Lauren in Sevilla

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

interesting information

Well at least I think its interesting and since my class got out early I can write them out! Ask me questions because I would love to describe these so that they are clearly understood by those with interest. -Lauren

Differences between the United States and Andalucía, besides the obvious stuff.

There are some curricular activities like for students but this is normally in the big cities with basketball and soccer teams but the majority of schools don´t have these teams.

Houses do not have garbage disposals in the sink (but they know about them because of american movies) or dryers for clothes in Andalucía ( I am told now that they do have them in the north- probably because it is impossible to put clothes on a clothesline when there is snow and rain all the time)

Milk is in liter cartons, jugs with any type of beverage does not exist here. All liquids are in glass bottles or cartons except pop which is in a plastic liter bottle. The design of a plastic jug with a handle on the side- nope.

In Sevilla there are no driveways. Cars are parked in open spots on the street (double parking and any open area on the small sidewalks in Centro and Macarena) there are private parking areas and some garages that are always a surprise to me when I am walking down the street and a door opens from a block of houses and a car leaves- you wouldn´t believe these houses are as big as they actually are- looks are definatley decieving.

The country flag is not taller then the other flags. Here I have found the Andalucía flag is above the rest. This is in 10/10 of Andalucía where the local government is Nationalist.

Schools do not have mascots, traditional colors etc. Actually Mario doesn´t know what the colors for the university are. I went into the ¨school store¨ and was told that the colors are really light blue, yellow, and red but practically any color you want the school to have it has. So I think this is just an american custom the toursit shops have adapted to sell school paraphanelia to extanjeros.

Little boys can be seen on the streets dressed in sweaters with a color shirt underneath and a pair of shorts with a pair of tights on under. Really little boys wear those suspender jumpers (yeah I laughed at this pretty hard when I heard that both Pedro and Mario were dressed in these as children- you wonder why being gay in Sevilla right now is cool ?)

In the US there are dances in high school and boys ask girls to these dances. Here they do not have dances. They do have one and it is called the end of the year dance for those that are about to graduate from their escuela secundaria (that is when they are around 16). This dance is similiar to our dances but no one has dates and instead they go to eat and drink before they hit the discotecas for the night. Oh another thing guys dance here! Wether they are good or not they don´t have to be pried out of their seats to dance. Oh and it is accepted that guys dance in a group with eachother (I am going to hate going back to the US and having to get used the guys not dancing again- echo de menos Pedro y mis amigos españoles y sus bailes raros)

Greetings. Guys can greet another guy friend with a hug and if they are really close a kiss on each cheek is perfectly acceptable. Also a guy can go up to a guy friend and throw his arm around his shoulder to talk. It is perfectly normal- this is not a sign of being gay like a lot of guys in the US like to believe.

School hours run from 9am to 3:30pm. Small snacks are offered for younger kids to buy during snack time (like recess but they don´t have jungle gyms, they play soccer in the plazas). After school at 3:30 they return home to eat lunch with their family. So they don´t have a lunch time.

They don´t roast marshmellows over the fire but know about it because of American movies. Oh the same with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches they know about them but the majority of spaniards have never tried this.

They have a great deal of junk food snacks but not Reeses.

Circumcision is not done in europe unless it is neccessary for health reasons. Enough said on that.

Last but definately not least bathrooms. Bathrooms tend to not have toilet paper or a toilet seat. In discotecas and bars there is always a line for girls. It is just expected.

The US does not have cañas and other such little breaded pastries that are so sweet and I love!

Bars in Sevilla are open at all times of the day but close around 3am when the discotecas start getting crowded, these and don´t calm down until 4am and, depending on the discoteca, it won´t be until 6am when the discoteca starts to calm down and then they close at the latest 8am.

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