Dos pequeñas notas culturales

A quick note about two other interesting cultural differences we learned about in orientation.

For all that "no pasa nada" is apparently the slogan of Granada, the Spaniards are repulsed by bare feet in the home. Slippers or shoes are worn at all times inside. Okay, many cultures work that way, like Japan and Slovakia, for instance. But I just had to laugh when someone raised their hand and asked our director, who was leading the orientation, if socks were okay. His face twisted unpleasantly in uncontainable revulsion. "Socks...are much worse." He started explaining the chain of thinking about cleanliness (which I think I can guess: if the reason you don't go barefoot in the house is because floors are dirty, wearing socks just makes your socks dirty which will make the inside of your shoes dirty, on top of everything else), but then realized it would be a long explanation and said, "Long story short, no socks."

(I have a single. Guess what? I'm barefoot at this very moment.)

Then there was the matter of showers. We were told that Spaniards are very energy-conscious, and leaving a light on in a room is a serious offense, on moral rather than energy-bill grounds (he gave us a good analogy: like when you see someone throw a plastic water bottle in the trash). Similarly, showers must be brief. Someone asked: "Length of time is relative. What do you mean by 'short'?" He thought about it, and said, "You know, I'm not going to be like [insert name of other IES organizer] and say you have to soap up dry and then turn the water on and rinse it off. But you know, five minutes would be an absolute max." It was funny how he said this with a kind of magnanimity, being very generous. I always thought I was a fast showerer, since I average 11 minutes usually. Well, maybe not! I'm sure I kept it below five minutes this morning. I'm not complaining. The real question is why 15+-minute showers are so normalized in the U.S.

Oh, and something else kind of funny: one girl asked whether Spaniards recycle. Our director nodded and said, "Oh yes, it's just like in America--we sort our recycling, and we compost, and we sort our compost down to organic and non-organic foods..." Nope. That's not just like in America. Glad you think so highly of us, though.