You know you've been in Spain too long when...

[Maciamo]

After posting similar threads about Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, and Japan, I am completing the series of non-English-speaking countries in which I have lived. I am planning to do Britain later.

Feel free to comment and add more lines about culture shock in Spain.


You know you've been in Spain too long when...

1. You have dinner at 10 pm and only start getting ready to go out at 11 pm. You never get back home until 3 am, and more often at dawn.
2. On some Sunday mornings you have breakfast before going to bed, not after you get up.
3. You plan your life around the siesta. No need to try to find something open between 2 and 5 pm !
4. You avoid taking the taxi because you know the driver will go in circles, and the longest way possible to your destination.
5. You expect to get cheated in restaurants and ask the local customers for the real price of their churros con chocolate, as it's not on the menu.
6. You wear your rucksack on backwards to protect it from pickpockets.
7. You stop asking locals for directions because you know they will point at any direction if they don't know.
8. You get into conversations with complete strangers all the time.
9. You look for El Corte Inglès department stores whenever you need so buy something.
10. You have forgotten the meaning of speed limit when driving your car.
11. You don't get nervous or offended when other drivers honk at you, and you actually do quite a bit a gratuitous tooting yourself.
12. You don't plan your activities too long in advance as you know unexpected events will turn up.
13. You walk to almost any place you have to go (or take the metro in Madrid and Barcelona).
14. You drink wine all the time and even put wine in your lemonade (or the other way round).
15. You automatically answer mañana when asked to do something.
16. You know that 'ahora' doesn’t really mean now.
17. You know men in their forties who still live with their mothers.
18. You're known as the guiri.
19. You eat jamón all the time and know the difference between Jamón Ibérico and Jamón serrano.
20. You cheek kiss (twice) anybody you know, even new acquaintances.
21. You forget to say 'please' and 'thanks', and answer requests by 'yes, but...'
22. You know you have to take the whole day off whenever you need to get some official paperwork.
23. You think it's fine to drink coffee in a glass.
24. You answer the phone by saying ¿Digame?
25. You dry all your clothes on a line outside your apartment.
26. You think it’s fine to comment on everyone's appearance, and to openly stare at strangers.

[JFWR]

Spain sounds like a pretty awful place to live from that list! But I suppose it is at least adventuresome after a fashion.

I was going to make some clever, topical humour about their credit woes, but no reason to beat a dead horse.

[Kardu]

Spain sounds like a pretty awful place to live from that list! But I suppose it is at least adventuresome after a fashion.

:):):) Have you ever lived in a foreign country?

[JFWR]

:):):) Have you ever lived in a foreign country?

Not for any significant period, no. The most I've been abroad is a month or so.

[Cimmerianbloke]

As a New-Yorker, you could probably make a similar list with California or redneck states. It's all about different lifestyles, and for having lived in Spain several years, I can only add they know how to live there...

[Kardu]

and for having lived in Spain several years, I can only add they know how to live there...

Fully agree :)

[traveldiva379]

This is great!

[Ziober]

Me siento ofendido por este thread por difamación y calumnias a más de 40 millones de personas. Pido respetuosamente que se retire.

[Maciamo]

Me siento ofendido por este thread por difamación y calumnias a más de 40 millones de personas. Pido respetuosamente que se retire.

Here comes another oversensitive Spaniard who gets offended if one doesn't speak all praise and glory of his country. FYI, most of the (humorous) situations described in the OP are completed supported by the depiction of Spanish culture and society in the pXenophobe's Guide to the Spanish. If you look at Amazon's reviews, there is even a Spaniard who says everything in the book is completely true, and that is, in my opinion, far more critical that what I wrote.

[Wilhelm]

Some of them are true, others are just stereotypes..but it's all for fun, no need to get serious about it.,

[Ziober]

Este señor está llamando vagos y estafadores a todo un país. Este no es un foro humorístico, sino cultural. He contactado con otros usuarios españoles que coinciden conmigo en que en este sitio web existe animadversión hacia los españoles por parte de varios administradores del foro.

[Knovas]

I agree with Wilhelm. Ziober, don't take it bad, but you're exaggerating. The problems you mention have been solved, because now we have more administrators watching than before: there were some individuals who used to have fun with strange agendas (distorting Iberian genetics and culture) and, as far as I know, everytime they tried to repeat, they've been banned. So at present the forum it's ok.

And I'm sorry to say this but, actually, there's absolutely no reason to be proud of Spain if we take the last years as reference. Anyway, one could think my opinion is not valid because I want independence for Catalonia, but also here we have many things to fix...just to leave clear I'm not biased.

In short, it's only humour. Reality is far more cruel.

[Wilhelm]

Este señor está llamando vagos y estafadores a todo un país. Este no es un foro humorístico, sino cultural. He contactado con otros usuarios españoles que coinciden conmigo en que en este sitio web existe animadversión hacia los españoles por parte de varios administradores del foro.

Si bien es cierto que antes el foro era bastante hostil hacia los ibéricos, porque habia muchos tro11s, pero la cosa ya se ha calmado mucho, ya no es lo que era antes. Los administridores es cierto que tienen una cierta tendencia hacia lo germánico, pero sin llegar a lo anti-español ..

[Ziober]

Cuando mostré mi malestar por este thread se me penalizó por insultos, cuando es falso que insultase, no voy a repetir lo que dije porque éstos son capaces de banearme. Me han quitado "3 puntos" (en ninguna parte he podido ver qué cantidad de "eupedia puntos" tengo).


I could laugh about myself, but maybe I'll be angry if anyone who I don't know laugh about me. You know what I mean? Maybe Maciamo is jelous after all because there had found that British, Irish, Northamericans, Australians, etc had no mostly Saxon genes in their blood but Iberian)

[sparkey]

I could laugh about myself, but maybe I'll be angry if anyone who I don't know laugh about me. You know what I mean? Maybe Maciamo is jelous after all because there had found that British, Irish, Northamericans, Australians, etc had no mostly Saxon genes in their blood but Iberian)

Almost nobody thinks that anymore.

[Ziober]

I agree with Wilhelm. Ziober, don't take it bad, but you're exaggerating. The problems you mention have been solved, because now we have more administrators watching than before: there were some individuals who used to have fun with strange agendas (distorting Iberian genetics and culture) and, as far as I know, everytime they tried to repeat, they've been banned. So at present the forum it's ok.

And I'm sorry to say this but, actually, there's absolutely no reason to be proud of Spain if we take the last years as reference. Anyway, one could think my opinion is not valid because I want independence for Catalonia, but also here we have many things to fix...just to leave clear I'm not biased.

In short, it's only humour. Reality is far more cruel.

I respect your feeling about Catalonia. But I am, and I'll be ever proud to be spaniard. And I think the spaniards aren't guilty about our actual economic status, but victims of our goverments.

[Ziober]

Almost nobody thinks that anymore.

Almost nobody thought earth was espheric in the XIV century

[sparkey]

Almost nobody thought earth was espheric in the XIV century

That's not exactly true either.

[Ziober]

Here comes another oversensitive Spaniard who gets offended if one doesn't speak all praise and glory of his country. FYI, most of the (humorous) situations described in the OP are completed supported by the depiction of Spanish culture and society in the pXenophobe's Guide to the Spanish. If you look at Amazon's reviews, there is even a Spaniard who says everything in the book is completely true, and that is, in my opinion, far more critical that what I wrote.

With this stuff Your credibility directly came to zero.

[julia90]

why when in madrid, waiters were so snail like.. not very quick, very slow?.. things in central italy and northern italy you don't find.
some were very arrogant.
also people are quite noisy..

[Vallicanus]

why when in madrid, waiters were so snail like.. not very quick, very slow?.. things in central italy and northern italy you don't find.
some were very arrogant.
also people are quite noisy..

As if Italians aren't noisy and arrogant.

[Cambrius (The Red)]

Spain has it's problems like many other European countries. No need to exaggerate things.

My view is that Eupedia doesn't seem to have much credibility, especially on the more professional fora (DNA Forums for one - currently not operative). Too much nonsense and just plain inaccurate / misleading information posted about Iberians (and some other population groups). Malicious members are many, unfortunately. Jejune and destructive, to say the least.

[LeBrok]

Spain has it's problems like many other European countries. No need to exaggerate things.
.

When you are out today, don't forget to buy some sense of humor.

[Baltic tribes]

Spot-on description

[martiko]

With german, Spanishes it most interesting people of Europe behind the French