cultural differences part one

I clearly took a month off from writing on the blog. Not intentionally, I suppose I just didn’t have anything to say. Life in Madrid has become as routing as any other life. I wake up in the morning, I eat breakfast, I got to class till one in the afternoon, I come home, and then sometimes I go to a museum or park or walk in the center…sometimes friends come with me, sometimes not. In the evenings on weekdays I study (a little from text books…really I study all day long), eat dinner with my family and then go to bed. On the weekends there’s always something to do. Point being, life here is routine, so I haven’t really been inspired to write blogs. However, by known I’ve complied a load of observations and culture differences that might be interesting to some. So I’ll do my best to keep some updates going on cultural differences that I find interesting.

The meal schedule in Spain is completely illogical. Truly, it is. It’s not based on the principle that food is consumed for energy. Breakfast everyday is the same. And it’s very light. Toast with marmalade and a café con leche is the standard Spanish breakfast. Each morning I eat a little more. I have a bowl of cornflakes as well. I quit drinking the coffee about a month and a half ago, because I realized my host mom, Merche, has been giving me decaf. Now I have chocolate milk. The milk too, that’s something different. The milk here is super pasteurized and doesn’t need to be refrigerated and lasts for five months unopened. It tastes very different, not fresh at all, with a slight hint of vanilla. Anyway, being a huge milk drinker back home, I just don’t dig the milk. That’s why I add “Coca Coa,” it’s like nesquick. And the Spanish are crazy for it. People order it at the cafes.
Lunch every day is at 2:00 PM and it is huge. And after eating a tiny and very nutrient lacking breakfast, sometimes lunch seems really far away. It’s the largest meal of the day. At every café you can find the menu del dia. It comes with three or four courses and a glass of wine or beer. The first course (Primeros) is traditionally salad, soup, or pallea. The second (segundos) is a meat dish (the Spanish eat a lot of meat…and I’ll get to Ham) with potatoes, and usually not vegetables. The Spanish do not eat a lot of vegetables. And the final course (postre) is a dessert. Usually ice cream, flan, or a fruit. I don’t eat lunch with my family so I’m on my own to find it.

K, Jamon. Ham. The Spanish are fucking crazy for Ham! Every restaurant has cured ham hanging from the walls…Cured ham is pig leg left to age for five years. So whole pig legs faded to brown line the walls of restraunts. I eat some pig product atleast nine times a week. Lomo, chorizo, jamon (both york and iberecia), beicon, bacon, a whole world of sausages, and any other part you can imagine. Cured jamon is the most famous style. It’s like eating raw flesh. It’s chewy and when you bit into it, you have to pull it away from your mouth and it just keeps stretching. They put it on tapas, bocadillas, pulgas. They put it into soups and bake it into pastries. And they just eat it plan. Strips of flesh on a plate. My professor, Sarah, put it best: The Spanish are compulsive consumers of Jamon.

Dinner. Typically the Spanish eat a very healthy sized dinner. But, they eat it at nine PM. This is the meal that kills me the most. Now, I have no problem waiting so late for dinner. But, eating so much so late is just irrational. It literally keeps me up at night because I have way too much energy. Each night Merche cooks us a bastante bien meal. She isn’t a world class cook. But every night is like having moms home cooking. But only Spanish cuisine. Every meal we have an appetizer of soup, salad, corquetas, and bread with chorizo, salami, or melted cheese. We eat a lot of seafood. Fish, of many nature, and shrimp mainly. There’s a lot of pasta happening. Usually potatoes. And sometimes dessert of flan, leche frita, or fruit. Oh, and every meal, and I mean every single meal you ever eat, is served with a basket of bread. But artisan bread, delicious bread. Most Spaniards never eat American style bread.

Olive oil and salt are served with all meals. The only places that have pepper are touristy places. The Spanish hate spices. Nothing is spicy. When the waiter tells you the dish is spicy, it is so incredible not spicy. They don’t normally eat mustard for this reason as well. I’ve only seen one fruteria that sold Jalapeños. And good luck trying to find anything spicier.
Most of the dinners are fried, as well. They aren’t fried in the sense of fried chicken, but just sautéed in frying oil. It’s a sound I’ve become accustomed to in my home, the sound of boiling oil. But, I’m told this is new Spanish thing. It’s not traditional.


Let’s talk Spanish fashion. Well, one element of Spanish fashion. Mullets are so in right now!!! The hippest actors, the most handsome models, top selling musicians, they all have mullets. Which, of course, means you see mullets in the streets everyday. Mullets of all nature too. Sleek moused mullets. Frizzy unkempt mullets. Mullets on men. Mullets on women. Mullets on children. Mullets with designer perms. But, my favorite mullet so far, is the Rastafarian Mullet. I saw one that was beyond belief. The top of this guys head was shaved very low, and in the back he had dreadlocks that rivaled Bob Marley’s for thickness and filth. Some men, even have the Jedi Padawan cut. Shaved head with one long braid that starts behind their ear…or even worse, the Rat Tail version of the Jedi Padawan. People shave lightning bolts and side steps into their mullets as well. I’m not making this up. This is real.

huzza!
jake.