The Five Minute Interview: Sigrid Pratsch

Every Friday Thomasenmadrid publishes a short interview with one of the Key figures of my life here in Spain. This week it's the turn of Sigrid Pratsch (25) who now lives in Vienna, Austria but has strong ties with the capital of Spain. We became friends during our internship at the internet mobility portal Just Landed where we found out that we both couldn’t handle an electric drill. A happy and enthusiastic person Sigi was very much the savior of the office when it came to comedic remedy and her bubbly character made my stay at Just Landed worth the while. She was also a founding member of the Friday Afternoon Chinese Lunch Club.

The first time I saw Thomas was: At Just Landed’s office in Madrid. But I don’t remember any details – I’m also bad with first impressions. For example, I thought that Tammo (another intern) was a high-ranking member of the crew! Anyways, that shouldn’t mean that I didn’t grow to love you, Thomas! (in an entirely platonic way, of course)

My favorite place in Madrid is: The “Montaña artificial” in Retiro! It’s in a corner of the park; I discovered it in 2003 during my Erasmus stay in the city. I wandered about town and ended up on that little mountain – the view was spectacular as the sun was about to go down and covered everything in red-golden rays of light. I went up there a lot to have a “cigarette” and enjoy a couple of quiet moments.

Something I say too often is: “Leiwond” (Viennese term for something like “super-great”, only cooler; can also be used sarcastically) and “zach” (upper-Austrian term for almost everything really J)

I am not a politician, but: if I had to, I’d be a good one, because I wouldn’t bend over for nobody!

People know me from having quit my job at an PR-agency and now working part-time at an event location, but in a truer life I would be: either a news-reporter for Al Jazeera, hihi or the EU’s foreign minister – but in my imagination, the position would come with A LOT more power than any democratic constitution would ever allow!

If I weren't talking to you right now I would be: on one of Vienna’s Christmas markets sipping mulled wine, chatting with friends and staring at all the pretty blinking lights.

Normally, my breakfast consists of: A cup of coffee, one or two slices of bread with butter and either jam or honey. When I have breakfast with my roommate we also have soft-boiled eggs, ham, cheese, tea, etc. But I really shouldn’t call that “breakfast” because it usually takes place at noon!

I passionately have confidence in: the fact that Austria is going to get its ass kicked at the EURO next year! This is going to be so embarrassing. No, wait a minute – it’s embarrassing that we’re taking part in that event in the first place!!!

At the moment the most played on my MP3 player is: The Pixies, Foo Fighters and Babyshambles. I try to evolve and listen to more “sophisticated” music but my heart’s not in it! Rock is all I really need.

In moments of weakness I: Listen to melancholic and sad Oasis songs sung by the Chief, have a smoke and think of better times.

I'm good at: Denial! Only joking. I am good at cheering up friends – making them feel better about themselves during sucky times.

I'm very bad at: Finding a properly paid job that I actually like, apparently.

The ideal night out is: Start it with a couple of drinks at home with friends; continue with going to a club where they either play alternative rock/indie or electronic dance music and dance and chat with friends until around 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning; End it with a) a cold beer down by the river next to the “Flex” (a Viennese club) or b) a healthy plate of goulash and rolls at a 24 hour bakery/bar/restaurant in my neighborhood.

In a nutshell, my philosophy is this: Good question! Take it as it comes – and maybe try to change it when you don’t like it, II guess.

Enhorabuena Carmen!

Monday was a very special day indeed. It was Carmen’s graduation day. Thomasenmadrid would like to congratulate her on this fantastic achievement. Together with her colleagues from the Master Ación Solidaria Internacional de Europa she collected her degree in the impressive Leganés Assembly hall. Enhorabuena a todos!

The diary of a volunteer: CEAR in Las Palmas

Ever since reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance I have been searching for Quality. Doing things with Quality means that you enter what you are doing, that you connect with it. For example, if you are faced with a problem don’t be scared of it but make it your friend. Sit down with it. If your motorcycle is not working the only way to solve this with Quality is to understand the machine and calmly work out what’s wrong with it. Connect with the machine.

Now, the sad truth is that the only thing with which I have booked considerable success using this philosophy is with my (by now) famous tortilla Española. I connect with that potato and egg based pancake and for this reason it always turns out well. However, I do precious little other things in life with Quality and this bothers me a bit. Nevertheless, this weekend my spirits were raised. I went on a two and a half day trip to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, and witnessed that there are quite a few people who do things with Quality at the NGO I do volunteer work for: CEAR (Comisión Española de Ayuda al Refugiado). I will try to explain why and why this is important.

I do most of my CEAR work from home, late at night after work, often accompanied by Aqui Hay Tomate re-runs on the television. The work that I do does not involve too much connecting, although I try. Since I started my new job I don’t have time to swing by the CEAR office to chat with Mariví or Eugenia, the two colleagues I normally deal with. I have no time to connect (a gumption which is explained in the book, but which I will not go into for the moment, although it is a very interesting subject indeed). This is why I was happy to receive the invitation to go Las Palmas and participate in the 7th CEAR Volunteer Assembly. I was happy to actually feel I was part of an organization, to be a part of CEAR.

Multinational

So what have been the gains from my 58 hour hop-over to Gran Canaria? Well, several. First of all I discovered that there are many good people working for this organization. Good people from all over the world. I was surprised by how many foreigners attended, ranging from Cameroon to Germany to the United States to Sweden. All of them wanting to contribute to the greater good of the NGO. Many with the Quality I was talking about earlier.

Second of all, I had fun. I laughed a lot. This is very important.Another highlight was the workshop I attended on the reasons of being a volunteer as seen through the five senses. The truth is that I joined CEAR just because I thought it was a very good and important cause and this reasoning was unlikely to be changed in doing exercises involving my nose, eyes, ears, tongue and hands. The workshop started with a group massage where we – after stroking each others back for a couple of minutes – had to ‘throw away the negative energy we had just collected’. Normally I find this stuff rather ‘bla-bla’ but something told me this was going to be different. And it was. I did my best to connect with the exercises.

Eyes-Wide-Shut
The session was very open and the discussions interesting. At one stage I was blindfolded, laid down on the floor and left alone in the empty room. The idea was that I had to use only my ears for orientation and that I had to trust the team in whatever it was they were going to do with me. This was not so much of a problem. I was dead tired of a night without sleep so that soon I was half-way to dreamland. Music from the Amelie soundtrack played a helping hand in this as well. A couple of minutes later I heard some feet shuffling back into the room and not long after that I was picked up by about twenty hands who rocked me gently in the air. This was an amazing feeling, although a bit Eyes-Wide-Shut. It’s a bit like you are on the bottom of the sea, floating through nothing. They started walking, I had no idea where to, but I felt completely safe. When – after various minutes of flying – they laid me down again at another place in the building I was very relaxed and had caught up with an invaluable three minutes of sleep! Great experience.

All the other discussions and activities had to do with how to use your senses and what this had to do with being a volunteer. This made me think. Why was I a volunteer for CEAR? And what had my nose, ears, eyes, hands and mouth got to do with it? Well, the first one is a lot easier to answer than the second and it goes a bit like this:

Reason

I am a volunteer for CEAR because I believe that the situation which these poor people (refugees, paperless people, illegal immigrants, asylum seekers, etc.) find themselves is inhuman and unfair. I feel that this is enough. There was a lot of talk why one should be a volunteer. I heard that you had to be an open person, willing to change the world and that personal reasoning shouldn’t play a big role in being a volunteer. I disagree with this. Everybody has their own reasons and these shouldn’t be questioned.

As I mentioned above I was looking for Quality and the President of CEAR gave a good example. His speech on the 20 objectives of CEAR and his personal worry concerning people who not only don’t have papers, but also lack a country (because they are not recognized by anybody, like in the movie The Terminal, therefore lacking an identity), was blatantly filled with Quality. Here is a guy who connects with his job and the problems which have to be faced. Like him, there are many people within CEAR who do this. Crisis

During one of the presentations we were told that crisis should be seen as opportunities to improve. This is something I have heard often before and I felt something was missed. Crisis like the one the President mentioned are not opportunities alone. They are situations created by people who didn’t take the time and effort to foresee where the problem was going. To solve such a crisis, being positive is not the only requirement. As I said, sit down with the problem. Take it apart like you would take a motorcycle apart and then put it together again, and again, and again.

Valiantly, I will leave this problem solving to the others at CEAR. I truly wish I could do more, but for the moment I will just play my small part, something which I hope to increase once I can drop teaching English classes. I walked away from this meeting with the conviction to spend more time working on CEAR issues. This sounds like a new years resolution.

For now, I wish to thank all the people who attended the meeting in Las Palmas, it was truly enjoyable and I learned a lot. At least, it made me feel part of a team, fighting for a general cause.

We just need some more cowbell

I used to watch this clip when I was in Sweden with my friend Joi. The other day I was sent it again and was reminded of this classic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J6wVBq1LCo

Please have a look at it and laugh. Look at for the memorable quotes:

"Gene wait, why don't you lay that cowbell down right now..... with us..... together..."

"I put my pants on just like you guys, one leg at a time. Except after I put them on, I make gold records."

Have you seen dignity?

Fat man lookin' in a blade of steel
Thin man lookin' at his last meal
Hollow man lookin' in a cottonfield
For dignity

Wise man lookin' in a blade of grass
Young man lookin' in the shadows that pass
Poor man lookin' through painted glass
For dignity

I am in bus 224 heading towards Madrid’s Avenida de America station where I will enter the city’s Metro network. The buildings aligning the A2 motorway are moving past slowly. We are in a traffic jam as I listen to these first lines of Bob Dylan’s Dignity. I have crammed Carmen’s MP3 player with melancholic autumn songs and this is simply another shining example. I join the Jester’s search for Dignity as my mind wonders back to a class I had just given up north in Madrid.

As often in English class conversation had turned to the benign. “Which news events have had the most impact on you in your life time?” I ask almost feeling the shame. They know we have to talk about something.

I had already offered them some examples: Diana’s death, September the 11th, The Fall of the Berlin Wall (who ever mentions this one nowadays? Impact seems to be a concept which can be replaced by time), etc. Of course I completely overlooked the painfully obvious.

One girl had tears in her eyes. “Shit,” I thought. “March the 11th”. Or as they say here: 11M (Once M). It was indeed this event she was about to share with us.

She told us that she comes from a suburb of Madrid which was particularly affected by the Madrid Bombings in 2004. The train she took every day to get to her downtown University was one of those targeted. Luckily that day there was a student strike at the Uni, so many – including my student – opted to stay at home. However, one of her classmates decided to go to the library anyway to study. He was one of the 192 people to die that day.

The benign didn’t feel so benign anymore and by now the girl had switched to Spanish. English class had been put on hold for a while and replaced by group therapy – which seems to be the second usage of language classes in general anyway.

She continued her story about how a friend of hers lost an eye in one of the blasts and that he still went into the wreckage to pull out people. He has been traumatized for life. And about that nearly everybody in her suburb knew of somebody who had lost someone.

The class came to an end as did her story. The last five minutes had been spent talking Spanish but this didn’t seem to bother anybody. I turned my attention back to Dylan. Where was Dignity on that March day in 2004? He tries to answer but just sings.

So many roads, so much at stake
So many dead ends, I'm at the edge of the lake
Sometimes I wonder what it's gonna take
To find dignity

When he finishes I notice that traffic has begun speeding up again and so has the music. Out of nowhere appear the ‘Barenaked Ladies’ whose song ‘If I had a million dollars’ brings the necessary comic relief I had been waiting for ever since the class had finished.

The song is about what they would do if they had a million dollars. At one stage they sing:

Well, I'd buy you John Merrick's remains
(Ooh, all them crazy elephant bones)

As the song is humorous I decided to find out who John Merrick was and the next day I read it on Wikipedia. It turns out that John Merrick (1862-90) was known in his Victorian lifetime as ‘The Elephant Man’. The picture clearly shows why. Apparently Micheal Jackson once tried to buy his bones for exactly 1 million dollars, but this was turned down. Jacko wanted to by them because ‘the story reminded me of me a lot’.

His story makes fascinating reading and I started wondering about Dignity again. If there ever was a person who was in search of Dignity than it would have been this guy, John Merrick. And he would be looking in a mirror. I was not surprised to find out that one of the main books about his life was titled: The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity.

The Five Minute Interview: Carmen Pontevedra Maroño

Every Friday Thomasenmadrid publishes a short interview with one of the Key figures of my life here in Spain. This week it's the turn of Carmen Pontevedra Maroño (25). She is a proud Galician woman who bravely went to Sweden, the Netherlands and Madrid. She is well known for her good sense of fashion, excellent cooking and solidarity with the world through her studies and work. This week we will be celebrating our third anniversary. How everything started - and more - you can read below.

The first time I saw Thomas was: In Sweden, sometime in the month of September 2004. In the museum of the Drottingholm castle during a guided visit of Erasmus students. I had just bought a postcard with a view of the castle and Thomas had bought a big postcard with the Swedish princess Madeleine. He looked very happy with it. Twenty minutes later we met again by chance at the bus stop to go back to Stockholm. He proudly showed the card and said “this is going to be my future wife”. This was the first thing he said to me.

My favorite place in Madrid is: I think Gran Vía. The street has really impressive buildings and of course the shops! Haha! And my corrala in Lavapies, I think it’s very colorful, especially on the weekend when people hang out their clothes.

Something I say too often is: “Mogollón” which is an adjective that means ‘a lot’. For example: In the concert there were a mogollón of people. But above all it is bueno, I even use it when I speak English. Also I use the Dutch ‘ja’ and ‘nee’.

I am not a politician, but: I am! I studied political science which makes a pólitologa (political scientist).

People know me from being a trainee at FIIAPP, but in a truer life I would be: a handy-craft worker, a cook or designer/tailor of clothes. Or in other words, everything which implies me working with my hands. Thinking stresses me. Funny, because I wouldn’t mind being a wedding planner, at least this entertains me.

If I weren't talking to you right now I would be: using my sowing machine to adjust the length of some new jeans I bought a couple of days ago and of course I have to cut quite a big piece as always, because my legs are short!!

Normally, my breakfast consists of: a glass of juice and a piece of bread which I eat on my way to or at work. I would like to have time for a tea, but I am lazy and I don’t get up ten minutes earlier.

I passionately have confidence in: cars. When I drive my father’s car I never feel that it will break down. But this is just an example, because in general, I am quite unconfident in things. ‘Si no lo veo, no lo creo.’ (If I don’t see it, I don’t believe it).

At the moment the most played on my MP3 player is: A mix of international pop hits and strange music which Thomas has put on it since he has kidnapped my MP3 player. I think his music is boring.

In moments of weakness I: would like to stay in Galicia – my big paradise – with my family and friends, and of course also with Thomas.

I'm good at: running in the snow with my boots with heels. This I did several times in Sweden to catch the last train into town. I am also good at things which I do with my hands. Organizing events, parties or meetings is also one of my good points.

I'm very bad at: numbers. I just listen numbers and money and I collapse. I couldn’t be an economist. Also, when I get nervous I change the order of the words of the phrase. Further I have difficulty with the discussion nationalist vs independent in Galicia. I am bored of it. In Madrid I am treated as a Galician fundamentalist and in Galicia some people see me as an outsider who doesn’t understand Galicianess. This topic lives a lot amongst certain groups of people.

The ideal night out is: a summer night in Galicia, with friends. To have drinks outside in the port, without having feet pain! Being a bit happy and end the night with the always popular chocolate con churros.

In a nutshell, my philosophy is this: Enjoy the moment.

Sinterklaas in Lavapies

I have always thought that Sinterklaas was a bit of an oddball
Old man, more or less six hundred years old
But the strangest thing of all
Is that he has a horse named Mould

They say he lives here in Madrid
Something which doesn’t quite fit
From here, he brings a present for every Dutch kid
Leaving the Spanish youth in the shit

I have searched high, I have searched low
I will search every where I go
But still I haven’t found the good man, no, no, no
Not even hanging with his Pedros Negros in the Park Retiro

So what could I expect this 5th of December?
Would the Sint forget me or would he remember?
I had been a reasonable good child this year
So principally I had nothing to fear

The only problem was a simple one
I was in Madrid and the Sint probably somewhere in Rotterdam
But this great old friendly man is always considered very wise
So he got together with his black helpers to arrange a compromise

He would send his youngest Piet back to Spain
So that my expectations wouldn’t be in vain
So there it was when I opened my eyes
My shoe was filled with a great big surprise