I'm having a bloody nightmare.

My 'adventure' which was supposed to be a dreamy summer spent with two lovely kids in the sunshine is turning out to be a bit of a nightmare. 

Let's replace 'summer' with a British day. (Cloudy with regular rain). Let's replace 'lovely' with evil, and 'kids' with lucifer's spawn. Let's just shoot down the word sunshine. 

I always seem to have good ideas which turn out to be rubbish. So far on this adventure, I've set fire to a microwave, been in a car collision (apparently the spanish can't parallel park), realised the risks of having children, witnessed the start of world war three, and had to refrain from punching a ten year old in the face.

I've met brats in my life, sometimes I'm one of them. But I swear to the old gods and the new, I've never met someone evil. The ten year old is small, and very sweet looking until she opens her mouth. She's got a fair pair of lungs on her and always makes sure to annunciate when she's screaming 'puta' (bitch in Español). This is a child who likes to get her own way and surprise surprise, it always happens. 

Today she didn't want to go for a walk, but unfortunately for me, that was one of my orders from her dear padre. Naturally she refused and spent the morning watching the Disney channel so when padre got home for lunch and she's sat in her pyjamas, I'm the one that gets told off. 

When we sit down for lunch, her Madre asks her to put her phone away but she didn't want to so she starts screaming when her mother puts up a fight, she knocks a jug of water over. Then she takes her food, and more importantly her phone to eat in her room. 

The other girl is actually nice enough, but at 14 and in her summer holidays, the last things he wants to do is sit doing English with me when she's near fluent and her friends are out and about. So of course, she's stroppy and I look like the bad guy. 

I'm good at biting my tongue but I'm not so good at hiding my emotions. When I'm told "you should have taken her out for a walk today, it's your duty," I probably look very much like this: 

I'm taking bets on how long I think I'll last. I've been bet I'll pack it in by the weekend, but I reckon this time next week. Any takers?

Culture shock

I'm in total culture shock. I've been to Spain plenty of times but never to live with a generic Spanish family, so I don't think I came with any expectations of such a difference. Bad move.

I'm the red dot ^

Life is completely different here in every aspect. Firstly, when you meet someone, it's a kiss on each cheek which yes, made me feel a bit like Made in Chelsea, but I can confirm, it feels as awkward as it looks on telly. I've been kissed by more people in the last 24 hours than in my life. 

Next there are the roads. I've had more experience of European roads than I would like for a lifetime. They drive fast and in the middle of two lanes. It's erratic and I have to admit I was gripping the door handle.  

For some reason everyone here lives in flats. I've not seen a single house in this town. I thought university halls were bad but the Spanish seem to outdo students. I can hear everything going on around me. There's a yappy dog downstairs, a baby who I'd like to thank for my wake up calls last night (yes, plural) and a very heavy footed couple upstairs. Past midnight seems to be the normal bedtime, even for the infant who I swear to god, never ever sleeps. I've been confused by a neighbour already for unknown reasons, as she was speaking basque...

...Which leads me onto the next point. You know how in wales all the signposts are welsh and English but most people don't really know what it means? Well in the basque region, everyone speaks Spanish and basque, and they switch in between the two. One minute I'm following a Spanish conversation, we laugh at a joke, then they carry on in basque - a language which sounds like a mix of German and Italian, with the occasional Russian thrown in, all said in a Spanish accent - and then I'm lost again. 

The language barrier was to be expected, and obviously GCSE level isn't particularly impressive but I've quickly gotten into the habit of just listening and observing. The biggest shock of all is that people are almost impolite. Maybe it's the Brit in me who insists on keeping up my manners, but no one says please or thank you, when there's me with my muchos gracias at every given moment. 

The final culture shock is the way kids are raised here. With my host's friends last night, I was asked about jobs and why I chose to take this one so I explained that it's nice to earn my own money and that a job gives me responsibility etc. but they were truly shocked. "Why don't your parents buy you whatever you want?" This question was one that seemed stupid. Of course they buy whatever I need but when I want a £60 handbag, that's a desire and not a requirement. They explained that in this region, children's only focus is education so parents will give them anything they want, to keep them happy and send them in the right direction. I'm sure that this isn't applicable across Spain, but here in the Basque Country, industry is high and the unemployment rate is minuscule. It is perhaps for this reason that money seems (to me) to be spent frivolously simply because there is no short supply of it. This may be the reason that the kids don't say please or thank you - they don't need to because the answer is always yes; It's an inevitability on both sides of the question. 

This town is not in anyway a tourist destination so at 5'9 with shit Spanish, blonde hair and skin as white as milk, I stick out like a sore thumb. Put it this way, I miss little old Wales. 

The Struggles of Legally Being an Adult

If like me, you're rubbish with money, then you might think I'm crazy to say this. 

With the 4th shift of my new job looming, I'm already planning how to quit. I'm not going to name any names, but it's a supermarket chain that I also worked in at my home city of Cardiff.
There's nothing wrong with the people or the company, but honest to God, working in a supermarket is the most depressing thing EVER. 

It literally feels like you'll never escape. Time slows down and you seem to attract every arsehole in the world who asks you something stupid like: "Which of these mustards has an earthier flavour?"

http://www.awesomelyluvvie.com

Then when you don't have the right answer because you don't rate the earthiness of mustard, they're so rude that it shoots down your faith in humanity. (This actually happened).

As a student, I'm further into my overdraft than I'd prefer to think about. Unlike other people, I don't have a student loan so the money won't automatically get topped up as of April 1st; Thus why I'm now employed and need to pay off the domino debt. 
So anyway, I hate the job. Absolutely hate it. But how do I quit when I'm contracted to 3 months?
I've thought of a few options. 


Tell them I've broken my ankle and there's no way I can carry on my contract. 
Never show up again 
Tell them a family member is on the fence of life and I must rush back to Cardiff 
Fake my own death
Cry at them until they understand and we'll split mutually i.e. they'll assume I'm mentally unstable and get rid of me as quickly as possible

As you can tell, I'm avoiding an honest, grown up conversation because I'm not a qualified adult. (By legal standards yes but judging on the fact that I'm lying on my floor eating crackers, let's go with nowhere near maturity).

If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. I'm struggling to find ways of having a conversation with them that doesn't involve something unrealistically dramatic.

Just a Few Reasons Why Fairtrade is so Important.

As part of my course, I study a radio module for which we get set regular projects. As part of this weeks project, we've been told to make a news package on something current and relevant to a 16-24 year old age range. A few google searches later, we found out that it's currently Fairtrade fortnight, so there came out project topic. 

Despite our university running its own Fairtrade events, none of the 4 members of my group, myself included, knew about it so we decided to find out why young people aren't targeted more heavily for Fairtrade awareness, because we do care. Myself and my group are a prime example of this. 

Although we're only half way through our package, I've found that this project has been genuinely really interesting and has inspired me to share the importance of Fairtrade. 

First of all we had to find out about Fairtrade. We all see the symbol and know the basics but here's a better description from the foundation itself. 

"Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world"

Here are some bananas that were on top of my fridge and bare the Faitrade sticker. Bananas are one of the main culprits for unfair trade in the developing world. 

Fairtrade are currently running a campaign called 'Stick with Foncho' which is urging people to sign a petition for MPs to investigate unsustainable supermarket pricing practises. The only people who suffer from cheap banana pricing is the producers which is wholly unjust. The supermarket price wars are threatening the livelihood and futures of banana farmers who cannot cope with such bad prices for their produce. 

Click Here to sign the petition. It will barely take a minute but will hopefully help Foncho and people like him. 

http://Foncho.fairtrade.org.uk

Chocolate and coffee are two other major products that we in the western world purchase from developing countries. It was a surprise to me to find out that leading brands such as Cadburys aren't always Fairtrade products. A Fairtrade representative we interviewed informed us that as soon as Cadbury products introduce another element other than chocolate, for example fruit and nut, the chocolate is sourced from non Fairtrade producers. 

The point I'm making is that if there is a Fairtrade label, we are always going to notice and appreciate it, but it's not something that we explicitly look for. I know I don't, but it's something I'm going to change. 

Fairtrade is becoming a more present element of food and produce, but will only become a household factor when people are more aware of it. 

In my honest opinion, supermarkets should have to source their products fairly. The Fairtrade Foundation is not for profit. It is not a trademark or a company, it is a certification of justice. The pictures included in this post are all items I have bought in my university over the past few days. However Fairtrade is not the sole provider of fairly sourced produce. There are many produce- specific foundations such as the ethical tea partnership. Fairtrade is just the example I'm using to promote the importance of a balanced trading system in the world.  

In a way I'm proud to attend a university that embodies Fairtrade, but actually this should be the norm. I shouldn't even have to think about it, and I don't think you should either. (Ps. I totally didn't eat a flapjack and and brownies whilst writing this. I promise...). In the short time we've been working on this project, I've had my eyes completely opened, and I'm hoping I can do the same for other people. Please sign the petition. It could change someone's life.