On the Metro, when the doors close, people will start announcing, "Señors y Señoras..." They go on to explain that they are unemployed and don't want to have to beg on the streets or steal our belongings. They ask instead that we buy their tissues. They then walk through the train car until the next stop.
There are a lot of bikes, and people ride them everywhere. This is a picture of a bike rental dropoff/pickup spot.
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| A cry for Cataluña independence. |
Spain has different languages in different parts of the country representing very diverse groups of people. After the Spanish Civil War, la guerra civil, general Francisco Franco took power. During his 40 year long dictatorship, regional languages, including Catalan, Euskera, and Galician, were outlawed. The only permitted language was Castilian, Castellano (Spanish).
Because of this even today, Cataluña and Catalan speakers separate themselves from the rest of Spain and Castellano speakers. Some Catalans want complete independence from Spain. They see Spanish as the language of Spain, a country they are not, and do not want to be, a part of.
While here in Cataluña, I have experienced that some people, traditional Catalan speakers, would rather talk to us in English than in Spanish. One of our GTAs, Elizabeth tried to talk to a taxi driver in Spanish, but he would only talk to her in English. He then asked if she was from Spain. She replied no, that she is from Mexico. The cab driver then would talk to her in Spanish. He had first thought she was from another part of Spain, perhaps Madrid.
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| Sign translation: "F*** the police" |
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| Translation: "We all have witch's eyes" |
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