Major Cultural Differences

Spain. The United States of America. Very different countries. Here are some major differences between living in Spain and the U.S. that I may not have mentioned previously. If any of these are repeats from previous posts, I apologize for the inconvenience.

Grocery Stores: Think of your local ma and pa corner grocery, oh wait, there aren't any. There are a few small grocery stores around Seattle, but not many. That is how all of the stores in Madrid are. Even the gigantic stores are smaller than your average one at home. The variety is limited and you may need to go to more than one store to find all of the things you need. On the up side, there are less decisions to make while shopping! "Do I want frosted flakes, frosty crunch, sugared flakes or...damn, which one's the cheapest?"

Dryers: The U.S. is really the only place in the world where most people use a dryer. They are rather rare in the rest of the world, Spain included. I have been hanging my clothes to dry all year and it's now starting to seem a little less awkward that everyone sees each other's underwear hanging about all the time. A little.


Ovens: Many of the apartments for rent in Madrid do not have ovens. One of the other Seattle folks brought home a frozen pizza one day and when she tried to put it in the oven realized that there was no oven to be found! Oops! Luckily we do have one, a crappy old one, but still an oven nonetheless.

Family: Spain is very focused on family. You get an absurdly long time off after having a baby or getting married. When someone in your family is unemployed it becomes your duty to care for them. This may mean letting them live in your house or paying their rent. I'm not talking just parents caring for kids either. Your mom doesn't have a job, you support her. Your cousin is fired, you support him. I think that's why the country has managed to stay afloat during "the crisis". Sometimes it's really sweet and other times I want to shake people and say "grow up and get a life" or "go somewhere other than your parents' house for vacation" or even "traveling to your family's house every single weekend is completely unnecessary"...but I usually limit those phrases to my mind only.

Public Transport:
There are buses, metros, local trains, medium distance trains and long distance trains accessible from many places throughout the city. You could essentially get anywhere you want in the entire city or the suburbs and only walk a few blocks. Not the case in Seattle. And here things run in every direction, not just North-South. Such a silly layout Seattle!

Car Size: Cars in Europe are much smaller than cars in the U.S. Someone told me today that she has never understood why people in the U.S. drive such big cars. She said this while we were driving down a Spanish freeway and I looked out the window at all of the tiny cars driving by. She has a good point, we generally don't keep them full so why all the space? They're harder to parallel park, they use more fuel and they cost more. Why, indeed? I would like a small, used biodiesel when I move back to the states someday.


Ham: In the US we don't have pig legs hanging in the window of every restaurant and in every grocery store. Some of the kids going to England next week are panicking about bringing ham so they can make their own sandwiches for the week they'll be gone. Really? You can survive 7 days without ham!!! Plus, England has ham too. So silly! And I still have yet to see a real live pig in Spain. Don't know where they're getting all this ham...

Greetings: In Spain, instead of politely nodding across a circle of people or shaking hands with a stranger as you're being introduced, you get to do the dos besos. Yup, as you kiss each of their cheeks you mutter your name in their ear as they do the same to you. Luckily I'm a touchy feely person and I don't have much of a personal bubble, for those that do I'm sure this is a tough adjustment! I now realize how standoffish we must seem with our handshakes. So impersonal compared to a nice to meet you kiss!

Hello: If I hear anyone say hello in the halls at school, it is directed toward me or Monica (or both). Even if I have never seen the person before, I know they are talking to me. Weird!

Miss Rowland: None of that crap. I get to be Rachel here. Good thing too, Miss Rowland seems super formal. I kind of felt like I was being forced to grow up against my will when kids were required to call me that. It's like making Peter Pan leave Never Land even though he's not ready. Not cool, not cool.

Well, those are the ones that have come up in conversation in the last couple of days so they're fresh in my mind. I should probably write this sort of thing down so I can be better and updating y'all on life here. Next time? Yeah...