A few observations about the Spanish...

So far everything has been going great! With work not starting til Monday, I've had some time to run errands, wander, and do fun things. I've only been here a week, but already I've made some observations about the amazing Spanish people.

The Spanish smoke. And I mean ALL the Spanish smoke. Everywhere. All the time. I thought there were a lot of smokers in San Francisco, but oh man was I wrong. I think if I had to make an honest guess of how many adults here smoke (not to mention it seems to be popular with teens, too) I would say 80%. Seriously. If we go out to get dinner, a drink, whatever, I come home and every article of clothing, every inch of my body, and especially my hair, reek of smoke. They smoke inside restaurants and drop their butts on the floor. They smoke while they're walking down the street. The bartender smokes as she's making your drink. As my Spanish friend Jesus warned me as he was having a cigarette, "Don't smoke. It is very bad."

The Spanish keep odd hours. Should you find yourself out and about at 8am or so, you might think you were in a ghost town despite the fact that 3 million people live in Madrid. I noticed this on my first trip here and now I realize why that is. When you eat dinner at ten and rarely go to bed earlier than 3am, you need to sleep in. And take a siesta. Siesta. This is so funny to me. I really can't understand how businesses here make any money! They open at ten, close by two, reopen at five, then close at 8. And they're all closed Sunday. I think the timing has been the hardest part of adjusting for me. I like to eat breakfast at 8am, lunch between noon and 1pm, and dinner at 5pm. I like to wake up somewhat early and go to sleep somewhat early also. That just isn't working here. So we'll see how much my habits change.

The Spanish don't believe in personal space. Introductions and goodbyes are your first warning. The double kiss! I love it. It's much more warm than a handshake. But walking the streets is another story. People make no effort whatsoever to share the sidewalk with you, and they have no problem bumping. They will stand so close to you that you think they might be trying to pickpocket you, even when they're not. When I first came to Spain, I was worried about the proper way to say excuse me, because there are several ways to do it. I asked this question on a Spanish-English translation online forum and a Spaniard wrote back, "I wouldn't worry too much about saying excuse me, because the Spanish don't."

The Spanish have some interesting style. It seems to me to be a world of opposites. My apartment is in the shopping district of Madrid, and I see lots of beautiful women walking down the street with amazing style, in amazing clothes. But I see an equal amount of people rocking raggedy clothes and mullets. Yes, mullets! And even dread lock mullets. And women in MC Hammer pants. I'm not sure where I fit into this mix, but I hope I lean to the former.

The Spanish love dogs. And anyone who knows me, knows that I don't. I have NO idea how they can have dogs if their pisos are anywhere close to the size of mine, but more power to them. I have to say though, that at least the Spanish only take their dogs to the park and the sidewalk, whereas Californians feel they have the right to bring them to restaurants and grocery stores. Yuck.

None of this is to say that I don't like the Spanish, or that their differences are flaws. I just think it's amazing to see how different our cultures are. And I'm curious to see how much I will change as a result, and how much I will resist. Me, eat dinner at ten? I don't think so!