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Just came back recently after a short trip (with my family - with a tour group.), a little over 1 week in Spain and I don't know how was it for other foreigners in Spain but jjjjjoder....... wow it wasn't just a spot on the map anymore hahaha
The usual stuff was really nice as usual, historical sites/ architecture, really different level of food culture, muchísimas bonitas, and definitely flamenco, which was 1 of the main reasons why I learnt Spanish in the first place, wanting to go there to learn flamenco one day. Also other stuff like clean streets (except in Madrid), clean toilets where there's always soap (over here usually if there's soap it's mixed with a lot of water >_>)
But most of all, the thing that made me elated and still makes me smile and grin and laugh is the people! I was half expecting a bunch of depressed people loitering around but was I wrong.
Maybe the the lasting impression was due to the --- stark contrast to the locals here. But almost everyone was nice and the place was full of clowns and trolls but most important of all I don't sense much pretense, a lot of it felt sincere. I've talked to almost everyone I can and I can only recall about 3 grumpy people --- and their grumpiness was somewhat justified :D
Some little stories :
![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Km_cero.JPG)
My friend (who was only free for 1 night in Madrid) was explaining to me about how this is ther kilometre zero and how their highways are so simply named and which roads lead to which road and then some other guys came in to the discussion about the names of the places it lead to/ended.
Using their shoes to point, they explained, "This one leads to Galica, this one leads to some Basque place (didn't know what they said), this one leads to Barcelona etc. You can reach the whole of Spain with these highways etc. This is not Spain, this is Portugal, this is France, etc."
Suddenly this guy says, "This is Cataluña (Barcelona), this isn't Spain!!! ARrrgh" and everyone, including my friend goes loco and starts stomping on Cataluña hahahahahahahaha
Later I asked and he told me that it isn't that everyone don't like Cataluña, but it's the Catalans who hate the rest of Spain
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Later we were looking for a place I know we had to go because I already went there the previous day (Mercado de San Miguel, a cheap gourmet place -- I know it sounds oxymoronic but this is Spain :D) but my friend isn't from Madrid so he was looking for someone to ask for directions. "You have to know who to ask....... This guy for example (points to a random Indian guy walking past) obviously isn't from here."
He askes another passer-by for directions and he said that he isn't from Madrid either. "Actually I'm looking for el Sol (the kilometre zero place)." My friend points him to the place and he grabs my friend's shoulders, shaking him while thanking him, "Gracias! Gracias! Gracias"
hahahaha he was asking for directions but he ended up giving directions.
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At the airport, I ordered 3 paellas, to be shared with 4 people. After that I ordered another one, still feeling hungry. One of the chefs smiled, "You liked it? ^^"
Later my father asked me if I want choclates. I requeste to have a paella instead.
As I was nearing the counter, the other chef was shouting and chanting and swinging his hands, "OTRA otra OTRA otra OTRA otra!" (otra = another) hahahahaha I told him my little story about the choclates and paella and he laughed. I asked to take their picture and got it.
Then while I was walking to the cashier he called me back and gave me his email asking to send the picture to him on facebook.
So I did. They were happy to see the picture and one of his friends was commenting and joking about how ugly his was, how it isn't decorated at all, and how the chef sucks while spamming "jajajajajajaja" at him
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In a market in Barcelona we bought some cured ham from this guy and since he was talking his time cutting the meat I just talked to him for a while. After we walked around we decided to buy more from him and I talked a bit more. Later I asked for a picture and his co-worker invited me behind the booth. Naturally, I invited her to be together in the picture, asking her in broken Spanish, "come/go, together."
Suddenly she got all excited, "NO I'm not going out with him, he's just my colleague, we only work together and that's all." And there was this sudden excitement between them about how they aren't going out together hahahahaha After calming her down that I was just asking her to be together in a photo, she once again insisted that he's only her co-worker as she told me to mind my head as I go out hahahaha
Shit.. Just realised that I said "Vas juntos? Juntos?" --- Should have been ven hahahaha. But I was signaling her to come over! Then again my pointing could equally fairly be interpreted the way she did hahaha
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I have more stories if you're interested :D
Please PM me if you'd like to help me with my Spanish or just chat, especially if you use MSN/Skype :D
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Nice story.
On January 08 2012 00:15 JieXian wrote:
But most of all, the thing that made me elated and still makes me smile and grin and laugh is the people! I was half expecting a bunch of depressed people loitering around but was I wrong.
Maybe the the lasting impression was due to the --- stark contrast to the locals here. But almost everyone was nice and the place was full of clowns and trolls but most important of all I don't sense much pretense, a lot of it felt sincere. I've talked to almost everyone I can and I can only recall about 3 grumpy people --- and their grumpiness was somewhat justified :D
I've heard that Spaniards and Italians are among the liveliest (for the lack of a better word) people in Europe.
Maybe it has to do with warm weather 
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On January 08 2012 00:15 JieXian wrote:
Later I asked and he told me that it isn't that everyone don't like Cataluña, but it's the Catalans who hate the rest of Spain
it is exactly the opposite. also "Cataluña" in English is Catalonia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalonia <- an interesting read
also, i'm glad you enjoyed your trip. spain is as lively as you could witness.
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Spain has a very cheerful culture
Me gustaria saber si el español que hablan en España es muy diferente de ese que se habla por Latina América (my broken spanish :p)
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On January 08 2012 00:49 fabiano wrote:Spain has a very cheerful culture Me gustaria saber si el español que hablan en España es muy diferente de ese que se habla por Latina América (my broken spanish :p)
hay muchas diferencias. me crié en Miami y estaba rodeado de los Latinos. desde entonces he pasado tiempo en España y la gente siempre sabe que no he aprendido Castellano en España. los Españoles dicen movíl, coche, y enfadado mientras digo celular, carro, y enojado. y la gramatica tambien...diría "que dijiste"" pero dicen "que has dicho?" for "what did you say?"
i'm sure it's the same thing for you with Portuguese natives and between Americans/Brits, etc
OP, sounds like a great time. you went to Madrid and Barcelona then?
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On January 08 2012 00:42 jlim wrote:Show nested quote +On January 08 2012 00:15 JieXian wrote:
Later I asked and he told me that it isn't that everyone don't like Cataluña, but it's the Catalans who hate the rest of Spain
it is exactly the opposite. also "Cataluña" in English is Catalonia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalonia <- an interesting read also, i'm glad you enjoyed your trip. spain is as lively as you could witness.
I suppose you're Catalan? :D
On January 08 2012 01:16 Tippany wrote:Show nested quote +On January 08 2012 00:49 fabiano wrote:Spain has a very cheerful culture Me gustaria saber si el español que hablan en España es muy diferente de ese que se habla por Latina América (my broken spanish :p) hay muchas diferencias. me crié en Miami y estaba rodeado de los Latinos. desde entonces he pasado tiempo en España y la gente siempre sabe que no he aprendido Castellano en España. los Españoles dicen movíl, coche, y enfadado mientras digo celular, carro, y enojado. y la gramatica tambien...diría "que dijiste"" pero dicen "que has dicho?" for "what did you say?" i'm sure it's the same thing for you with Portuguese natives and between Americans/Brits, etc
Another story my friend told me, related Castillian Spanish vs Latin American Spanish:
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"I have a colleague from Mexico (I think it's Mexico) and one over there coger means to fuck while over here coger means to grab."
"So when she was at the airport a guy said "Puedo coger tus maletas?" (May I grab/fuck your luggage?)"
"and she went: Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!! Nooooooooooo!!!!"
hahaha the look on his face was so funny
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OP, sounds like a great time. you went to Madrid and Barcelona then?
No, I've been to more places, will post it soon. It's a lot of places in such a short time but sadly they're mostly very .... don't know the best word for it but in Chinese there's a proverb "Looking at the flowers while riding a horse", rushing through stuff and not having the chance to take my time 
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As a spaniard i just had to stop lurking for an instant, nice OP
Also was thinking about the catalonian issue and who hates who, but i'll just relax, I live at the east coast in a touristically oriented town, and everybody here hates on madrileños (people from madrid), though some of the coolest and nicest people i have met in my life are madrileños. I have the impression that just the loudest and most notably worst people from madrid give the others the bad fame.
I felt strange when you said you think spain is clean, i personally think except very few places it's a dirt pile, maybe malaysia is on a whole new level of dirt for me lol .
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On January 08 2012 02:41 SpaceAnt wrote:As a spaniard i just had to stop lurking for an instant, nice OP Also was thinking about the catalonian issue and who hates who, but i'll just relax, I live at the east coast in a touristically oriented town, and everybody here hates on madrileños (people from madrid), though some of the coolest and nicest people i have met in my life are madrileños. I have the impression that just the loudest and most notably worst people from madrid give the others the bad fame. I felt strange when you said you think spain is clean, i personally think except very few places it's a dirt pile, maybe malaysia is on a whole new level of dirt for me lol .
hahahahahah You'd better be prepared mentally if you're coming to Malaysia then.
Thinking over it's dirty (dirtiest) in Madrid and reasonably clean everywhere else, not Singapore-you'll-be-fined-heavily-and-regret-it-if-you-litter-clean though. I really felt the difference when I was in Madrid especially since it was the last city I went to.
Where are you from?
On January 08 2012 00:49 fabiano wrote:Spain has a very cheerful culture Me gustaria saber si el español que hablan en España es muy diferente de ese que se habla por Latina América (my broken spanish :p)
Btw I asked a Portugese woman about the pronunciation of Dia because I've always thought the Portugese "D" sounds like an English "J" (due to all the bossa nova :D) and she gave me a replied grumplily: "No, it's Dia, Jia is Brazillian."
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[QUOTE]On January 08 2012 03:08 JieXian wrote:
Where are you from?
Who ? Me ? Im from Denia, an insignificant port town with beach and lots of tourists in summer, mostly germans, french, english and of course Madrileños
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On January 08 2012 03:08 JieXian wrote:
Btw I asked a Portugese woman about the pronunciation of Dia because I've always thought the Portugese "D" sounds like an English "J" (due to all the bossa nova :D) and she gave me a replied grumplily: "No, it's Dia, Jia is Brazillian."
rofl
She is right ^^
Although the written portuguese from Brazil and Portugal are almost identical, the spoken portuguese differentiates a lot between these two countries, but if we speak calmly we understand each other :p
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On January 08 2012 08:44 fabiano wrote:Show nested quote +On January 08 2012 03:08 JieXian wrote:
Btw I asked a Portugese woman about the pronunciation of Dia because I've always thought the Portugese "D" sounds like an English "J" (due to all the bossa nova :D) and she gave me a replied grumplily: "No, it's Dia, Jia is Brazillian." rofl She is right ^^ Although the written portuguese from Brazil and Portugal are almost identical, the spoken portuguese differentiates a lot between these two countries, but if we speak calmly we understand each other :p
hahahaha then the difference for Spanish isn't that great. I've asked several Spanish people and they say there's absolutely no problem understanding each other. I for one, have spoken to a few and don't have any problems especially as a foreigner. But then again I've only talked about relatively simple stuff.
Then again in WordReference there's always an argument between them and the threads get really long, for example señorita vs señora, -ado vs ao (enfadado vs enfadao).
On January 08 2012 06:51 SpaceAnt wrote:Who ? Me ? Im from Denia, an insignificant port town with beach and lots of tourists in summer, mostly germans, french, english and of course Madrileños
hahahaha There's the cause of your dirt problem. Not to mention the Parisians and others etc.
In a tablao Sevilla I talked a bit to a girl who says she's a dancer told me that this place's really good (I wasn't sure because the tour group brought us there). Then she added that she's from Alicante and I was like O_O OK!
She wasn't wrong :D
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EPT
