Elections to the CAV

Next Sunday, March 1st there will be elections to the Basque Parliament. This is the first time I will be able to vote, since I am now 18 years old.


As always, every single political party is running a huge publicity campaign. Again, as always, each political party makes (too) bold statements and promises to look good, which are later probably hard to keep up with.


The most siginifant parties are probablyPSE-EE (Partido Socialista de Euskadi), PNV (Partido Nacionalista Vasco), and PP (Partido Popular).


The leader of PSE is Patxi López. The party's political program suggests rebuilding the Basque Country through dialogue, the strengthening of local institutions, open-mindedness, and innovation, improving health care and education, and providing the means to stop the economic recession.



The leader of PNV is Juan José Ibarretxe, and the party's political program includes dialogue to end the conflict with ETA, the strengthening of local identity and self-government, bilinguism (spanish and euskera), and economic measures to end the crisis.

The PP, whose leader is Antonio Basagoiti, proposes new means to end terrorism and abolish political parties related to ETA, rebuilding the economy, guaranteeing freedom of choice concerning the language in which children are educated, and improving the Law of Historical Territories.

Carnival is here!

Carnival is a traditional festival celebrated around February. Its origins are considered to be found in the Christian tradition of Lent, where believers were obliged to practice sexual abstinence, avoid eating meat, and avoid any kind of luxury. Carnival was, thus, a chance to celebrate before Lent, to let go of oneself and enjoy.

Although this is considered to be its typical origin, similar festivities can be traced back to earlier times, where people dressed up and partied as a celebration of the spring season, in order to ask the Gods for good harvests and good fortune. It was also a sexual celebration, where young people could meet each other and engage.


Nowadays, carnival is a very heterogeneous celebration, which varies greatly from one country to another, and from one city to another.
One of the most renowned carnivals is that of Brazil, especially in Rio de Janeiro, where people dance and parade in elaborate homemade costumes, play music, and stay up throughout the night.
Here in Spain, the most well known are probably those of La Palma de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where people wear themed costumes. A typical event in these celebrations is the election of a Carnival Queen.

In essence, Carnival is a chance to let go of one’s preoccupations and enjoy!

Valentine's Day

Tomorrow, February 14th, is Valentine's Day, a day when lovers celebrate their feelings for each other, offering each other presents, love cards, and chocolates or sweets. This tradition can be traced back to the Middle Ages, and even then, it was a heritage passed on from the times of the Roman Empire. The celebration used to be tied to the land, and good harvests, but slowly, over time, it became what it is today. It was in the 18th centuries that Valentine's cards became popular, and back in the day they were true works of art, usually including original love poems.

Now, Valentine's day has become more superficial, more about the presents, but still, it is a chance to celebrate love, which is what really matters. If this world was more about loving each other and less about personal gain, it would be a much better place. We should all try to make an effort to love not only our couple but to enjoy life, and love all people.

Cyclone hits Getxo!

Two weeks ago, on Friday night/Saturday dawn, a cyclone hit Getxo and various other areas of the basque country. During the afternoon, the weather reporters warned that there would be strong winds of up to 150km/h that night. Due to this, a dinner I had planned with some of my friends was cancelled, although the cyclone didn't start until around 2 am.

I woke up when the wind started whistling and making my blinds shatter. There were several crashing sounds, which I assumed to be the garbage containers falling over, and it was very hard to fall asleep again.

The next morning, when I woke up, one of the blinds in my house had been torn apart by the wind. The street was full of leaves, tree branches and garbage, and several roads were closed.

Next Monday, I woke up normally to go to school. When I arrived there, however, some of my friends told me that we could leave school immediately, because the electrical system was down due to the cyclone, but Sol (our homeroom teacher), and Mr. Jenkins (the Upper School principal), said we had regular classes.

In the middle of spanish class, several smaller kids began passing by, leaving school, so we started complaining, asking why we couldn't go home too.

Eventually, during second period, we were allowed to phone home for permission to leave. It was amazing how, in 15 minutes, the whole school was empty.

We had been told that an update to the status of the school (whether there would be regular classes on Tuesday or not) would be posted on the school web page, and I was hoping that the system hadn't yet been fixed, but unfortunately, classes resumed on Tuesday.