So I'm four days into what feels like a month of organising/building a life here in Torrelavega, the town in which I will be teaching for eight months. I've traipsed the streets of both Santander & Torre for longer than my feet find acceptable, eaten a lot of delicious tapas, drunk lots of vino rojo y cerveza, learnt a ton of words, spoken two tons of Spanish, found a flat, bought a mobile phone and met some incredibly friendly and welcoming people who I hope I'll get to know even more during my stay here! Throughout all of this I've also learnt some interested little habits of the Spanish culture that exist here:
Dubbed TV As far as I can tell, the quality of Spanish TV is a bit hit and miss, hence the prevalence of dubbed series from the States that are on all the time on the main channels. Let me tell you, watching New Girl in dubbed Spanish/any other programme that you were previously familiar with is a hilarious experience! To be a voice-over actor in Spain you are required to have the silliest, cheesiest voice possible that in no way matches the original voice of the on-screen actor. Not sure what their aversion is to subtitles but very entertaining all the same!
Children don't sleep I kinda already knew this one but really, tonight the kids were playing in the street at 10 in the evening. The reeeally little ones I mean! Unthinkable in the UK but here it was lovely to see the youngest and oldest members of society (as well as everyone else in between) hanging out together in a big noisy pretty plaza, 'tomando aire'.
No tipping! I know, right! Apparently it's not the done thing in Torre. I'm just glad to have realised this sooner rather than later to save me a bit of pocket money.
Kettles are not Spanish it took one of my fellow language assistants a good amount of time searching for and trying to describe exactly what a kettle is to people in Spain and it seemed initially that they didn't have a direct translation. Here it seems that the heating of drinking water at home is done by microwave! Last night however we were told that it is known as tetería (like cafeteria) but this has still been met with odd looks by shop assistants. Luckily my flatmate and I ventured into a Hypermarket to find one; the box says Hervidor de agua (literally: Water Boiler).
Kettles are not Spanish it took one of my fellow language assistants a good amount of time searching for and trying to describe exactly what a kettle is to people in Spain and it seemed initially that they didn't have a direct translation. Here it seems that the heating of drinking water at home is done by microwave! Last night however we were told that it is known as tetería (like cafeteria) but this has still been met with odd looks by shop assistants. Luckily my flatmate and I ventured into a Hypermarket to find one; the box says Hervidor de agua (literally: Water Boiler).
They think that bras and sheets are cobwebs you need to see it with your own eyes, but the fashion in window dressing seems to be hanging everything in the most abstract way possible, usually by pinning it to a board at funny angles. I mean, why display a bra on a mannequin when you can hang several of them in a bizarre fractel-esque arrangement?
So that's just a selection of the random things that I am coming to understand from my time here, and that's not mentioning the far bigger cultural differences in eating customs and the 'horario' of Spanish businesses, por ejemplo. But it'll have to do because I am KNACKERED. Buenas noches :)
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