Vegetable Woman

07/27/2020 by Pat Shiplett 4 Comments

She’s out on the sidewalk every morning building pyramids of the day’s fruits and vegetables.

She opens earlier, closes later, and operates on Sundays when the supermarkets are closed. Whatever it takes to survive.

Her shop straddles the typical Barcelona intersection with angled corners which make it feel like a small plaza.

The facing of her store is no more 20 feet across. Its inside is lit by institutional ceiling units and there is zero attempt at appetite appeal. She writes the prices by hand.

The fruits and vegetables aren’t photo-shoot perfect like we expect in the U.S. They’re picked to be eaten within a shorter time and you soon realize they’re much more delicious for it. Read more…

The Value of Beauty

02/26/2019 by Pat Shiplett 2 Comments

Does beauty contribute to a person’s success?

BARCELONA — The students who descended on room 214 had paid their dues. Their Spanish classes were now focused as much on conversation as grammar and syntax.

The professors came armed with questions to engage visitors from various continents, each with histories all their own. Some expressed ideas they wouldn’t have shared at home.

The Italians, French and Portuguese had a Latin-root advantage over the others. Among the most articulate was a Frenchwoman named Mathilde Courty who was younger than the median age around the table.

The group assumed the question relating beauty to success to be directed at women. The men, intelligent men, held back.

It was agreed that voice, facial expressions and eye contact create their own kind of beauty, that vanity can turn a beautiful person ugly and that humor makes a plain person irresistible.

It was Matilda who posed a follow-up question.

Why do woman invest so much time making themselves attractive? Why the mascaras, powders, glosses, buffing and botox? And why are men exempt from the beauty arms race. Dandies once wore powdered wigs and cod pieces. Peacocks parade for hens.

Matilda is a wandering soul who has studied and traveled in Italy, Peru, England, Spain and Vietnam; she has lived in Bénin. Her Spanish studies are prep to serve people with disabilities in South America.

The good looks we inherit courtesy of our parents, the beauty we earn by making ourselves helpful and the beauty we enjoy simply by being young all were in display that final period of the day.

The rain had stopped and the conversation wandered outside to the tables on the sidewalk where it switched to English without anyone noticing.

Erika and other Spanish students

11/30/2018 by Pat Shiplett 2 Comments

Certain greetings are unfamiliar and some references sail over your head. Body language can be difficult to read and eye contact varies among students from Asia, Europe and the two Americas.

And you’ll discover another difference, one that’s less about country-of-origin and more about the territory that separates one generation from another. Attending an international language program is a visa that lets you slip across the border and explore the world of the young.

Based on our placement scores Erika Sciddurlo and I ended up in the same Spanish discussion groups for 25 hours a week over five weeks.

The kid’s a workhorse. She never seems to fade — you should see her notes. Erika comes to meetings as prepared as any suit I’ve worked with the corporate world. She happens to hail from the fashion center of Milan, and it shows.

She first surprised her parents by being born when her mother was forty eight years old, and then again by being the first in her family to attend college in pursuit of a career.

Our group discussions showed a wariness of multinationals, concentration of power, weapon sales and religious extremes. Young people are relaxed about race and gender and styles of families. Erika imagines living with a partner, having a child and then getting married — in that order.

The worldwide crash of 2008 left these new professionals guarded about the future. They’re studying Spanish knowing that multilingual skills will be essential in a global economy.

Their generation is about to inherit a to-do list with serious challenges (some my generation has punted on). Judging from my friends in Room 214 on Carrer de Mallorca in Barcelona, they’re more than up to the job.

A doctor in Barcelona

11/05/2018 by Pat Shiplett 2 Comments

Barcelona welcomes northern European students with open arms and a bit of envy.The visitors are tall and fair-haired and have light-colored eyes. They come alone and make connections quickly.

Olga and I ran into each other at the counter of the no-frills cafe next to our school. I had assumed she was just another fugitive using Spanish classes as an excuse to spend a winter on the Mediterranean coast.

I was wrong on all counts.

Olga is a neurologist with a practice in Moscow. She explained that she combines acupuncture with conventional medicine, an approach more widely accepted in Russia than in the U.S.

She’s in Spain thanks to the ultra-prestigious Médico Interno Residente program built around international research and professional development at cutting-edge facilities. She juggles that training with an intensive Spanish curriculum.

Healthcare is a right in Russia. Services at state-financed hospitals and municipal out-patient clinics are available to everyone. Olga’s medical training was financed with public funding.

The care itself is of extremely high quality but time spent in waiting rooms can be frustrating. People with disposable income often choose additional private care.

Dr. Kokina works 49 hours a week and is on call every four days. Ongoing reforms in the healthcare system have led to lower pay and the stress of seeing more patients.

She lives in the suburbs of Moscow where she faces commutes by car as long as two-hours each way. In many ways she could be describing a physician’s fate in the big cities of our country.

Olga’s husband owns a service business. They have a child named Nikita. During a break I asked if — given the 2-hour time difference between Moscow and Barcelona — her Nikita might be out on the school playground while we were sharing coffee.

She paused and laughed. Her son, she said, happens to be a university student. Those students from northern Europe can fool you.

A doctor in Barcelona (Copy of original)

08/14/2023 by Pat Shiplett Leave a Comment

Barcelona welcomes northern European students with open arms and sometimes a bit of envy.Calle Mallorca, Barcelona – The students from the north are tall and fair and have light-colored eyes. They’re friendly and make connections quickly.

Olga and I met on a morning break at a tiny place named Cafe Castroverde next to our school. Based on the easy way she carried herself, I assumed she was another happy fugitive using Spanish classes as an excuse to spend a few seasons on the Mediterranean.

So much for stereotypes.

The woman is a neurologist with a practice in Moscow. She explained that she combines acupuncture with conventional medicine.

Olga is in Spain thanks to the ultra-prestigious Médico Interno Residente program built around cutting-edge medical research. She’s juggling that with her intensive Spanish curriculum.

Healthcare is a right in Russia. Services at state-financed hospitals and out-patient clinics are available to everyone. Olga’s medical training was financed with public funding.

The care itself is of extremely high quality, she said, but time spent in waiting rooms can be frustrating. People often choose additional private care.

Dr. Kokina works 49 hours a week and is on call every four days. She lives in the suburbs of Moscow where she has commutes by car as long as two-hours each way. Facing lower pay and the stress of seeing more patients, she could be describing a physician’s fate in the big cities of our country.

Given the 2-hour time lag between Moscow and Barcelona, I asked if her son might be out on the school playground while she was ordering coffee.

She laughed. Her Nikita, she said, happens to be a university student.