is hard to go anywhere and avoid them. Someone is always angry and striking. So Monday I woke up 2hours earlier and got to work fine. Tuesday morning I did the same. When I entered the metro, everything was not working. I climbed down the stopped escalator and when I reached the bottom the crowd of workers called to me and told me that the metro was closed. I was like "what the hell do you mean it is closed, where do I go?" Luckily I had anticipated problems and had left earlier for work. I was one of the the few lucky people to flag down a taxi and get to work. Good thing too because there was a huge meeting/presentation that day with our office, our sister office in Bolivia, and the city hall of Madrid. As the day went on, I figured out what had happened. All right, more background: while every union o sindicato has the right to strike, they must at least offer minimum service for the city. However, the metro workers are furious and in the wee hours of the morning, the night before, they announced that they would have no metro. Now, 2million people rely on the metro to move anywhere in this city. Buses had lines around the corner to get on, and people were packed like sardines. It was not an option for me. And taxis had lines as well and were hard to come by. I ended up waking back from work. Highways were shut down, there were too many cars to move. City driving was also miserable. Imagine a city where no one drives, and everyone relies on public transportation. Now imagine it flooded with traffic worse than rush hour traffic in Detroit. Ambulances and cops were flying by every 15minutes.
The next day, there was still no metro. I woke up very early and made the journey again to work. This whole time I am lugging around my purse and backpack with laptop(I save all my work things in there). My voyage to work is about 1h and 15minutes long. My feet were ripped by day two. But I was luckier than most. Props to the tías still rocking the high heals, I definitely wore my nice little work outfit with tenis shoes for comfort. After I walked home I had an hour to make lunch and then walk the hour to school. After I walked back from school, I completed 20km for the day in a time of maybe 4hrs and 30minutes. I was feeling the burn! The government was presuring the metro to open as it was thier legal obligation, but they had failed. National Guard were in some stations like Nuevos Ministerios and the government tried to negotioate the reopening of a few lines, anything to stop the insanity that had gripped the city.
Finally, on Thursday the metro started running some trains again. I still didn´t trust it and walked to work again. It takes a very long time to get to work or anywhere still. And now, Sunday, the metro is still on an "indefinite" strike. This is most illegal but at least the trains are running. And still there are more flyers and protests for more things to go on strike. I really do noe understand this rationality. The metro workers are simply hurting the working class who is also experiencing difficulties just like they are. This whole strike where the metro was not running was absolutely out of line, and apparently had only happened like 3 times in Spanish history.
I don´t even know what tomorrow will be like, that is the scary part. I would just walk to work again, but I am teaching a 2hr Inglish class tomorrow so I don´t want to show up all sweaty and gross. Oh dear.
Well this week was fun otherwise. I went to the Orgullo Gay parade yesterday- the largest Gay Pride Parade in all of Europe. It was so much fun! We climbed the scaffolding of a building to get some good pictures of the desfile as it went by. After, we hopped on the metro for Santiago Bernabéu to watch the game there! It was a blast. And we are going to the semifinals! Spain has la Copa Mundial in the bag!
I am a bit under the weather again though, I feel pretty sick but I want to get better soon! This coming weekend I am going to London to see Simon and Paula! I am so excited. I may be on a plan during the world cup finals though...I am pretty upset. But at least I should be landing in time to celebrate our victory! The weekend after next I am going to Rome to meet Ashleigh and one of her friends! These next two weeks will be tiring but well worth it. I also am in the trámites of planing a trip to Morocco! And then the rest of the weekends I will spend in good old Madrid.
On a side note, I now understand how to function in a Spanish hospital. They are very different from the US. I took my friend there who was sick this morning/afternoon. Not the best 4th of July for us, but we ate some McDonalds at the hospital to celebrate!
¡Feliz Cumpleaños América!
