March 2017 | Nómadas Solidarios

The culture clash in Benidorm

Although there are notable cultural differences between the British and the Spanish, for 60 years they have been ¹thrown together by the pound and the sun in tourist resorts such as Benidorm where, according to the Benidorm Tourist Information Office, the British account for 50% of the city’s visitors.

This ²odd relationship began in the 1950s when the town’s ³mayor Pedro Zaragoza ⁴hopped on his scooter and rode to Madrid to ask General Francisco Franco ⁵to allow foreign female tourists to wear bikinis. Curiously, Franco gave his permission, but local girls in bikinis continued to be ⁶fined for indecent exposure.

Nurturing a passion for science in girls

While not mutually exclusive, the terms ‘¹female’ and ‘scientist’ do not often go together. When girls are asked what they want to do when they are older, many talk about marketing, therapy, ²the caring professions or ³journalism. Perhaps a ⁴lawyer or fashion designer. Thirty years ago, ⁵it probably didn’t matter that girls generally avoided science and technology. But the labor market of the ‘80s and ‘90s was a very different place from what it is now.

“The future of the economy is in STEM,” says James Brown, the executive director of the STEM Education Coalition in Washington, D.C. “That’s where the jobs of tomorrow will be.”

The Malala of Syria

One of the consequences of war is the ¹break down in education and a generation who ²lack the ³skills and training to ⁴rebuild their country once the fighting is over.

This scenario is what drove 18-year-old Muzoon Almellehan, the so-called Malala of Syria, to begin a crusade for education in the refugee camps in Jordan where she and her family spent four years after fleeing the civil war in Syria.

When Muzoon realized that half of the girls at her school in the Za’atari refugee camp ⁵were dropping out to get married, she ⁶made it her business to try to persuade their parents and the girls themselves that they should make education a priority.

Eton: educating the elite

Its ¹former students include 19 British Prime Ministers, Prince Harry and Prince William, Homeland’s Damian Lewis and The Danish Girl’s Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne, so it is not surprising that Eton is the most famous ²public school in the world, attracting many students from abroad, including 30 from Spain.

Described by the UK Good School’s Guide as “³second to none” ⁴with regard to teaching and facilities, it costs €41,000 a year. Not cheap but not the most expensive establishment ⁵of its kind either. Switzerland, for example, has a number of ⁶boarding schools for double the price but possibly half the prestige.

The Mediterranean diet is not what it was

I am always surprised when I pass the cafeteria in Alpedrete where a number of school children have their lunch. The tables are ¹crowded with cans of Coca Cola and Fanta ²to wash down plates of pasta with fried tomato sauce or fried chicken and chips. Day after day.

I am also surprised when I go to the park and see children being handed entire packets of biscuits ³to keep them going until supper, which often consists of cold ham or sausage sandwiches

Archivo del mes: March, 2017