You know you're in Spain when....

The following are my first impressions of Spain after living here for almost two months.  I find myself being very observant every time I adventure into a new store or just in general when I am walking around.  The thing about where I live (Badajoz), is that there are hardly any English speakers, even less tourists and there isn't much diversity. So the following are just my personal observations that I find amusing, the list is probably going to grow as I spend more time here but here's a start!

You know you are in Spain when...

• Everyone greets everyone..even complete strangers "Hola! Buenos dias! Que tal? Hasta luego! Adios! (very friendly people)
• You get two kisses on the cheek when introduced
• People touch you when they talk to you
• The people are very fashionable- especially the women
• Speaking of fashion, the women color coordinate like none other.  If your shoes are green..then your belt, your earrings, and your eye shadow is also green.
• The people smoke like chimneys
• ^^^Maybe this is why they are all so thin? (Obesity is not an issue here)
• The men wear a lot of cologne
• You can buy a bottle of wine for 1 euro
• Everything shuts down at 2pm and opens later around 6 or 7 (restaurants, bars, shops)
• The bathrooms have dibets.. don't think I'll ever be using that

 

"Closed for the strike"

• Everyone talks about "La Crisis" and the students go on strike
• Your landlord thinks its normal to show up unannounced at 10pm (okay this is just my case)
• It is completely acceptable to take long naps in the afternoon
• Your lunch is the biggest meal--around 2 or 3
• You don't eat dinner until 10pm or later
• Ham is plentiful..they are very proud of their ham products
• Cafes line all the streets---usually packed with people
• Speaking of cafe...you know you're in Spain when coffee is served with milk and sugar (Cafe con leche) and it's the size of a shot (but very strong)

"They call this a cup of coffee?"

• You are served free snacks when you order something to drink (chips, olives, bread, potatoes)
• Its not unusual to go out past midnight and party until 5 or 6am
• No one eats the skin of the apple (I still can't figure this one out- the skin has a lot of nutrients!)  
• You don't have to leave a tip at a cafe or restaurant (pretty nice for my wallet)
• Every third person you meet is named Maria- this gets confusing

Okay so these bullet points were pretty random but they are just things that popped into my head at the moment.  Like I said, these are just my FIRST impressions, I still have a long time to go and more places to see here. Spain is a country that cannot be generalized because it varies so much depending in what area you are in..keep that in mind!

Disclaimer: I don't mean to offend any Spaniards, these are just my personal opinions.

Los españoles, "no pasa nada"

You know when you have one of those average days, then some random stranger makes your whole day great?  Well...that happened to me yesterday. I had a typical day; went to school, gave private English lessons at night, and decided to stop by a local shop to get some fruit.  The two owners of this store near our apartment are always in a great mood. They tell us hello, bye bye...and the English stops there but its their kindness that is the best.  I simply asked where their apples came from and then they asked where I was from.. (What you can't tell that I'm not Spanish?) They said, "Eres inglesa?" (Am I English?)..no, no..los estados unidos (USA).. Then they immediately started asking me how my family was, are they in the hurricane? etc, etc.  They truely cared about what was going on. Once you leave the United States, you realize just how much the world pays attention to us, what we do, what's going on, etc. 

Hurrican Sandy leaves 40 dead in the United States

Back to the store owners; smiling at me through the entire transaction, they ended the conversation with "you are always welcome here, our home is your home!" --In my mind I was thinking, thanks for an invite to come live in your fruit store, sir..but no it was a sweet gesture, this is an example of how nice the people are here. 

We open in the afternoon..5-7:30, this is a very typical sign

The Spanish people in general are very personal.  They get 2 inches away from your face when speaking to you, they touch you when speaking to you, you get 2 kisses when introduced, they greet you when you walk into a room (stranger or not), they always ask you how you are, etc.  Of course this isn't everyone in the country, but this is my experience with them so far.  I figure that when I return home, I'm going to be able to talk to anyone about anything - or start saying hello to random strangers, hopefully without kissing their cheeks :) That'd be a little awkward in the states.

Be calm, its nothing!

 

Another viewpoint that I hope I can bring back with me to the United States is the Spanish point of view; "NO PASA NADA".  Which translates to; don't worry about it, no big deal, its nothing.  This is a great way of thinking when it comes to relaxing and enjoying your life, minimizing stress.  Everything can wait for tomorrow, it can be done later, we will open our store after siesta hours, come when you can, etc! These people are truely relaxed people who enjoy the little things in life. 

Various stages of culture shock

Culture Shock::Yes, I expected it...but I feel as if I am handling it better than I thought!  I've been through culture shock before a few times and I can say that because of my endless research and preparation for Spain, I have been very content in these past two weeks.  I'd have to say moving to New Orleans from Iowa was a bigger shock to me than Spain has been.  I have great roommates, several other Auxiliares in my area, support from home and most importantly support from my teachers in my school. 

The most disappointing thing so far has been my awareness of how much of the Spanish language I don't know. In college, I understood my professors.  In Costa Rica, I understood my host family.  In Spain? Sometimes I think they are speaking Chinese.  Spain may be a very small country but they have such a huge variety of cultures, dialects, accents and even other languages all packed into one.  Depending on the area, they pronounce things very different.  For example, here in Badajoz they don't pronounce the endings of words, D's, or S's.  It has been pretty difficult for me but I have high hopes that after 8 months I will have adjusted to their accents. 

Badajoz

My city of Badajoz is cute, clean, safe and the people are very friendly.  We have everything we need packed into one smaller sized city.  I am very happy with how everything has worked out so far and I ended up living with 3 other teaching assistants (Auxiliares) like myself.  One girl from Canada, one girl from New Jersey and a guy from Ireland.  Our rent is very affordable, we have a nice little set up. I'd say my first culture shock was grocery shopping.  It was hard to not know where to go and what to get in order to eat how you are use to. 

HAM!

 

I enjoyed my first week at school and I love my schedule even more.  I always have Mondays off and I work from 9-2 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.  On Wednesday I work from 11-2.  I spent most of my week introducing myself to the students with simple things like; where I'm from, my favorite color, etc.  (Their English is limited) I was also thrown into teaching the reproductive organs in science class, yay.  It was a little awkward trying to explain to the kids what certain parts of the body were in a language that they don't know so well! Next week; I will be giving lessons on recipes, pregnancy, and animals.

This weekend I will be off to the beach for our first "Puente".  A puente is when you have an extended weekend due to a holiday :)  We have Friday off so my roommates and other auxiliares are headed to the south of Andalucia.