Post 13 Granada

Hello everyone.

Social Life in Spain

I am finally starting to grasp some importartant ideas about Spanish Culture. Social life here in Spain something unique. I first realized this about a week ago: My Senora wished to introduce me to some girls that lived beneath us with another house mother. She brought me down to thier flat and left after a bit, so I assumed that It was alright to enter. I had coffee with them and left after about a half hour. When I told my Senora this later, she was stunned that I had entered the girl´s apartment. She told me that this was not the right thing to do; even though I had been invited into thier place. She told me that I probably should not return the next day as planned. This really confused me.

Next I began to observe how these people socialize. Where I am from in the U.S., most social happenings occur either in someone´s residence or at a restaurant. This occurs less frequently here, it is much more common to meet friends in the streets. It isnt rare to see normal children out at midnight. Whole Spanish families stay out late with thier friends in the plazas and streets. It seems that the home residence is a more private setting, which is very exclusive. As I realized this, I became aware that the architecture and city planning reflect this idea.

The typical Spanish city has many plazas (a plaza is an open space surrounded by restaurants and bars) : each neighborhood has thier own, and this is where everyone congregates. When I say everyone, this includes everyone from the age of 5 to 65. (Although it is much more common to see the older couples strolling along than congregating.) The extreme example of this is called a Botellón.

Botellón

A botellón (literally translated as ¨large bottle¨) was held in Granada this past weekend. The botellón is a large gathering of Spanish who desire to congregate and save money by purchasing thier alcohol in a store instead of a bar. The Granada newspaper reported that the particular Botellón we attended here in Granada was 15,000 people. The Botellón is really interesting social setting, and I was surprised to see that there was no violence or major rowdyness.

The older generation generally disaproves of the botellónes, and I hear that the police are starting to make more rules. The problem is that it is no small task to clean up after 15,000 people. Also the Botellónes arent good for sleeping citizens.

Mi amigo

I have a friend named Benedict from Germany who came with me to the Botellón. He is a beginner spanish speaker, but he tries really really hard to converse. (usually with sucess). I think many Spanish find his heavily accented spanish is pretty halarious. The german and Spanish languages dontreally sound at all alike. I got all of the botellon pics from his camera. But, he is returning to germany this week. Seeya Benedict!

Chicas Espanolas en Barcelona

Calatrava
Palacio Real (courtesty of Daniel Greenwald)