Two days ago I was informed that today Spain would be on "Huelga General" (General Strike). No FLIGHTS, buses, stores, restaurants, school, or metro. No specific group in general was targeted.
You heard them! The people don't want to work!... So they don't.
Basically, this is what happened. But I wasn't really sure what to expect. Where I live most everyone walks to school, so most kids showed up. In places where most kids take the bus? Yep. No school. The city buses are shut down for now. But the metro isn't working at 100% as in, it is running but there are about half the number of trains so you have to wait a bit.
The following explanation of today cannot fully be comprehended or appreciated without previous information which I have yet to post. I am very sorry in the lack of posts, but until I have more time it is very hard to write with such limited Internet. Please re-read this again in the future after I better explain what life is like in Spain. For me, atleast.
Yesterday we all got a note from the headmaster person/guy. It pretty much stated that school was our choice. I think I'll frame that and hang it on my wall back in the states.
It's very easy to watch the news in the morning and be in awe like, "Wow, That's us! The USA! That's New York!" or even maybe some place closer. But how often is your city on TV? Your city, as in, where you live. Yes, that was obvious. But I mean like, WHERE YOU LIVE. Your town. Not thirty minutes in the car, but YOUR TOWN. I'm located IN Madrid. Not an hour away. Madrid-Madrid. Ah-k, good.. I'm glad we got that clear.
Well, Madrid was on TV this morning. Not unusual considering it's the biggest city in Spain. But the news this morning was about the strike. People with signs, people burning police cars, trash cans, random objects... people shouting, protesting, putting some kind of stickers on store windows... people cheering when stores closed... people clogging the streets and yelling at police, bus drivers, etc. Places I've been to for shopping, eating, or just walking around were guarded by lines of police. Not police as in the town sheriff. Police in their entire costume. As in, shields, masks, and guns-that-if-I-ever-saw-in-person-I-would-be-running-in-the-other-direction. That type of costume.
So I walk to school and get to my class not knowing what to expect. There were only 5 other students there... until about 15 minutes after class starting, when we had 22. I was told that I should probably go to school since most teachers were coming, and most everyone could walk. The first three classes we kept our 22 kids. We actually have 34 altogether, but 12 decided they were going to go on strike too.
After the three morning classes, we had our 25 minute recess when we are free to leave the school campus. The proposed idea was to have everyone just leave. Because if everyone just leaves, it's impossible to teach a class. And what the heck, it was our choice.
The picture is my class when there was only 10 students. You can see the other nine and most (but not all) of the empty seats. The first desk on the left is mine. If you look closely, my Spanish-English dictionary is sitting on top of my 501 Spanish verbs book, along with two other notebooks. Those are the only books I need for class :)
The first class after our little recess had 14 students. I couldn't help but smile when the teacher was taking attendance. She didn't understand what was funny so I had to explain to her that this never happens in the United States. And if it did, I'm pretty sure the police would be at the school. She understood where I was coming from, but the thing about teachers here is that they don't really care. The catch to the huelga for school is, if you don't show up and there's a test, you get a zero. If you don't show up and there are notes you need for an exam, you don't get them. If there's homework, you don't know what it is. For the teachers, it's your problem, not theirs. And if you fall behind or get a bad grade, well... that sucks for you. The next class was divided up. Students go to either biology or technical drawing. There were 9 kids in my biology class. The next class we were all back together again in our homeroom type group (of 34), and there were only 10 this time. We lost 4 somewhere. But the teacher just had it as a study hall I think. I don't understand much, or any at school (I will have another post on school) so I don't know if the rest of the class had an assignment or not. I just enjoyed reading my Spanish-English dictionary. Fun, I know. The next and final class, the teacher walked in (we don't change classes, the teachers do) and just looked at us and was like, well heck with this, go home. Hahahah... so home we went. And that was my day at school, during a country-wide huelga.The thing right now I don't understand is what the huelga is about. It's something about something that was just passed (sorry for my lack of political terms...) concerning something with the something for money for people who work.
Welcome to my world of not understanding.
But I should really research the topic and become one of those people who are "educated on the news". The other thing I don't really understand is how it works. By watching the news after I got home (minus the ability to understand the newscasters) I got a feeling people just closed their stores out of fear of the groups of people who would come and try to get them to close. I'm not sure. It's interesting watching dramatic actions when you can't understand what they are saying. They look like a bunch of fools. But, perhaps that was just me.
So, to wrap up the huelga some people did have school today. Some people's school got let out early, and others didn't go to school at all. But it's all the same, because it was our choice. I have a friend who attends a school where buses are necessary for most students, therefore nobody went to school at all. My younger host brother who is 11 was told NOT to go to school BY the school. I guess the teachers there went on strike. But everyone else in my host family who works went to work. Someone also mentioned a good point- I'm in (grade) Primero Bachillerato, which is optional. Obligatory school ended the year before, so that really adds to the "it's your choice" and the teachers' "sucks for you" attitude.
A good day of new cultural experiences I'd say. I just hope tomorrow it's a normal day, and nobody is still mad. I need to use the metro and bus system, and not having that is not worth to missing one class. It's my only source of transportation. And I don't exactly want to come accross a group of angry people. But I don't think that will happen. I mean, I hope not. It's not like a "Oh how sweet! Let's take some pictures" moment. But if you know where you're going, you should be fine.
Oh yeah, and I tried to explain to some people here that in the United States, if you just don't show up to work- you just might get fired. As in, most of the time. There are so many people in the states looking for a job, we don't just not go to work. I mean, really guys.
That's all I can really think of right now for the huelga. I will update all of the inbetween moments that I missed soon. There's so much to say, it's incredible. And most of all I hope I don't bore anyone with my long, totally insane stories. But keep checking, there's more to come soon.
Peace
-mb
