Spain VS States

Not to get all philosophical on you, but I'm about to get all philosophical on you.


In my classes I've been learning about the proper way to ask for things in Spain. The direct translation from English to Spanish is not the way that they ask for things, like it would be in Italian or something. Spain is much more Latin based, as is French. Instead of asking "Can I have," or "May I have," they simply say "Give me." and it's not considered rude.

It's simply telling people what you want.

In the States if you tell someone "Give me." at a restaurant, odds are there will be spit or some foul substance in your food... here though, it's rude when you say "Thank you" over and over again.

The way that I see it, is that people in the States are far too concerned with being politically correct and we take things much to personally, myself included.
We as a whole should probably stop worrying about hurting peoples feelings and stop worrying about asking for what we want.

My friend R last night made a good point about this. We were dreaming out loud about wanting to ride on the back of a moped while we're here, all Lizzie McGuire style, and she said something along the lines of, "You're going to have to ask for it, no one knows what you want unless you ask." And here, it's as if they don't even ask for it. They know what they want, and they tell you.

We say things such as "Please close the door." Granted, in the States, in Spanish classes they will add a "Please" to the structure, but normally it's said here as something along the lines of "Close the door!!" but it's completely normal.

I hear all the time that countries in Europe are 'rude' or 'hate Americans' which is a fallacy in itself, because they don't hate 'Americans' they hate 'people from the United States'... there is a whole other South part to America people, let's start calling our country what it is like everyone else in the world.

I digress... European countries are not 'rude' they just aren't saddled with a stigma of being politically correct. They don't care what people think, no one does. Fashion wise, sure, as in, you better not leave the house with those shoes on. But personality wise, their culture just accepts that there is no such thing as being politically correct.

You can't just walk around on egg shells your whole life trying not to offend anyone!!

Let me be clear, 'political correctness' and 'tact' are two different things. I'm not telling you to come here and be a heinous bitch, use your common sense people.

In Spain, it seems to me that everyone here is all about getting to a place that makes them happy. They tell you what they want without any second guessing. They tell you what they're doing without any hesitation. And they tell you what they think without giving a damn what you have to say about it.

There is no personal space, there is no 'excuse me', 'please', and 'thank you'. There is just a basic understanding that people are human, that they're going to make mistakes and that you will too. There is a basic appreciation for family, friends, and strangers.

-- I know that last part sounded like a closing paragraph but I just remembered something.--

Back to the "Can I have," part... In the States I feel like we hear a lot of "I can do this." "Can I do this?" A lot of "Can I" or "I can" statements. People here very rarely say "Can" unless they really have NO IDEA if they can or can not do it. They say things with conviction here. It's "I will" more often than "Will I?" and "That's that" more than "Is that right?" It's so much more, fuerte here.

Also, I'm going to take a detour down the family trail here. People in Spain don't start reproducing normally until their mid thirties. They see teen pregnancy as an epidemic as much as AIDS or HIV. They don't see it as a glamorous thing like we do in the States. People wait until they have lived their lives to start helping someone else live theirs. My program director is almost fifty and she just had a baby. Granted, she looks thirty, but she's still going strong. Two babies! TWO! At FIFTY! Can we please marvel at that for a moment?
And while I was hiking parents took their children through ragged terrain just because they could. I mean, back home I feel like children are given video games to keep them busy while parents just sit around. Why don't we climb stone mountain on the regular back in Atlanta? "Because we don't have time." ?! "Because it's hard." ?! ... I know I'm from the United States, and I will forever be a citizen, and that I am completely patriotic, but sometimes I lose hope in our people.


That's my rant for now.
And in true Spanish fashion, if I've offended you, I don't care.

This is my blog. My thoughts, go make your own. :)

<3
Buenos Dias.