small differences #1

On our first trip to the grocery store I was amazed that all the brands were different, starting with the store itself.  Consum is the name of the main grocery store chain in Spain.  Buying anything pre-made forced you to experience something new because absolutely no brands are the same.  The kids were thrilled to be trying all the seemingly endless types of chocolate cookies.  Despite having orange groves throughout the valley, they have awful orange juice selections, and all the milk is sold warm.  Now I am already getting used to these things and forgetting how foreign I thought they were originally.

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There was a display table at the store the other day with specials on "Americana Cuisine."  This included Heinz BBQ sauce, El Paso products, and Budweiser beer.  I'm sure these common things to me seemed exotic to the people in the store, and representative of America.

In Puzol, you have to make a deposit on shopping carts and bag your own groceries.  You don't tip your waiters and waitresses and beers are included with your meal when you buy a set menu.  It is not uncommon to see teenage boys hugging each other.  And, of course, one of the most interesting things from an American standpoint is that many businesses shut down at 2:00 and don't reopen.  I contemplate the Spanish day, where people work from 9:00 until 2:00, with a break for beer, cigarettes, and pastries, then eat a three course meal, take a nap, and go out until 1:00.  Life is very different.  When we did participate in the late night tapa scene one night, there were 5 year olds drinking cokes at midnight.

People here that have been to the United States often apologize for things in Spain.  First, I have had numerous people apologize that they don't speak English well, when it should really be an embarrassment for me that I can't speak the national language in Spain.  People have apologized that they don't use dryers and that repair men come on their own schedule.  It took us almost 3 weeks to get wireless hooked up and they lost our original work order.  

These are only some of the first things we have learned or read about.  What we can assume is that there are numerous other behavioral differences that we are unaware of and just blindly ignoring.  As time goes on, I'm sure we will look back at the many things we were oblivious to.  Right now we are focused on the surface, and turning the new into the familiar.  This, in itself, makes every day an adventure.  It's amazing how quickly the human mind works to normalize surroundings.  So, we have to revel in these differences while they still seem foreign.​On our first trip to the grocery store I was amazed that all the brands were different, starting with the store itself.  Consum is the name of the main grocery store chain in Spain.  Buying anything pre-made forced you to experience something new because absolutely no brands are the same.  The kids were thrilled to be trying all the seemingly endless types of chocolate cookies.  Despite having orange groves throughout the valley, they have awful orange juice selections, and all the milk is sold warm.  Now I am already getting used to these things and forgetting how foreign I thought they were originally.​

There was a display table at the store the other day with specials on "Americana Cuisine."  This included Heinz BBQ sauce, El Paso products, and Budweiser beer.  I'm sure these common things to me seemed exotic to the people in the store, and representative of America.

In Puzol, you have to make a deposit on shopping carts and bag your own groceries.  You don't tip your waiters and waitresses and beers are included with your meal when you buy a set menu.  It is not uncommon to see teenage boys hugging each other.  And, of course, one of the most interesting things from an American standpoint is that many businesses shut down at 2:00 and don't reopen.  I contemplate the Spanish day, where people work from 9:00 until 2:00, with a break for beer, cigarettes, and pastries, then eat a three course meal, take a nap, and go out until 1:00.  Life is very different.  When we did participate in the late night tapa scene one night, there were 5 year olds drinking cokes at midnight.

People here that have been to the United States often apologize for things in Spain.  First, I have had numerous people apologize that they don't speak English well, when it should really be an embarrassment for me that I can't speak the national language in Spain.  People have apologized that they don't use dryers and that repair men come on their own schedule.  It took us almost 3 weeks to get wireless hooked up and they lost our original work order. 

These are only some of the first things we have learned or read about.  What we can assume is that there are numerous other behavioral differences that we are unaware of and just blindly ignoring.  As time goes on, I'm sure we will look back at the many things we were oblivious to.  Right now we are focused on the surface, and turning the new into the familiar.  This, in itself, makes every day an adventure.  It's amazing how quickly the human mind works to normalize surroundings.  So, we have to revel in these differences while they still seem foreign.

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