I've begun reading the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, a rather large commitment but since I've taken an interest in economics I finally decided to take the leap. Most modern textbooks refer to Adam Smith as the father of modern economics, and his book, the Wealth of Nations, as a sort of economic bible.
When reading this book it's important to remember that the theories and ideas drawn up by Smith were taken from the 1770's and so he was a very advanced philosopher at his time.
As I read this book I'm making a list of books that must be read later, I'm sure I've already got a year's reading list made out.
http://money.cnn.com/news/economy/g20/interactive/index.html?cnn=yes Check it out, it's interesting. If I were to ask you what are the three largest economies in the world, what would you say?
If I were to ask you what were the three fastest growing economies in the world, what would you say?
According to article "Currency Wars," http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/11/11/currency.war.trade/index.html?iref=obinsite
"A Pew Research Center poll last year found that 44 percent of Americans already thought China had become the world's number one economic power. Only 27 percent knew that the U.S. economy is still on top, nearly three times the size of China."
My cousin is here for a few days!! I am very excited to have her; I’ve been purposely saving some of my tourist plans for this weekend so that she will be able to go with me. Last night I went out for dinner with Maria and Kate, my roommate. We went to 100 Montaditos, a typical Spanish chain store where you write down your order on a list and had it to the cashier. It’s 1,00 € for a sandwich, (Tiny sandwiches) and 1,50 € for a glass of wine or beer. Then we went to one of our typical language exchanges, I think we all enjoyed it. I go to these exchanges quite often and know a lot of people at them. =)
Today I am going to lug my large computer to school for my decision making class because I am afraid I can´t put it off any longer. I need to be interactive in class and I´ve been just taking notes but it´s getting too difficult, I need my computer there. Fortunately dad has been able to get a hold of a small computer for me and it should be here soon….. Maria told me how much she loves hers. I will still have to use my mouse because now that I use a mouse it´s hard to get back in the habit of using the little finger pad. (The finger pad on my current computer is slightly broken making it difficult to use).
I read some of Maria´s blog, her English is much better than mine. I write a sentence and I have to go back and correct my grammar, my grammar is so terrible now. I should really start making an honest attempt to write more in English.
My friend Ramon is going to take my cousin out for a walk so that should be fun for her; Ramon is really excited because he gets to practice his English with someone who doesn´t speak Spanish. It really does make a difference because it forces you to try and say things without just asking for a translation. I believe that really is the best way to learn a language. I talked to Maria about how to practice languages in a country sometimes the best way is to speak in another language so that they don´t realize you speak English. For example, if I ever go to France it would be ideal to speak in Spanish so that they direct their word to me in French rather than falling back onto English.
Today I had yet another residency card meeting and they still were unable to grant me a residency card due to the fact that I am missing a clause in my medical insurance statement. Of course it is an hour metro ride to arrive to the Foreign Documentation Department in Campamento, so I had hoped it would be my last trip there. Thanks to this rather pointless trip to be rescheduled yet again for next Thursday morning, I have missed my decision science class. I thought it would be a good idea to write down everything necessary so that next time I will be able to obtain my residency card on the first go: Debería aportar original y fotocopia de toda la doc. requerida: Should bring original and photocopy of the following: - Matricula de este curso o carta escuela (Varification of Studies) - Medios Economicos y Procedencia de Dichos Medios (Movimientos Bancarios Ultimo año) (Proof that I have the economic means to stay in spain. This can be satisfied by a bank statement that has a reasonable amount of money going in and out for the past 6 months minimum. Usually costs 20 Euros) - Proof of Medical Insurance (must include the seguro de repatriación. That is, if I die they will send my body to the US) - Certificado de Empadronamiento (Housing Residency confirmed by the state. In order to obtain this you must go to an Ayuntamiento and register your housing with the government of Spain, and they will give you a proof of residency and housing.) - Copia NIE y Pasaporte (Copy of old residency card and Passport) - Three Recent Photos (Passport size) - Proof of payment of the required fees. (usually 18 euros, have to stop at bank in Atocha which is 45 minutes in the other direction) As you can see it has been quite a scavenger hunt. I unfortunately did not realize that my medical statement did not include repatriacion insurance, so they still have not granted the documents. Maybe on Thursday I will finally have completed this process, having paid around 70 dollars in various fees, and having missed 3 or 4 classes going to different appointments. =) But that´s okay because that´s how things go. At least I'm from the US, think of how hard it would be if I was from some little Latin American or SouthAmerican country. I know from experience working at my company that they are often negated and if they show up to the airport without a visa then they are not allowed enterance. :X
This summer one of the fencing masters at my club, Master Zulfi, died at an old age of 85. He continued to fence until he was 80, and even after he could no longer participate he continued coaching until 2 ½ months before he died. I was fortunate to receive multiple lessons from Zulfi and it’s amazing how much he knows about fencing. He’d fenced for 70 years. Here they have put up the biography of Zulfi on Youtube, parts 1 and 2. It’s interesting to watch because all of the fencing scenes were filmed at the club Cardinal Cisneros where I currently fence.
Zulfi spoke French, Arabic, Spanish and English fluently, being originally from Egypt. Zulfi fenced on the olympic team for Egypt, He came to Spain in 1966, married a Spanish woman in 1968.
Zulfi talks about how he enrolled in Medical school to make his mom happy, but he spent most of his time fencing eventually being invited to fence for the Egyptian national team.
“I remember that I went to fight, I didn’t think about winning, I just thought about struggling. I didn’t think about losing, the thought of losing never passed my mind. I just thought about the fight/struggle. I was so stressed because imagine at 8 am fence fence fence fence fence I was exhausted. My fencing master told me that to him it didn’t matter, if I came in the top 8 then for him that was great. I went to this little bar, DPM (I don’t want to se de puta madre) so I went to this dpm bar that had excelent pastels, coffee with milk etc, and it animated me, I passed to the semi finals, the finals, I felt something romantic, the smell, the sport. The final assult began .. 1 – 1 , 2 – 2, 3 – 3, he was English. Now he was 4-3 , he was wining. I won distance, advance, retreat, advance, when I hit him, my blade broke at a 90 degree angle and I won. I remember him taking off his mask and telling me, in a beautiful french, you deserved it. I love it I just love the fencing."
“I like teaching, it makes me happy. I make jokes, I enjoy it. I’m happy, fencing is in my veins, really.”
In the first video, Paco Fuentes, one of the best, if not the best foil coach in Spain talks about Zulfi, and about how Cardinal Cisneros is the oldest fencing club in Madrid.
Zulfi was such a sweet man, he called me Strawberries and Cream whenever I came over to say hi. We went to visit him in the hospital and he gave us a fencing lesson from the bed, which made him really happy. I’m glad to have had the privilege of meeting and knowing Zulfi.
I have been studying all week. Work is letting me have a week and a half off to catch up on my studies and I have never been so immersed in my classes before. I know I that working at this company is an excellent opportunity for me but not when it takes away from my studies as well as my friends. I realized yesterday when I stuck around campus for the first time this semester that I have very few friends at school. A few but nothing in comparison to my first semester, I think I have more teachers as friends than students now.
Here I’ll leave a quote from Milton Friedman, with regards to public vs. private spending. This idea is applicable to healthcare, social security, government expeditions, you name it.
“Nobody spends somebody else's money as carefully as he spends his own. Nobody uses somebody else's resources as carefully as he uses his own. So if you want efficiency and effectiveness, if you want knowledge to be properly utilized, you have to do it through the means of private property.”
-Milton Friedman
Okay, that one was a serious quote. Here’s another quote from Friedman which is quite funny, nevertheless true:
“Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.” - Milton Friedman
So we had an exciting event in our neighborhood yesterday: One of the trash bins caught on fire right outside my apartment. The man on the motorcycle is my boss. =) the whole street smelled like plastic and the police came up. I talked to some people at school and I guess I wasn't the only one, we think it has to do with the riots.
There was a scheduled Riot day, the 29th of September. It was written everywhere in graffiti and all the buses were shut down, I heard that McDonalds and various national banks had their doors glued shut overnight so that the employees couldn't enter to work on the 29th.
Saturday, September 2rd I’ll be heading to Valencia which is a large city about 5 hours to the east of Madrid. I’ll be competing in women’s epee, spending one night with another girl who is 21. The competition is on Sunday the 3rd at 8:30 in the morning.
Friday, October 8th I’ll be heading to Barcelona for the first time with 3 other fencers for a foil competition. This competition is very important because it’s the first of 4 ranked national tournaments that must be attended to earn national points. We’ll be spending Friday night in a Hostal, fencing begins Saturday morning at 9:00am on the strip. We plan to spend Saturday night as well since it is about an 8 hour drive and that way we can do a little bit of tourism of the city. There is another American boy who might be coming with us as well as me, a Guy from the Philippines and one from Venezuela.
Up until now I have always written my blog entries in Spanish, French, Portuguese, etc. This time I´m going to write in English for the benefit of my parents and relatives at home so that they might have a sneak peak into my adventures in Madrid. (Some very studious adventures I must add)
My cousin is studying abroad and she writes in English so that everyone can see how she is doing and it seemed to me a good way to keep in touch with people back home, so I´m going to give it a try.
This is just an introduction to what I hope becomes an interesting blog about Spanish culture, etc. I´ve been living in and out of Spain for almost two years now.
It never gets old, I never get tired of living here, and I constantly meet new people and find new ways to avoid doing my homework. For example I´ve managed to get a hold of a cheap pair of roller-blades for a wonderful price. What once cost 150 euros I paid 50 euros for and hopefully they will last me a few years and if I leave I´ll be able to resell them on the Spanish version of Ebay: www.segundamano.com.
Here is a picture of them:
Today in about half an hour I´m going to Retiro park in the center of Madrid to give them a test-run with a buddy of mine from Brazil named Vinicio. He´s one of my many friends who are big into rollerblading.
Tomorrow I have a lot of homework to complete and if I manage to get it done then I have a french language exchange at 8pm. (My french has been getting much better lately!!)
So Hi Mom and Dad, I miss you both!!!! I hope you liked my entry and I hope you both have a nice Saturday!.
