Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Reverse Culture Shock (a preview)

As I stated in the previous post, my family came to Madrid for the weekend. They´ll be here in Spain till this Saturday but I can´t go with them due to my teaching obligations. Needless to say, when they showed up at Barajas, I was thrilled (having not seen them in six months). However, as the day wore on and two of my family members refused to see or do anything besides sit in the hotel, I started getting angry. I didn´t let it show but it seemed so weird, first off, talking in English. Second, I do remember how tired I was the first day I came here. I hadn´t slept during the entire flight and proceeded to sleep two hours after eating breakfast when I got into my (now) old apartment near Príncipe Pío. I soon recovered later that day. What one member of my family (who shall remain nameless) said sums it up best, "We´re only here for a week. They should be wanting to see more stuff and not be too concerned with sleep." Too true! They really did miss out this weekend! Although they´ll be back on Saturday, I´ll be out of the country.


Some things I´m sure will seem quite strange to me when I leave early next month. Among them are the following:

No subway system in Indianapolis

A bit more face saving than here (as I´ve commented in previous posts, Spaniards are very direct, to the point of being rude by our standards).

Speaking English instead of Spanish

Hearing Mexican Spanish (for which I´ve developed a healthly dislike) instead of Castillian Spanish

No churros for breakfast *sniff*
Things that will not be strange:
A judicial system which works (Sadly here in Spain, you can murder someone and get out in twenty years)
Driving and blasting rock music out of the windows at full volume (something I´ve been seriously missing)
It´ll be a mixed bag, that´s for sure.

6 comments:

  1. Ah, Matt - thank you again for a guest post - interesting.

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  2. I would have been irritated too about them not going out and about to see the sites and experience the place.

    I hope you are going to share a bit of Indianapolis with us :-)

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  3. I am confused....you say you are in Spain and then in Sicily!!!!

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  4. No, I said I´m in Spain. I never said I was in Sicily. Nunyaa, I´ve been here for six months, studying in Madrid.

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