It's a very interesting time to be in Spain. I think the whole world is facing many issues with the economic crisis. Europe, in particular Spain, has been pretty hard hit.
In education specifically there have been many budget cuts. As a product of the public school system in California, I totally understand the effects of the cuts on education. Here though, the people are responding a bit differently than in California.
My first week of school the teachers went on huelga (strike) two consecutive days and the next day the students went on strike. This week Wednesday and Thursday the same thing happened. At first I was a bit confused and thought, "...eh I guess they really like their strikes." But then a colleague at one of my schools explained that this is not normal. Last weekend there was also a rally that thousands of people participated in taking to the streets in the same vein of the Wall St. Protests to fight for...well...you know...
Actually, no. I don't know. The media paints one picture and the people another. But what I do know is people are struggling. I watched a news report in a metro station that stealing was on the rise. I wondered if this was just the media trumping up theft. Later that day at my local "chino" I walked to the back section of the store looking for dishes, only to find a man stuffing items down his pants.
According to the BBC, unemployment is at a 13 year high point in Spain at 21.2%, that's 4.7 million people. The highest in Europe I believe. Making the 9.1% in the United States look pretty...well 9.1% is still terrible, but you catch my drift.
While I am an American and have the point of view of an outsider, I still feel like the plight of the Madrileños/Spaniards is my plight too. After all I live and work here and the program that I work in is being affected as well. Questions about funding and payment are beginning to arise and while they tell the program members not to worry, the climate for worry is nigh. Or should I say ahora!
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