Feminism!

While we were doing touristy things on Saturday we came across the remnants of a feminist rally in Trafalgar Square.  We talked to some of the women there, and it was pretty cool.  I really love how politically active residents of the EU seem to be.  There are rallies in Spain all the time; it was nice to not have to translate the messages for once!  

Street Art

 Silence is the scream of the quiet

You are always good

I will fly without needing wings

Papa

My host mom and I watched a segment on the new pope during dinner today.  For once, I actually understood the majority of what was said on the television!  That could be because my Spanish is getting better, or it could be due to the fact that for once I was actually paying attention...It's really very interesting to be in a Catholic country during this whole new pope thing.  In the segment we watched a woman who claims to have seen visions of Jesus in Amsterdam debated the role of women in the church with a nun from Cataluña; again, very, very interesting.  (Also, a winning comment on the new pope: he'll be a good pope because he has a very agreeable face.  That's what I usually look for in my new popes.)

Coming from somewhere in which opinions about the church come in the form of monthly magazines, or the weekly church bulletin, it's interesting to have this constant coverage of the pope.  If I were at home, I probably would have heard about it while at church, maybe discussed it a little at home, probably have seen a few bites on twitter.  Here, we've discussed it in every class, and there are constantly new segments on television about the pope.  The discussion is very public.  Everyone has an opinion on who should have been pope, and whether or not the new one will be good for the church or for society, and why.

Also, I just want to know: what is his name, actually?  My English news sources say Frances, but the Spanish news stations say Francisco.  He's Argentinian, so is he going by the Spanish version?  Which do they use in Italy?  Do pope names normally get translated?

Portugal: Morning number two

In this square in the seventies the people of Porto began to gather to listen to speeches related to the carnation rebellion in Lisbon, which is probably one of the coolest events of modern history that no one's heard of.  

Valle de los caidos

This site is easily one of the most controversial in all of spain.  It doesn't look like it in the pictures, but this building is massive.  The cross is 300 meters tall (or 984 feet), and inside the building is a church in the form of a long tunnel, which also measures 300 meters long.  

The view from outside the building is spectacular.  It's located on the top of a mountain overlooking a forest.  We were lucky enough to go on a sunny day.  Once you go inside the building, however, everything changes.  There's a reason why spaniards make this face when you ask if they've ever been here: 

The whole building is made out of granite.  There are no windows.  The light fixtures are candles fit to the top of crosses, that appear to be made out of a sword and lightning bolts.  The building is massive.  Everything about it is massive.  Despite the fact that it is a church, it is not a place you would want to be in after dark.  Especially once you start looking at the decorations.

Once out of the lobby, the church is guarded by two giant statues of angels with swords, and an iron gate.  The first 100 meters or so of the hall is decorated with bright tapestries.  Ok, seems fairly inviting, right?  Until you realize that the tapestries are all depicting the apocalyptic scenes from the bible.  Oh, and behind the tapestries?  There's a mass grave for people who died during the civil war of 1936-39, and the bodies of most of the people who built this monstrosity.  It was constructed by prisoners of war, many of whom died in the process as a result of inhaling granite dust for too long.  

Continuing down the hall, you reach the section that is guarded by 8 giant statues: hoods down, biceps bulging   Scary stuff.  They're supposed to be crying for the fallen, but they really just look like medieval thugs.  

The altar and the actual church part of the building are not as threatening, as long as you don't mind the giant arc-angel statues surrounding the altar, or the fact that in front of the altar is the grave of José Primero de Rivera, the founder of spanish nationalism.  Behind the altar is the grave of Francisco Franco, the dictator who ruled spain for 40 years after the civil war.  

Overall, it is not a pretty building, visually or in what it stands for.

Arte en la calle

Don't believe what they tell you, contrast it (or check it, or refute it, depending on the dictionary..)

Meanwhile..

While the United States was busy voting Barack Obama back in to office (yay!) Spain was also having a politically important moment.  Yesterday Spain's Constitutional Court voted to uphold the legality of gay marriage, making it the 3rd country in the world to completely legalize gay marriage.  According to this article, there have been 22,000 gay marriages performed in Spain since the original ruling in 2005.

Sometimes it feels like the United States is way behind on social issues; it's nice to know that the rest of the world at least is moving forward.  Maybe we'll somehow be dragged along eventually, too.