Esta Comunidad no Quiere Propaganda

Some pics of the Maria Cristina bridge that I took while running an errand-as I understand Maria Cristina was the standing regent of Spain for like 20 years during a pretty tumultuous time, and she was a Hapsburg. She apparently liked to hang out in Donostia as a lot of stuff is named after her. There are victorious people astride sea creatures on pedestals along the course of the bridge. There are gorgeous details carved into the sides, including this coat of arms for the province of Gipuzkoa-I understand that those 3 yew trees were representative the habit of local soldiers to carry some poison with them to avoid capture during battle.

And there are cool porcelain tile dragons, and all kinds of ornate carvings of babies and stuff. If you're going to cross a river, why mess around?

So the other day I was in a class that has to do with looking for jobs and knowing your rights as a worker and it's crazy dull, usually. The instructor was discussing the points system-when you apply for a public job they give points for things like education, experience, and knowledge of languages, and whoever gets the most points gets the job. Some background: the school where I go is bilingual-sometimes our whole class is in one room, taking a class in Spanish, and sometimes the Basque speakers split off and have their own class in Euskara (the Basque language) while the rest of us have class in Spanish.-and when we're all together the Euskara speakers will often talk to the instructor in Euskara. One of the students raised his hand and very heatedly (and with some rather florid cuss words) contested the value of giving points to job candidates for their knowledge of Euskara, saying that experience is more important and implied that because everybody speaks Spanish, Euskara knowledge should not be taken into consideration for employment. A woman from the Euskara class hotly told him (in Spanish) that since we're in the Basque Country and you are serving the public, that knowledge of the local language is important for public jobs. This went on for quite a while and was loud and highly confrontational-I nearly ducked under my desk, expecting fisticuffs-until the Atmospheric Contamination teacher broke it up. But these people are all in their early 20s, some in their teens, and it was a pretty good illustration of the ehm highly emotional nature of local geopolitical issues related to language. This area has the highest concentration of native Euskara speakers anywhere, and there is still a pretty strong pressure from monolingual Spanish speakers to just make Euskara go away. It is surprising to me that someone who is so clearly outnumbered (and seriously out-muscled) still has such a strong sense of cultural privilege that they feel comfortable dissing the indigenous language. Anyhoo.

Some other cultural details:

During people's 11 a.m. break they often drink wine.

If you want to do something for which you must apply (this includes jobs, using a music facility, applying for residency, whatevs) you have to pay a fee-but you can't pay it at the same place that you apply-you have to pay at the bank. Most banks are open from 8-2. Srsly. It's tricky.

There's a guy who walks around the city playing a xylophone and yelling 'afilador!' which means 'knife grinder.' He will stop and sharpen your knives if you ask.

The letter of the law is very important-there are bilingual Royal Decrees and Orders and Laws everywhere in language so dense that even people who actually know these languages have trouble reading them-which determine who can do what in quite specific terms. It's probably not really any more restrictive than America, but it chafes, being told you're subject to a royal decree. It kinda really does.

Did I mention that the food is ridiculous? Deliciousness is everywhere.