I have just been for a walk - I went to Lavapies to buy some Indian curry paste and other ingredients that are hard to find elsewhere. It's a nice nighbourhood, old houses and hilly cobbled streets. I then walked around some other neighbourhoods near my house to get to know some areas I had never been before. The walk was perfectly pleasant except that everything was so shockingly ugly. So much of Madrid is really quite ugly.
I feel bad saying it but it's stating the obvious. Once you leave the very pleasant city centre you are greeted with brown tower blocks, washing and pylons which extend to the horizon.
Ok, ok, I'll be nice. The centre of Madrid is charming - the Paseo de Prado has some magnificent buildings, the Retiro is heaven on a spring's day and Gran Via is very exciting. I love Madrid, for its beauty is in its culture, its people and its vibe. It's a very liveable city, if you ignore the architecture. One has to remember that it is a scarred city, heavily bombed during the Civil War. It is also a city that was reluctant to be the capital - it has no iconic landmarks and doesn't have the feel of a capital in many parts.
Anyway, what else can I ramble on about today? I went to England last week. I stayed in Brighton and had a very pleasant time. Things I like about Britain: nice houses (especially in Hove where I was staying) food from all over the food is easily accessible, a more integrated racial mix, an atmosphere on the whole of tolerance. Things I don't like: the monotonous high streets which have been taken over by large chain coffee shops and clothes stores and have starved all the independant businesses into near extinction. The poverty, which is surpirsingly high in such a wealthy country. Apart from that I really like it there, it's home. Oh, I forgot, the weather - that sucks quite a lot of the time.
I'm not sure the point to this post is absolutely clear. I am trying to get across basically that there are things that are nice and not-nice about both Spain and Britain but if you're positive and focus on the good things then it's possible to really like both places and be very content. I have realised this week how content I am to be in Madrid, despite its faults. It's a nice city, even though it's ugly. I am excited about the next few months because the weather is warming and there's the prospect of outdoor fun getting ever closer! I'll leave it there for now, I have homework to do :(
Thursday, 28 February 2008
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
Who the hell do YOU think you are?
I've got to thinking, mainly because being abroad all the time demands it. I think it's impossible to escape the thinking and reflection that comes with being in a foreign environment. It's true to say that I have been in Spain for 5 months now and therefore it is not so 'foreign' anymore. And I feel it too. I feel a lot more settled here and content.
Being a 'foreigner' though...hmmm, not sure how I feel about that. In some ways it's exhillirating to be the 'guirri' (local term for a person like me). I feel perhaps slightly narcissistically special. I am from a different place than these people around me, I am exotic and do things differently...I can't really say that though because I live in Madrid and it's full of outsiders!
No, being foreign is incredibly personal (as everything about this year seems to be). Think for a moment for those who have not lived abroad before how it might be to do things and say things your whole life, to have a specific way of living that has never been brought into question before because they have been perceived as normal and then suddenly, in a new and strange environment, for all those things to be challenged or questioned. Suddenly the way you cook that particular dish or the way you engage with others may seem so strange to foreign people. It's a bizarre feeling! And one that makes you feel slightly uneasy because it makes you question who you are and how you live your life. Now, maybe I am too introspective but I have occasionally felt more defensive here and more vulnerable - more open to critisicm than I do in Britain simply because I am in a country in which I don't feel confident. It makes you realise how much a product of your culture you really are - in a way it's nice because going home and mixing with your people again is such a pleasure - it's just naturally so easy - you can relax. But it also makes you take the time to try and understand better the host culture you're in - like a game or a puzzle, you need to figure out what certain sayings really mean - whether the irony here is the same as at home, whether it's appropriate or acceptible to say or do this - life here is one big mad cluedo!
On the other hand, you realise that despite the language barrier and the different histories and conquests and events that have shaped each country, we are all human and we all have shared values. Spain is nothing like Britain. It's language is a product of that, yet despite all our differences we all share in common love, family, friendship and respect. We also share the flip-side; the social problems, the people left behind, the cycle of poverty and violence. It all exists in our world of different languages and cultures. It makes you realise that language really is just a series of grunts and noises. There is no need for us to be afraid of each other - we are all one. It's taken me 5 months to only begin to understand what that really means. And it makes this all completely worth it.
Being a 'foreigner' though...hmmm, not sure how I feel about that. In some ways it's exhillirating to be the 'guirri' (local term for a person like me). I feel perhaps slightly narcissistically special. I am from a different place than these people around me, I am exotic and do things differently...I can't really say that though because I live in Madrid and it's full of outsiders!
No, being foreign is incredibly personal (as everything about this year seems to be). Think for a moment for those who have not lived abroad before how it might be to do things and say things your whole life, to have a specific way of living that has never been brought into question before because they have been perceived as normal and then suddenly, in a new and strange environment, for all those things to be challenged or questioned. Suddenly the way you cook that particular dish or the way you engage with others may seem so strange to foreign people. It's a bizarre feeling! And one that makes you feel slightly uneasy because it makes you question who you are and how you live your life. Now, maybe I am too introspective but I have occasionally felt more defensive here and more vulnerable - more open to critisicm than I do in Britain simply because I am in a country in which I don't feel confident. It makes you realise how much a product of your culture you really are - in a way it's nice because going home and mixing with your people again is such a pleasure - it's just naturally so easy - you can relax. But it also makes you take the time to try and understand better the host culture you're in - like a game or a puzzle, you need to figure out what certain sayings really mean - whether the irony here is the same as at home, whether it's appropriate or acceptible to say or do this - life here is one big mad cluedo!
On the other hand, you realise that despite the language barrier and the different histories and conquests and events that have shaped each country, we are all human and we all have shared values. Spain is nothing like Britain. It's language is a product of that, yet despite all our differences we all share in common love, family, friendship and respect. We also share the flip-side; the social problems, the people left behind, the cycle of poverty and violence. It all exists in our world of different languages and cultures. It makes you realise that language really is just a series of grunts and noises. There is no need for us to be afraid of each other - we are all one. It's taken me 5 months to only begin to understand what that really means. And it makes this all completely worth it.
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