No rats in Madrid subway / Homesickness(less)

For being someone who has never really lived in a city other than Madrid, the truth is I don't feel especially attached to it.
Don't get me wrong, I like having my family and friends around, and I also recognize it's a nice city to live in. It offers a lot of different leisure activities, restaurants where you can find any kind of food, bars that open till late, public libraries, theaters, shopping centers... It has a few quite good hospitals and museums. I don't know why I put hospitals together with museums, I'm just writing as things come... You can also find a lot of very good schools, private and public, as well as good universities with a very wide range of degrees. And you can go practically everywhere using only public transport, which is great.

What's the problem, then? Doesn't it sound like it's the perfect city? The city where you have absolutely everything you need?

Indeed. And that, precisely, is the problem. If you don't want to leave the city in your whole life, you don't need to (assuming, of course, that you're one of the lucky ones who have a job in Madrid..., but let's assume that). If it's not the case that you specifically do not want to leave the city but, meh, you really don't care too much..., then dude, you'll never leave. Except maybe a few days in holidays, when you'll visit some other european country (if you're ambitious enough not to limit your holidays to a relaxing stay in a hotel on the seafront with free buffet) and you'll compare every city you visit to Madrid.

So yep, Madrid will give you all sorts of amenities and comfort, it will allow you to enjoy many experiences that would not be equally accesible if you lived, say, in Murcia..., but it will also keep you from experiencing a lot of things that you can only experience if you leave. Like, for example, leaving.

This comes from one who hasn't lived abroad for longer than 2 months or more than 2 times, both of them with a return ticket. And to be fair, the second time I wasn't really living, but staying. But after my first breakout to London (at the age of 28..., lame!) I think leaving is something everybody should try, at least for a while.

Now you might be thinking, oh, so after all that crap you said about that "you can leave, but not become" commercial, now you´re saying leaving is great, let´s leave everybody?
Well, yes. But I´m not talking about leaving by necessity, or being almost kicked out of your country because of the government´s awful administration. I´m talking about voluntarily leaving just for the experience of leaving. And, of course, I admit, not everybody can do that. You, once more, have to be among the lucky ones.
But if you are, and you leave, you will certainly get some perspective. You will get to know other people, other ways of living, other ways of working, other ways of thinking. You will realize that your way is not the only one... and, more importantly, it´s probably not even the best one.

But anyways, that said, this was gonna be a post about homesickness. Or the lack of it. Or homesickness for a country that is not your country (rather, a city that is not your city).

Two months are probably not enough time to be homesick, but the truth is, used as I am to live in my city, there´s nothing I have missed. Except olive oil.
Of course I miss my family and friends but that is not part of the city and, to be honest..., come on, there´s whatsapp. I have talked to them more often while I was abroad than I do when I´m here.
So, there´s nothing I miss from my city when living (or staying) in another city... but, when I come back, there are a lot of things that I miss from there. Things that, in many cases, won´t really make my life better.
If you take the subway here and look at the people around you, you will probably see about 45% south americans, 45% spanish, 9% asian (I´d even say chinese) and 1% people from somewhere else. That, compared to what you find in London or NYC, is almost homogeneity. And, most of the times, races don´t mix ones to the others. That is something missable.
I also miss the language (yes, english). It happens to me that, after coming back, I keep saying "hey" to my neighbours when we meet at the elevator, or to the bus drivers. I said "thankias" to a woman yesterday! And I catch myself thinking in english, and getting surprised when I pass by a group of people speaking spanish in the street ("Hey, Spanish! But, of course..."). I even dream in english from time to time. And sometimes I find that an english word can express what I want to say much better than any spanish word. Words like "anyways", "though", "whatever"... just come much easier and are much more handy than whatever spanish word we use in their place. Some other times, of course, it´s the other way around.
Then I miss other things that I don´t really like that much, or are rather stupid, but are symbolic of the good times I had when I was there. From London, for example, I miss the risky bus rides. And the voice of the woman saying, "Alpha Close", or "Lord´s Cricket Ground", or "Saint John´s Woods". As incredible as it may seem, I miss my room, with my mattress on the floor, my cereals on the windowsill and the freezing drafts coming from that hole in the bathroom ceiling. Well, it´s not that I miss that, but I think, oh, yeah, those were good times.
From NY, I miss starbucks. Yes, I do. I spent a good amount of my time in there, right? And I don´t even like coffee. I might have gone to starbucks 3 times in all my life in Spain. Well, 4 times if we count that one in Barcelona. And I´m not eager to go. But if I come back to NY, I will definitely do! Which, I guess, doesn´t make much sense.
And I also miss NY subway, even though it´s kind of crappy (not crappy, but..., kind of, you know what I mean) compared to the one we have here. I miss everything that has to do with it. Music, crowds, pannels, and yes, rats. When I took the subway from the airport to my home, I tried to find some. But nope, they are just not there.
Whenever I see an american movie or show and there´s a NY metro station, I can´t help thinking, hey, I´ve been there!, with a slight smile on my face.

But the best part of living abroad is that it rips you from your everyday drowsiness, and forces you to adapt yourself to a whole new environment where you are not part of the majority, you have no rights of belonging, you are nothing better than the asian or the south american (it´s tough but yes, that´s how most of us feel when we see foreign people living in our country, right?), you´re just one of the others. It exposes you to new ways of thinking, new ideas, coming from people who, in that context, are just like you. And you have no reason then, in that context, to think that your way is better than theirs. And once you accept that, you might realize that there are actually better ways. And not only that, you might also find that those other ways can work for you too.
That´s something you won´t find in Madrid if you are born, raised and rooted there. There is diversity, but a diversity that doesn´t interact, or, when it does, it does only under certain very well defined patterns.
And if you leave, your city will no longer be your referent, but one of your referents. You will be able to compare other places between them and get the best from each one.

So, like I´m saying, leaving, just for the curiosity of leaving, is a whole experience in itself. But of course, for it to be pleasant, it has to be your own choice, and you need to know that you can always come back if you want to. And maybe you will never want to. But it´s the possibility of coming back what makes staying be your choice.
I have only started to scratch the surface. But now, I don´t want to stay here. Not forever. I want to get the whole experience, if the experience can ever be whole.

Meanwhile, I will keep looking for the rats. They have to be there, I´ve seen them in the streets...

We must be crazy...

This clip has been coming up to my head a lot in the last few days. I wonder how we (people) turned the world into such a hard place to live in... So rushed and competitive... So artificial and restrictive.
And then we complain about how much work we have, how little time we have to do it...

[The one characteristic which really makes the Bushmen different from all the other races on earth is the fact that they have no sense of ownership at all. Where they live, there’s really nothing you can own, only trees and grass and animals. In fact, these Bushmen have never seen a stone or a rock in their lives. The hardest things they know are wood and bone. They live in a gentle world, where nothing is as hard as rock, or steel or concrete.]

[Only six hundred miles to the south, there’s a vast city, and here you find civilized man. Civilized man refused to adapt himself to his environment. Instead he adapted his environment to suit him. So he built cities, roads, vehicles, machinery. And he put up power lines to run his labor-saving devices.
But somehow he didn’t know when to stop. The more he improved his surroundings to make his life easier, the more complicated he made it. So now his children are sentenced to ten to fifteen years of school just to learn how to survive in this complex and hazardous habitat they were born into. And civilized man, who refused to adapt himself to his natural surroundings, now finds that he has to adapt and re-adapt himself, everyday, and every hour of the day, to his self-created environment. 

For instance, if the day is called “Monday” and the number seven-three-zero comes up, you have to dis-adapt yourself from your domestic surroundings, and re-adapt yourself to an entirely different environment. Eight-double zero means everybody has to look busy.

Ten-three-zero means you can stop looking busy for fifteen minutes. And then, you have to look busy again.

And so your day is chopped up into little pieces. And in each segment of time you have to adapt to a new set of circumstances.]

... And so on...

Couldn´t we all, please, stop for a moment and reset?

Análisis 2013... y breves propósitos para 2014.

Este año, el post de año nuevo va con retraso. Escribo desde NY y hasta ahora no he podido conectarme a internet con el portátil... Pero en fin, allá va.

Este año ha sido sin ninguna duda el mejor desde hace mucho tiempo. La razón? Piensa lo que quieras, pero...

RETROSPECCIÓN
Como siempre, un repaso del post de año nuevo de 2012-2013. Estas eran mis expectativas para 2013:

- Empezar a arreglar cosas.
Me alegra decir que arreglé lo que quería arreglar.

- Seguir escribiendo y cantando (con o sin coro). Además, escuchar más música. Y como siempre, leer más estaría muy bien. Y seguir yendo al cine.
Bueno, he escrito y he cantado, ni más ni menos que en años anteriores. No he seguido en el coro, aunque sí canté un funeral y el concierto de navidad. En cuanto a música, lo mismo, ni más ni menos. Sí que he leído más, afortunadamente. Ya era hora. Aunque no lo suficiente...

- Con suerte, hacer una rotación externa (veremos).
Hecho.

Claramente, lo mejor que he hecho en 2013, no sólo por la experiencia sino por todas las cosas que han seguido.

(My room, my style...)

Las vistas desde la ventana

Las vistas desde la ventana... con mejor tiempo

Dos meses en Londres compartiendo un piso que se caía a cachos me han servido para animarme de una vez a independizarme, he conocido a gente que se ha convertido en muy importante para mí, y además me han ayudado a decidir, por fin, que quiero cambiar de especialidad. La hematología me encanta, pero sé que me haría vivir en un estrés continuo y que a largo plazo acabaría quemadísima con los pacientes, así que cuanto antes me ponga en marcha, más fácil será cambiar!

- Acabar la residencia y decidir qué hago. Opciones: echar CVs, Europa, repetir residencia... Por suerte lo de estudiar otra carrera a estas alturas ya no me lo planteo (por lo menos, de momento).
Pues eso. Repetir la residencia es la opción ganadora.

- Independizarme (tanto si es fuera de España como si es en piso alquilado o compartido).
Hecho.

Estoy viviendo en mi pisito, muy a gusto con mis compañeros, y además he pasado un tiempo en NY, cosa que ni se me pasó por la cabeza cuando escribí los propósitos para 2013!!

- Conocer gente interesante.
Hecho. No ha sido mucha gente, pero sí de calidad.

- Ser coherente con mis principios, no idealizar ni desidealizar a nadie.
Bueno... Creo que he sido coherente.

- Comer sano. Quizá hacer deporte (así, como idea difusa...). Adelgazar.
Esto seguirá siendo propósito para 2014... He adelgazado, pero no porque haya comido sano o haya hecho deporte, sino porque comprar comida en NY es carísimo!!!

- Ir a la playa, ir a Galicia y seguir viajando (Escocia sigue siendo destino preferente).
Este año no he ido a la playa. Tampoco he ido a Galicia ni a Escocia. Pero he ido a Londres, y dos veces a NY...

Y un fin de semana a Philadelphia. Y un par de días a Baltimore, aunque lo único que he conocido de la ciudad han sido un par de hoteles de lujo, diferentes vistas del puerto desde los hoteles, y un starbucks... Aunque Baltimore en realidad ya entra en 2014.

- Aprender alemán.
Esto queda pendiente para 2014. Lo intenté.

- Hacer excursiones y retomar mi amistad con la naturaleza. Igual que el año pasado, sí. Es un propósito no cumplido que mantiene plenamente su vigencia.
He aquí la prueba!

Hemos ido al camino Schmid y a La Pedriza este verano. Además he descubierto sitios muy bonitos en Guadarrama y muy cerca de casa, aunque no voy a subir las fotos otra vez... Están en facebook.


COSAS BUENAS QUE HA TENIDO 2013 (mes a mes):

Enero:
Me comí todas las uvas :)

Febrero:
Todo el ajetreo para que nos concedieran la rotación de Londres.

Marzo y abril:
Londres! Piso cochambroso compartido con dos italianos y dos suecas. Toma de contacto con los couchsurfers (AKA pies sucios), y las noches de cervezas y café con nachos!! Visita de mi familia, y vuelta a casa.

Mayo:
A la vuelta, fin de la residencia.

Después, semanita guay con miniviaje a Barcelona y la boda de Cris!

Junio:
Las Hogueras de San Juan con las mejores coRs en Alicante!!

Julio:
Mes tranquilito en Guadarrama, empezando a estudiar el MIR.

Agosto:
Un nuevo miembro en la familia!!

(Recién levantados...)

Septiembre:
Me mudo a mi pisito!

Octubre:
Otoño en NY :)

Noviembre:
Vuelta de NY. Estudiando para el MIR en mi pisito.

Diciembre:
Otra vez a NY!
Este año no he podido tomar las uvas, pero he tomado 12 cereales a tiempo real, por Skype, con la familia, en las campanadas... Así que espero que 2014 sea también un buen año!


PROPÓSITOS PARA 2014
Todo es tan incierto ahora mismo, que no puedo hacer muchos propósitos de año nuevo... Así que me voy a limitar a lo inmediato: aprobar el MIR, volver a NY, empezar a preparar el dichoso USMLE y el TOEFL... Y hacer camino al andar...

Feliz 2014!!

Being honest about abortion

I´m not a big fan of abortion. I tend to think that a foetus is a human life from the very moment it´s conceived. I´m conscious that it´s a remain of my education in a catholic school, but I don´t think (they taught me not to think) that abortion must be justified in case of, for example, an unwanted pregnancy that comes from teenage careless.
As a thinking adult though, I acknowledge, I have no idea when (which exact point of a pregnancy) a cell or a mass of cells becomes something that can be called "a person". This would take me to a reflection about the existence or non existence of such thing as "the human soul", but that´s not the point of this entry so I´m intentionally avoiding it.
But the truth is, I have this square thinking: a pregnancy that results from a deliberated imprudence does not give you the right to kill the future human being. Deal with the consequences of your acts... bitch! (jk).
Have the baby, then give it to adoption if you don´t want to be a mom.
Ok, this was just to say that I can´t justify "free abortion", even if it´s performed within the arbitrary limit of 12-14 weeks of pregnancy. That doesn´t mean that I want to force every 13 year old pregnant girl to deliver a baby, my ethics apply only to myself - I wouldn´t do it.
I also think that having an abortion because the foetus has, for example, Down´s, can in some cases be almost as immoral as an embryo selection to create a cute blond blue eyed baby. But again, that´s just something that I, personally, don´t think I could do.

About the new law on abortion, though...

I´m not a gynecologist, and none of my friends are. I have no economic interest in abortion practice. I will never be prosecuted for practising an illegal abortion. And I think this new law is absolutely wrong.

How can abortion be made illegal under the circumstance of "serious malformations"? I don´t know what I´d do if that was my case, but I can come up with a few "valid" reasons to abort:
- Why would parents want to bring a child to this world when he will be, without any doubts, doomed to a life (short life, in most cases) of physical suffering?
- Why would parents want to bring a child to this world when he will be doomed to a life of physical suffering... and they don´t have the economic resources to make his life a little less unbearable?
- Why would parents want to impose on their already born children the burden (and also the economic burden) of a seriously handicapped sibling?
- Is it fair that those healthy children grow up lacking their parents attention because they will in many cases need to devote all that attention to their "seriously malformed" child?

But, avoiding subjective ethical considerations..., did the government even think of the repercussions that this law will have on the already gasping national economy?
Does the government have the resources to finance this malformed children´s lives? The multiple surgeries, many of them only palliative, that they will need? The long lasting hospital admissions? It doesn´t.
Are Spanish cities well adapted for seriously malformed handicapped people? Nope.
Does the law protect the children´s interests by forcing them to live in helpless suffering? Doesn´t.
Does the government, then, under these considerations, have the authority to impose this law? Well, they did.

The way I see it, from the moment you get pregnant your body is not only yours to decide. But this is not only about women´s rights. This is not only about a bunch of crazy angry ladies showing their nude painted bodies in protest.
This is, or should be, about protecting women, families and children. And the way this law was conceived, the circumstances under which it´s going to be applied, it´s not going to serve this purpose: it can´t.

Makes a nice CV for Spain in the eyes of God though.

The "Tipical Spanish" strikes again for Christmas...

I´ve been told it´s not fair that I keep on posting in spanish... So, as I´m not sure I have any spanish readers anymore, I will go back to english for a while.
I´ve been wanting to write about a commercial that about 50% of my facebook friends have been posting on their sites lately. The commercial advertises lunchmeat from one of the most popular spanish brands. The whole idea of the ad is to seem cute, and touching, and even reassuring, and to claim for spanish identity as a country full of warm and affectionate people who keep fighting despite adversity. For this purpose it uses some of our old, sometimes long forgotten national glories (such as Chus Lampreave, Chiquito de la Calzada or Verónica Forqué, among others), playing roles which appear rather stupid.
This is the commercial:

As you can see, the commercial uses the current spanish crisis and the matter of increasing emigration as an excuse to promote some of our clichés in a supposedly tender way, and then somehow relate that to a lunchmeat brand.

First of all, the way it refers to emigration is, in my honest opinion, quite unfortunate and respectless. Like it was something that people choose in a random, irresponsible, spontaneous and capricious way, just because it´s trendy and cool. Throw a dart and find out your new citizenship.

Second, oh yes but then will we have to deal with all the consequences? Because you know, spanish people like listening to tipical spanish music, being noisy, showing affect by physical contact, meeting for improvised lunch, getting over adversity and partying till late. That´s just how we are. And like the woman says, "not everybody has that", so I guess we should feel lucky and be grateful to be spanish. Why on earth would we want to be somewhere else?
Pleeeease!! Haven´t we had enough of that shit? Do we really still think those are the qualities that best define us and distinguish us from the rest of the world? Then why did we make fun of poor Annie Bottle and her speech for the Olympics??? The message was exactly the same:
"Madrid is one of the most comfortable, charming and inviting cities in the world, just like all of Spain."
"And most importantly, Madrid is fun."
"And I assure you, no one celebrates life like Spanish people do."
Don´t we think we have better things to be proud of?

And finally, what is it that we end up doing? Nothing. As soon as we get kicked out of the bar, we remember how much we like partying so we move the party somewhere else, spanish style. That´s all we care about. Oh, and everyone bring your Campofrío lunchmeat cause there´s nothing more spanish than that and right now we need some sense of belonging!
And then, the slogan: One can leave, but not become. Which comes to mean something like: "no matter how hard you foolish try to disown your country, you can leave if you want to, but you will never get rid of the tipical spanish topics and you will always wish you could step back when it´s party time".
Funny thing though, the song playing while we party spanish style: american. Adapted, of course. Because we are spanish.

Too bad Pau Gasol let himself be fooled to show up in this commercial. One thing I realized about him: as he is a catalan international basketball player, he kind of feels the need to prove himself spanish (and not catalan) over and over.

But worst thing of all this: my friends are posting this commercial on facebook because it makes them feel proud of being spanish :(
"Yeah dude, we may leave, but never become!", such a deep thought, such a conclusive truth.

Mi experiencia en la sala de espera. .La valla de Melilla (cómo puede ser así?!?)

Ayer fui al médico de atención primaria.

No suelo estar a menudo al otro lado de la relación médico-paciente, así que quiero contaros mi experiencia en la sala de espera.

Cuando llegué, estaba abarrotada de gente. Había hasta ancianitos con muletas esperando de pie, porque no había asientos libres. Cada persona que llegaba hacía el mismo comentario: "Madre mía, con la de años que llevo viniendo aquí, y nunca ha estado esto tan lleno de gente!!".

Especial atención merecen dos conversaciones entre sendos matrimonios (que se desarrollaron, intencionadamente, a un volumen tal que toda la sala de espera podía oírlas).

Matrimonio 1: Compuesto por hombre muy gordo (muuuuy gordo, impresionantemente gordo) y mujer muy pija, ambos en torno a los 50 años. La mujer, por alguna razón, llevaba una maletita de tela de tapicería de sofá en plan equipaje de mano, y un bolso a juego.

Hombre (H): Pues yo tenía cita a las seis y diez, así que si no me han llamado a y media, me voy!

Mujer (M): Pues con tanta gente, no creo que te llamen.

H: Pues me voy.

M: Si no te han llamado, tendrás que esperar.

H: Tú vas a esperar?

M: Yo tengo cosas que hacer. 

H: Pues si tú no esperas, yo tampoco.

M: Yo no espero porque el que tiene la cita y necesita que lo vea el médico, eres tú.

H: Que no, que yo no tengo por qué estar aquí esperando! Si me muero, me muero! Y ya está!

Y dicho esto, se levantó y se fue. 

Matrimonio 2: Compuesto por hombre y mujer en torno a los 80 años, ambos con aspecto sanote.

Hombre (H): Hay que ver lo mal que está esto!

Mujer (M): Estará mejor cuando empiecen a llegar las generaciones más jóvenes. Sabes por qué? Porque habrá más mujeres.

H: Uy, más mujeres, dice ésta!

M: Pues sí, porque las mujeres tenemos mucho mejor el coco que los hombres.

H: Anda ya, qué sería de vosotras sin nosotros!

M: Pues estaríamos muy bien. Y si no, mira a mis amigas: todas viudas! Y tú eres el siguiente...

H: Pues ten cuidado no te vayas a morir tú antes!

La verdad es que la mayoría de la gente se lo tomaba con bastante paciencia, y estos dos viejitos estaban de broma. Pero al gordo gordísimo daban ganas de decirle: "Pues si se muere usted, el que sale perdiendo es usted, no el médico..."

Por otra parte, mañana seré yo la que le monte el numerito a la pobre enfermera que no tiene culpa de nada. 

__________________________________________

En otro orden de cosas, hoy por alguna razón me desperté pensando en "la valla de Melilla" (sí, no sé, a veces me despierto con pensamientos extraños que no sé de dónde salen). Y cuando veo las imágenes y leo las noticias (parece que el gobierno finalmente no quitará las cuchillas, que "no son agresivas, sino disuasorias") sólo puedo pensar que el mundo está absolutamente equivocado.
Y aquí estoy yo, haciendo nada, y aquí seguiré probablemente, haciendo nada. Y quejándome de mi vida.

Government to keep wire on Melilla fence

As inhumane as useless

Ópera...

Esto es sólo para cuando quiera volver a encontrar estos vídeos... Es otra de las utilidades del blog :)

Este vídeo lo vi por primera vez hace 5 años, cuando estaba "estudiando" para el otro MIR...


Este otro lo pongo porque me encanta!! Ya conocía a Anna Netrebko, y ya conocía este dueto de Lakmé, pero no conocía a Elina Garanca... y me encanta. Me parece increíble que esa voz pueda salir de ese cuerpo. La pronunciación de las dos es bastante mala, pero habría que verme a mí hablando ruso o letón.
Espero que lo disfrutes tanto como yo! :)