SPAIN - how do the things work ...

Park Guell, Barcelona

2006-03-07T13:30:00.000+01:00

Gaudi's house, Park Guell, Barcelona

2006-03-07T13:29:00.000+01:00

Park Guell, Barcelona (Gaudi)

2006-03-07T13:27:00.000+01:00

Near Palace of Nations, Barcelona

2006-03-07T13:22:00.000+01:00

This construction you see, there are a lot of solar batteries on it. on the right there are playgrounds and a beach in front there is a Palace of Nations, that was SOO huge that I even couldn't make a photo of it.

Where does Columbus point at?

2006-03-07T13:19:00.000+01:00

They say not to America.... As we know men are used to mistaken himself, but some mistake are fortunate.

Sir Christopher Colombus Statue.

2006-03-07T13:18:00.000+01:00

It stays in the end of Las Ramblas avenue.

Old city square, Barcelona

2006-03-07T13:14:00.000+01:00

This is one of the squares with bars, etc. You can find really nice ones. One of the bars had for example cristal walls and in between the glas there were a huge amount of all kind of origami figures of all different colours. The other was like a real garden from inside. Who knows, may be you will find even more curios bar there?...

Las Ramblas avenue in Barcelona

2006-03-07T13:09:00.000+01:00

The most touristic avenue. In the night there are a lot of nice bars to go to that are situated around this avenus in small squares. This one of the old parts of Barcelona.

Canaletas

2006-03-07T13:07:00.000+01:00

This is the famous fontain, where Football Club Barcelona come to celebrate its vistories.

Watch out for flying rats

2006-03-07T13:06:00.000+01:00

nice photo ...

2006-03-07T13:05:00.000+01:00

Secret Code on the entrance of Sagrada Familia.

2006-03-07T13:02:00.000+01:00

Some say all the numbers no matter if you count them vertically or horisontally sum 33 - the age of Jesus...

Steps up to the top of Sagrada Familia

2006-03-07T12:59:00.000+01:00

If you are claustrofobic or really affraid of height, don't take those steps. Also prepare to the enormous muscle pain after more then an hour of going up and down.

Entrance Sagrada Familia

2006-03-07T12:57:00.000+01:00

Sagrada Familia, Gaudi, Barcelona

2006-03-07T12:52:00.000+01:00

Todo esta hecho a mano. Van a acabarlo en 2027.

Art ceiling in museum of catalan art.

2006-03-07T12:43:00.000+01:00

Just relaxing enough to fall asleep on the sofa under it.

MORE sofas in museums!!!!

2006-03-07T12:41:00.000+01:00

This sofas finally stopped me from buying tickets, and convienced me to stay there and sleep 1 hour siesta in the cool building. More sofas could attrackt more visitors into museums!

Museo de Arte Catalana

2006-03-07T12:40:00.000+01:00

Well... as it was almost +40 outside, I have entered the museum. And decided to cool down there and even may buy a ticket to enter and to see the dusty art.... ;)

2006-03-07T12:36:00.000+01:00

BARCELONA - no need to explain where it is. This is the museum of Catalan Art. Behind is the entrance to the Motjuic Park. Very nice park, but it is open to public only in certain hours. So, we saw just a small part of it. You will ask, if I saw the museum?!? wel...

2006-03-07T12:30:00.000+01:00

Casteldefelds - camping on Costa Blanca really close to Barcelona. Very recommended! The beach is HUGE! So huge and the send is so soft touching your skin! For me vaccation is incomplete without a beach.

2006-03-07T12:15:00.000+01:00

Hey guys! On many requests, I am back to leading this small websity, as the continuation of http://vivaeltoro.blogspot.com . Thanks for all the requests! Each of them brought a smile!

SO..... TOUR IBERICO 2005 - 4 countries, 3 weeks, 4500 km, many cities, many campings, many old and new friends, mountains, beaches, several seas and just one ocean - THAT'S a good mix for a tour around peninsula Iberica. Follow my pictures and short stories to get an idea of how we spent last August and join us next August. (2 new ideas for a August'06-trip are discussed. And we are still looking for companions!)

Surreal Company

2005-11-02T11:09:00.000+01:00

Yeah... Spanish family-run company can be well organised and modern, but also can appear to be so absurdly runned that you start to think it is surrealistic, though at the same time unfortunatelly it is reality and moreover you are in it. Yeahh... 4 months left to finish my internship...

Well, the company where I work is a Spanish manufacturer of wooden picture frame mouldings. They export as well. "Family-run" influeces the company a lot and mostly in a negative way. The present General Manager or Director (I don´t really know his function still), or as they used to say here the BOSS is the son of the former Boss and started to be a BOSS since his 17. The professionality and the human skills of this man with employees and clients are extremelly low. I have already 100 examples of it. Most of the examples are told to me by my colleagues and several are my own experiences. Like selling the customer some product that doesn´t suit the customer´s equipment and not advising about it. Like sending the product with the same quality problem for several times. Like sending 4 meters less then ordered or 6m more in each of the 10 articles. At the same time investments in quality is seen as COSTS. Though investments in quality would cost less then negative profit on the claims.

Further, we have a Human Resources Manager. Sounds good, he? Human Resources !"! This guy has no idea what is it about, human resources, has no education and the only function of him is to count the minutes worked by every of 96 workers, and make a monthly worked-minutes-report. He also come to you to give the paper with your salary on it. Sometimes he is ordered by the Boss to order some archive or put the maps from one office to the other.

The climate in the company is.... Everyone talk about everyone... and always complaining.

One Export Manager (there are only 2) makes 4-5 visits during his 2 weeks trip to South America. We had a national holiday in Spain this Monday and Tuesday, so he flyed on Wednsday, will arrive on Thursday and make 1 visit on Friday and stay in the weekend in the sunny Mexico. After he will fly again of Monday to the next country and fly back to Spain on Thursday. In 11 years working here, he got 1 new customer after a business trip for the first time!!! Normally they just go to the annual trade fair and the customers come to them. The only marketing effort performed by the company. AHHH ... could it be real.... AHHH... seams that the time stopped here 5-6 years ago...

And do you think the sales are going well? No, they go down. And competition by price as well as by quality is growing, not only from European competitors, but also from the Chinese!

I stop here. Otherwise, I have TOO much to say. And hope I didn´t give away any confidential information.

Telephone, fax, internet, openning hours...

2005-11-02T10:01:00.000+01:00

Opening Hours
When you are Erasmus, you enjoy openning hours in Spain, because the supermarkets are open every day except Sunday till 21.00-22.00. And some are open almost 24 hours a day. (Compare to Holland, where most of them close at 18.00! - right when you are back from work). But when you live and work here, you realise openning hours are not so great here... Because banks are open here untill 14.00-14.30! only! and closed on Saturday! so, if you work, when do you settle you payments, etc.?!? For this they give you free hours from your work (unpaid). All the other state institutes are open often only untill 14.00. So...

Telephone, Fax, Internet
These are the things that are used here for everything except communication. When you need to know smth. like opening hours, how much things cost or obtain some standard form, it is NOT on the internet. Then you try to call there, but nobody NEVER takes the phone. Fax is not seen as a very trustworthy middle of communication.

Here in Spain they will make you to go in person to give, take, fill out the papers. Going in person you show them how VERY MUCH you need to obtain the paper or signature. Furthermore normally going once doesn´t work, because of misinformation. I went 4 times to the Official School of Languages untill they accepted me (1 minute procedure). I had to come 4 times, because each time the women from Information Desk was saying, come this date at this hour, and once I was there, she was saying, no.... oops... the other day and the other hour... 4 times like this!!!!

BUT.... you have to manage to relax as all Spanish do... and take some sun...even if you took unpaid hours free from work.... or even lied you are sick... it´s the only way to survive and to have papers signed....

After Erasmus Adaptation

2005-11-02T09:13:00.000+01:00

Uff.... Thigs changes after you decide to stay in a new country and you are suddenly not an Erasmus-student anymore and you will stay in this country for an unknown period of time. After 2-3 months of silence, I accumulated things to say... about the Spanish way to live... And I don´t know where to start...

Spanish Public Administration
The line to information desk - this is smth every foreigner who decided to stay in Spain will have to face. The first line I had to stay was of the length of one street with may be 200-300 or more people in it. I stayed there for 7.5 hours! They didn´t give me a medal, no! We all stayed there in the sun, without water or toilets. You could go to some pub nearby, if you needed. But in order to do this you had to know someone behind you in the line in order not to loose your turn, once you came back... So after hours in the line, just before they were letting me in and several minutes before the closing time, some clever guy entered before me and the guard said he would be the last permitted to enter. Though the guy should of enter after me!!! Fortunatelly, this insollent fellow said "we are together, we are boyfriend and girlfriend" - and the guard let us in. The happy end of a long story...