“LaTasha, do you come to school tomorrow?” one of the English teachers asked me yesterday. “Yes of course, why wouldn’t I?” I responded. That’s when she realized that I knew nothing about the huelga or in valenciano, the vaga that was to occur on Thursday. After giving the class some independent work to do, she began to tell me about it.
If you were to watch the news today, go on the internet or even attempt to go to one of your favorite stores, you will soon find out that today is the day of the huelga general, or in English, the general strike. Today, Unions throughout the entire country of Spain are protesting the new conservative government's labor reforms and austerity cuts. According to the teacher that I was talking to, most businesses, both large and small, would be closed on Thursday because of the strike, and most of the teachers at the school weren’t going to show up.
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Hearing about the huelga general in Spain didn’t surprise me at all. Since the first week that I’ve been here I have been constantly reminded of the struggling Spanish economy through television programs, newspapers and some of the numerous conversations that I’ve had with people. This has especially happened at school, where the teachers all take part in the Manifestación in the community of Valencia. Every Monday, all of the teachers wear black and every Thursday morning, we all stand outside of the school with a big banner, musical instruments, and chants to protest the government’s cutting of educational budgets and teacher salaries.
The teacher told me that the other staff at my school had the option of not showing up today, but that 100 Euros would be deducted from each of their paychecks if they chose not to come. “Do you think it’s worth it?” I asked. She told me that it was worth it in the long run only if things began to change in the country, but that 100 Euros was a lot of money and that she could use it to pay for her gas for a month or use it to cover over half of her monthly rent.
Before school ended yesterday, a letter was given to all of the students to take home to their parents. The letter stated that due to the huelga only four or five teachers were going to show up the next day, as well as the director of the school. It also said that each cycle was going to have combined classes. So infantil (2 classes) were going to be combined and the first cycle (3 classes), the second cycle (4 classes) and the third cycle (4 classes) were going to be combined also. The students had the option of coming or staying at home.
After hearing about the strike, I desperately tried to find the director of studies. Technically, I am supposed to report to her (even though half of the time I think she forgets about me). It turns out that she wasn’t there yesterday, so I decided that I was going to text her when I got home to see whether or not I had to come to school. As I was leaving school, I came across one of the English teachers who asked if I was coming to school on Thursday.
These last couple of weeks in English class we have been working with the 4 and 5-year-olds to create Easter baskets for next week and the children still hadn't finished. After I told the teacher that I didn’t know if I was coming yet, she asked if I could come to help her finish the baskets so that they would be ready for next week. Well, I guess I got my answer.
When I arrived to school this morning I had never seen it so empty. Every morning the children in each class line up outside before the bell rings (or in our case, before the song starts playing) and this morning I could barely spot 30 children outside. When I went inside there were about 5 teachers there, and each one looked perplexed when they saw my face. The English teacher who first told me about the huelga asked me why I showed up and when I told her that the other teacher wanted me to come to help her, she said, “But she’s not even here.”
I spend the first couple of minutes a little frustrated; not only because the teacher didn’t tell me that she wasn’t going to show up, but also because I felt that I didn’t really have a purpose there. I then decided to make the best of the situation and I started doing some work. I created some fun Easter worksheets for the kids to work on and I started a PowerPoint presentation that I am planning to give to the older children next week.
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| Easter Baskets |
After waiting for an hour, just in case the other teacher just so happened to show up, I decided to find the baskets and work on them by myself. I went to one of the infantil classrooms and began my work. The children had already colored their handles, formed their bunnies, and brought in their water bottles so I just had to put everything together. I worked on them for about 2 hours and took a break to go outside and talk with the other teachers.
All of the children had been outside for at least an hour and a half, and they had been eating their snack and playing the whole time. When I sat down with the other teachers, one of my favorite 1st graders, the one that gave me a Valentine’s Day card and said he was in love with me, immediately sat next to me and began to try to talk to me in English. We went over our emotions, the weather, colors and even sang some English songs and the whole time the other teachers were teasing him about the way he would gaze into my eyes. It was a pretty entertaining break.
When I went home during the lunch break I ate, talked to my roommate (another teacher at my school who chose to stay home) and went back to school. When I returned I finished working on the baskets and then tried to find something else to do for the 15 minutes that was remaining. I didn’t have to go to my valenciano class this evening because it was cancelled due to the strike. I decided to walk down to the port in the afternoon because the weather was so nice and sunny and I needed some exercise. When I got down to the port, I bought some gelato from a gelato shop (so much for exercising), sat on a bench facing the sea and read my novel for an hour. It was very nice and peaceful.
I am amazed at how big the huelga is. In smaller towns in Spain, like Jávea, most of the people chose to stay home for work, but in some of the bigger cities, like Madrid or Barcelona for example, the people are rallying in streets with big banners and many have been arrested or injured.
This strike means so much to the people of Spain now more than ever. In the midst of Spain’s deep economic crisis Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy took office in December and the economy has been declining ever since. This general strike is the first against his government. According to CNN.com, Spain's jobless rate is nearly 23% overall and nearly 50% for youth. Nearly 5.3 million Spaniards are out of work.
Today, supermarkets, museums and shops are closed. Hospitals, public transportation systems and schools have significantly reduced staff and over 650 domestic and international Spanish flights have been canceled due to the huelga. The strike has taking over the whole country and is even affecting other countries.
As an optimist who always tries to see the good in situations, I have to commend the Spanish people for successfully making this happen. Almost every Spaniard that I’ve met has spoken about the crisis and is really serious about change, and they should be. Although it’s difficult to watch a country struggling economically (hello, America has been doing the same), it’s inspiring to see everyone work together (against the government) for the good of the nation. I really hope the economy gets better, not only in Spain but everywhere.
If you would like to read more about the General Strike in Spain or the new €27 Billion deficit-cutting plan, here are some good links:
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