Why you shouldn't move to sPAIN

Yes Spain has great beaches, cheap alcohol, lots of art museums, historical cities, beautiful mountains, can offer a warm weather. These pros can make a place great to live. But are these things enough to make Spain great place to live? For me Spain was very much like a pain. Here i would like to point out what i didn't like about living in Spain after spending a year or, in other words, wasting a year there. 

I can start from that the state institutions of Spain is very indifferent to people living there. They simply do not care what happens to people.  Every day a lot of theft cases happen and the police  do not do anything about it. They don't track the cases down even though they can easily look through cameras. So people who commit such actions of theft get no deterrent punishment. Your stuff can get stolen in a place with security cameras but yet you will do nothing but expect that maybe someone will find your documents near a trash can and give them to the police. It is not just  about the police. In general, if you need something to do with official paperwork, it is likely to get some problems with them. They don't provide much easiness for people. You deal with some bureaucratic and unimportant problems. The bureaucracy is terrible. 

Another thing is quality has been replaced by practicality which is not good for getting the right nutrition. Maybe fast food was not born in Spain but it seems like it is fully embraced there.  To give an example: if you are used to eat bread a lot in your diet, you won't find a good one. The supermarkets use frozen breads which will start becoming like stone in a very short time. you better find a good bakery and if there is no bakery where you live, you are bound to eat frozen breads.  Another example is that you won't be able to find good tea. All of them that are sold in the markets are quick tea bags that has bad taste.

It is not all about food but also other goods as well that prove quality has been replaced by practicality.  You don't easily find something that  is made in Spain. Most of the products are imported and you can't really find genuine Spanish products. Imagine you are going to buy a gift about Spain which is made in China. Cheap gets more attraction yet offers less quality, authenticity.

The last is that i am going to mention about Spain is that youth. I found them in general as poser, inauthentic, very selfish, not understanding unlike older generations. I most of time encountered with bunch of jerks. I personally don't think of spending much time in Spain again. I would go for holiday only.

Pablo Picasso's Best Friend

     In Sierra Norte of Madrid, there is a small town but when it is compared to its neighbours, a big one, called Buitrago Del Lozoya. It is surrounded by a river which makes the look a bit magical from some points outside and still keeps its medieaval castle and walls. This is the town where Picasso's barber Eugenio Arias is from. Even though not many people even from Madrid don't know, there is a museum of Picasso in this little big town which is one of the main attractions. In the museum, a collection of  Picasso is exhibited but the works are the ones that are not known and were given by Picasso's himself as gift to Eugenio Arias. 

Picasso's wife Jacqueline Roque, Picasso and Arias

    The collection consists of some posters, paintings, ceramics and paintings on ceramics,books and some decorations on boxes with the theme of bullfighting, Don Quijote. When compared to Picasso's famous works, these works do not grab much attention and seem rather simple and one can say that these were made with a little care. But one can also say that these works include intimacy. The works invite the viewer to take a look at more personal side of Pablo Picasso. He signed his works by writing ''para mi amigo Arias'' in english ''For my friend, Arias.'' And there is a quotation from Arias that defines their friendship: ''Nothing is more valuable in this world than that which cannot be bought: respect, friendship, trust and loyalty.'' 

    According to the flyer I got from the museum, two friends met first in Toulouse, France in 1945 through a left wing freedom fighter, Dolores Ibarrui who is called as La Pasionari, and they kept their friendship for so many years. They shared the common political ideas, love for Spain. Arias, who was the only person that cut Picasso's hair maybe because of Picasso's supersititous nature, called Picasso as ''his second father.'' Today the gifts that Arias received would cost million dollars yet he preferred them to be exhibited in that little big town. They attract tourists, art lovers and contribute to the town's economy. And the townhall immortalized him by naming the library after him.

Here are  some of his works.

There are of course a lot of more photos in my folder. But maybe not seeing them here is a reason to visit the museum. And to make the post shorter... 

The End.

The Unexpected Guests (The Gambler and the Whores Part 2)

    I was going to write the second part not soon after finishing the first part but i had no motivation to do so. I wrote the intro long ago and after such a long time, feeling like writing and completing the part makes me feel like the words in intro were not my words, as if i changed a lot. I don't feel like i changed though. I am writing these words miles away from where i started to tell the story of the Gambler. When i started it, not many things were going on in my life. I stated that I am just lazy person in the previous intro. But I am not. I am wrong. It is true that I am often unmotivated. I also stated that I am writing this for the record. To some extent, it is true but there is more to that.. I also write about this incident to practise and taking a step for a new challenge in my life which i think that will keep me occupied in the coming years. Now I don't remember the chronology of what happened but i have the voice records which will help me tell this story in a better order and credible way.

    The check-in and stay of that family was a bit different than ordinary times but their check-out was as normal as any guests. I don't remember anything particular about their leaving. All the guests are allowed to check out until 12pm which is more than any other hotel. And they are served a huge breakfasts. People, who return, return for the late check-outs and breakfasts. Breakfast is nothing special. You can eat it once, twice but not three times. Same breakfast for the third time is just too much. It starts to seem not so huge. But about this family who showed up out of blue did not give me the feeling about their return. Because they were living in the same city actually. in a town only one hour away which is also located on beautiful coast which is rich in terms of virgin beaches.

   It was just any other day at the hotel where i was probably trying to pass the time with preparing the menu for the hotel, trying to lower boredom to minimum since the hotel was not even half full but not totally empty either. A co-worker approached and said me:

 ''Look, some people have come and they are using the pool. They are not staying at the hotel.'' 

I reacted this notification with a surprise  ''What a nonsense.'' 

I went to the stairs near the pool and greeted them behind the iron bars of the stairs. There were 6 people and among them i recognized one of the men. The Gambler... Even though he stayed before at the hotel, a proper visit needs a greeting and a request for using the pool. one can not use the pool without accomodating at the hotel. I told this to the Gambler.

''We are going to order food and drinks'' he replied. 

He has a look of a man that is not so auspicious. his two other male companies do not have a better look as well. I did not look at the other people. there are 3 women in Bikinis and you never know what kind of reaction you might receive from men with such look in not so free countries. That's why i avoided looking at them. Especially their women... I made a quick decision. I remembered that this man's family paid cash in the previous time and they are 6 people. My decision included a calculation that they were already going to spend an amount of money that they would pay for renting one room. So it was not much of a problem. I told them that they can use the pool in this case but right at that moment, a question arose from one of the women with a little bit of ironic yet sweet tone.she was right under the stairs. 

''Can we use the bathroom without check-in?'' 

I looked down directly at her face and replied ''Yes.'' 

                                                                                                TO BE CONTINUED...

My Trip to Spain Got Delayed

    I have a supersitition. When i am going to do something that is very crucial for me or can make a great impact on my life, I never tell anyone until i finalize it. I don't tell my friends. I feel like it won't happen somehow if i tell them before make it come true.  And also I believe I am not the only one who has this supersition.  I even didn't tell it to my family at first and waited for a few days to tell them when i got accepted for a project in Spain. I got accepted in December. 

    For a great deal of time, I have been waiting and the arrival date keeps changing. First I thought I would arrive in February then just before i had my visa interview, it was arranged to March. 15th of March to be exact... that's when the program starts for me. Everybody knows how hard it is to wait under the current circumstances.Trying to be patient, I waited and waitied and counted days for this date. I wrote a mail to the organization and i got no reply. But a friend from there called me and i thought it was okay. 10 days before the date, I bought my ticket excitedly and then i thought i am good to go!  Then i started to tell my friends that i would leave soon and won't be able to say goodbye to them. And 5 days before the mail I got a mail that i am supposed to wait until the same day next month due to some arrangements that must be done. So I was disappointed...  They asked me if i can change my flight date and it was flexible, i said yes. But to change it, the airline system charge a good amount of money.And On my new arrival date, there are a looot cheaper flights then my flight. Half price...

     a picture from a small Spanish town where i actually had to spend quarentine after getting covid

                 

    So I had to do something since the cost of my flight would bother me if i got on the plane with that ticket. I bought that  because only that company had flights on 15th of March from Ankara. But luckily i have a friend who works for the help desk of that airline and deals with problems of the passengers.  So he gave me some tips about what to do to get refund. that i should give some proofs about corona restrictions and stuff. And i got my refund submission accepted and would be  getting my money back.

    However, even though they accepted my submission,they were taking their time to resolve the case. what's worse is  they hadn't canceled my ticket yet. My friend told me that there are a few related firms that do the customer service and they don't work properly and he also wants to quit. Anyway, I called maybe 3 times at least  and talked to them about the refund and that they should do it before the flight and before it was reflected to my credit card monthly statement which is also on the flight date.  5 hours  before my flight, which was at 9:50, when i was in bed, wallowing and couldn't sleep, I remembered to check my flight ticket. And it was still active. if i cancel myself from the airline's website myself, i will not get my money. and I didn't wanna seen with ''no show'' status which also will cause a problem. So what i did  was to call the airline customer service.

    So i called and was so sleepy that i could not talk very vivaciously and my voice was kind of cracking. you know how it sounds. I did the talk in such a bad mood. While talking, i said something like ''due to corona, I won't be able to fly bla bla'' even though i didn't intend to manipulate her or make demagogy.  the girl in the customer service  directly canceled my ticket after making me hang on a bit long time on the call. My case was resolved that day.  and while she was hanging up she told me ''by the way, hope you get well soon'' in a very sad tone. she felt sad for me and thought i had corona.

    Today I have gotten my refund and I feel good about it since i will be able to buy a flight that is half price. Now all i have to do is have  patience and stay strong till my new date. So this was a little story about my flight ticket experience and a superstition's coming true. I think i will keep believing in it. Hope you enjoy reading!

My first Youtube video

 In the last few months, I have been learning on how to edit videos on Adobe Premiere Pro and Imovie. I made this video on Imovie on my old friend Ipad mini2. I can't update the latest version of it since it doesn't support the newest updates. I had fun editting and saw what i can do with camera and editting. Enjoy my mini recipe video.