The Catalan Language Police

You know it's a bad sign when you live somewhere that has a language police. Did you know that stores get fined if they don't have all their signage in Catalan? It's even gotten to the point where you get a fine if someone walks into your store and you don't have anyone who speaks Catalan on staff to help them.

The new education law goes even further and tries to deputize kids into reporting any instance of Spanish usage that might be happening at school. There are even schools that try to forbid any Spanish being spoken in the playground.

Culturally, the government has a blanket prohibition on funding anything not in Catalan. We went to play the other day (Pinocchio), which of course was in Catalan. Pepito Grillo (Jiminy Cricket) comes on stage and explains that from now on, he will be known as Pep el Grill, because otherwise he wouldn’t get any money from the government.

All the parents cracks up.

The best turron in Sant Cugat

Joan Pros (Gelats i Torrons Artesans). Definitely. My kids (and me) are addicted. It's on C/Santa Maria 25 and has a big ice cream cone in front of it. You can also phone them at 93 674 5173.

In the summer they sell gelato and in the winter, turron.


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Loopholes in Sunday shopping laws

Here in Catalunya almost all stores close on Sundays.

There are loopholes in the laws that allow bakeries and gas stations to remain open.

So now there are several small gas station attached to a supermarket.

You can also find 24 hour grocery stores that have a sad little croissant sitting in a box at the front. I guess that's a bakery.

I love innovation.

Severance in Spain

Spain has very strict employee protection laws. This means

1) Lots of strikes. Last year the truckers went on strike and shut down the country. Gas stations were empty, store shelves bare.

2) It sucks to be young, because no one will hire you full time (it seems like half the country works on temporary contracts)

3) Everyone is in a union

Since I work with computers, I'm in the metalworkers union. Is silicon a metal? They get 0.1% of my salary for doing nothing. Thanks.

If you get laid-off (as a full time employee), you get a severance package consisting of a minimum of 45 days of salary per year worked up to 3.5 years pay (many companies give more), unless you are fired. You REALLY have to try to get fired. There was a recent court case that decided that even swearing publicly at your boss was insufficient grounds for firing.

The Spanish legal system arrived at this 45 day payoff somewhat indirectly. Termination without cause used to be arbitrated in court, with a maximum penalty of 45 days of pay per year worked. A small rule change allowed companies to just pay the 45 days without going through the hassle of the court system.

If you come here from abroad via an intra-company transfer, remember to get a rider attached to your employment contract stating that they recognize your time abroad as part of your employment history.

This also means that if you've worked somewhere for a while, you don't want to leave (and potentially lose a huge amount of severence?).

There is some legal gray area concerning whether performance based stock grants count as part the salary for severence purposes. Companies now try to protect themselves by refusing to providing any written justification for stock grants.

Eating etiquette in Barcelona

For anyone moving here, this is the correct procedure to follow (lunch and dinner follow a similar pattern, breakfast is a topic for later). Much of Spain follows a similar system. Notice the repeated use of the word "eventually".

1. you seat yourself wherever you feel like (for me preferably as far away from the cigarette plumes as possible)
   
2. The waiter comes with the menu (carta) and asks you want you want to drink. Most places have a "menu", which means you get to pick out of a small set first and second courses + drink + desert (for a very cheap price). If you want to shock the waiter, ask for coffee... coffee is for AFTER the meal! If you order a glass of wine, many places will give you a whole bottle (don't be obligated to drink it all!).
   
3. The waiter comes back with the drinks and asks you what you want (it's not unusual for everyone to order the same thing, unlike us rugged individualists in the US). Generally you just give them a list of firsts and seconds for the table, rather than individual orders. They always ask who ordered what when the food arrives anyway.
   
4. The firsts arrive and everyone takes custody of whatever they ordered.
   
5. Once everyone is done their first, the waiter (eventually) cleans up and brings the seconds.
   
6. Once everyone is done their seconds, the waiter (eventually) cleans up and asks for what you want for dessert.
   
7. After deserts, it's time for coffee (even if it is 1am after a big dinner). Remeber to order "de machina" if you wanted espresso. Or you can have an "infusion" which is herbal tea.
   
8. Many places (especially the rural areas) will be very generous with a "digestive" after dinner liquor.
   
9. Eventually you tell the waiter that you want to pay. It would be fun to do an experiment some time to see how long you'd have to wait before they bring you the bill themselves. Don't leave a tip otherwise the waiter may come running after you thinking you forgot some money on the table.
   
10. If this is dinner, you may get invited over for to someone's house or bar for a cup of cava (a champagne-ish drink) even if it is a weeknight and it is already 2am.
    

Seasonal pastries, what an idea!

One my favorite parts of living here are the amazing bakeries on every block. Not only is the bread wonderful (never shall I buy sliced bread in plastic bags again!), but all around the year they feature various traditional pastries for a limited time only.

The first year here we got addicted to panellets, and I had gotten to the point where I needed my daily fix. Then all of a sudden, they all disappeared! There are stores in Barcelona that specialize in all kinds of crazy custom panellets shaped like mice and pumpkins, etc.

Schools in Catalunya

One of the hopes of living in Spain was that our children would learn Spanish. We knew about Catalan, but assumed that we could pick a Spanish-speaking school with little problem. Unfortunately we didn't realize that Spanish-speaking schools don't exist in this part of Spain. Really.

Meanwhile, our ex-neighbors in the US are sending their children to a Spanish immersion public school.

Instead, all non-international schools must by law teach pretty much everything in Catalan. Catalan is about halfway between Spanish and French. It's cute, but pretty much useless (7 million speakers), unlike, say Spanish (with 500 million speakers). In an effort to make Catalan more useful, the regional (or "national" as they like to call themselves) government tries its best to ban Spanish in as many settings as possible. Even the English teachers must be fluent in Catalan.

There's a long and complicated history that I'm glossing over. Various people were oppressed in the past and now feel the urge to oppress other people just to show how much they were oppressed. Franco was involved. However, I did hear somewhere that Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

Now that I've got the two things I hate about this place off my chest, I can start talking about the good things... and there are many....

Our Catalan Neighbors

I'm pretty sure that we have neighbors. Or at least someone moves the blinds up and down every day. Growing up watching Mr Rogers definitely was not a good preparation for living in Catalunya.

First of all, there's the walls. Big giant walls, ready to stop the Moors in case they decide to invade again. Armored windows and doors with various hidden security features.

Then there's the people. People in Catalunya are much more closed to outsiders than other parts of Spain. I find talking to Catalan people a bit like trying to eat tuna without a can opener. People are very reluctant to share any personal details, which makes it hard to carry the conversation beyond the usual pleasantries.

People willing to talk tend to be complete outliers (ie crazy), or are not from here. The ex-pat bubble looks more and more inviting...

The beginning

A couple years ago our family set out on an adventure to live in Spain. We had an amazing all-moving-expenses paid offer to work in Barcelona, the kids were too young to complain, and George Bush was getting on my nerves.

A downside of a paid move is that there is much less incentive to pack economically. After we arrived in Barcelona we rapidly realized that a full shipping container wasn't going to fit into any appartment in Barcelona.

Luckily for us, a strategically placed suburb of Barcelona offered big houses, reasonable prices and good schools. There was also a dark side to Sant Cugat, as we were soon to find out....