You Aren’t The Typical American

Saturday April 19, 2008

After studying throughout the morning, we had another “intercambio,” or now I like to call it hanging out with Spanish friends in the afternoon. We meet up in front of a church and headed to a pizza place called, “Pizzeria Orsini” for lunch. We had a reservation for 17 and a table was waiting for us when we arrived. We all ordered different things and sat, talked and had drinks, for three hours. A popular subject that we talked about was American and Spanish cuss words…before you freak out and think that its bad, it was actually pretty interesting and full of culture. Now I can understand a lot more of the “street-smart” words and I can understand more of the popular culture words. We also shared phrases such as “its raining cats and dogs,” that are less literal.

 Today I noticed that the restaurant culture is different here than in the States. It is fine to go to a restaurant with friends and to sit at a table eating and talking for hours. In the States the waitress/waiter that would have your table would be pretty annoyed if you stayed at their table for more than an hour. It might also be because you don’t have to leave tips here as well. Also, since our group had a bill that was over 200 euros, we all got a free shot at the end of our meal on the house. This is a custom here in Spain. We learned the national drinking song of Spain and talked for a while, and then left for another bar. It started pouring as we were in transit to the other bar, so we all huddled under our umbrellas and hurried to the Irish pub that had been dubbed our destination. We sat and talked for a while with our group. I asked them all what they did for a living and then they asked about my job(s) and my parents jobs; I had a hell of a time explaining how at Stellas I pour shakes on peoples heads and that my dad is a produce broker. Both are not the easiest to explain/describe in Spanish. A few minutes later I overheard a guy talking to someone and he was trying to figure out how to say, “I have a cold,” in English. I jumped all over that one and helped him out. I ended up asking him where he was from (Spain) and he asked me as well. When I told him that I was from the United States he was pretty taken back by it and told me that I, “didn’t look like the typical American.” I didn’t exactly know how to take that one, so I shot back at him, “…and what exactly is the ‘typical American’?” He just gave me a “crap what am I going to say now, I don’t want to offend her” kind of look. So I took a shot in the dark and asked if me meant that I wasn’t screaming, ridiculous and drunk. And he shyly nodded yes and said, “Exactly.” I told him that I was here to study Spanish and that was what I was doing, not the other things. He told me that I was doing really well and that my accent was really good. This seems pretty trivial, but it was awesome to me. First off he didn’t relate me with the stupid Americans that don’t take studying abroad seriously, and secondly he complimented my skills. After talking for a little and making plans for later in the week with two of the ladies, I headed home to study and have dinner!