More Observations

March 5, 2011 12:58 local time

Here are a few things I’ve noticed:

Young women here wear pantyhose. They wear flesh colored panty hose and not only with dresses but with shorts. Although I attempt to respect cultural differences, this is just plain weird. I remember wearing panty hose in middle school and around that time, panty hose went out of fashion for all those under 50 or so. I know of no one my age who wears panty hose even in formal occasions, no less with shorts. We wear tights or leggings but shed the binding and discomfort of panty hose ages ago. Perhaps I can bring about a panty hose revolution while I’m here.

The food here is not that flavorful to me. I realize, of course, that food in different countries is different. I expected there to be more vegetables at meals here than what I would normally eat at home. I expected to eat the big meal of the day in the middle of the afternoon. I expected unusual meats and seafood that I would have to politely decline to try. What I did not expect is that the food would not have much flavor. Perhaps my palate has been conditioned by the plethora of salt in American food but I’m just not tasting much when I eat here. Even the junk food snacks don’t have much flavor. After a few months, perhaps my palate will grow accustomed to this and I will begin to taste more variety in this food.

Siestas are so popular that even the fountains take them. Let me begin by saying that the hours that they keep in Spain are very different than the hours that are typically kept in the US. They stay up much later in the evenings and get up later in the morning. Lunch is between 2 and 4. Most business close around 1 or 2 in the afternoon and reopen around 5 or 6 so that everyone can go home, eat some lunch, and take a siesta. Every time I have discussed the siesta with the Senora or Abuela (Grandma) at my house, their response is always that I must take the siesta. So here, napping is not considered a sign of laziness but rather something that is to be encouraged. Now that, I like. Besides businesses being closed during the siesta and streets generally being empty, I’ve noticed that the fountains (and there are a lot of them) are also turned off at this time.

Spaniards know a lot about the US. When I’ve told people that I was from the US, their first question is always “Which state?” In the beginning, this surprised me. How do the Spaniards know all about our states? I do not know about their regions. As the weeks have passed, the reason for this has become clear. There are a plethora of American television shows on Spanish TV. My teachers have remarked several times about things they thought about the US from TV. The shows are typically dubbed over with Spanish voices although the remote control allows one to push a button to remove the dubbing. Although I haven’t watched much TV yet, some American shows I’ve seen on Spanish TV include:

Friends
All of Nickelodeon including Sponge Bob and iCarly
The entire Disney Channel
All of MTV
Malcolm in the Middle
Twin Peaks
Mad Men
Castle
Scooby Doo
Without a Trace
Criminal Minds
Two and a Half Men
The Simpsons
Family Guy
V (the original series, not the new one)
CSI Miami
CSI New York
CSI (original series in Las Vegas)