Waiting to see what will happen.............

Hello Everyone,

Gosh, I am tired of this cold weather. I am waiting for the warmer weather to roll around. I miss the warm weather and going to the beach SO BAD. I work like 5 minutes next to the beach. I also live like 10 minutes away from a nicer beach. I wanna go really bad. Especially since I am white and could really use a tan.

Well, I sent in my fingerprints last week to the FBI so that they can mail me back my proof that I am not a criminal so that I can work on getting papers. Knowing how slow the US government is at proceessing paperwork I can only hope that I get it back within 6-8 weeks like they said.

Now, I am just waiting to see what my roommate has to say. We spoke to a guy that know the laws and helps people and we are waiting for a fax of legal documents that I may need to fill out. Don´t ask me how my roommate knows this guy. I have no idea. I am just glad that he was there to help us.

If things work out, I may be able to quit my current job as a phone monkey and work in the airport until I get legal papers. If things look even better, I might even be able to actually get a better job at ACS, which is an American company that deals with finances. I had my student loans with them before they got bought and consolidated by another company.

The woman there was really happy to hear about my qualifications and all was well until she found out that I don´t have legal papers. Then she told me there is nothing she can do for me. See, the companies here won´t do jack shit to help you get legal. But at least she told me that the job will still be there after I get everything squared away.

This is if things work out. Who knows. I might be told after all that there is no hope for me. Either way, its all good. If I get a better job, I will be so happy and go on a fat shopping spree. If not, well then I have plane tickets to Austria and then back to CA. So I am either getting a good paying job and receiving papers to be able to legally work here for a year. Or I am going home. I can live with either choice right now. Although being able to work anywhere legally in the EU sounds really good to me. I would stay in Spain for a while then give Austria or Germany a try teaching English.

I also just registered for Spanish classes again. After my incident at the foreigners office, I took the hint and decided that I need to improve my speaking and writing skills. Basically whenI went to the foreigners office to ask about getting my criminal record in Spain, he told me that I didn´t need to. However, I didn´t understand him, and he got pissed at me and it took me a couple of hours after he told me to get lost to realize what he meant. Way to go for me, huh ?

I also found a brochure for bellydancing. I miss it so badly. I used to practice every week and I haven´t danced in 6 months. I mean, sometimes I practice for like 5 minutes in my room but that really doesn´t count. Bellydance is my passion and when I dance I could care less what people think of me. I am gonna call the school tommorow and hope that they have openings on my days off.

 

Latin Lovers ;)

Hello there my lovelies.................

Well, I don´t have MTV or Flaix TV in my apt to watch the latest music videos. But I do have a channel called TeleTaxi, but they only play music videos in Spanish. It´s good enough for me.

And guess who´s back ? Ricky Martin. I haven´t heard his music in so long. He sang an upbeat salsa song and he was hot :) I love the way he dances.

 Yeah, I like him, so sue me. I first heard him in 1998 during the world cup. Then he became the hottest thing in the US a year later.

There is another artist here that is really famous. David Bisbal. He is Spanish and was discovered on a TV contest a year ago. And he will be touring in the US and Mexico this year. I really think that he will be the next Ricky Martin. I know that all the girls will love him in the US.

And Marc Anthony will be giving a concert here in Feb. He is one of my favorites. He is a salsa king and also sings other romantic ballads. I have his latest CD and listened to it so much over the summer.

Who else ? Oh yeah................ David de Maria. Very, very sexy voice. He sings romantic, nostalgic songs that almost make you wanna cry. He will also be giving a concert soon too. I hope that I will be able to make one of these concerts.

See, when I first got here I couldn´t understand a whole lot of Spanish. And now its improving and I am able to listen to music, understand most of it and sing along sometimes. It feels so good.

Wanna know what real freedom is ? It´s being able to travel to a foreign country, and adapt. It´s being able to read and understand languages without help and depending on others to help you.  I am not there yet. I have a long way to go. But I am getting there.

Never Forget

Hello Everyone,

I am taking a break today from my normal journal entries to add my 2 cents about yesterday´s news. It was the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

World leaders and survivors gathered at the camp to remember the victims and remember what happened and to remind everyone that we must never forget.

I saw pictures of survivors in attendance, some crying. I don´t think that while they were in the camps that they imagined that would live another 60 years to witness the anniversary, let alone just get out of the camps alive.

This morning some shit monkey left a swastika mark in front of the elevator of my apartment on the floor. My roommate told me that he has Jewish faith in his family. I didn´t know that. I am hoping that whoever did this did it to be stupid, and not out of hate. It´s a sick thing to do. Either way, it was sad to have to wake up to see him mopping the floor of a hateful sign before the neighbors left for the day. I thought it was nice of him to take the innitiative to clean it up. He coulda just left it for the janitor.

Of course the government of Germany is now making public appologies for what happened. And they are also paying reparations. It´s a step in the right direction of course, because you can´t change the past, and you can´t bring back the dead.

But I can´t help but thinking about the survivors: The government robs your house, kills your family, imprisons you and strips you of your dignity, and throws you back out into the world to fend for yourself. And all you get is a lousy check after 60 years ? Oh, and maybe a public appology on certain occasions? Yeah, at least they are getting something. But still, it´s just NOT enough. Nothing can ever be enough for the survivors.

Austria signed an agreement 3 years ago to pay some money to the survivors. It is just getting out to them. What a joke. Survivors aren´t getting any younger. And it´s only 1000€. People can sue companies because they slipped and got injured on a wet floor and get thousands and thousands of dollars.

And people can argue however they want. What about the other people affected by the war? You can´t pay everyone for their suffering. True. But you also can´t deny that the Holocaust was targeted at certain groups of people, mainy Jews. And the government had lists with SPECIFIC names of people that they were looking to kill. They weren´t accidentally killed by agunshot. 

And these people are STILL living.  I think that the German government should definitely pay the families.

There was a debate of whether the United States should pay the survivors. I don´t think so, because the United States didn´t do it. I think that the responsible governments should take full responsibility.

I couldn't help feeling sad yesterday because there is still so much hate in the wold. What about the war between the Bosians and Serbs ? These people will probably never receive any appology money from their governments probably because I imagine that their countries simply can´t afford to pay the money. Who knows ? I am just making a guess. I wonder if their government would even appologize? I don´t know much about that war except that there was a lot of ethnic cleansing.

I honestly don´t think that hate will ever be erased from this world. There will always be good and evil. But I think that we are slowly making progress.

Anyways, these are my 2 cents. I have been lucky enough to meet survivors from Auschwitz and they are strong, tolerant and admirable people and they are living proof of what hate can do. Or what a nation beaten and humiated by war and poverty with a  new charismatic leader and a scapegoat has the potential to cause..................

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.

Birdies

Hello Everyone,

I am kinda stressed out because I have been trying to get legal here and get papers to work so that I can live a NORMAL life here. The funny thing is that no one really knows the laws. You always get different answers. I am so confused. Luckily I should be finding things out for sure next month as the new immigration laws go into effect. But I will write about this later. Because it is a really interesting/stressful process and everyone has their own unique experiences. And if you are a traveler at heart and want to visit Spain one day, this would be of interest. So stay tuned for tommorow.............

But I got cheered up today by watching birdies here. If you are a bird lover, Barcelona is a great place to watch birds.

On the way to work this morning I saw an old man sitting on the bench, feeding a huge crowd of birds. At first I thought it was disgusting because there was shit all over the ground. But then I began to watch him.

There were so many birds surrounding him: Seagulls, pigeons, cute little plump birdies................ And the man captured their attention. He would just throw bread and they would all go for it. It's strange how the birds weren't really fighting each other. They just waited around for the next throw or bread. And they were all looking at him and squawking at him almost in unison. Kinda like the birds in Finding Nemo : Mine, Mine, Mine..................... Lol. It was like a guy throwing candy to a crowd of kids.

Thats not the only thing I love on my way to work. We have lots of palm trees outside and monk parakeets live inside them. They are beautiful emerald green birds that have an awful squawk. And they have attitudes. They like to eat the fruit/nuts in the palm trees. And as I am walking to work, I get hit by the falling pieces. I always look for them on my way in and out of work.

Barcelona is a city with pollution, traffic and lots of people. But you still manage to find exotic animals here that are wild. Did you even know that we have wild boars that sometimes make their way into the city ?

Anyways, gotta go but I will update more on getting legal tommorow.