There is a language school in our town that offers language classes in English, German, French and Spanish. For obvious reasons I decided to take Spanish. Today was my first day of class and we were playing Taboo, a familiar and fun game. The teacher had students sit at the front of the class with a word hidden behind them, and they had to guess the word from the classes descriptions. The word for the first participant was "tacaño", or "stingy" in English. After a few wrong guesses and bad descriptions, a girl raised her hand and, to describe the word, said "es una característica de los judíos", which means "it's a characteristic of Jews."
A little shocked and a little offended, I turned my head to see who said it, and believe it or not, it was the German girl, the only one in our class. All the way across the world Jews are still thought to be stingy. It's funny because when I first saw the word my mind didn't jump to "Jew", or "me", I just thought "someone who skips out on a bill". But no, the German girl's first thought was "Jew". Nice.
Thankfully the teacher corrected her, saying it was a stereotype of Jews, and at that point the German girl (I'll call her Gretchen) knew she had been offensive.
Needless to say this clue did allow the guesser to correctly get the word. What can I say, we just like to be careful with our money, it doesn't mean we're stingy. But still, of all people, the German girl? Never could I have pictured that scenario...
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
China Bazar
Our small town has exactly one shoe store, one grocery store, one Indian restaurant/pizza/sub shop, and exactly 3 China Bazars, at least that we know of.
Why does one small town need 3 China Bazars, that essentially sell the same thing, junk? Because although the stores have the same junk, some junk has proven to be better than other junk, like magnets for example.
At the first Bazar I went to, when I asked for magnets, the owner brought me crazy oval shaped toys that you can throw in the air to make rattle snake noises. These "magnets" are more commonly recognized as the annoying items gypsies try to sell you on the streets of major European cities in front of major tourist attractions, like the Trevi Fountain in Rome. I bought the magnets even though they are really weird, and yes, they do work. But who the heck wants weird rattle snake magnets?
So with every new China Bazar I found I looked for magnets. But it wasn't until I stumbled upon this third Bazar and hopefully the last one in this town, that I found actual "put on your fridge" magnets. It was another small victory. I now own magnets, real ones. And Devin and the babies are currently on my fridge, along with a drawing a little Spanish girl made me. Some junk is better than other junk...
Anyway, I am so obsessed with the absurdity of these Bazars that I decided to take a few pictures to help everyone else see what I'm talking about:
Why does one small town need 3 China Bazars, that essentially sell the same thing, junk? Because although the stores have the same junk, some junk has proven to be better than other junk, like magnets for example.
At the first Bazar I went to, when I asked for magnets, the owner brought me crazy oval shaped toys that you can throw in the air to make rattle snake noises. These "magnets" are more commonly recognized as the annoying items gypsies try to sell you on the streets of major European cities in front of major tourist attractions, like the Trevi Fountain in Rome. I bought the magnets even though they are really weird, and yes, they do work. But who the heck wants weird rattle snake magnets?
So with every new China Bazar I found I looked for magnets. But it wasn't until I stumbled upon this third Bazar and hopefully the last one in this town, that I found actual "put on your fridge" magnets. It was another small victory. I now own magnets, real ones. And Devin and the babies are currently on my fridge, along with a drawing a little Spanish girl made me. Some junk is better than other junk...
Anyway, I am so obsessed with the absurdity of these Bazars that I decided to take a few pictures to help everyone else see what I'm talking about:
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| Knives for sale, just sitting in a bin, on the FLOOR. |
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| Stuffed shelves of tupperware, any kind of kitchen/eating thing you can think of, including coffee makers and casserole dishes (I bought one) |
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| Women's panties, sheets, table cloths, comforters and fleece blankets... |
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| Ash trays, trash cans, lamp shades, mugs, rugs, fake plants (in back)... |
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| Yes, that bag does say "Pirate Love Betty Boop". And there are suitcases and foot massage cushions for sale right next to each other. Literally bizarre. |
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
So Spanish...
After being in Andalusia (autonomous community of Spain) for a few weeks Eric and I have observed some funny and interesting things that we wanted to share. Here they are:
1. There are Chinese Bazar's everywhere. They are basically the equivalent of a dollar store, but not everything is a dollar. In our town alone there are at least 3 bazars. They sell everything from nail polish, to underwear, to cleaning supplies, to wine glasses. And it's all condensed into a tiny store.
4. Siesta actually exists, and from 2 to 6 every weekday most of the country shuts down. On Sundays everything is dead and the streets are empty. If you have no food in the house on Sunday you just have to starve till Monday, or eat Chinese food because the restaurant is always open (like Chinese on Christmas!).
5. People say "venga" all the time before saying goodbye. It literally translates to "come", like "come here" as a command, but people say it to end a conversation before "Adios". Its like saying "Come here, bye". I don't get it.
6. People say hombre and chica to refer to people, like me, right in front of their faces. Just the other day our landlord referred to Eric and I like this (in front of us): "Eric y la chica". Yes I am just "the girl".
7. Spanish people cannot say my name. I have gotten everything from "Estacy" to "Estaki". I stopped correcting them.
8. Alcohol is really cheap. Wine costs less than $3 a bottle, and its not Carlo Rossi. Beer is sold in gigantic forties bottles, also know as "litronas", and they are also really cheap.
9. Spanish people have terrible feet and teeth problems. They wear high heels on cobblestone until their 80 and dental care is really expensive, so I can't blame them for that.
10. The population of old ladies far exceeds the population of old men. It might be a generalization but Eric and I have noticed that men seem to die a lot younger than women.
11. Spanish people LOVE American pop music. As Eric says, they sing along to the music with sounds, not words, and they have no idea what they are saying or what the lyrics mean. They look super cool when they drive by in their cars blasting Beyonce, but if you observe carefully they are just moving their mouths and their mouths do not match the words.
12. The kids here are just kids. They aren't distracted by TV, media, new pop icons or celebrities. They like to play sports, watch cartoons, and hang out with their friends. They don't have cell phones or handheld video games. They are very sweet and cute (at least the 3 to 12 years old).
13. Discipline in schools is very different in Spain than in the US. The teachers are pretty verbally aggressive toward the students if they misbehave, more so than what I'm used to. At the same time though, the teachers are very loving. The teachers play many roles, like one teacher told me she is their mother, their grandmother, teacher and disciplinarian.
14. Another interesting thing about the school system is that the teachers do not give special attention to the slower kids. If a child is not bright, the teacher will usually let the child fall behind. The thinking is that the child will always be slow and there is really no hope. I can't say this is a bad thing because it's really just different. They have their own methods, and they seem to work for them. It is difficult to get used to though, especially because the kids usually know if they are the stupid ones or the slow ones. One teacher pointed out the slower and "stupider" kids to me by literally pointing to them and saying "He is not smart" or "He is smart but so so so slow!". I don't want to give the impression that the kids are being beaten mentally, because they really aren't, they are happy kids. Things are just done differently here.
15. People in San Roque eat tons of candy. The kids LOVE candy.
16. Everyone smokes everywhere.
17. People drink at all times of the day: mid morning, lunch, before dinner, and at dinner. It's great.
18. As Eric has learned through teaching adults, Spanish people really do think Americans are fat, and they are right. Spanish people are not nearly as fat as Americans, although exceptions do exist.
19. Washing machines are usually located in the kitchen. Dryers don't exist. Every bathroom has a bidet. Do people use bidets? How do you find out the answer to that question?
More to come...
1. There are Chinese Bazar's everywhere. They are basically the equivalent of a dollar store, but not everything is a dollar. In our town alone there are at least 3 bazars. They sell everything from nail polish, to underwear, to cleaning supplies, to wine glasses. And it's all condensed into a tiny store.
2. The Chinese people speak Spanish, English, and Mandarin. We can't figure out how they learn all of these languages.
3. Chinese food is really delicious and cheap.
4. Siesta actually exists, and from 2 to 6 every weekday most of the country shuts down. On Sundays everything is dead and the streets are empty. If you have no food in the house on Sunday you just have to starve till Monday, or eat Chinese food because the restaurant is always open (like Chinese on Christmas!).
5. People say "venga" all the time before saying goodbye. It literally translates to "come", like "come here" as a command, but people say it to end a conversation before "Adios". Its like saying "Come here, bye". I don't get it.
6. People say hombre and chica to refer to people, like me, right in front of their faces. Just the other day our landlord referred to Eric and I like this (in front of us): "Eric y la chica". Yes I am just "the girl".
7. Spanish people cannot say my name. I have gotten everything from "Estacy" to "Estaki". I stopped correcting them.
8. Alcohol is really cheap. Wine costs less than $3 a bottle, and its not Carlo Rossi. Beer is sold in gigantic forties bottles, also know as "litronas", and they are also really cheap.
9. Spanish people have terrible feet and teeth problems. They wear high heels on cobblestone until their 80 and dental care is really expensive, so I can't blame them for that.
10. The population of old ladies far exceeds the population of old men. It might be a generalization but Eric and I have noticed that men seem to die a lot younger than women.
11. Spanish people LOVE American pop music. As Eric says, they sing along to the music with sounds, not words, and they have no idea what they are saying or what the lyrics mean. They look super cool when they drive by in their cars blasting Beyonce, but if you observe carefully they are just moving their mouths and their mouths do not match the words.
12. The kids here are just kids. They aren't distracted by TV, media, new pop icons or celebrities. They like to play sports, watch cartoons, and hang out with their friends. They don't have cell phones or handheld video games. They are very sweet and cute (at least the 3 to 12 years old).
13. Discipline in schools is very different in Spain than in the US. The teachers are pretty verbally aggressive toward the students if they misbehave, more so than what I'm used to. At the same time though, the teachers are very loving. The teachers play many roles, like one teacher told me she is their mother, their grandmother, teacher and disciplinarian.
14. Another interesting thing about the school system is that the teachers do not give special attention to the slower kids. If a child is not bright, the teacher will usually let the child fall behind. The thinking is that the child will always be slow and there is really no hope. I can't say this is a bad thing because it's really just different. They have their own methods, and they seem to work for them. It is difficult to get used to though, especially because the kids usually know if they are the stupid ones or the slow ones. One teacher pointed out the slower and "stupider" kids to me by literally pointing to them and saying "He is not smart" or "He is smart but so so so slow!". I don't want to give the impression that the kids are being beaten mentally, because they really aren't, they are happy kids. Things are just done differently here.
15. People in San Roque eat tons of candy. The kids LOVE candy.
16. Everyone smokes everywhere.
17. People drink at all times of the day: mid morning, lunch, before dinner, and at dinner. It's great.
18. As Eric has learned through teaching adults, Spanish people really do think Americans are fat, and they are right. Spanish people are not nearly as fat as Americans, although exceptions do exist.
19. Washing machines are usually located in the kitchen. Dryers don't exist. Every bathroom has a bidet. Do people use bidets? How do you find out the answer to that question?
20. The better I get at Spanish the worse my English becomes.
More to come...
Monday, October 4, 2010
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