Piropos (Pee-roe-poe-s)

Piropos are Spanish catcalls.  But the difference between American catcalls and Spanish catcalls is that everyone and their father catcalls girls in Spain.  Yes.  60 year olds go to discos and hit on young girls. It also happens in the streets, and at cafes.  We have been instructed not to respond to them in any way. I have absolutely no idea why it is socially acceptable, but I do know that if similar situations existed in the US people would be getting sued for sexual harassment.  Anyways now you all know what piropos are.  Now I am going to tell the story of this picture. 

This past Friday I had to go to the Museum of Flamenco Dancing for the class I'm in right now.  I forgot to coordinate a time to go with people so I had to go by myself before class.  Which wasn't a big deal.  The museum was actually really cool.  It was divided into 5 rooms, each with a topic, and the lighting was really dark and there were spotlights on the important things they had on display.  Well once I was in the first room this older man (I'd guess 60s') approached me and asked if I was with CIEE, and explained that his name was Joaquín and he worked for the museum and if I needed anything at all he would be there to assist me.  I was like alright thanks nice to meet you ect. then I continued taking notes and everything.  I went through the second room and didn't see him, and there were a few other people in this room too.  Once I went to the third room, however, things changed.  The third room was about the different flamenco outfits throughout history and it had all original outfits on display and it was really cool.  I was looking at a dress when in walked Joaquín.  We exchanged the customary greeting kisses and then he started asking me what I thought of everything.  After talking for a couple minutes he started showering me with complements.  He told me I spoke Spanish really well, I had great handwriting (yeah, he really said that), he was honored that I showed so much interest in his culture, etc etc etc.  Up to this point I was just thinking, alright he's just a really friendly nice man.
Well then he took me over to this outfit that was interactive, so you could put it on and take a picture.  He was like here put these on and I'll take a picture so you'll have something to remember your trip to the museum.  And he "helped me" put the shawl on.  Then right when he went to take the picture he was like, Wow you're really pretty.  Really pretty.  And I was like what the heck, too many complements.  This is getting weird: hence the, this is weird but I'll try to be nice look on my face in the picture.  Oh, also there was nobody else in this room, just him and me.  So then he came over to me to show me the picture and he leaned in and asked if I was going to send it to my boyfriend since it's so pretty.  And I was like Yessir I am definitely sending this picture to my boyfriend whom I love with all my heart.  Cause what the heck you know?  I'm not about to tell the extra-friendly old guy who's currently too close for comfort that I'm single.
Well then he just went on this long tangent about how Spain is a very different country than the US and there are many handsome young men, and you never know when life is going to hit you and you'll fall in love so I should have an opened mind etc etc etc.  And while he was saying this he has his hand on my back and he was leaning in towards my face and the whole thing just creeped me out.  So I said "no me interesa" which means "I'm not interested" cause I was trying to send a message.  This only made him more insistent in the fact that I needed to have an opened mind and fall in love with a Spaniard. 
So at this point I was like alright I'm going to try to take this conversation to the next room because maybe other people will be in there.  Bad idea.  The next room was even darker, and still empty.  And there was this bench in there and he sat down and had me sit down next to him and he told me this story about the passion of flamenco.
When he finally left me I just got up and walked out of the museum.  Maybe I was taking things too far, but I was thoroughly creeped out by how interested he was in my love life and how friendly he was.
Moral of the story:  the US has nothing on Spaniards when it comes to acceptable age differences in relationships.

You've Got Mail

Hi guys just in case anyone wants to keep in contact with me I'm listing my address and my skype name ;)

amanda.rethwisch is my skype name

And my address is:

Amanda Rethwisch
CIEE Study Center in Seville
Calle Muñoz y Pabón, 9
41004, Sevilla, Spain

P.D.A. (We Just Don't Care)

I think Hershey's should start putting more effort into marketing in Europe.  They would make a fortune on kisses.  Not that they aren't hugely successful in the US, but here P.D.A. is a socially acceptable thing.  So instead of focusing sales on celebratory events like valentine's day and anniversaries, they could make their campaign a daily thing.  From a US, anti-pda perspective sometimes it's really disgusting to see teenage couples making out in the street.  It's just...too much information quite frankly.  But then this afternoon I saw something that made it all worth-while.  I was studying in a little cafe before class and I witnessed the most beautiful thing.  There was a couple eating lunch (remember from previous blogs--lunch is late here) and the women (yes, a grown adult middle-aged woman) was sitting on the lap of the man she was with and they were laughing and feeding each other.  After they left the restaurant they stood outside and kissed for awhile before strolling down the street arm in arm.  I know this because I left the cafe at the same time as them.  While I was following them I was thinking to myself that they must be dating or something to have so much affection but to my surprise they were wearing wedding rings!  I was never so happy to be wrong in my life!  It just gave me warm fuzzies inside to see a married couple acting so affectionate. 
Before coming here I thought that Europe was more sexual than the United States in general but what I've discovered is that Europe is more open with sexuality, while the United States is in fact equally sexual.  I'm hesitant to say more sexual because I know that Europe has a lot of the same problems related to younger generations being more "free" and stuff. 
In summary, some PDA is good, some is bad.  And yes I have been listening to the song while writing this.

Comida!

Is it too late to make a new year's resolution?  This morning after breakfast I decided that I need to make a new year's resolution to drink a fresh-squeezed glass of orange juice for breakfast every day for the rest of my life :)  There's really nothing better in my opinion.  I had a lengthy discussion with my host dad this morning about the health benefits of orange juice in the winter and the inferiority of store-bought juice. In case you aren't picking up on this back home, food is a Really big deal here.  One of the first things my host mom asked me when we first met was what food I like to eat. 
In Spain there is a Desayuno (breakfast) when you wake up in the morning, a Cafe (Coffee haha, not too interesting) in the late morning, el Almuerzo (lunch) between 2 and 3 pm.  Now the almuerzo is the biggest and most important meal of the day and should be treated as such.  All the stores except major ones close between 2 and 5 so the employees can go home and eat their meal and rest (siesta).  Then everyone goes back to work until 8 or 9, comes home, and eats a light Cena (dinner).  My family tends to eat closer to 10 or 11pm.  For this reason it's also culturally acceptable to have a Merienda or something like that, which essentially means late afternoon snack. 
Now when it comes to what we eat in the US and what we eat in Spain there are distinct differences.  In place of butter here everything, and I really do mean Everything, is cooked in olive oil.  The other day for lunch I had this delicious Sopa con Carne, which was basically beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, and olive oil.  I ate it with fresh bread, fruit, and yogurt.  Now to me this was way too much food and I couldn't finish it all.  This happens daily, however.  They just have such a big lunch it's impossible to eat all of the food!  But my host mom Maria keeps worrying that I hate the food or there's something wrong with me.  I constantly have to reassure her I just need smaller servings or less courses of food! 
Another thing is that they don't really use a lot of salt in their food here.  It tends to be seasoned with herbs or vegetables or not really seasoned at all.  At least in my home. 
When you go out to eat the popular thing to get here is Tapas.  For anyone who's ever eaten at Graze it's essentially the same thing.  You order a few plates of a few different things and everyone shares.  They have a lot of different dishes, but they tend to all include potatoes.  People eat a lot of potatoes here!
Also, dessert.  Now in my house we don't actually have dessert ever (which is good for my sweet tooth :)), so I'm planning on baking them something.  But if you go out to any of the restaurants or to a pastry shop your mind will be blown.  Everything is just sooooo good!  The chocolate is incredible, the pastry fillings are incredible, the Churros aren't my favorite but they are by far better than American doughnuts.  I'm pretty sure they've got us beat in every way, America.  
Oh one last thing, yesterday my host Dad Leandro offered me wine with my lunch and it took me off guard for a second.  I turned it down because I'm not a fan of wine but I was excited that I had the choice to say yes! 

Cultural observations thus far

The culture of Spain is different than the culture of the US.  If you're reading this right now you're probably thinking duh...different country, different culture.  Well for me, I've been here for about a week observing everything and taking it all in and what surprises me isn't necessarily that things are different or what things are different, but how they are different.  For example: In the US you go to starbucks and buy a latte, grande, and drink it throughout the morning.  And when you go out at night you drink alcohol as shots to get drunk quickly.  Here in Spain it's pretty much the exact opposite.  You buy a cafe, which has a concentrated amount of caffeine in a little cup of coffee, and when you go out at night you buy a glass of wine or beer and you drink leisurely.  Another thing I've noticed is the relative concept of distance.  In Seville the majority of people either walk or bike everywhere.  It's just how it is.  So when asking for directions it's really important to keep this in mind because people will tell you that where you're going is really close.  Well here really close means a 15 minute walk.  On the other hand when Spaniards ask where I'm from I tell them I live close to Chicago because they don't really know where Iowa is.  But when they ask me how long it takes to get there and I say 3-4 hours they think I'm crazy cause that's such a long drive for them.
One of the other opposites here is the way people treat opinions and feelings.  Here in Spain everyone has an opinion about everything and you're practically expected to share it.  When I met my host mom one of the first things she said to me was that I'm really pale and need sunscreen.  While we ate lunch she told me all about her daughter's wedding and how she hates it cause she thinks here daughter is too young.  Then she asked me if I have a boyfriend and she told me all about how I need to spend time alone in self-discovery and development and this is what every young person should do because she (my host mom Maria) got married too young and it made life hard sometimes.  What I've discovered is that this kind of thing is pretty normal for Spaniards.  The other thing that's normal is the phrase no toma al pecho which basically means don't take it personally.  Here people are just a lot more upfront and honest about things.  When they say things that we would normally take offense at like, you look like you've gained weight, it's not meant as anything more than stating a fact.
My final point for this blog is the difference between men and women here.  It's something I'm still trying to figure out but I think I'm making a lot of progress.  Although everyone in Seville dresses much nicer than people in Iowa the most distinct difference is the men.  Here men style their hair, dress nicely with scarves, nice shoes, whatever, and it's no big deal.  And with women the biggest thing I've noticed is that there is no big yearning for feminism or equality or anything like that.  And finally this is not a hook-up culture.  I've come to the conclusion that all of these things are related.  Women and men here are much more equal in the sense that the expectations for dress are very similar.  Everyone dresses nicely and cares about appearance.  It's not anything "metro" and there is no feminine connotation when it comes to physical appearance.  Secondly, I would honestly say that the women is la reina de la casa. The queen of the house.  She does everything--cook, clean, shop, and most importantly she controls the meal time.  This may seem demeaning to us American egalitarianists but there are two key things to know.  Here it's a matter of control--the attitude is that this is my house and this is how I do things.  And the other thing is that Spanish life is centered around the meals.  If you control the meals you control the schedule.  For this women are respected.  Which leads to my next point...it's not a hook up culture.  Now there are many reasons for this, but I think one of the reasons is that women are very proud and respect themselves, and men don't have pressure to be all masculine all the time.  This might be getting too sociological but I really think it's true!  Anyways I could go on forever about culture but for now I'm going to stop.  Maybe I'll post another culture blog in the future? :)

My first blog ever!

Hi everyone!  I decided to start a blog while I'm in Spain so that people can keep up with what I'm doing cause sometimes it's hard to keep in touch with everyone! 
It seems crazy to me that I've only been here for a week because I already feel like I've learned so much and done so many things.  I spent the first half of the week in a hotel with my group and the second half of the week I've been in my homestay.  The hotel was just like the hotel we stayed at in Kitzbuhel during the Europe trip!  There are 17 people in my Teaching Development Program.  2 of them have already been here for a semester, and they are really helpful cause they already know a lot about the city and their Spanish is really good!  I love the group and how small it is.  We're just like a big family :)  We're all in the same boat in a strange city with a new language in new families or living situations and I already feel like we've been friends for years. 
So far we've been in orientation sessions learning about our new culture and the city and classes, the program, everything.  Next week we'll start a 2-week intensive course with classes 3 hours a day, and then after that we start our regular semester.  So right now we spend a lot of time exploring and going out and meeting new people every day!  Yesterday I bought my first Spanish cellphone.  The brand is called Yoigo :p
The temperature here is pretty mild.  During the day it's anywhere from 50-65, and at night it's in the low 40s.  I was told that in a couple weeks the "bad season" is coming.  What this means is that for a few weeks it's going to rain sometimes.  I'll take this over the sub-0 temperatures of Iowa any day! :)