Part II: Cultural Differences

Or, in España, Las Diferencias Culturales 

Hello again!
So this is the blog post that I've been wanting to write since before I even left the states. As soon as I knew I was going to Spain I started thinking, What is it going to be like? What will the differences and/or similarities be? Will I be able to adapt to, learn from, and feel comfortable in a culture that, while Western, is still very different from my own? But before I get into it, let me just say that this post is about differences, not things that are worse or better in either culture, as much as possible I am trying to be value free!

Well, after a whopping ten days here I have started to answer these questions and boy, my brain is running overtime. There is so much to think about! This is obviously a huge topic, so I'm just going to briefly (hopefully) tell you about some of the ones that I've noticed the most. I apologize in advance as this post is going to have fewer pictures than the others, but hopefully it's interesting enough that you can read on. ;) I'll include some random photos to keep your attention. :)

 Windmills on a hill on the bus ride from Madrid to Salamanca. There are electricity generating windmills and fields of solar panels everywhere!

En la casa (In the home):  First things first, DON'T WASTE WATER. I don't think there is a significant water shortage here in Spain, but Spaniards are very careful with how much water they use out of the faucet. The first day I moved in I needed to wash my hands (I got plane grease on them from the bottom of my suitcase) so I asked my señora (Nati, my host mom) if she had any grease cutting soap and she assisted me to the sink. I of course carelessly turned the faucet on all the way like I would at home and she immediately turned it down to a trickle. As far as I've noticed, most people don't shower daily, more like once every other or every two days. My host sister and I of course still shower daily, but I try to take military showers (I turn off the water when I'm shaving or soaping or whatnot). At meals we always have bottled water; I'm not sure if that is to save money on utilities bills or because the water from the faucet is undesirable (I've consumed the water from the faucet multiple times and haven't gotten sick so hopefully it's ok). Also it seems like they drink much less water in general here, my señora usually has wine with meals and I don't see anyone except the other American students walking around with nalgenes or drinking water between meals. Along with water, mi familia is very conscious of conserving energy; the very first day I arrived Nati told me to always turn out the lights when I leave a room. Also I've returned to my room a couple of times to find the lamp or my laptop unplugged after Nati has cleaned.

Second, your feet should always be covered when in the house. Our IES pamphlet says that it is considered rude to walk around barefoot, but my señora said (this is a very common phrase among all of the IES students..) that if you walk around barefoot you will catch a cold! When I asked David about this he said that they are all taught from a very young age that if you walk around barefoot you will catch a cold. Remembering to put slippers on is a little bit more difficult for me than remembering to save water, I've been scolded a couple of times for going barefoot haha.

Third, mom is the master of the house and she takes care of everything! Nati has started letting Katie and I help clean up after la comida and la cena but not much else. Also the new buzzword among the IES students is ¿quieres más? ¿quieres más? (do you want more?) It seems as if our señoras are always asking this during meals! This is because of another difference, you are expected to turn down the food offered the first and second times and then accept on the third! Also it is considered annoying to be continually saying por favor (please) and gracias (thank you) for everything in the home. Katie and I are both very polite so this is a little bit of an issue for us haha. Like I noted in a previous post, mealtimes and meal sizes are a bit different here than in the US (refer to my previous post, whirlwind, for a description of the meals).

 A girl's tuna (musical group) from Portugal playing in La Plaza Mayor.

 Churros con zumo y chocolate! Best breakfast ever!

En la calle (On the street): So the first thing that I immediately noticed is that semi-aggressive PDA (Public Displays of Affection for those of you who aren't aware) between couples is completely acceptable and even expected! Walking down the streets or sitting in La Plaza Mayor or even at a children's puppet show (yes, it happened), there are couples sucking face (I mean this quite literally) and groping  each other right out in public. I do recognize that we Americans definitely have issues when it comes to sex/physical affection (for example, it is unacceptable to make out w/ your significant other in public but it is totally acceptable to pretty accurately imitate the act of sex on the dance floor), but this piece of the culture here was a little jarring to me.

The second thing I noticed is how much more prevalent smoking is. Just recently (January of this year) smoking was banned in restaurants, bars, and some other public places, but in the streets there are still a lot of smokers, and a lot of them are people my age. It has been difficult to stifle my ingrained passive-aggressive reaction to not-so-discreetly cough or clear my throat when someone is smoking near me like I would do at home, but I'm working on it!

Something else of note is that Spaniards seem, as a whole but not a rule, to be concerned with dressing appropriately if they are going to be out and about. On the streets, in La Plaza, and even in the supermarcado (supermarket), men and women alike dress for the occasion. Most women here wear tacones (high heels) when going anywhere outside of the house. Flats are also very popular, I've especially noticed that Roman style sandals are prevalent; almost no one wears flip flops. Guys wear nicer casual clothes; I have only seen a handful of men wearing regular cotton tshirts and most of them appeared to be heading to the gym. In this respect a lot of us Americans in our flip flops, shorts, and tshirts stand out pretty obviously in a crowd of Spaniards.

Spaniards also tend to stand and walk much closer together (even with perfect strangers) than Americans would. I read about this before I left for Spain so I was prepared but it is taking a little bit of getting used to. Both guys and girls alike here seem to relate much more often in a physically affectionate manner than their counterparts in the US would. When two guys are meeting for the first time it is common for them to grab hands and have a sort of bro hug. When a guy/girl or girl/girl pair meet for the first time it is customary to give two kisses, one on each cheek. I experienced this for the first time last night while we were playing soccer; Manuel, one of the USAL students who is helping us with orientation, brought a couple of his guy friends to play soccer with us and when he introduced us they hugged the guys and gave us girls kisses (one of them was named Alejandro, no joke, eat your heart out ladies ;) ).

Additionally, Spaniards seem a bit brusque and less polite on the street than Americans. If you bump into someone they don't usually say anything and it is considered strange (or a come-on) if you smile at someone after making eye contact on the street. David told us that when he first studied in the US he thought it was really cool that all the people were smiling at him on the street all the time; he thought all the girls were hitting on him! haha. This is also a little difficult to adjust to, I'm very accustomed to saying 'I'm sorry' kind of excessively and smiling at random people on the street.

Oh ya know, just chillin' near a grape field.

Miscellaneous: Obviously the language is a major cultural difference, but with a different language comes different sentiments and a different way of viewing the world. One difference is a lack of an equivalent word in Spanish for our English word/sentiment, "awkward." Imagine a world without the concept of an awkward situation, interesting huh?

Time also runs a little differently here; everything is a bit later and a bit less punctual than in the US. For example, our university classes all start on the hour but the orientation helpers told us that it is normal for a class to start 10 or 15 minutes later than schedules. As an intriguing side note to this, none of the appliances in my host family's kitchen have a clock on them. I am used to being able to look at the stove or the microwave or the coffeemaker to see the time but none of those appliances have clocks here! I'm not sure if that is common to all families but it is true for mine. Also time is written in what we think of as military time in the US, i.e., 7:00 = 7:00AM, 19:00=7:00PM.

Ok, this is getting pretty long so I'm going to leave you with that. I will probably revisit this topic in a later post as I spend more time here and encounter new things! Perhaps a later post will include similarities (there are a lot) as well as differences. I hope you've enjoyed reading about this, I've really enjoyed discovering all of it!

I hope all of you on the east coast are staying dry and safe from the rain!

¡Abrazos!