For the first time ever I was flying over this land, leaving its clouds, above everyone else. In a matter of minutes we had crossed 30 landscapes that took me 2 years to discover. Below me were the orange plains, farmland; then the imposing mountains, forlorn with strems diced with ice and valleys unvisited for centuries, if ever; then there was the thin strip I had only visited days ago, the strip of land from which New Zealand is born and to which so many waters flow. The plains, Aoraki and the washed incline had disappeared. For the first time ever I was flying from this land I will permanently be trapped in, or because.

In Munich I was able to hear the catalan rhythm again. I felt excited! For two and a half years I'd only heard my mother tongue from my mum. Now randoms, speaking about weather and politics. It's funny how every culture has favourite topics that spring up again and again when people talk. For Catalans it's these two. I was more than glad to overhear. I ell que es, Catala o Espanyol? [What is he, Catalan or Spainsh?] You see, you can't be both. Again Catalonia is reviving politically, as it did in the late 19th century and in the 1930s. Being Spanish rules you out from being Catalan, but being Catalan automatically, to the eyes of many, puts you in a bullfighters uniform, playing a Spainish guitar. It is a shame and painful. Something many won't understand. There is this pride in seeing your own do well. Catalans have been oppressed for more or less 300 out of the last 550 years, at intervals. A mi no em costa res parlar Castella, pero si m'obliguen em fot dels ous. No em costa res, pero jo se que em podrien entendre. [It isn't an effort for me to speak Spanish, but if they force me it fucks me off. It's no effort but I know they could understand me] For most of the three hundred years the language was prohibited. This has inevitably made it closer to spanish, as it is the language that had to be used in the streets. The influence was unavoidable, like French influenced the proto-English tongue. It is frustrating for Catalans to have to speak Spanish. Simply put, how would one feel about not being able to speak English in England, or Maori in Aotearoa? However, when entering the plane the guy answered the hostess in Spanish, because that is the language he was spoken to. Spanair is Catalan. It is such a cultural thing to do to drop Catalan straight away, when asked. Catalans are bilingual, or tri; Spanish don't give a damn. This is Spain they say. Catalans may always just accept, cot their head down and do as they're told. Of course they shouldn't. Independentist feelings have grown again, for the first time since the late 80's when the resistance movement of the Catalan terrorists Terra Lliure started to dwindle. If we want to be part of a democracy, we should become independant, this comes through fighting and resistance.

"No et limites a contemplar aquestes hores que ara venen, baixa al carrer i participa. No podran res davant un poble unit, alegre i combatiu" - Vicent Ferrer.

[Don't just sit and watch these hours here to come, go on to the streets and take part. They won't be able to do anything against a united, proud and fighting nation.