More Thoughts on Spain

Hello Everyone,

Katie, to answer your questions on yesterday´s journal entry, yes I have walked by the Columbus tower that points to America. I have even been to the top and taken pictures of the Barcelona view. I walk by it every day on my way to work. I work in the World Trade Center here in Barcelona. Although I despise my job, I still get the most awesome view of the sea and mountains from the office window.

And yeah, people still make out here in public A LOT. The streets, the metro....... especially the beach. But no one really cares. Wierd.

If you have been to Spain you KNOW that customer service/ government procedures here really suck. It seems that people here in customer service don´t like their jobs for the most part. Half the time they look at you like you´re crazy for wanting service. Hell, they even lie sometimes. People in the stores don´t want to help you find what you are looking for "if ít´s not there we don´t have it." I tried to exchange my money in the BANK and the gal told me "you have to go to the airport. We don´t have the proper money detectors here." I went to the foreigner´s office and asked the guard a question and he walked me outside and told me to read the damn sign on the door. Then I got to the counter to ask my question and after I had trouble understanding his Spanish, he told me to leave and forget it. Nice.

And forget complaining. It is useless. I never even considered it, because you´ll just be laughed at.

Americans in general have high expectations when receiving customer service. I have worked in customer service for a long time. People will complain because you are not smiling or if you arrive at their table a couple of minutes too late because you were busy helping someone else. I sure wish that I could´ve had the Spanish attitude when I worked at Red Lobster. My old bosses really bended over backwards and did cartwheels for the customers. And if ANYTHING was wrong it was 90% of the time MY fault.

But today I went to the bank near my house to get a certified check and the man there was really nice. I thought that he was gonna squawk at me. But he helped me with a smile on his face and held a conversation with me. He asked me questions about California and told me that I must be the only American in the area where I live.  That was so nice.

After the bank, I went to the post office to mail my request to have my criminal record sentto me. ( No I have never been arrested.) I will need to have this to get residency. The woman there was not happy to see me. She looked really tired. I was back to reality.

I have no idea what I will need to do next in order to work on getting my papers in order. My roommate keeps telling me different things, as well as the government officials. I hope that I can get this sorted out somehow.

What else ? Oh get this......... It is freezing here. It is cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. It is snowing almost everywhere in Spain, EXCEPT here in Barcelona. Even the Balearic islands such as Ibiza have snow. It is wierd seeing the beaches and palm trees covered in snow. Some schools cancelled their classes and even the ski resort in Andorra was shut down. I wish that I could experience some snow. Oh well. It will be cold like this till about Sunday. I am supposed to go skiing this weekend. Hell I was supposed to go skiing last weekend, but my roommate´s grandma died. I just hope that we will get a chance to go.

Anyways, gotta go. Ciao.