Basta Ya!
Enough Already! That is the slogan here in Spain. I completely agree. Yesterday I spent my day downtown. As I was going to buy a copy of "El Pais" (a newspaper), a Spanish lady went up to the teacher I was with and said, "I heard you two speaking English. You guys must be either English or American, and I wanted to let you know that we appreciate your support a lot." That was really cool. Next we went into the Plaza Redonda, where I met some friends of his. We walked into this really cool ceramic shop, where I met this older Spanish lady. To my surprise, she was crying. She said, "This is so horrible. I just heard a story of a woman who was visiting Madrid with her husband, children, and grandchildren. She was tired and decided to stay back in the hotel while everyone else went on. Now her entire family is dead, and she is alone." Hearing that story on the radio would make me cry too. She said she understood completely how we felt on 9-11. Two other ladies walked in too and said that they felt, "impotencia" (helplessness, not what you are all thinking!). It is just such a sad situation. I think for the first time since I have been here, people really do understand that as an American, I do NOT agree with the war or with the killing, and I am as sickened as they are. Everybody seems to appreciate my outreach. I bought a Spanish flag an put a black ribbon on it. I do not plan on taking it off for a while, as I want to remember what has happened here and all the horror these innocent people have been forced to face.
Every store in Valencia closed at 7:00 for the "manifestacion", or peaceful protests, and some all day. Many of the monuments I think were closed all day as well, to pay respect. All he fallas activities are cancelled all weekend, and I think that is very noble of the government here. The most surprising news I heard was that all the Corte Ingles stores were closed throught the entire country yesterday. That is the first time in history that has ever happened. That store is the biggest store in the country, and is almost like a mall within itself. The chain also owns a series of other services, like grocery stores (which were not closed) and travel agencies. It is crazy! That surprised a lot of the Spanish people, and myself as well.
The manifestacion was amazing! There were SO many people there. It had to be at least 500,000 or so, considering how many streets were flooded with people. I would say that the majority of the population attended last night. Everyone had the same message, PEACE. I saw a sign as I was leaving (and I won't attempt to translate it back to Spanish) that said, "terrorists, learn from the Valencians, mazcletas not bombs". I thought that was a very cool Valencian touch. After cutting through back streets to make it to the Plaza de la Reina, we waited for a while until they finished the remembrance with five minutes of silence. Everyone put their hands to the sky, signifying that they wanted peace. It was so touching. This ritual dates back a couple of years to when a person was assasinated and people went into the streets with their hands painted white, asking for peace. That seems to be the true message here, PEACE. When will this all end?
Every store in Valencia closed at 7:00 for the "manifestacion", or peaceful protests, and some all day. Many of the monuments I think were closed all day as well, to pay respect. All he fallas activities are cancelled all weekend, and I think that is very noble of the government here. The most surprising news I heard was that all the Corte Ingles stores were closed throught the entire country yesterday. That is the first time in history that has ever happened. That store is the biggest store in the country, and is almost like a mall within itself. The chain also owns a series of other services, like grocery stores (which were not closed) and travel agencies. It is crazy! That surprised a lot of the Spanish people, and myself as well.
The manifestacion was amazing! There were SO many people there. It had to be at least 500,000 or so, considering how many streets were flooded with people. I would say that the majority of the population attended last night. Everyone had the same message, PEACE. I saw a sign as I was leaving (and I won't attempt to translate it back to Spanish) that said, "terrorists, learn from the Valencians, mazcletas not bombs". I thought that was a very cool Valencian touch. After cutting through back streets to make it to the Plaza de la Reina, we waited for a while until they finished the remembrance with five minutes of silence. Everyone put their hands to the sky, signifying that they wanted peace. It was so touching. This ritual dates back a couple of years to when a person was assasinated and people went into the streets with their hands painted white, asking for peace. That seems to be the true message here, PEACE. When will this all end?