5 Catalan TV series you should check out

One of my favourite ways of learning foreign languages is to immerse myself in the media that is produced in that language. When I was learning Catalan, I really enjoyed listening to podcasts, reading newspapers, and watching television in this wonderful language, so I thought I'd compile a list of my five of my favourite Catalan TV shows and tell you a little bit about each one.

Temps de silenci (2001-2005, TV3)

Temps de silenci focuses on the life of a wealthy Barcelona family, the Dalmau family, from shortly before the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) until the end of the last century. The series tells the stories of the Dalmau, Comes, Hernández families and frames them through the social, cultural, and political events of the epoch.

I started watching it as a way of revising for my Catalan finals at Birmingham last year and it taught me so much, not just about the Catalan language, but also about 20th-century Catalan history too.

The story follows the personal journey of the narrator, Isabel Dalmau, a young upper-class Catalan, and her working-class love interest, Ramon Comes. It is something of an impossible love because of the prevalent class differences and this serves as a thematic construction throughout the series, intertwining this narrative with the history of Catalonia from 1935 to the turn of the millennium.

In an easy-to-understand manner, it deals with events such as the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath, daily life and repression in Catalonia during the Franco regime, the restoration of democracy, the 23-F coup, changing attitudes of the role of women in Catalan society, and the 1992 Olympics.

It was the first period series about 20th-century on Spanish television and its considerable success kicked off a trend that led to other period dramas, such as Cuéntame cómo pasó (Tell me how it happened - a series following the Alcántra family in the later years of the Franco dictatorship and the early years of the transition to democracy) and Amar en tiempos revueltos (To love in times of revolt - set in the times of the Spanish civil war and the early Francoism), being commissioned by the Spanish state broadcaster, TVE.

Merlí (2015-present, TV3)

When I was back visiting friends in Barcelona in December 2015, everybody was talking about this fantastic series that was being aired on the Catalan broadcaster, TV3, at the time. It features an A-level philosophy teacher, Merlí Bergeron, who stimulates his students to think freely through unorthodox teaching methods that divide his students, their families and his colleagues.

Merlí is clearly influenced by films like the Dead Poets Society and there is a conscious effort to bring a basic understanding of philosophy to the audience in an accessible way. Each episode features the approaches of some great thinker or school, such as the Peripatetics, Nietzsche or Schopenhauer, and these link with the events of the characters during that episode.

I've really enjoyed the two series of Merlí so far (a third is rumoured to be coming soon) and it has made me somewhat nostalgic for the passion and excitement of my own sixth form days.

Cites (2015-present, TV3)

Cites (Dates) is inspired by the 2013 British series Dates (created by Brian Elsley - which I still haven't seen).

It mixes romantic comedy and drama focussing on a number of first dates of people who have met via a Tinder-like app. Up to 24 actors are featured in the dates, which often leads to sexual or romantic relationships (unlike my own haha).

From the point that the two people meet (often in a bar or a restaurant), the characters aim to carry out their intentions while undergoing awkward and/or romantic moments (much like me on a date).

The dates are all set in Barcelona (there are very few series in Catalan that are focussed in Catalonia's other cities, it seems) and people of different ages, sexual orientations, and marital statuses are involved.

Nit i Dia (2016-present, TV3)

Nit i dia is a thriller that revolves around the daily lives of police, forensic doctors, and judges who must solve crimes and murders and deal with the darker side of reality.

Nit i dia chronicles the daily life of a coroner and the conflict between her desire to lead a normal life and daily contact with the harsh reality. The series begins on the day that a coroner Sara Grau, who is married to a senior executive of a multinational company, starts IVF treatment; that day, in an autopsy, recognises an unidentified corpse of a stranger with whom she had a brief affair and, from that point on, a chain of events occurs that disrupts the life of the protagonist and all those around her.

It also features wonderfully nuanced characters such as an elderly judge caught between two women, a psychiatrist traumatised by their past, two-faced executives or criminals who cannot stop themselves from reoffending.

In many ways, it is similar to the BBC series Silent Witness, however rather than just focussing on the forensic doctors (as Silent Witness does very well), it is also a portrait of contemporary Barcelona, with its lights and its shadows.

Ventdelplà (2005-2010, TV3)

Ventdelplà tells the (fictional) story of how a woman from Barcelona, a former doctor no less, attempts to rebuild her life in a small, rural Catalan village in the province of Girona after fleeing with her two children from physical and emotional abuse from her lawyer husband. 

Despite the dramatic nature of the start of the series, Ventdelplà dramatises the dramas, love stories and issues that exist in the lives of the inhabitants of rural Catalan villages.

I must admit: I'm only 50 episodes into Ventdelplà (there are 330 episodes) and it is the only one of the series in this article that I haven't finished, So far, it's featured a woman liberated from an abusive marriage, conflict between rural and urban lifestyles, a character dying from terminal illness and its effects on her teenage son, and the difficulties that a young protagonist must endure after becoming paralysed in a car crash.

The fact that it is set in a rural Girona town is something that is really refreshing considering that the vast majority of Catalan-language dramas take place with Barcelona and its confines. In fact, most of the scenes in this series were shot in the small town of Breda, in the la Selva region.

#WhereToGoInBarcelona - Black Remedy

Black Remedy are the new kids on the block. Owned by the Ascaso family, who also own the fantastic Compak Grinders), they opened in November last year in the heart of Barcelona's touristic yet trendy Ciutat Vella neighbourhood.

It's a slightly bigger space than many of Barcelona's other specialty coffee locations with workbenches for getting work done, proper tables to eat breakfast, brunch, or lunch at, and lower-level tables that are perfect for sipping a flat white on.

Serving great coffee and delectable food, Black Remedy have become something of a hipster mecca already, serving great beans from a variety of roasters including Tusell Tostadores (house roaster for espresso), Hidden Cafè BCN, Valladolid's Puchero Coffee, and Barcelona's Right Side Coffee.

Ideally situated in the Barri Gòtic, just behind the Plaça Sant Jaume and next to the Ajuntament (town hall), Black Remedy (C/ Ciutat, 5) has amazing food and that was (mainly) why I tend to go there with friends (it's a bit out of my way as I'm based in the north-west of the city and BR is in the south-east).

Usually, I have the delectable roasted vegetable and feta cheese salad (their veggie/vegan seta burger is ace too), whilst for meat-eaters, the pulled pork sandwich is highly-rated. If you're in the mood for a guilty pleasure, I'd check out their New York Cheesecake (yummm).

BR is extremely accessible with a flat entrance and several level tables - surprisingly rare in Barcelona's specialty coffee shops - although there's a slight step up to the toilet. The ambience there is fantastic and the staff are incredibly friendly too.

Keeping fit as a wheelchair user - 5 things I've learnt

You know what? There's still quite a few people who look surprised when I say that, as a wheelchair user, I go to the gym.

Sure, I may not always get it right first time and my exercises might not be picture-perfect, but I've always found a way to adapt my fitness regime so that I can get the ability out of my disability.

Here are five things I've noted about going to the gym as a disabled person.

Yes, I need a bit of help... Don't we all?

At the gym, I usually am accompanied by a glamorous assistant who helps me get on and off the machines, pass me any weights I can't pick up easily, set up any machines that I can't sort you myself, and remind me when I've lifted 50 reps on one set and I think I've only done twenty (seriously, when I get into beast mode, I'm unstoppable haha).

Thinking about it, in many ways, having a gym buddy isn't that different to how many able-bodied people exercise: I'd highly recommend it as having someone to go to the gym with can keep you motivated and you can teach each other techniques.

Seriously though, going to the gym would be difficult for me if it wasn't for the guys who assist and motivate me: thanks to my old man Rob, Jase, and Kev for their assistance (and patience) over the years.

Just ignore the people gawping at you as you get on the off the machines.

Yeah, this is something that happens to me all the time, especially as my balance can be a bit skew-whiff when I try to stand up.

When I get on and off the machines (especially the treadmill and stepper), people often stare at me in some weird amazement that a disabled person can use a given machine and lift that level of weight. I'm fine with that and I sometimes jokingly stare back at them.

Yeah, there were a lot of people staring at me that day

People at my home gyms of the Village Wirral and the Underground Training Centre on the paradise peninsula (as well as the Esports UB in Barcelona) are used to my weird and wonderful ways, but it can be particularly interesting to watch people get nervous and start staring at me if I'm travelling and decide to go to a new gym.

If it doesn't work the first time, try again!

I've lost count of the amount of times I've been trying out a new exercise and I've had a dreadful first set because my legs have flown out halfway through, my posture has been dodgy, my range of movement not good enough, or I've misjudged the technique required completely.

This has happened far too many times to mention, but I've always gone back to these exercises to try again and many of movements I've struggled with first time have gone on to become favourites of mine after technique coaching or adaptations.

I love doing abdominal crunches now, but when I first started, they were really difficult to get right.

If there's a machine or exercise you struggled with during your recent workout, try it out again and ask someone to observe your technique as you do it, as this may provide the reason as to why you're struggling with it.

Adapt, adapt, adapt the workout to suit your needs

Sure, there are exercises and machines that you seemingly can't do (the cross-trainer and bike are two that I cannot pull off), however, I've found that seemingly impossible exercises can be adapted to suit the wheelchair user.

You've just got to be creative in adapting the gym to one's needs when you get in there and approach every new challenge positively.

A creative gym session at the Underground Training Station, Raby Mere (South Wirral)

To illustrate this, I've recently started training at a new gym, the South Wirral Underground Training Station, with Kev. This is a place that holds weight-lifting competitions and has none of the usual machines that I'd come to associate with my usual gym sessions (it proudly claims that "The place where the only machines in the gym... are the people who train there!!" on its Instagram page).

Action shot: pulling 35kg across the gym

Ergo, it was necessary to adapt my usual, machine-heavy gym session to something entirely different (Kev was incredible at helping me make the transition); the first session was a bit weird, but needless to say, resistance bands, punchbags, and ropes that I can use to pull 35kg across the gym have become my new weapons of choice.

Never ever give up!

Going to the gym isn't for everyone nor can everyone do intensive exercise and that's something society needs to come to accept and embrace. But, for those with a disability who can or want to exercise, society's ignorance and the barriers that ableist structures put in our place should be smashed through.

Sure thing, it can be incredibly annoying to have the eyes of ten people on you as you lift or transfer from an exercise to your chair, but those people will come to accept your weird and wonderful ways of lifting and treat you as normally as they do everyone else. It's great that more and more gyms are becoming accessible and adapting their mindsets for disabled users.

If you're a person with a disability (and your physician has said that it's okay), go and give your local fitness centre a go. Never, ever give up and, take the world by storm, and go and smash society's expectations.

#WhereToGoInBarcelona - SlowMov, Gràcia

SlowMov is an ecological grocery store, coffee shop, and roastery in the idyllic Barcelona neighbourhood of Gràcia, located on the relatively tranquil Carrer de Luis Antúnez (number 18, just after the Placeta de Sant Miquel). 

Carmen Callizo, the founder of SlowMov, was studying as a postgraduate in Paris when she decided that she’d rather spend the days cooking and making artisanal coffee. 

Trained at Coutume Café in Paris by the renowned Antoine Netien, Carmen decided to open SlowMov in her grandfather’s old workshop in the neighbourhood of Gràcia, which she runs with her partner, François. 

They retain a close relationship with Coutume; in fact, their beans are supplied by the high-quality Parisian outfit. SlowMov's roaster, in full view as you enter the shop, roasts beans with a light/light-medium roasting style - a perfect pourover.

Part of SlowMov mission is to promote local ecological businesses; they have adopted the motto of “haste makes waste”. SlowMov mixes roasting and brewing coffee with local goods, including locally-grown eggs, vegetables, and other foodstuffs. There's also craft beer from the Catalan brewery, Dos Kiwis, and locally-made jams and preserves from La Madre de Miren.  

If you're passionate about well-made coffee or locally-produced goods, then these guys are the people to visit: they're incredibly knowlegable individuals and will often take time out to explain the nuances of roasting and making great coffees through your preferred method. 

    

Me brewing up some beans the other week at SlowMov

If you're lucky, you might spot me in there making a v60 or a Kalita, which I always love to share with my fellow coffee lovers.

Have you been to SlowMov? How did you find it? Where should I review next in my #WhereToGoInBarcelona series? Let me know in the comments below.

The Political Elf - my views on Labour, Corbyn, and Brexit

I've been wanting to write a post for a while on British politics and current affairs, so here it is. I'm a member of Labour Party, ergo, this post is going to address my views on the state of the Party, Jeremy Corbyn, and the most pressing issue of our time, Brexit. Hope y'all enjoy it and do let me know what you think.

We need to talk about Labour

Yes, I'm a (proud, yet not always satisfied) member of the Labour Party. I joined in 2009 (aged just 15), back in the twilight period of Gordon Brown's premiership and Labour's 13 years in power, took a break from the party in 2012 whilst at university, and rejoined the morning after Labour's 2015 election defeat in a desire to register my discontent with the fact we had a Tory majority government that would hurt the poorest and most vulnerable in our society the hardest.

In my view, Labour must be a party of government, for it is only in government, that we can fight on behalf of the many, not the few and deliver policies that benefit and protect working class and vulnerable communities up and down the country.

I completely believe that Labour needs to be talking about the Tory cuts to our fantastic National Health Service (I wouldn't be alive without it), social care (this is and will be a growing problem in the coming years, as a result of our ageing population), and education systems.

The education system is something I'm extremely passionate about. I was educated at a special school nursery, a Catholic primary school, a comprehensive secondary school on a Merseyside former council estate, and a grammar school sixth form. Thus, I completely understand the need for a diverse education system, as the path to success is most definitely not the same for everybody. Labour's policies on education must focus on ensuring a mix of high-quality schools in every community and devolving local education decisions to communities, as they are the ones that are impacted by them the most.

We need to also be trying to craft a hopeful vision of our future. Such a policy narrative must be engaging, positive, and progressive: for the many, not the few. It should aim to address the concerns of our complex society, particularly for those in post-industrial communities that feel left behind by technological change and globalisation, that don't feel that Labour, in recent years, has been speaking to them and their communities.

It's not about full-throttle socialism, but about offering policies that focus on what works and creating a secure, sustainable future for all.  

On Corbyn, leadership elections, and communication 

In terms of leadership elections, I have a bit of a weird history: I voted Dianne Abbot in 2010, Andy Burnham in 2015, and Owen Smith in 2016. Politically confusing, right?

In 2010, I backed Diane because I wanted Labour to take a break from the New Labour years and decisively create radical policies in opposition to the Tory-Lib Dem coalition government (yes, I was also 16 and rather politically naive).

In 2015, I thought long and hard about my decision; I considering backing both Jeremy Corbyn and Andy Burnham, but, in the end, I plumped for Burnham as I felt that he represented our best chance of winning back communities that felt abandoned by the political establishment.

A mugshot from my 2016 photoshoot for an article on the Labour leadership election. Credit: Christopher Thomond for The Guardian.

In 2016, despite the fact that I had got behind Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party in its opening months, I felt that there was something of a disconnect in communication between what Corbyn and his team wanted to express to the country and how they were perceived (Corbyn's national anthem episode springs to mind); the disconnect was such that I felt that we were at risk of losing patriotic, working class voters to reactionary groups like UKIP. 

The problem, for me, wasn't (and still isn't) Corbyn himself or even his policies, but the way that his communications team has allowed him to be portrayed: there's a market for older, grizzled political leaders (José Mujica of Uruguay is someone whose plain oratory and man-of-the-people image I've always thought Corbyn should seek to emulate). 

Immediately after the EU referendum, neither the country nor a lot of the party was feeling much love for Corbyn (his missteps, including speeches where he sounded more sceptical than in favour of remaining in the EU and an infamous appearance on a comedy show where he said he was only 7/10 in favour of remaining in the EU, loomed large), a leadership challenge was called: given my dissatisfaction with Corbyn's leadership, I backed Owen Smith (or Jones, or whoever he was), albeit with the expectation that he would not prevail.

Despite the fact that neither Andy nor Owen won, I wished (and still wish) Jeremy Corbyn well after both of his leadership elections and hope that he can find the golden bullet to get Labour into government. I'm looking forward to doing my bit to help Steve Rotherham and Andy Burnham win their respective Metro Mayor races in Liverpool and Manchester over the coming months. If we can't deliver policies in Westminster, we'll hopefully be able to do it through the new city-regions. 

To those who speak of finding Corbyn's successors, I urge them to unite behind Jeremy and ensure that we can fight against the Tory cuts up and down the country. Although some say Labour can never win with Corbyn as Leader, many said neither Brexit nor Trump as President could ever happen: stranger things than Jeremy Corbyn becoming Prime Minister have happened in recent years.

Brexit - reluctantly, it's time to leave

Credit: Christopher Thomond for The Guardian.

I'm one of the biggest fans of the European Union I know, but it's now time to accept the result of the referendum and push for the least painful exit possible. 

The investment that the European Union brought to Liverpool as a result of it being the 2008 European Capital of Culture transformed my home city-region in ways that are often easy to forget. I was at an event the other week when a former Liverpool player reminded us of how far Liverpool has come in the last ten years: the player was talking about how when he moved to Liverpool, there wasn't even a cinema in the city centre: now, we got new shopping centres, cinemas, hotels, bars, and, of course, jobs as a result of European Union investment and the profile this gave the city region.   

Additionally, as a languages graduate, the European Union has allowed me to study abroad: my time in Barcelona has been supported by the EU both directly, as an Erasmus student at the Universitat de Barcelona, and indirectly, as a postgrad at the Pompeu Fabra through the freedom of movement granted to me as an EU citizen. Some of the best periods of my life have come as a result of the freedoms granted by the EU and I'm deeply saddened by the fact that future generations may not have the same freedoms and opportunities as I have had.

That being said, it's now time to accept the result of the referendum and push for the least painful exit possible. The vast majority of British people have accepted that we will, in all likelihood, be leaving the European Union and it is necessary that our political leaders do so too. 

Whilst some might say that Labour has failed to oppose the government over the triggering Article 50, I would posit that it is an electorally clever strategy: not following through on the result of a legitimate referendum would have devasted Labour support in working-class "Leave" areas and allowed the Tories and the far-right UKIP to label us as 'undemocratic'. 

Maybe the tide will turn against our exit and there'll be a referendum on the terms of our exit negotiations... After all, two years is a long time in politics.