Barcelona, the city.

So this city is on many tourists' agendas. Is it the lure of : the party atmosphere, the wonderful Spanish people, the beaches or the old buildings ?

Old city walls still exist in places

Decayed buildings are still standing

Talking of buildings, that are old. The part of the city called Gottico and Raval are right in front of the sea and stand like relics, of the medieval city. The buildings are old - crumbling even, dark and dingy. I would not bring myself to live in the Gottico, Raval or Cuitat Vella neighbourhoods. Those are far too depressing and congested for my liking.

Dark crowded streets of Gottico

High density living in Raval

Talk about congested. The population density of the inner city is very high. Something like 5060 people per square kilometre. A whole lot of people are boxed up into small spaces. Nice...


Barcelona is said to be :

One of the world's leading tourist, economic, trade fair and cultural sports centres.
The fourth richest city (by GDP) in the EU - and 35th in the world.
Europe's 3rd most successful city in terms of branding and assets.
The 7th most important fashion capital in the world.
Europe's 4th best business city.
Fastest improving European city.

A whole lot of things it has, but also a lot of things it has not :


Clean air
Space
High standard of living
High service levels
Efficiency
Politeness

Lidl

The closest shop to me is called Lidl. Lidl is a German brand. It is all found over Europe though. In the beginning, I thought Lidl was some sort of cheap Russian store. It sounded odd and I did not think it was good.

It turns out that Lidl is German. After going to Lidl a few times I became a fan. I am an avid Lidl shopper. The prices are more than cheap. For example :

Vitesse boxed long life milk (1litre) at 49 cents per box.
Sondey Salted Crisps (170g) at 59 cents per packet.
Sondey Rice cakes (130g) at 99 cents per pack.
Pataya Ice Tea - lemon or peach (1,5 litre) at 65 cents per box. *Identical to Lipton Ice tea
Opey Digestive biscuits (800g - 2 x 400 g packets) for 99 cents. * So similar to McVitees digestives
Mister Choc chocolate spread (750g) for 1.99. * Just like Nutella
Master Crumble Muesli (600g) for 1.99. Loaded with hazel nuts and dark chocolate pieces
La Cestera chocolate croissants (5 in a pack) for 59 cents.

Lidl does not sell the mainstream brands. Instead, it sells only products bearing "produced for Lidl" label on them. What I have noticed is that the Lidl brand is comparable to the most mainstream brands though. It is not like Lidl is a cheap "no name" brand store. Its own brands are high quality and low price. Such a brilliant shop. Lidl, spread your wings ! Bring your cheap prices and quality goods all over the world. Please.

The times have changed

Very literally!

Spain is two hours ahead of GMT in the Summer but one hour ahead of GMT in the Winter.

On Sunday morning at 3am the clocks went back an hour. That means that 3am became 2am. One night with a whole extra hour of sleep. Seeing that the weather is now dull and cool I guess the extra hour of sleep is not a bad thing.

Surprisingly, Sunday was a brilliant day. Winter made its debut with blue skies and sunshine. It felt like the clocks should not have gone back and hour. Spring was in the air, not Winter!! Whatever it may be, Spring is not in the air. The days have been getting shorter all the time. It had been getting dark at around 7pm but all of a sudden, with the loss of an hour, today it was darkening by 5.45pm! Shucks - dis nie lekker nie!!

I can sense the doom and gloom that Winter brings.

Mall culture

I walk though the mall and am overcome with a feeling of de ja vu. It feels like I have been here before. The design is the same. There is a domed roof and sunlight is flowing in from above.

Plenty of chain stores and international brands. Quality goods. People sitting at coffee shops and restaurants. Cinemas. I have been here before. I am convinced.

The only thing that tells me it is not what I am thinking of, is the shop names and the language I hear around me. Spanish ...

Ok, so I am not at Cresta (a northern Johannesburg shopping mall). This place is called Gran Via 2. Far away from Cresta but similar in many ways.

Appreciation

This morning the gray skies and the cool weather made me think that another day indoors was on the cards. So I have been occupied with indoor activities. A few minutes ago I opened the window as it looks like the sun is trying to emerge. As I opened the window a cool wind gushed through, into the room.

I was overcome with guilt at how privileged I was to experience a favourable climate and sunshine in Africa. Here in Europe people are caged in, in their homes without fresh air, sunshine or warmth. This flat I stay in has no heating so I am sure it becomes cold in winter. One of the bedrooms in this flat does not even have a window. Poor American!! He gets no fresh air or natural light in his room. All of these things come standard in Africa - light, air, warmth. Heating does not come standard in Africa, as it is not as cold. Very seldom would one find a room without windows. It is very uncommon - in fact rare. As for sunshine, there is an abundance of that.

I realise that life in Africa affords many privileges. Natural light, flowing oxygen, warmth, a favourable climate - things that in Africa, we tend to take for granted. It takes going elsewhere to realise how valuable these things are!

Late nights

My American flatmate is not very upbeat at the moment. He has been caged in his room for days and is not very chatty - which he usually is. The weather might partly be to blame but he is getting disheartened. He is American and has come to Spain on a working / holiday trip. He is trying to get work and is always out there knocking on doors or emailing his cv to job adverts. As he is not an EU national he is experiencing difficulty in getting work and therefore in getting a life going here. I told him it is not easy to begin in a place where you do not have the right to earn a living.

The other night we were up until 4am talking about the developed world and the developing world, the privileges afforded to people of the developed world and the price paid by the people of the developing world. He is a Russian (by birth), Israeli (because he spent some years in Israel) American (because he now lives in the USA). He has three passports on the shelf in his room. He has the luxury of choice -  3 countries. He knows that Russia is a crouching tiger - that is poised to become a world power in the near future, but he still yearns to live in Europe. I suggested to him to go and try Russia as he has the documentation required to live and work there. He loves Russia but says it is still corrupt and work is hard to come by. I think he likes the sleepless night in Spain!!

There are 2 Russian ladies (in their late forties) in my Spanish class. I suspect they are here illegally as they are very secretive about themselves and their activities and their intentions. I discussed them with my flatmate. He explained that Russian people are not very proud of themselves and their country. Leon said the the first thing he would do if he was the president of Russia would be, to make the people believe they are great and their country is great. He says that Americans are taught to believe that America is the best place in the world and that they are the world's greatest people. It is their thinking which makes them so positive, stable and secure about themselves and their lives, their situations.

He said Russians have been made to undermine themselves and to believe that Russia is a bad place. I suggested to him that that is partly the result of the developed countries of the world. They have had so much power and influence over the developing world and have helped the developing world to formulate poor impressions of themselves and the countries they live in. But things are changing. The developed world is no longer in the favourable position it previously held, with this current economic climate. The developing world is starting to come into its own. The world is entering a new era - hopefully one where the developing world will  have some power and influence and not be subjected to the power and influence of the developed world. I told Leon that Russia, Brazil, China and India are all countries that are on the rise and it will be interesting to see how the world leadership changes with new countries coming into the spotlight. Viva the developing world. Power to the poor!!

The best Sports Store in the world

I have discovered the best shop. It is a shop which sells everything you would need to participate in sport. Sports clothing, cycles, rollerblades, balls, raquettes, camping gear, equipment, footwear, accessories etc. It stocks the well known athletic brands but also a French brand called Quechua - which seems to be a high quality brand but much cheaper than the Nike and the rest.

They often have sales so every time I walk past a Decathlon store I am tempted to go in and see if there is anything on sale... It is the type of shop you can go into and always find something to buy. The prices are excellent. Asics running shoes which are 95 euros at Decathlon cost more than 150 euros (equivalent) in other parts of the world. That just shows how reasonable prices are at Decathlon. I wish they were an international brand that had stores in other countries.