Birds

I love birds. I'm a keen birdwatcher, and I find pleasure in listening to birds' songs and watching birds through my binoculars (or much better, with the help of a spotting scope), trying to find out what particular species they belong to. Unfortunately, I no longer have plenty of free time to devote to this hobby, but I still get carried away by a feeling of joy each time I hear a melodious bird song (now is the best time for that) or see some small bird darting through the bushes.Today I've heard for the first time this year the cry of the bee-eater, high up in the sky. For me, it announces the arrival of hot weather; now summer is just around the corner.

These spring days are great! Every day I go to University, I can hear the singing of dozens of birds (the fact that there are hundreds and hundreds of trees there contributes greatly to this): I hear sparrows (of course; they're just everywhere!), white wagtails, serins, goldfinches, greenfinches and the occasional robin or blackbird. There are many magpies as well, and sometimes I hear other birds such as the great tit (no jokes, please); one day I even heard a hoopoe. When I lived in my small village, hoopoes were a common sight, but in Castellón they don't show up too often.

But there's something that worries me. In other countries such as the United Kingdom, there are hundreds of thousands of amateur birdwatchers (the RSPB —Royal Society for the Protection of Birds— alone has over a million members), while in Spain they are far fewer (SEO —Sociedad Española de Ornitología— has only about 11,000 members). But worse than that, is the fact that the new generations don't even know the names of the most common birds; for them, every bird they see must be a sparrow, and some can't even name the sparrow: all those flying little creatures are just "birds". I find this utterly disheartening. How can you make people love birds, if nobody bothers to get to know what they really are, not even a bit? Maybe it's because now I'm living in a city (a small city, by the way); maybe in the small villages of Castellón people can actually differentiate between the main bird species... I hope that's the case. The same thing happens with tree and bush species. Has everyone lost contact with nature or what? Sometimes I feel I should have never left my dear little village...

But there's a problem with small villages: many people know the birds' and plants' names, but unluckily there are many hunters as well. I will never understand what's so fun about killing a living creature just for the sake of it. Well, at least, hunters have a big knowledge of nature, and love it their way. But the problem is, up to date I have yet to meet a hunter who wouldn't enjoy killing an eagle if he knew that nobody was watching and he wouldn't get fined. Usually they abide by the law just for fear of being caught, not because they feel that killing endangered animal species is wrong.

The only good thing I can think of about hunting is that many natural reserves have survived until the present day just because they have been preserved for the practice of hunting; we mustn't forget that many of the first conservationists were hunters who changed their minds and turned to protecting animals instead of killing them. My admiration goes to them; as for all the hunters that mill around our villages today, I wish that every single one of them would experience that change; Mother Nature would be deeply grateful to them.

Now my happiness is complete

I'm going to become a father!!

You can't start to imagine how happy I am. Finally life begins to have a meaning; I'm happily married to the woman I love, I'm studying what I like most (Translation and Interpreting) and now the circle of life is complete (insert The Lion King soundtrack here). A new generation is on the way, and I'm proud to be responsible for it.

In fact, I'm not yet fully aware of the importance of this event; for the moment I'm just happy and proud. Once the child is born and takes a liking to breaking into crying in the small hours of the night, I'm afraid I'll be brought back to reality with a bump :) Hopefully it'll be a quiet baby; I'll keep my fingers crossed...

I just can't wait to hold the baby in my arms! In about a month, we'll know whether we're having a boy or a girl; I'll keep you up to date!

Wine

I've discovered recently that I'm passionate about wine. It's not that I hadn't tried it before, like "hey, this red stuff tastes great! What is it?". I've liked it for quite a long time, but never before had I taken the trouble to do any research into the matter.
I've joined a website (www.verema.com) that is devoted to the world of wine, where I can get lots of information about wine production, wine tasting, wine types, wine conservation... just anything you can think of that is related to wine. What I like most is the site's forum: I can pose any question I have about wine, and there's always someone who is an expert in the matter and is willing to clear up my doubts.
I've learned some basic things like the type of wine glass I should use, the importance of decanting, the perfect serving temperature, where to buy the bottles... you'll learn something new every day. On this website, the members recommend the wines they like, and usually they're not too pricey; I've followed their advice and tried some great wines! Before, I used to buy very cheap wines, which I found just "not bad"; by paying an extra euro or two I'm starting to discover the pleasures of wine drinking... in moderation, of course! :)
Classic cars are my other passion, but, for the time being, I don't own any. The good thing about wine is that, actually, I can afford it. Cheers!

Travelling

Man, how much I like travelling! But the strange thing about me is that the thing I enjoy most about it is the trip itself. I've been to a couple of places already (no, I haven't been to Italy, if you're wondering :) Why is it that they pose that question on every English language workbook?), but I'm afraid they're too few for my liking. Last summer I went to the Canary Islands with my wife, and we enjoyed a lot driving around and across Tenerife, visiting the island's many interesting places. But never have I enjoyed travelling so much as on my honeymoon trip: we did a small tour of Europe by car, but not venturing further than Austria.

"Do you like driving?" goes the BMW TV commercial in Spain. In my case, yes, I do. I don't have a BMW but I enjoy lots driving around with my trusty Seat León. That's why we decided to travel by car. We departed from Castellón and headed straight towards France. It's worth mentioning here that Catalonian highways were the most expensive we found in the whole trip. Some people complain about Switzerland's highway tax, which you have to pay if you intend to enter the country with a vehicle, regardless of the length of your stay. But it entitles you to free use of Swiss highways for the rest of the year, and it costs just about 25 euro. I would sign for that in Spain without hesitating; just going from Castellón to Barcelone costs more than that.

In France we visited an impressive cave called La Grotte des Demoiselles, which I found breathtaking. Never before had I seen anything this enormous and magnificent many metres underground. Highly recommendable. From there we moved on to Lyon, where we strolled through its ancient streets and visited a couple of buildings, one of them the cathedral. I like these buildings, but I think I should include only one of them on each trip, otherwise I'm overwhelmed. On another trip through Castilla y León we visited several of them and ended up a bit tired of them: too much of a good thing :) And anyway, once you've visited Burgos Cathedral the rest of them don't seem half as great... Here come to mind the words of a friend of mine, who calls cathedrals, churches and the like "stones with shapes" :)

Before leaving France we visited another town, Belfort. The main feature of this place was a gigantic stone lion that protruded from the ancient city walls at the very top of the town. It looked impressive, and from there you could enjoy a great view of the whole of Belfort. There's something about stone lions that always attracts my attention; whenever there's one around I have to go and see it (this wasn't an easy task in London: they were everywhere!).

We crossed the border and entered Germany. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland is where I enjoyed the driving most: the landscapes were highly agreeable and sometimes truly arresting, especially in the Black Forest and the Alps. The area known as The Black Forest in Germany is full of woods, vast expanses of green grass (and cows) and lush vegetation. A real pleasure to drive through. The villages were nice and cute, and everything was perfectly clean and lovingly cared of. What the hell do these people give to their plants? They had them bursting with colour! The hotels and guesthouses were covered in geraniums in full bloom, a sight to be remembered. We visited a couple of nice towns, like Konstanz, Füssen and Wassen, as well as the famous castles of Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. The latter reminded me of Cinderella Castle at Disneyland. The view of Neuschwanstein castle from a hanging bridge near by is one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. Don't miss it if you happen to visit the south of Germany.

Then we crossed into Austria. We didn't visit any town there, but enjoyed lots with the landscapes. This must be a great place for walking! Some day we'll return there and spend a week or two ambling around. The next country was Liechtenstein, if you can call it a country. We visited it just out of curiosity: a place so small and still a country! Well, in fact it's just a "principality", but worth a visit anyway; maybe a bit too modern, though.

And from there on to Switzerland. We visited Zürich, which we hated, and Luzern, which we loved. And guess what we found in Luzern? A stone lion! :) Actually, we had gone to Luzern in search of that lion, about which I had read a lot previously. I adored it. It had been carved in the early 1800s in a sandstone cliff above the city centre, and the setting was just perfect, with a small lake in between. We spent a long while sitting there and gazing at the sculpture, and I found curious, if not amazing, how little time visiting tourists were allowed to appreciate the monument. They came in big groups, the guide told them the story behind the sculpture, and after five or ten minutes they were gone. That's why I prefer to travel on my own!

In Switzerland we got the chance to drive through the Alps, and it was great! We won't easily forget such breathtaking sceneries, with snow-covered mountains, winding roads and meandering rivers. When we were on the top, it snowed! It was just magical... Without leaving the Alps we crossed into France again, where we admired the magnificent Mont Blanc.

After that, we returned to Spain, a bit weary after so many kilometres on the road, but utterly happy for having made this trip. We hope to repeat the experience some time again; there are so many countries there awaiting to be discovered!

Bye bye 2009

We're in January again, and another year has gone by. 2009 has been an interesting year for me. Not a particularly good one, but not too bad either.

I started the year working at a tile factory (something not too surprising in Castellón), driving a forklift truck, preparing tile orders and loading them on lorries. The economic crisis had begun already, but I wasn't too worried about it; after all, I still had a job and I did it the best I could. In fact, I bet I did it much better than many people around me did. I could see that we got fewer lorries to load, but we had more or less the same amount of work: no matter if you order two boxes or twenty-eight, you still have to handle those boxes. Actually, I would say that the fewer boxes the order consists of, the more you have to work: a whole pallet of tiles means hardly any amount of work, as you only have to move it around with the forklift truck.

But the crisis was there and it also arrived at my workplace. The company considered that too many people were employed, so they decided to lay off a dozen or two of them. And I was in the list. I was outraged. I had done my best but still I had got the sack. The reason was that I was cheaper to sack than other people, regardless of each one's capabilities. After three years working at the same place and doing the same kind of things, I had grown accustomed to this routine, and I found it very hard to stop it all of a sudden. Well, at least now I could devote all the time I wanted to studying for my Official School of Languages' exams... I think I did quite well, so it was all worth it after all :)

It was time to face the future. It was April, I was entitled to twelve months of unemployment benefit, and, given the economic crisis, I wasn't going to find a job anyway. Since I quitted University back in 1997 I had had the feeling that I should resume my studies before it was too late, so, why not now? It was the perfect situation: during the first year (the hardest for me, as I'm no longer used to studying in a serious way), I could rely on the unemployment money, and after that I would find a way to combine work with studying. So, I decided to go for it. I had always wanted to study Translation and Interpreting, but when I tried those many years ago, I couldn't (my English wasn't good enough for Granada University). This time I would try in Castellón. I couldn't enrol straight away: first, they put my name down on a waiting list, and afterwards I was told to attend a big meeting where they would assign the vacancies left to be filled. I was lucky enough to get a vacancy! I was so happy! I could fulfil my dreams at last!

Summer came to an end, September arrived, and with it, the beginning of classes. Back to school, at 35! Oh my God. It felt weird to be once again in this environment, but this time surrounded by people much younger than me... Never mind, I'm here to study Translation and Heaven knows I'm going to do it. But I have to admit that it's proving hard to carry out. There's soooooo much to do! Every teacher has an impressive amount of homework for you and there's just not enough time for it! I mean, if you devote hundred percent of your time, of course you can do it, but, aren't we supposed to have a life? Maybe it's just me; anyway, I'll do my best to succeed in this new challenge. But I'm afraid I miss terribly my working days; there were so stress-free... I long for my dear old forklift truck :)

I hope 2010 will be a better year for everyone; especially for me ;) I just can't wait to see this bloody financial crisis go away; I want to see everybody happy again, with plenty of jobs available, with new businesses sprouting everywhere, with plenty of opportunities for the future. Last but not least, I want to pass all my University exams :)

Happy New Year everyone!!!!

Freedom and seatbelts

I'm in favour of all those laws that are meant to protect us, like the prohibition to drink and drive, the obligation to respect the speed limits or the need to have a current MOT certificate. They make sense: if you abide by these laws, you're safer and the people around you are safer too. But then there are other laws which I don't understand completely: you must have your seatbelt on, when driving a car, or your helmet, when driving a motorbike. Here, the only person in danger is the driver, so these measures address his or her own safety. But why does it have to be compulsory? I mean, if you want to drive around without wearing a seatbelt and don't mind to die if you have an accident, why shouldn't you? You're not very likely to kill anyone with your head when you're thrown up in the air anyway.

But that's not the thing that really annoys me. I understand that you're safer doing that, and in fact I would never think of not using the seatbelt when driving, but then, what about smoking? If the government cares so much about your health, why don't they impose a ban on tobacco? They know that it's very harmful, and indeed force tobacco companies into displaying health warning messages on their cigarette packages. If it's so harmful, why not ban it? The answer is, the government doesn't give a f**k about our health. People have to wear seatbelts and helmets because all those who get badly injured in accidents cost the government a lot of money; I'm sure that, if every person that had an accident without a seatbelt died straight away, its use wouldn't be mandatory. As for tobacco, lung cancer and other diseases caused by its consumption cost the health system an awful lot of money, BUT in this case the government obtains much more than that through taxes on tobacco products. So they have to tell you that you shouldn't smoke, but they don't dare to ask you openly to quit smoking, lest you should indeed do it. If all of a sudden everyone followed the advice found on the cigarette packages' health warnings, it would mean a tragedy for the government. Poor old guys.

London

Let me warn you: this post is going to be a really long one. London means so many things to me that it's hard to sum up in a few lines.

I first arrived in London in the summer of 1998. I had been studying English for some years at High School, as well as at the local Official School of Languages and a language academy, and I thought it was time to experience the real thing. I made it through an agency that provided you rooms for rent and job offers in London in exchange for a fee. If you're new to the country, these companies are a good choice. Once you get to know how to get along on your own, you no longer need them.

They found me a room in an area called Shepherd's Bush, in the Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. I liked the place; it was peaceful, full of small and interesting shops, with a public library close by, and not too far from the city centre. I was given a few addresses where I could apply for a job; after a couple of attempts, I got a job as a "commis waiter", which meant I was assistant to the waiter. I had come to London to put into practice my English speaking skills, and I needed to have a job, as I couldn't make my money last two months. I didn't consider myself a student anyway. The linguistic experience was just an excuse; I had flown to the UK looking for adventure in a foreign country, where I would have to fend for myself for the first time in my life. At twenty-four years old I was no longer a kid, but this was to be my first vital experience away from my parents' home.

So I started working at Sofra Restaurant, Mayfair branch. I knew London wasn't the best choice for someone trying to improve his language skills, but I would have never guessed to what extent this was true. There were no British people there!! The restaurant was Turkish, so of course the staff were mainly Turkish (most of them Kurdish), the manager was New Zealander, and the rest of us were a mixture of nationalities: Spanish, French, Italian, Algerian, Swedish, Egyptian, Filipino. But no one from the UK!

I came to use English quite often, but my speech didn't improve as much as I would have liked, as the people I spoke to were usually non-native. Soon I realized that you have to get out of your country to appreciate how well English language is taught. Back in Spain I had been top of the class; I thought that I mastered BBC English. But when I arrived in London, I found to my dismay that nobody spoke that language! For example, I had been taught to say "not at all" when someone said "thank you" to me. But the first time I used the expression, people found it really weird, and told me that I should say "you're welcome" instead. Oh. Then why on earth do they teach you that in Spain? We have a problem with English teaching in Spain: the required level is not especially high; with just a little effort they reward you with good grades, and you finish High School thinking that your language skills are marvellous (and they're not), when in countries like Sweden or Croatia their spoken English is close to perfection.

Work at the restaurant was OK. It was hard and stressful, but fun anyway. There were a few other Spaniards working with me, which meant that we didn't use English too often, but we had a great time. The restaurant was quite close to Buckingham Palace, so the customers we got were mainly tourists, who came from all over the world. Another good thing about the restaurant was the food: they specialized in Mediterranean cuisine (mostly Turkish and Greek) and it tasted good. My first wage at work was a ten-pound note, my part of the weekly tips. But for me it wasn't just a banknote, it was the first amount of money that I had earned in a foreign country, on my own, without any help from my family! I still keep that banknote, and I will treasure it forever...

There were a few things about life in Britain and London in particular that I found curious, some even shocking. The main thing was, of course, the weather. How can there possibly be a place where it's hot maybe for one week in a whole year? Everyday you had that persistent drizzle that is not intense enough to justify the use of an umbrella but makes you wet all the same. Londoners solve this problem by wearing some waterproof clothing and no umbrella. Sometimes I got the feeling that they didn't even notice it was raining! Also, it hardly ever rains properly there; I mean, there are very few storms, they have very few chances to say "it's raining cats and dogs!". The daylight hours were also a shock to me: the sun set very early, but then at maybe four in the morning it dawned! At six you had plenty of people on the streets, and at seven the sun was so high on the sky that it seemed midday. Just crazy!

Of course, you had the usual array of things the British do in a different way: driving on the left, pints instead of litres, pounds and ounces instead of grammes and kilos, miles instead of kilometres, pub closing time... but there were other things that were new to me: spirits served in exact quantities (in Spain they do it roughly), cemeteries meant for people to have a stroll, milk in plastic bottles in the supermarket's fridges, banana milkshakes instead of vanilla ones, a vast majority of cars with sunroofs (I guess that was due to the weather. If the sun gets out just occasionally, then you need to be able to enjoy the sunrays whenever that happens), traffic lights that change from yellow to red and then from red to yellow before passing on to green, and second-hand bookshops. I adored these establishments; as a book lover, Charing Cross Road was paradise to me: it was full of bookshops. The cheapest (and oldest) books were usually in the basement; I used to spend hour after hour happily immersed among heaps of old but interesting-looking books. And they were so cheap! Once I bought a book from about 1850 for 50p, and on another occasion I bought a six-tome collection from around 1790 for a fiver. Of course they weren't bestsellers, but in Spain any old book is going to be expensive just because of its age.

After just two months I returned to Spain, with my suitcase full of clothing, souvenirs, old books, interesting experiences and a strong determination to return there soon.