I leave Spain today. I wanted to wake up early and enjoy the cit for my last day. I like being up before the rest of the world, and that's not hard when the rest of the world starts at 1100.
I really love Spain. Everyone is so relaxed and laid back - they just do their own thing without caring about what anybody thinks. For example: The Beaches. I've spent a lot of time at the beaches, and nobody takes their body shape into account when picking out a swim suit (or deciding not to wear one. . .). I think it's great! There are these really large women walking around in suits that America demands you have a perfectly toned body for. And when I say large women, I mean like 3 of me. And everyone is BRONZE. I was by far (not even joking or exaggerating) the WHITEST person on a beach that was more densely packed than Capitola on a hot summer day.
Let me tell you about the life of someone that lives in Spain, and you can tell me what the heck America is thinking: Wake up around 10:00ish, go to work (which probably opens at 11:00), eat delicious food for lunch, go home around 2:00 and take a massive nap, go back to work around 5:00, close at 9:00, go eat a wonderful dinner, and go out 'till at least 4:00AM. Every weekend is spent at the beach.
Granted, Spain is the most unproductive European country, but the people are SO HAPPY. Nobody rushes anywhere, there is no food "to go," everyone is friendly and nice, and nobody cares about money. Americans seriously need to reevaluate their values. They keep striving for me, but what they should be doing is enjoying what they have - like the Spaniards!
And they are SERIOUS about their siesta. Everything shuts down. Trying to buy something (shirt, shoes, etc.) around 3:00pm is just as impossible as trying to buy something around 3:00am in America. There is nothing open - except for American stores that you don't really want to go to anyways.
Oh! And around midnight-1:00am there are just as many kids out as you might expect to see in the afternoon in America. Crazy.
The fashion is really interesting here. There are these pants called "drop crotch pant" that are pretty normal pants except that the crotch is anywhere from 6 inches below where is should be to just above your ankles. I thought they were hilarious and bout a (cheap) pair of shorts. Are those big in America? Or is it just over here?
Anyways, Spain has been wonderful. I'll briefly go over highlights, and then I want to go drop my computer off back at the ship because the world is starting to wake up here (It's 9:45am), and I want to be a part of it.
The Beaches! I've mentioned these already, but they really are great. I have a friend who doesn't know how to swim, so we taught her how to float! She's from Ghana and is really dark, and we thought it was funny because she was by far the darkest person on the beach and I was by far the lightest.
Food! We went to a tapas bar last night, which was great! Tapas are a kind of food where you get a little portion of lots of different things and then you all share - kind of like sushi. By "like sushi" I mean the lots-of-little-things-and-sharing part, definitely not the actual food part. And that was perfect for me because I hate deciding on food anyways, so I just got to try everything! Also, the paella has been delicious! I've gotten it with sea food both times. Last night I might have eaten sheep brain. . . or maybe fish lungs. We couldn't really figure it out.
People! I've talked about them already. Super laid back and cool.
Trees! There are some fricken' massive trees here! I like climbing them, and people look at me like I'm crazy, but I don't care. They're huge!
Flamenco Dancing! I went to a flamenco dancing show, which was a lot of fun. They move their feet so quickly! Part of the show was a bloodless bull fight thing. This little 14 year old boy with taunt and tease the bull with a cape until the bull got angry enough to charge and then the boy would juke away. It reminded me of Kerry and Chris. =-) Don't worry, it was a small bull though, so even when the bull knocked the kid down, he got right up and kept going. The kid REALLY reminded me of Chris. Chris, you'd be a good bull fighter.
Cadiz! Cadiz is the city that I'm in, and it's really nice. There are hardly any cars - everyone rides a moped or just walks everywhere. There is a GIANT cathedral that I went to church in on Sunday, which was cool. The service was in Spanish, but it was still really great to be a part of it. The roads are small and windy, barely wide enough to fit a car. Everyone has a dog. There are a million little balconies that people fill with flowers. There are random LARGE areas of free wireless all around town. And it's SUPER clean. They wash down the streets and sidewalks everyday and pick up all the trash and left overs from the night before. At 8:00 you could walk around and be like "what happened here??" (remember, the Spanish like to party), but by 10:00am it's as good as new. It's really quite lovely.
Okay, I'm going to leave my wi-fi spot and go drop off my computer.
LOVE YOU ALL!!
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