Maite zaitut, Euskal Herria

Bay of Biscay, looking towards Sopelana and Urduliz

It should be no surprise to anyone, at least to anybody who knows me well enough and follows me on various blogging platforms: previously LiveJournal, Tumblr, here on Blogspot... that I have incontrovertible, biased pro-Basque tendencies and opinions.  I may have only spent two and a half years living in the Basque Country, but everything I experienced, learned, and saw has affected me forever.  When my family moved to Andalusia in 2001, just after I started school in Germany, they came face-to-face with the opinions and beliefs of those from outside the Basque Country.  My parents have stories of talking to people in Málaga who, when explained that they'd just moved there from Bilbao, asked "How in the world could you have lived with those terrorists?"  Another time, my dad was yelled at by a police officer at the parking lot of the Rosaleda stadium, home of Málaga CF, where he was doing repairs on our van, which still boasted Bilbao license plates.  After that, he applied to get new ones, which eliminated any regional association as the new Spanish plates had nothing denominating them from a certain province as the old ones had.

Yes, I am still stuck in 2010, what of it?

I just discovered the photo editing software on Google+ (damn it, Google, I love you) and had a little fun this afternoon.  Don't mind me.

Las Arenas & Algorta, Getxo, Bizkaia

Playa de Arrigunaga, Punta Galea, Algorta

Punta Galea, Bizkaia

Camp Nou, Barcelona

Masia Freixa, Parc de Sant Jordi, Terrassa

Masia Freixa, Parc de Sant Jordi, Terrassa

Masia Freixa, Parc de Sant Jordi, Ca n'Aurell, Terrassa

Barcelona 

Downtown Toronto

Rogers Centre, CN Tower, Downtown Toronto

Expatriation at its Worst

Mijas

The problem [of money issues in Costa del Sol cities] is made worse by British and other expatriate residents.  Most cannot be bothered to register as citizens of their new home towns, robbing the area of other funds awarded on the basis of how many people live there. Some 300,000 Britons are estimated to live [on the Costa del Sol].  That makes this Britain's fourteenth-largest "city", larger than, for example, Cardiff, Belfast, Southampton or Bradford.  However, fewer than one in ten British residents are registered.  Costa corruption is as much the result of those who came here, enjoy the Spanish weather and hospitality but refuse to accept any responsibility for the place they live in, as it is of crooked politicians and construction companies.

Ghosts of Spain, Giles Tremlett

Playa de Arrigunaga, Algorta (Getxo). 8 June, 2010.

"Estamos en Cataluña, y aquí el catalán es idioma oficial"

Prof: Molt bé, bon dia a tothom.  Avui parlarem del futur del sistema capitalista global.
Very well, good morning, everyone.  Today we’ll talk about the future of the global capitalist system.
Isabelle: Por favor, ¿señor?
Please, sir?
Prof: ¿Sí?
Yes?
Isabelle: Perdone, ¿pero podría dar la clase en castellano?
Excuse me, but could you give the class in Spanish?
Prof: Lo siento, señorita, pero no podrá ser.  La mayoría de estudiantes son catalanes, o sea que no creo que tenga que cambiar de idioma.
I’m sorry, miss, but that can’t be.  Most students are Catalan, so I don’t think I should have to change languages.
Isabelle: Somos más de 15 estudiantes de Erasmus que no hablamos catalán.  Y para usted no es un problema hablar español.
We’re more than 15 Erasmus students who don’t speak Catalan.  And it’s not a problem for you to speak Spanish.
Prof: Mire, yo la entiendo perfectamente, señorita.  De verdad.  Perfectamente.  Pero usted me tendría que entender a mí también.  Estamos en Cataluña, y aquí el catalán es idioma oficial.  Si usted quiere hablar español, ¡se va a Madrid, o se va a Sudamérica!
Look, I understand you perfectly, miss.  Honestly.  Perfectly.  But you’d have to understand me too.  We’re in Catalonia, and Catalan is the official language here.  If you want to speak Spanish, you go to Madrid, or you go to South America!

L'Auberge Espagnole (France), d. Cédric Klapisch, 2002.

I decided to look up what Spanish/Catalan law has to say about this topic, which is incredibly controversial.