Barça 2, Manchester United 0

Last night Barça beat Manchester United 2-0 which makes them essentially the best football (sorry, soccer) team in the world. They won the Spanish Liga, the Copa del Rey, AND decisively, the Champion's League final.

This is the amazing 2nd goal by Messi, Barça's Argentinian player, who may possibly be the best player in the world:

Denmark

The weekend of May 15-17th, while madrileños were busy celebrating their patron saint, San Isidro, I jetted off to Denmark to meet up with my friend Kaeleen, who had been sent to Helsinki for work (lucky girl). For some time I have been a bit curious to see how life is in the northern European countries, especially since republicans keep scaring everyone and saying that the U.S. is going to turn out like them socialists in Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia. Which yes, would be the end of the world as we know it.

Yes, I was a bit shocked to hear that the average income tax is 50%, but Danes take advantage of a very efficient health care system, where even the most advanced surgeries are covered (and they don't have to wait forever like opponents would have you believe). If they are laid off, there are extensive unemployment benefits. Generally socialist and capitalist systems are considered mutually exclusive, leading me to think that entrepreneurship would be stifled in Denmark, but it is quite the opposite. We stayed at a B&B in Kalstrup, a half hour outside of the capital of Kobenhavn, with Eva and Asger, an incredibly nice, well-traveled, tri-lingual Danish couple. I spent our car rides to the train station and back inquiring about Denmarks pseudo-Socialist system. Asger said now that he is a retired schoolteacher and principal, Eva and he run the B&B which actually earns them more money than teaching. The taxes on small businesses are very low, compared with larger corporations. While he was teaching, he was taxed so heavily that for every 100 DKK he made, he pocketed 38. ($1 USD=5DKK) Small businesses are encouraged to not get to big, or else they are heavily taxed. This would seem to be a positive, as more small businesses competing is better for consumers, and you don't risk the problems that occur when a sector is run by large conglomerates who have one objective.

The highlights of Denmark I would have to say were Tivoli Gardens and Eva and Asger's house. Tivoli Gardens is the oldest amusement park in the world, opened in 1843, and was Walt Disney's inspiration for Disneyland. It was like walking back in time, before the current over-commercialized super expensive theme parks took over. There was a pirate ship, a Chinese themed stage, a Dragon boat lake, and a ton of things going on--concerts, interpretations (one free-style dance show that was a bit strange) and a night rock concert. Kaeleen and I had some amazing Italian food as well (though expensive, because hey, it is Denmark).

The second highlight of the trip was of course Eva and Asger's house and beautiful yard. We stayed with them on the top floor of their A-frame house, and they made us breakfast every morning, with organic fresh-baked bread, cheeses, and soft boiled eggs. They introduced me to Norwegian brown cheese (it has various names) that is a soft cheese that is caramelized. I am now a convert. On the last day I was there, Asger led us on an expedition trying to find brown cheese for me to take back to Madrid. We found it and I bought 2 packages of it, one of which was quickly consumed by Mariana (my roommate) and I in less than a week. Eva insisted I liked it because of my Norwegian heritage. Kaeleen returned to Seattle and found the cheese in Ballard, which makes sense. I told her it would be way more likely she found it there than I find it in Madrid, despite the proximity to Scandinavia.

All in all a quiet and tranquil stay (emphasis on tranquil). It is worlds away from Spain, as you would expect for a country whose population is barely that of the city of Madrid.

Pictures:
1. flower pot in Eva and Asger's yard
2. Tivoli Gardens in Kobenhavn
3. Eva and Asger in front of their house
4. amazing Norwegian brown cheese
5. Kaeleen and I on the swings that Asger built
6. Kaeleen taking a picture at the lake near Eva and Asger's house in Karlstrup

Oooo la gripe

I have to admit. I spent two days stressing out about the swine flu or "la gripe porcina". I read everything I could, I informed my roommate, she laughed as I launched into explanations I had read in the NY Times and the Economist. People began arriving in Spain infected with the flu, and mask-covered pedestrians started sprouting up everywhere on my walks home. A bit unnerving when people are dying in México.

Another principal worry of mine was my friend Margarita and her family, who had returned to México City in January after spending a year working in Seattle. She had sent me a new email in March with their new phone number in the DF house but I had yet to get a hold of them. Increasingly worried, I called them the other day and Diana, her 15 year old daughter picked up. This is a synopsis of the conversation:

Diana: Hello
Maya: Diana!!!!
Diana: Hi Maya, how are you? (Apparently my gringa accent gives me away)
Maya: Oh my gosh, are you ok? Is everyone ok?
Diana: Yeah we are fine.
Maya: Are you sure, everyone is fine??
Diana: Yeah, we are fine, what's up?
Maya: Ummm, I was worried!
Diana: Why?
Maya: The swine flu!
Diana: The what?
Maya: The SWINE FLU!
Diana: Oh, that.

Apparently they weren't really too worried about it, even though everything was shut down, and according to them the subway was practically empty and everyone was walking around in masks. As Mariana, my roommate from Venezuela, put it, "Maya, que nosotros latinos estamos acostumbrados a movidas. Esta gripe no es nada para nosotros." Translation: "We latinos are used to crazy things going down. This flu isn't anything." So I have stopped worrying, and if the flu hits Madrid "a saco" I will deal with it then. No hay que flipar.

Education, or lack thereof

CEIP Pasamonte, the bilingual public elementary school that I work at in the Moratalaz neighborhood of Madrid, does not have document cameras like the Seattle School District. We have one printer for the whole school that rarely works. Our internet connection is spotty. We do not have overhead projectors. We do not even have white boards.

We do, however, use old-school blackboards. The prefix "black" makes me laugh, because they are hardly ever black because no one ever cleans them. And we do not have new erasers, so each time you wipe down the "blackboard" it makes it even more of a mess. Our blackboard in my 3rd grade class is so bad it shakes when you write on it, and it has streaks of green plastic stuff running down it (that chalk can't write on, so it creates a bit of a confusion when we write across it). The state of our chalk supply is also in crisis. Ramón sends kids down to the office to get a box of chalk, "box" being the operative word. The kids return with two pieces of chalk, three if they are lucky.

From this information, one would gather that I work in a poor school that doesn't receive much funding.

So you would be as puzzled as I am to find out that just the other day, a truck load of furniture pulled up outside of CEIP Pasamonte. Good, I thought, maybe they will actually get something that works, like a new chalkboard that isn't about to fall off the wall.

I thought wrong. What they did unload was brand spanking new furniture for the front office. A new workstation for the secretaries. New cabinets for their files. I asked Ramón, what was wrong with their old furniture? His answer-according to the principal was "the office is the first thing parents and community members see when they arrive and we want to give them a good impression".

What did they do with their old furniture? It was moved to the staff room, and was left up for grabs for the teachers for their classrooms. How thoughtful of the principal and the deputy head (or "Devil Woman" as one of my co-worker refers to her).

Just another case of how our incompetent principal puts appearances ahead of education.

More to come, I have only just skimmed the surface.

Toma toma toma, nos vamos para Roma!!!

Tonight, FC Barcelona tied Chelsea in a nerve-wracking down-to-the-wire match, allowing them to advance to the Champion's League finals in Rome on May 27th. And yes, I live in Madrid, but I have been a Barcelona fan ever since I lived in Cádiz from 2003-04. Back then Real Madrid was similar to the NY Yankees, all superstars fighting for attention. Beckam, Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo, and Raúl. People tell me I am a Barça just because they are winning, but that is not true. Same with being a New England Patriots fan. I rooted for the Patriots in the 2002 Super Bowl when everyone thought they had no chance in hell of beating the Rams and Vinatieri ended up winning the game for them with a field goal. I have to stay loyal, they won me a bet!

Here is the tying goal by Iniesta that allowed them to advance to the finals (which led to an eruption of screaming in the bar I was at, and a few tables were almost knocked over):

The heat, oh the heat

It is 27 degrees C outside, which is about 80 degrees F. Summer weather in Seattle. Beach weather, in fact. But here in Madrid? Oh no, to madrileños this is nothing. I walked home from school in shorts and flip flops, and the majority of those on the street were wearing long sleeves, jeans, and shoes. Real shoes. Not sandals. Even  though I was wearing a tshirt-blouse and shorts, I was sweating. A lot. 

This means one thing. We haven't seen anything yet. I am scared. I have been told that madrileños don't think it is hot until it reaches 35 degrees or more (95 F).

Fortunately there are public pools in Madrid and I get off work at 1pm in June...

And by the way, Feliz Cinco de Mayo.