things I have learnt so far: Part 2

it's your Birthday? Great, buy me a drink!

to my eyes it's a very positive aspect of Spanish culture, their pleasure in giving and sharing things. And it's not just with material things; I have never encountered such willingness to help one out through the sharing of knowledge, from my estate agents' recommendations and tour of the best bakeries in Torre to my surf instructor's thorough, detailed explanation of tidal movements and coastal features. They love it, they love sharing stories and giving things so much that they will use any excuse (birthdays, weddings, sister's wedding, birthday 2 months ago) to bring in cakes/wine/chocolates and home-made tortillas...the only downfall is that on your birthday it is you that foots the bill and buys the drinks. At least it only happens once a year eh, har har.

personal space is not a "thing"

or at least the permitted personal space allowance per individual is greatly reduced from what I'm used to in the UK; in various situations I have found myself close enough to be inspect the pores of my fellow converser. However, I'm learning to appreciate the feeling of confidence that it so expresses as well as the generally more physical nature of Spanish social interaction interaction. No longer do I lean back slightly when greeted by people with a kiss on each cheek; on the contrary, I've found the less you resist all this intimacy the more you acknowledge its value as an exchange of trust and friendship.

neither is brown eye make up

exemplified by both my housemate and my extreme difficulty in finding any in the shops. Rachel tells me her experience of being met with blank expressions or of surprise when requesting this elusive object. The style of make up here is black, black, black and a little bit more black. Which looks lovely on Spanish skin but a bit vampiric on Rach and my paler, rosier complexion.

english language music is v. popular

but they don't understand the words. For example, TV shows/ads frequently use songs with vaguely inappropriate lyrics or by musicians whose accompanying culture is at complete odds to that of the show - 'Californication' and Avril Lavigne play in the background of a documentary about Cantabrian livestock whilst the explicit version of Cyrus' 'We Can't Stop' bridges a segment in a day-time chat show. Bizarre, visual/audio juxtapositions galore.

someone saying "See you later" is more like someone saying "seyalaah"

"hasta luego" will be expressed "'stalogo", said rapidly and in passing to a neighbour or conocido. There are plenty of other interesting details of pronunciation that I'm learning, such as the Northern tendency to drop the 'd' in past perfect verbs. For example, "pasado" becomes "pasao", making it sound quite Portuguese or even Chilean (to my limited knowledge anyway!).

So there's a little update on some of the fascinating things I have noticed (or at least think I am noticing as it 

could well be all in my mind) from my time spent here. Expect more at some future date!