Sant Jordi Day & Other Observed Cultural Differences

Sant Jordi Day - April 23

In Catalunya, April 23 is Saint George Day or Sant Jordi in Catalan.  This day is a real treat here in Catalunya and in Barcelona, its capital.  Although it is a work day, from early in the morning until dusk the main streets are lined with book stalls and stands to sell roses.  The tradition here is that the man buys a single rose each for the women in his life (mother, wife, lover, sister, etc).  The woman buys a book for the man or men in her life.  It is a very festive day with so much life and activity on the streets.  Famous authors will be at certain book stands to sign books for their fans.  Many people here associate Sant Jordi Day with Spring time.  It is a lovely tradition which has its roots in two events: a legend and two famous authors.

In brief, the legend states that a dragon was attacking the kingdom and to try to appease the dragon, the inhabitants offered the dragon lambs and other stock animals, but after a while they became sparse.  So they decided, with the king's approval, to offer the dragon a child.  The decision was made by drawing lots. It turned out that the king's own daughter, the princess was selected.  The princess went to the dragon's lair to be sacrificed. But a knight, Jordi, came to the village and upon learning about the fate of the princess, decided to rescue her and kill the dragon.  After a fierce battle, Jordi did kill the dragon, stabbing it in the heart.  As the blood spilled from the dragon onto the ground, a pool of dragon blood was formed and a rose bush appeared with red roses.  Jordi chose the largest one and gave it to the princess.

It also happened that on April 23, 1616, two literary giants, Cervantes and Shakespeare, died.  So, April 23 was named Book Day.  This was combined with the legend of Sant Jordi to create the current tradition that is celebrated and performed each year throughout all of Catalunya.

Another Cultural Difference

Last Tuesday I accompanied my friend Jordi, who owns a restaurant south of Barcelona, as he made his way to the accountant's office.  I listened in on the conversation between the accountant and Jordi.  At one point, the accountant was the only one in the office.  Then the telephone rang. What I observed next was quite interesting.  Although the office phone kept ringing, the accountant ignored the phone and continued her conversation with Jordi.  The person on the other end of the line hung up and then called back.  Still the accountant ignored the phone and made her conversation with Jordi her first priority.

This would never happen in the U.S. (or at least it never happened to me).  The telephone always had higher priority than the person (i.e. - the client) and that person would be interrupted one or more times as the agent would feel obliged to answer the phone.

I don't know if I can make this into a cultural generalization, but I actually found it refreshing to see that the accountant was not a slave to the phone and made the person in front of her her highest priority by giving Jordi her undivided attention until he got all the information he needed.

Other Happenings

On Sunday I got my first visit from the U.S.  Natasha is a woman who I worked with at the OCC. Her mother is from Sevilla and her father is American.  She was here in Barcelona visiting her sister who lives here and we had a pleasant Sunday afternoon walking and talking while seeing parts of the city.

I had the privilege to be part of a large birthday celebration of 5 friends' birthdays at Jordi's restaurant on Saturday evening.  It was a lot of fun, with lots to good food and plenty to drink!!  Below are some pictures from the celebration.

My friend Jordi and me

Learning About Some Cultural Differences

Over the last couple of weeks I've had the opportunity to expand my circle of friends and get to know more "Barceloneses", those who live and work in the city or its environs, and to listen to them tell me about the

differences they see between themselves and Americans.  Over dinner one evening, I began to hear how off putting it is for Americans that they meet socially or at their place of work to go on and on about themselves (what kind of job they have, their family life, their car or house, etc.).  They also feel that their personal lives are invaded by the myriad number of questions that Americans would ask them (where they work, what they do, where they live, their family, etc.).  They see that this type of personal information should come out naturally in the course of the development of the friendship rather than belching up everything in the first few hours, days or weeks of knowing someone.  I immediately began mentally reviewing my recent conversations I had with my friends here wondering whether I unintentionally stepped on some toes while being curious about the lives of the people I was befriending.  I'm sure I have unintentionally.

Yesterday, in fact, we were driving back from a day in a French village on the Mediterranean, and I was showing the person I was sitting in the back seat with a number of pictures on my phone and explaining to him brief stories behind the pictures.  At one point, the driver said to me that I've been "desnudándome" (literally undressing myself) during the trip home.  I immediately asked whether that I had shared too much about myself, but he assured me that nothing I had said was inappropriate or off putting.  I was relieved.  I was also grateful to be able to have these new friendships and frank conversations.  I am sure that there are many other subtle but significant cultural differences that I hope to discover and adjust myself to as I become more integrated into the city and culture.

However, I find it ironic that although there is a sensitivity about Americans' tendency to pry into people's lives by asking too many personal questions, when it comes to buying a house, that is a different story.  A number of friends here, when they found out that I had put down a contract to a house, asked me not only where it was located but also how much I will be purchasing it for.  It was a little bit of a shock to be asked that question, which among most Americans would not be brought up except between close friends, and even there it would be a delicate question.  After the initial shock I actually didn't have a problem revealing that information.  Later I did share my observation about their question to me on this topic.  Apparently this is a common question that is asked whenever someone buys property and is used by way of comparison of property that they or their friends have bought.  In any case, I began to appreciate better what I assume are similar feelings that they have when talking with some Americans.

Yesterday a group of us went to Collioure (Colliure in Spanish), a French village on the Mediterranean coast just over the Spanish border.  This was a place where many Catalans escaped to during the Spanish Civil war.  For many of them, taking refuge in this village was in vain after the Germans occupied France and carted off many Catalans to the death camps.  Despite its dark history, today Collioure is a wonderful and colorful Catalan French village that is visited by a number of tourists.

The grave of Poet Antonio Machado

The Boat With My Possessions Finally Came to Port!

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I was shipping 27 boxes by boat to Barcelona.  At that time, the shipping company said that the shipment should arrive into port around April 7.  About a week before that, I needed to contact the Spanish shipping company that the American shipping company contracted with, to let them know that I was waiting for my shipment to arrive.  That company provided me with a list of documents that I would need to take with me to Customs in order to avoid paying import taxes on my goods.  Well, on April 9 I received word that the ship arrived in the port of Tarragona (a city south of Barcelona) and that the shipping company would soon be unloading the container which had my goods and provide me with additional documents to take to Customs.

Two days later I received those documents in an email and was instructed to do the following: First go to Customs and get clearance on my goods, then pay the amount owed to this shipping company for their services, and then arrange to pick up my boxes, all within a 7 day period before I would be charged for storage.

First Stop: Customs (La Aduana)

I received that email at 10 am on Friday morning.  I quickly went down to Customs at the main port, since

they close every day at 2 pm.  I had to wait almost 2 hours before I was attended to.  Luckily I was helped by a pleasant customs agent.  I presented my documents, which included a summary of the contents of each box, and a very detailed list of the contents of each box and the declared value.  I declared that total value was around $4,000.  I was also told that I needed to show that I had registered myself with city hall.  After looking through my documents, the agent said that what was missing was a document that showed that I had permission to reside in Spain.

I was going to pick up that document (it's actually a card) that morning.  After registering with the city, a foreigner (in this case, me), has to go to the national police with the registration document as well as some other documents to obtain a residency permit. I did that and was told that I could pick my permit up after three weeks. Friday, April 11, was exactly 3 weeks later. Having not been informed about needing this permit prior to requesting clearance from Customs, I went to Customs first and decided to pick up my permit on the following Monday (yesterday).

In spite of this glitch, the agent was very helpful.  She looked through my inventory list and stated that it was obvious that my goods were just for me (i.e. - I was not shipping goods to sell in Spain) and that the volume of my goods, 27 boxes or 3 cubic meters, was small.  The only problem she saw was that my declared value was too high for her to approve my shipment to be tax-free without a residency permit. She said that the total could not be more than 800 euros (about $1,100).  So, she took my inventory summary document, which did not have a declared value printed on it, and asked me to write on there that the declared value was less than 800 euros, that it was used personal effects, the cost of the shipment itself, and my signature.  I complied!  She then processed the shipment and I got customs clearance. Whew!

Second: Pay the Shipping Company

It was 1:45 pm when I left Customs.  I called the shipping company and told them I got clearance.  They then gave me an account number to use at a specific Spanish bank to pay what I owed them.  It wasn't much (400 euros) so I could pull it out of an ATM and pay that day.  However, the banks also close at 2 pm.  So using my phone, I quickly looked up on Google maps the Sabadell Bank branch closest to the port.  It was halfway up La Rambla, the main pedestrian walkway in the city center.  With less than 10 minutes to spare I ran up La Rambla, found the branch, and entered it with 2 minutes to spare.  I was able to make that payment that day.

Third: Arrange for Moving my Shipment into Storage

I had contracted with Bluespace, a well-known storage company in Barcelona, to store my things with them until my condo was ready and also talked to them about transporting my boxes from the shipping company warehouse to their storage facility.  On Saturday morning I went to see them about making those arrangements.  On Monday, we confirmed that this would take place on Tuesday (today) and that I would go with them to present the required documents from Customs.

As I look back on the cost and the work that it took to move these goods to Spain, only time will tell whether it was worth it.  It will be nice to have these familiar possessions with me, But almost all of these things could have been replaced and purchased here.  There are some things that have strong emotional ties and I may find that it was a worthwhile endeavor.  I'll try to remember to report back on this a year or so from now.

Other News From Last Week

I continue to meet new friends here and discover new places in Barcelona as well as revisit areas that I had been to before.  The woman that I am currently living with, who is American, is visiting family in the U.S. and

let me borrow her "Bicing" card, which is the bicycle rental system in the city, similar to the systems set up in some US cities, including Washington DC.  For 47 euros a year, you have access to using the bikes up to 2 hours a day for free (after that it is just a minimal cost for any extra time).  I have taken advantage of this and find that it is a great alternative to the metro and bus system in getting to and from various parts of the city and a great way to experience Barcelona.

Finding the Missing Package

Thank goodness I can make my adjustments to living in Barcelona as a retired person as opposed to working full-time and juggling work, temporary lodging, buying a home and just learning how to navigate the myriad layers of living in another country.  My project this week was finding the package that Chris sent me about three weeks previously.

It all started when I realized I couldn't fit everything in the two bags that I was taking with me (actually it would have fit, but it would have gone over the weight requirement) and I didn't want to spend an extra $200 for a third bag.

A package similar to the one I received

So, I left some things with Chris and asked him to ship it to me later on.  Chris did a great job in packing it up and shipping it.  But it turned out to be a good size box - about 18"x18"x18".  When it arrived in Spain, it got stopped by Customs in Madrid.  Although it was clearly labeled as a box with personal effects, I had to declare what was inside and sign a document to that effect.  Luckily all this could be done online.  When I did that I saw a final web page that stated that I would hear something in 48 hours.

The week passed and after not hearing anything from the Spanish Post Office I went back online.  I then noticed on the web page that I could put in my tracking number to see the status of my package.  I did and was surprised to see that it said that it was delivered last week!  So that's when I had to do my manual tracking of the package.

The next day I went to the post office closest to the home of my friends who allowed me to use their address

for packages and such.  Without going into a lot of detail, I made multiple visits to the Post Office and received a call from a manager of the Postal delivery system.  In essence they told me that because the package did not require a signature (something I will always remember to do in the future), there should have been a notice in the mailbox that the package was waiting to be picked up.  They all seemed to be giving the same message that they didn't see much hope that I would find the package.

I finally was able to meet with the actual mailman who delivers mail to the building that the package was address to. After going through the details of the package size, that the address was correct, and other pertinent information, the mailman said he would check at the office for the package.  At this point I had given up hope that it would be recovered.  But that afternoon, I got a call from my friend that he had received the package!  Yeah!!  I picked it up the next day.  Everything was intact and the few fragile items made it through without anything breaking.

This experience certainly stretched my Spanish and my knowledge of the metric system (18 inches equals 45 centimeters).  I guess my persistence paid off and it felt good to have these things back with me, which also included objects on my meditation shrine.

This was early in the hike - we were a little more wiped out
at the end (having taken this pic, I wasn't in it)

My week ended up doing another hike with my gay hiking group.  This time we went toward the Pyrenees and hiked 20 kilometers from a small pueblo called Savassona to a 10th Century monastery called Sant Peres de Casserres.  We hiked by the River Ter and passed by the reservoir Panta de Sau.  The sights were just gorgeous!  And I got to make friends with some other men on the trip, speak lots of Spanish and also listen to some Catalán, which I will make an effort to learn after a bit.

Panta de Sau

Temporary and Permanent Lodging

It's been quite a week here! My time in my temporary quarters through AirBnB.com is just about up.  I was able to extend my time a couple of days longer, but I needed to find another place to stay by April 2.  Through an American I met here (a friend of a friend), I thought that I had secured a place just a few blocks from my current location.  But on Friday night I got an urgent call from the owner saying that the current inhabitant of the room I was going to rent was not going to be able to move out by April 2.  So, I quickly had to think of other options!

Luckily, last weekend I decided to take a course at the Shambhala group here on contemplative photography, which is called Miksang (Tibetan for "Good Eye").  As I was exploring other options on Saturday morning, the coordinator of the program became interested in my dilemma.  She said that she and her husband had a room that they could rent to me.  She needed to check with her husband first.  On Sunday she thought it was more than likely that this would work and that we could go on that same day after the program to see the room and to meet her husband.  It all turned out well and on Wednesday I'll be living in my new temporary lodging until mid-June.

Why mid-June?  Well, because today I signed a contract for the flat that I will be in the Sant Antoni neighborhood of Eixample.  I'll tell you more about why I wanted to live in this

neighborhood in my next post. The pictures in my last post already had some photos of the place, so I am showing only one here.  The family that lives there will not be able to move out until June 9. I'll need to have some minor work done before I move in.  Also, an interesting aspect of buying a home in Spain is that it is common that the refrigerator, the washing machine, and possibly other appliances do not automatically convey with the house.  I will be having to buy and have these installed the week after I purchase the home.  But I am very excited!!  And I will enter the flat about two weeks before Chris visits me for a 3 week visit, which I am super- excited about.

Well, back to my last weekend workshop on contemplative photography.  It was taught by an American professor and Shambhala teacher, Lance Brunner, and was translated into Spanish.  I love that combination at times because I can hear how certain phrases that may be very common in English are translated into Spanish.  I was furiously taking notes on both the content and the translated phrases.  In terms of content, I find it fascinating to use the camera as an instrument to retrain the mind to deconstruct the way our conventional mind sees things, letting go of our interpretations of what we see, and just see things as they are - color, light, texture, pattern and space and I begin to get glimpses of true perception.  Here are a few photos that I took.  What I also found amazing was that in these last couple of days, as I walk around this city, whether it's on the metro, or on the streets, or in a restaurant or coffee bar, I notice that my mind is now looking at what I see with slightly different eyes and I begin to see how extraordinary the ordinary is. Fascinating!!