Pink

Day two of the International Women's Day events. First up, a (women only) talk/discussion led by F on why women-only spaces are still necessary. There was a group of about 15 of us, mostly English speakers with five Spaniards, so some ad hoc translating had to be done. F feels quite strongly about this, and so, evidently, did a Spanish woman whom none of the rest of us knew. Unfortunately she expressed her opinion quite loudly and aggressively, in both languages. I've no idea why she was so angered by the idea that men shouldn't be allowed in women's toilets, but when someone asked her to let someone else have their say, she got up and stormed out. Funnily enough a couple of people agreed with at least some of the points she made, if not with her delivery, but she didn't get a chance to find that out. 

We then had a relatively calm albeit inconclusive discussion. The Spanish women were shocked that there are large mixed-sex wards in British hospitals. And the idea that you can legally self-identify as the opposite sex in Canada blew their minds. None of this seems to be a current topic of discussion in Spain.

Later I returned for a "taster" yoga session with Amaia, as I missed the class last week and it seemed a good opportunity to catch up. I met B there; she'd never tried Iyengar before and enjoyed it despite finding it hard. K, whom we know from the intercambio, was also there; after I left, she hurried after me and more or less burst into tears. She's dealing with difficult personal issues and felt lonely and upset, so I invited her to come along with me and S to the concert of "Women in Music" in the square outside the aquarium.

As you can see, the musicians weren't exclusively women, and the quality was, well, variable. We found it best to sit at the cafe tables in the square rather than in the tent, where it was far too loud. S and I eventually made our excuses and left as we needed to cook dinner and S has an early start tomorrow. But K did seem to be feeling better by then.