Culturally Competent

Ok so I know I've been inundating you all with pictures and lovely banter, but I figured I should try and be educational here too.  This is my CULTURE POST!  Yay!  Get pumped people.

Well, life here is a bit slower.  People don't have urgency in their step or when they eat.  In fact, we spend about 2 hours at a restaurant each time we're there.  We can't ever get the check!  Also, no one eats while they walk.  Now, I understand that I should be culturally aware, but eating and going is how I function so sadly during those 5 minutes I will stick out as a foreigner.

Punctuality is also not stressed here.  Our classes usually start 5 to ten minutes late.  I was 15 minutes late to class on Friday because my alarm on my ipod never went off.  I was practically running to get there, and when I did I began apologizing feverishly and my professor just said, "Oh no don't worry it's Friday!  We're just glad you're here!"

Partying and celebrating is another aspect of the culture.  I thought that Americans were crazy people, no.  My most intense party friends would have a hard time keeping up here.  The bars and discotecas are full around 3 am when most College Park bars are closing.  Things don't slow down until 7am and then after that most people go to after parties.....yeah....insane.

Also, life here is on a later schedule.  People wake up around 8:30, have a coffee and snack around 11 and then a large lunch around 2 at home with family.  Siesta (nap/rest) time lasts until 4:30 when people then go back to work.  Around 6 or 7 everyone walks around the town enjoying the atmosphere and getting tapas with friends.  Then dinner occurs around 9 or 10 pm.  At 11:30 or midnight there are still people out walking around on the weekends.

In class it is rude to eat or drink anything but water.  At home, there is a bare foot aversion of some kind.  Everyone I've talked to said you ALWAYS wear socks or slippers in the house.  Bare feet are never seen.  I'm not sure if this is because they think of the floors as a dirty place or because they heat sparingly so it is usually chilly in the apartments.  They don't dry clothes in a dryer, at least not at our apartment.  They are washed in a lavadora and then hung to dry in a little alcove next to everyone's apartment.

There is a government mandated time for sales here.  All stores MUST have sales for the month of January.  The word REBAJAS (sales) is plastered in every store window.  It's quite interesting and very lucky for all of us girls on the trip!

Finally food.  So I went on the hunt for Peanut butter the other day.  The way my program works is that for my homestay I chose 2 meals a day.  This means I have to find 1 meal each day.  That meal is always lunch or dinner.  Well after looking at prices for things I decided that I should buy some groceries so I could make food on my own.  Also, getting food to go doesn't exist either.  Yes they have some normal fast food places (Dominoes, McDonald's, Burger King), but other than that there really isn't anything other than sit down bars and restaurants.

I'd had PB&J at a friends dorm room (some students stay in the Residencias on main campus), and realized it was a great and easy way to eat.  So I grab bread, jelly.........and then discover that apparently peanut butter does not exist in Spain.  They just don't use it.  When trying to ask my Spainish mom about it she was saying I needed a bigger store and pointing me to a few.  I missed the subtly in what she was saying, but luckily her daughter was there too.  Maria Josepha quickly pointed out that I wanted peanut butter WITHOUT chocolate.  This stunned my abuela.  She could not comprehend why on earth I'd want a spread without chocolate.  She also was unsure where to find it.  I had to go to two smaller markets and one ALMOST normal sized grocery store to find VERY over priced peanut butter.  Here was the result.

Here is the shelf on which I found the peanut butter up at the VERY top left corner.  The red jars are peanut butter.  EVERYTHING ELSE on this shelf was some form of chocolate spread or chocolate hazelnut spread.  My god.  How they have these choices and are not as obese as Americans just beats me.

That is the culture report so far.  When I think of more differences I'll let you know!