Differences - February 2015

It is not surprising that when visiting or living in a country other than your own you notice differences, culturally, socially etc.  Sometimes this variation can be quite refreshing and other times make you shake your head and wonder how people can live this way.  I attempt to not be super judgemental and understand that different people have a different way of life but I cannot get behind some of the norms here in Spain.

Now keep in mind I am going to be very general about things.  I am aware that the things I have noticed may not be all encompassing of the entire country and I am sure there are Spanish people who do not believe some of the things I will mention are acceptable or even true.  I am simply speaking of the things I have experienced and observed during my time here so far.

So like I said there are some differences which are great!  So let me start with some of those. 

Pharmaceuticals: Upon deciding to move here one of my biggest concerns was how I would get my medication.  Would they have the same kind?  How would I see a Doctor?  Would it be more expensive?  I take a couple different pills each month that are vital to my health so this was an anxiety trigger.  I stocked up on as many bottles of meds as possible before our move but inevitably I knew I would run out.  I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into a pharmacy (Farmacia) one day and simply asked if I could get the medication I needed.  They were super friendly and got me the drugs.  I was told if I had a prescription that would be great but it was not necessary!  I could never get these medications in Canada without a prescription so that was amazing.  The price was also so great.  For medications I would pay $70 and $25 per month for with my health plan in Canada I got for 27 euros total.  I have now gone into that same pharmacy for the past few months for refills and have never had an issue.

Keep in mind the drugs I take are not considered narcotics so I do not know what the rules regarding that would be.

Alcohol Regulations: I have mentioned this in several posts now but it still continues to amaze me how lenient they are here regarding consumption.  There are of course age limits and those laws seem to be enforced but alcohol just seems to be viewed differently here.  Alcohol is much cheaper (1-2 euros for beer or wine at the bar and at the grocery store you are looking to spend 1-3 euros on a bottle of wine, 34 cents for a can of beer.  We got our bottles of vodka and gin for 5 euros) and although I think people drink more often it is also more casual.  People seem to drink every day so will have a glass or 2 instead of only going out on the weekends and drinking until they puke. 

In my experience I feel like the relaxed attitude helps with alcohol related issues at bars and festivals and also leads to less binge drinking.  That is not to say there are no issues and people definitely still get trashed but I have not seen one incident where someone was fighting, being arrested or drunk driving.  There are of course more instances of public urination and noise in the streets at 4 am but I do not think it is alcohol specific.

So like I have said in Canada when you are at the bar you can only drink in the bar; you could never take your drink outside to have a smoke. Also at festivals there is always a sectioned off beer area complete with wrist bands, stamps and possibly a cover charge to get in which is so lame.  Here however if you are at or even near the festivities you can buy your drinks and just wander around enjoying the fun.  If you are not causing trouble they will not give you trouble.

 

Smoking:  Good lord everybody smokes.  Everybody.  I have heard this is a typical European thing and have certainly noticed when we have travelled that it is also very common in France as well as Holland.  It is disgusting and I honestly just cannot fathom why it is so popular here.  I know depending on where you live in Canada there are different amounts of smokers but either way there are, I feel, a majority of non smokers or people who have quit.  Here though it is literally everybody.  It actually stands out to me when someone does not have a cigarette hanging out of their mouths or in their hands.

Not only is smoking incredibly popular here but there are still bars and restaurants that allow it indoors! Keep in mind most do not allow this anymore but it was only recently that changed and even though it is not allowed I still see it indoors more often than I would expect.  There was a bar we went to in Sevilla and I had to laugh because there was a no smoking sign on the door and yet there were so many people smoking inside I could not be in there and I had to go outside to breathe. 

People smoke in the apartment building I live in and I have on more than one occasion seen cigarettes put out on the stairs inside!  Inside!  Most cafes/bars have tables right outside the doors for people to stand at and smoke so the smoke ends up inside anyway, its crazy to me.

Washrooms:  I am not even going to get into public washrooms as I have an entire post about how awful they are so I will just stick to at home washrooms.  I completely understand that most of the buildings here are old and so the plumbing is far from modern which I am dealing with unhappily.  It amazes me however how bad the toilets work.  I do not want to get too graphic here but basically they do not flush properly, there is always a smell coming from even the cleanest of bathrooms and low flow is an understatement, try like no water at all.  It is unpleasant.  Also in my apartment we have two bathrooms, well one room with a shower and sink and the closet with a toilet in it down the hall.  I hear this is also common in Europe.  I am not a fan.  I seriously feel like I am in an outhouse in my apartment!

The other thing I do not like about washrooms here are the shower doors.  So I have yet to see a shower here that has a shower curtain, they all seem to use glass doors which is totally acceptable.  The issue is the doors only ever cover half of the shower so the water ends up all over the floors.  I do not understand this.  If you want to use doors that is cool but why cant the doors actually cover the entire shower stall?

Drinking water:  When you go to a restaurant in Canada and ask for water they bring you a glass of tap water and usually get frustrated that you do not want to pay for a drink.  Here they combat people drinking free water by not offering it period.  If you ask for water they bring you a bottle without question.  There is not even an option for tap water.  That is not to say you couldn’t get it if you demanded it, however we have been at places that flat out say No you cannot have free water.  I don’t even want water because it is free I just personally like drinking water with my meals but being forced to pay for it pisses me off.  Also water is often more expensive than alcohol at a restaurant which frustrates me.

As far as I know there is nothing wrong with the water here.  I personally do not drink it at home just because I do not like the taste but Im sure there isn’t anything wrong with it.  I use it for cooking and tea/coffee.  I would never swim in the river here and neither do most locals as it looks like brown sludge, but that is not the water that comes out of the tap as far as I know.

Milk and Eggs:  When we first moved here I could never seem to find these items at the supermarkets and it was because they were not where I expected – in the fridge.  Milk and eggs are not refrigerated here, at least not before they are opened.  I don’t even think people keep their eggs in the fridge at home. 

You can go the store and find an entire aisle of milk just on shelves which is so weird to me.  I still do not understand how it is not kept cold.  Also there are no expiration dates.  Like there are dates to use by before it is opened but once opened just use it until chunky I guess.  I personally use soy milk which I am used to grabbing off a shelf, but regular milk just left out, I cant get behind that. 

The eggs are also different here.  Not only do they not get stored in the fridge but the shells are weak as shit and so trying to peel a hard boiled egg is immensely frustrating.  They just flake into tiny shards of shell and end up pulling off half the egg with them.  Yes I have tried every way possible to cook and peel thinking maybe I had somehow forgotten how to cook and eat eggs, turns out its them not me.

Food Variety:  Again I have an entire post about the difficulty being a vegetarian so I wont rant about that but the serious lack of variety in general needs to be addressed.  So of course being in a different part of the world you can expect different types of foods to be more widely available.  Coming from Canada I am used to having whatever I want whenever I want it.  It is a luxury I enjoy and am so grateful for.  My Papa says we are spoiled and I believe he is right.  We seriously do not know how good we have it!

Fruit and vegetables here are actually only available in season. Imagine that!  I understand why it is like this but I don’t like it.  I am happy with imported foods so I can eat berries all year long and have actual fresh brussel sprouts all the time.  You can hardly even find frozen fruits here.  Perhaps in bigger cities it is different but I don’t live in a big city I live here in the middle of nowhere.  Even when it is a certain foods season you still cant always find it here.  There is plenty I go without now and same for spices and herbs.  I cant even find sage here.

Also the variety with crackers is something that kills me.  Its like they only eat tiny pieces of fried bread not actual crackers.  There is no cracker aisle just a few boxes of all the exact same cracker on a shelf.  I have found saltines occasionally and if I make my way to El Corte Ingles I can get something similar to Breton crackers but that is it.  I miss triscuits and fancy Whole Food varieties.  I don’t care if I sound spoiled I like what I like.

I know for people who eat meat there seems to be all kinds of things to eat but for those of us who do not we are very limited.  Even things that would not typically contain meat are full of it.  Things that say they are vegetarian have fish in them or fish sauce or chicken broth.  I am getting bored of the limited things I can actually eat here.

Time usage:  This sort of ties in with the food thing as well.  Time seems to be viewed differently here.  Its like people believe they have all the time in the world to do everything so nothing is ever done quickly.  Whether it is customer service, food service, banking, stores just being open, postal service etc everything is done so slowly I am tearing my hair out here. 

Lunch takes 3 hours because the waiters just never come back to your table and all your food is brought out separately and half the time they forget one or more items and you are waiting for that.  This in turn is why most stores and businesses are closed for three hours every afternoon so people can have lunch.

Banking must be completed in the early morning because by 2 all the banks are closed for the day and forget them being open on Saturdays.  Ross actually has to take time off work if he needs to do banking stuff.  Again I have a post about nothing being open on Sundays so I wont get into that.

I had been told that people are more relaxed here and just want to enjoy life, which is great but seriously this is why nothing ever gets done and I have to wait over a months for a new bank card to arrive in the mail, which ends up never coming and I have to wait a couple weeks for a second one to be mailed out which does not even come to my house so I have to go pick it up at the bank…oh and did I mention you do not pick your own pin, no they mail that separately to your home and that also never arrives so you have to go to the bank and try not to kill someone while they scramble around trying to find out if they can just give you a pin number… Sorry that is a whole other rant.

Dog poop and Garbage in the streets:  To be clear I am in no way saying that Canadians are the best at not littering or cleaning up after their pets, however I have never seen a place quite like this before.  I have never in my life seen so much shit on the sidewalks, on the streets in the grass etc.  I watch people constantly let their dogs poop wherever they are and then just walk away like its no big deal.  You actually have to walk with your head down to look at the sidewalks because if you do not you will step in shit daily. This is not an exaggeration. Honestly it is disgusting here in terms of dog shit.  I do not know what the deal is, why do people not feel it is their responsibility to clean up after their pets? 

Another thing is garbage.  There is certainly no lack of receptacles and there are bins for all kinds of recycling and compost everywhere.  This is wonderful.  The problem is many people do not seem to care that these are around and just throw their trash on the ground.  This is very typical during lunch and dinner when people are hanging around in the streets eating tapas and drinking.  The streets will be littered with napkins, cigarette butts and just general bits of garbage.  The floors of bars and cafes are like this as well.  It actually makes me not want to go in to some places because they are so filthy. 

Now there are excellent street cleaners working all the time doing a wonderful job cleaning up after everyone.  They are a vital service here and I appreciate how hard they work.  However I cannot help to wonder if perhaps people were just less self important and understood they could very easily just clean up after themselves that we would not require people to walk around after people picking up their garbage and shit.

In conclusion these are just a few of the things I have noticed while living here in Spain.  Some pretty decent stuff and some awful stuff, but mostly just different.  I think it is a great experience living in a place like this because it helps me to learn about other cultures and also to appreciate where I come from even more.  I know everyone has their own ways and their own ideas of what makes a place great so just because I do not like some of the ways they do things here does not make it a bad place.  This is just my personal opinion.