I'm in Jer. Excellent idea.
Lena

holaaa..., i wrote...

quote:

i would like 4 people to meet me at atocha at 8am (symbolically around the time of the bombing) so we can do this.

doubt we will still be there at 10:30am but thanks for offering.

lena, very cool

ok, so far we are...

- jer.
- sunny.
- nava.
- roland.
- lena.

... but let's not stop there. that is the minumum i wanted to help but i think the more the merrier (or the more solemn in this case )

anyone else who wants to come along and help light the candles, please post here, e-mail me or just show up at 8am.

will post a good meeting place for the station as soon as i can.

saludos,
jer...

Sorry, I didn't read it properly.

Please count me in. 10.30 is the time I have to go to work, so I can be there at 8am. I was also there last year at 7.40am too...

coool.

yes, it hit a lot closer to home for you holaaa...

so far...

- jer.
- sunny.
- nava.
- roland.
- lena.
- holaaa...

saludos,
jer...

I'm sure there will be all kinds of activities going on that day at Atocha and I'm sure we'll be joined by hundreds, if not thousands of people who will go down to honor the victims and spend a few moments of remembrance that morning.
Jer, do you mind if I mention the mm candle lighting to our students? As soon as you let us know the meeting place (hopefully before next Monday when we publish our weekly bulletin) I could announce it and see if any students are interested in joining us.
And also I was just notified of this: Atocha Workshop http://www.atochaworkshop.org/
Looks interesting and I thought maybe some mm'ers might be interested in signing up and going or following up on what they do.
saludos, (we need a peace graemlin to use on messages like this, I guess the love one will do for now :ks: we spread that around, peace will come along too)
Lena

hey Lena, thanks for the weblink.

as for the middlebury student thang, i'm cool with it if you are.

got the candles already, tall red ones.

saludos,
jer...

just a reminder that this is going on THIS friday morning, march 11th.

we will meet at 8am at the "el brillante" cafeteria at "plaza del emperador carlos v" number 8 (across from atocha train station).
MAP HERE

for those of you taking the metro, get off at "atocha" and not "atocha renfe".

i will be there early having bkfast if anyone wants to join me.

saludos,
jer...

see you all tomorrow morning.

my cell phone number is 656266844 in case you need to call.

saludos,
jer...

Hi, Jer, just a quickie here to confirm that I'll be there tomorrow. Need to bring anything?

just yourself.

(maybe sunny and sunny_3 would like to help out as well )

saludos,
jer...

I'll be there!

And also, being a Friday and all, I'll be heading to Sol afterwards to give blood, as there will be a red cross bus there from 9 to 14, just in case someone wants to join me.

Well, since no one has written any kind of follow up here I figured I'd give my account of what we did this morning. When we got to Atocha station we asked around and got sent to Costumer Service where they were nice and grateful but refused our candles. They told us that after they took out the initial bunch of candles that were placed a year ago they do not want any more candles being lit inside the station. They sent us to el Bosque de los Ausentes at El Retiro as the most appropriate place for our little memorial. So off we trekked with the handcart and boxes of candles only to find out that El Retiro is closed for us today, "solamente oficiales" are allowed. The policemen were nice and kind too, but they wouldn't let anybody in and suggested we put them outside somewhere. So we headed back towards the train station and crossing Paseo de la Infanta Isabel we found a nice sunny spot on the wide median there with trees and everything, so we took our candles out and started lighting them. Many people stopped by and talked with us or took pictures, a guy helped us light candles for a few minutes, another one had two candles of his own that he added to ours. Of course we got some media attention as well, a few camera crews and interviews. Roland got us organized enough to get the candles into the "lazo" shape that we've seen so much all over during the last year. I hope Jeremy can upload the picture he took of it, I think it looked quite nice.
A man that stopped by asked me why we were speaking English and where we were from. I told him from all over, US, Britain, Philippines, Israel, Cuba, and had English as a common language, but we live here, Madrid is our home, the city we love, and we also share the pain and wanted to do something to honor and remember the victims.
In memoriam, por la democracia, por la paz...

hey lena, thanks for the account.

yes, it was nice when we finally found a place for our candles.

here are the pics i took with my cellphone...





thanks so much to sunny, nava, roland, lena and half Rocco for coming, lighting and organizing.

and thanks for all the donations last year from the mmers, still have enough in the pot for a repeat next year.

saludos,
jer...

Sorry, guys, I wanted to be there, but it's been too much for me this week already

Last year I was entering the station, in another train. It stopped 100 metres to the station, and we had to climb up across a little hill in Atocha's side to get out. I saw injured people getting out of Atocha and also people from the other train, as I headed down Ciudad de Barcelona and crossed calle Tellez. I wasn't injured, but only because my train was one minute late: some people I knew were waiting for my train in Atocha and one of them was killed. I can't stop thinking 'What if...'.

Reading about everything again in the newspapers and watching the TV this week has been quite hard for me. I respect everybody, but I've decided I don't want to go through this again, that's why I'm not reading newspapers or watching TV today, and that's why I decided not to participate in your candle lighting this morning.

I'm writing this also to say THANK YOU to all mm members, because you've made this year a very special one. I'm glad I've had the oportunity to know you. :ks: