Quick Update

So far this week has been one of those weeks, you know the kind where you never know what day it is and can't remember what your to-do list composed of....one of those weeks. Somehow I made it through. I even had all my classes prepped, but some of the professors forgot to mention that Tuesday was field trip day, and Thursday was Drug Free Assembly day....so half my classes were cancelled. Something I found out after arriving to the classrooms, void of students. Must have missed the notice.
Wednesday was a general strike in Spain, as well as other European countries, formulated by the European syndicates. Ideally everything was closed for the day as a form of protest against the direction the governments are heading. There were groups picketing through the streets to assure that no business was open, upon finding one open on the day of strike, they stood outside and chanted extra loud to make sure it closed. In theory this is how the strike worked. In reality it went more like this: lots of businesses were closed, in the morning. Those that were brave enough to open in the morning kept the black-out blinds 3/4 closed and when they heard the picketers coming, they lowered the blinds the rest of the way until the picketers passed. I watched from my window as the people enjoying their morning cup of coffee in the cafe across from me were locked inside the cafe to avoid having to deal with the chanting. However someone inside wanted to leave. They had to open the blinds over the door. The man squatted to duck out, and the chanters hung out for awhile and posted signs on the blinds saying the cafe was closed for strike. Then they left. Then the blinds went back up. Fail? The protests were peaceful, though mildly obnoxious, in Spain. Portugal was not as lucky. Lisbon experienced violent protests, though the people there are at a different level of desperate than those in Spain. The Spanish picketers were just loud. And after the siesta, everything opened back up in Santiago. This is a video of the picketers on my street, you can see the man leave the cafe. And then they all stayed for a long time. The chant is in Gallego, estamos en folga, hai que pechar, we're on strike, close up.

Folga xeral in front of my apartment

On a lighter note, Toxo is just as cute as ever. And is struggling to understand the washing machine. Poor fella, it's not going well for him. But my goodness is it cute.

 

Toxo

I don't have any big plans for my weekend as of yet, but I have planned a trip finally. It's not until the end of next month, but it'll be worth the wait. After Kim leaves, I am going to Turkey. I bought my ticket today and am now working on a plan for my time there, December 28-January 6. It should be phenomenal.