Yet another long weekend?

Some things are hard to get used to here, no matter how many times they happen. In the end, we are Americans. not Spaniards, and it doesn't matter how many jamones we buy or how much olive oil we consume (it would be embarrasing and shocking to write here just how many 1-liter bottles of olive oil we have used this year).

Here are a few:

Spain is a Catholic nation. I don't care WHAT the constitution says about separation of church and state; when St. George's Day is an official holiday in Aragón (as is St. Valero in Zaragoza), and weeks are spent off from school during the festival of Our Lady of the Pillar and Holy Week (leading up to Easter), the country is Catholic. Culturally Catholic for sure, as most people don't EVER go to church, but Catholic nonetheless. I thought WE had a lot of school vacations in the US. Here, on top of the saints' days and religious holidays, there are secular holidays as well. Cincomarzada, or March 5th, is a day commemorating a failed attempt ro conquer Zaragoza. therefore, no school. Constitution Day (Dec 6th), no school. May 1st (Labor Day)...you get the idea.

People bump into you on the street. A Lot. This probably comes from everyone studiously trying to avoid eye contact, and the concept that "personal space" ends 5 microns beyond the skin. This is OK, but as Americans we are used to apologizing for every little thing (Sorry I blocked you on the bus, sorry I stepped on your toe, sorry I ran over your pet hamster, etc). We're not as apologetic as Canadians, perhaps, but who is? In Spain it's another story. To get an apology you have to be either knocked to the ground or to bleed profusely. Otherwise people just keep moving. On one level I get it, but on a more visceral level, I just want to hear a perdón on occasion.

There is a different social contract in Spain when it comes to public cleanliness and littering. In the US, littering ranks just slightly below infanticide and cutting in line on the "bad behavior scale." Here, littering is what you do with your little pieces of trash when you are done with them (this includes cigarette butts, which outnumber people in Spain by 10-to-1). On the street, in cafes (seriously, people just throw their napkins on the floor rather than leave them on the counter), and especially on the beach, people leave their paper bits to be cleaned up be someone else. The reason thsi system works is because every night (and sometimes several times a day) street sweepers and washers come along and give a mega-cleaning to the city. By morning it is immaculate. This is true in restaurants and on beaches too. Spanish tax dollars pay for a lot of services (they should, as people here are taxed well above 50% of their income) and expect a lot too. As an American, however, I find it physically painful to throw stuff on the ground, and as a result I walk around with a lot of paper scraps in my pocket. Also, there is no recycling of aluminum here, and I can't make myself throw out the cans we have. I keep hoping that while we're here an entire system of recycling will develop and I won't have to commit the cardinal sin of throwing away a can.

Of course when I get home, I'll miss the coffee. And the bread. And the jamón. And the 9:30 am start time for school. And the cheap, delicious fruits and vegetables. And the......