Click, drool, repeat

This isn't exactly Spain related, but I need to share my new addiction: food porn. Because lets be honest, there is a similar obsession and fascination with food as there is for sex. Let me know if you feel the same.

Nashville Needs You

Even though this blog is dedicated to life offshore, I have to comment on what has happened in Nashville, where I lived for four years. I have spoken to many friends at Vanderbilt the past week who have tried to describe what is going on, aside from canceled exams. The pictures are mind blowing and have really upset me because I recognize every street corner, restaurant, landmark and highway completely submerged in water. My heart goes out to all Nashville residents who have been affected by this disaster.

This article was sent to me today by my landlord in Nashville, please read it and watch the video. Get a bikini wax, save a family (you'll understand after you read the article).

"Spanish-isms"

Emily, Sara, Katelyn and Julia came up with this hilarious list of "Spanish-isms" that I just had to share because they are just all so true. I also added a few of my own . Enjoy:

• Ikea is the gold standard of furniture
• No fresh flowers in homes
• People "invite" each other for meals and drinks
• Flip flops for beach only
• No baseball hats
• Must show ID with credit card
• Servers don't refill your drinks
• Red wine is always refrigerated
• Napkins are made of wax paper
  
• Exaggerated gesticulation, so it's hard to tell from afar if someone is talking about the weather or their firstborn child
• All basic medicine is behind the counter
• People stand in doorways and saying excuse me to get by is useless
• Pushing is acceptable touching a lot in general is acceptable
• No concept of personal space, especially in lines
• Kids pee in parks
• Food is left on the counter, unrefridgerated, overnight
• Napkins are crumpled up on the table
• All time tables for buses are different based on what website or bus map you are looking at
• People say ¨hasta luego¨ in passing instead of ¨hi,¨ like we do
• No bare feet... ever
• Sports clothes are never to be worn outside
• No going outside with wet hair, even if its hot out
• TV is on during all meals
• Yogurt and fruit for dessert
• People share salad bowls
• People will cut the last piece of food into small pieces so as to not take the actual last piece
• Kids are out at all hours of the night
• After siesta people eat churros with chocolate
  
• Pizza is sometimes cut with scissors
• People don´t drink water on a regular basis
• People are baffled by water bottles (nalgene, aluminum, etc)
• Siblings all have matching outfits, even if one is 9 years old and the other is 2
• Not covering mouth for coughs or sneezes
• Spanish women always link arms walking down the street
• Milk and eggs aren´t refrigerated (!?!?)
• If you look remotely presentable you will be hit on by every man on the street
• Mixed drinks are made with 75% alcohol, 15% ice and 10% mixer
• Dogs aren´t leashed, or cleaned up after
• Girls don´t dance at bars
• Restaurants charge you for bread
• Waitors glare at you when you ask for tap water
  
• Fruit has to be weighed at grocery stores
• You are obligated to say that the food is ¨buenismo¨ within the first two minutes of every meal
• Spaniards don´t type with two hands
• Flan is sold everywhere, next to basics such as milk, eggs, and butter.
• Groups of spanish friends are ususally not co-ed
• People take one sip of their cafe con leche and then chug the rest when they are about to leave the bar
• Spanish women don´t exercise
• Every woman is "guapa"
• Old women wear lots of fur
• No fear of smoking or motos, two things that are considered extremely dangerous back home
• Staring
• Spanish women mother everyone
• Kids are named after parents and then nicknamed with diminuatives, but never with seemingly random names
  

You can´t change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying about the future

This year has gone by incredibly fast and I have made a point to try to live in the present and fully appreciate this amazing opportunity... but with less than one month left before I leave Spain and go back to the "real world" as some people say, it´s hard not to think about the past months I´ve spent here and the future months ahead.

Looking back I am really proud of myself for getting situated in a place that I had never been to before and is not very "me." I am happy I got to go to Morocco, a part of the world I had never seen before, and back to Madrid, the city I can navigate with my eyes closed and is the reason I am here today. I found 10 English-hungry learners to spend hours tutoring every week, and several Spanish friends to practice my subjunctive tense with. I became obsessed with spinning, the activity that from a far always seemed boring, and even further annoyed by Spanish pop music, a genre of sounds that will forever torture my ears.

And looking ahead... well, I don´t want to ruin the present...so all I´ll say is, I´m not too worried.

Iceland volcano promotes Rioja wine??

This article from the WSJ is cute and gives a little history on Rioja wine. LOVE Rioja wine by the way.

Here's the beginning bit of the article "Nature's Effect on Rioja":

Fortunately, my Tastings diary didn't clash with the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland. With much of European air space closed last week due to the advent of a precipitous volcanic-ash cloud, winemakers joined the long list of would-be travelers stranded in remote destinations. In northern and central Europe, all eyes turned to Madrid, as Spain's skies remained open for business, blissfully clear of any trace of volcanic ash. As passengers from across the Atlantic funneled through Madrid airport, my wine historian antennae was alerted that it wasn't the first time that a natural disaster has benefited the Spanish economy.

Inspirational Quote #16

"As the traveler who has once been from home is wiser than he who has never left his own doorstep, so a knowledge of one other culture should sharpen our ability to scrutinize more steadily, to appreciate more lovingly, our own" - Margaret Mead.

La tasa de paro

The rate of unemployment is up to 20% in Spain and everyone is talking about it. And rightfully so, Spain is in deep mierda. The Barcelona cab drivers were very talkative and in every cab I took (all 3) the drivers and I engaged in a serious conversation about the economy and politics. They all asked what I was doing here and why I would be here when the economy was so bad. And I would respond with, believe it or not, but it hasn´t exactly been easy to find a job in the US either. Some people worry that Spain will be the next Greece, having to negotiate an emergency bailout from the EU, but others, like president Zapatero say that the jobless rate has peaked and will now start to decline.

My airport cab driver was on the more optimistic side. He said I shouldn´t go back to the US in a month, but stay here and work. When I said my job finishes in a month and I would have nothing else to do he said I should work as a "taxista" like him- that it is very lucrative and yes there are many women taxistas. I told him I hate driving, he said " tia, eso es un problema pequeñito."