Huelga General

Hola todos!

I'm sure many of you have read about the "Huelga General" (General Strike) that will take place tomorrow across the nation of Spain. A large amount of transportation will be shut down or will be running pretty infrequently and all stores will be closed. Since I take the bus to school and it comes every 1/2 hour as it is on a normal day, I am not going to make the attempt to wait for my bus tomorrow for upwards of what could be one hour to two hours. The oficina para los extranjeros (the office for foreigners) at my school sent out an email that if we feel in danger at all tomorrow to make sure we go back immediately into our houses. We also need to avoid picket lines and large groups of people as they could potentially be very violent. So, I think the best bet would be to stay put in my apartment for the day. The teachers already said they would all be understanding if we weren't able to make it to school. The strike is being held by citizens who are in opposition of new government regulations. These new regulations include wage cuts, and increase in the retirement age, and reforms that make it easier to hire/fire workers. As all of you may know, Spain was definitely hit very hard by the economic crisis and the unemployment rate exceeds 20%. However, the strike may be incredibly unproductive as the new reforms have already been made legal and there may not be anything a strike will be able to achieve. I guess we will soon find out! 

Besos, 

Lindsay