March!

Hola amigos!

Happy March! Yesterday it smelled like spring here… that’s a good smell!

Yesterday was also quite an interesting day. I met up with some other American students for breakfast at a restaurant called VIPS. And we had REAL breakfast! Here, breakfast is the smallest meal, and every morning I have a mug of Cola-Cao and two pieces of toast with marmalade. And that’s okay (the marmalade is delicious!) but yesterday morning we had PANCAKES. They were fantastic. After going out for a very American breakfast, we went to our Spanish church, where we spent two hours singing Spanish songs and listening to a Spanish sermon. After church, I went home for lunch, where I spoke a lot of Spanish with my senora. Then it was time for siesta (a great part of the day), and my senora wanted to watch a movie/take a nap. So, she turned on Canal Sur (her favorite channel) and we watched… an old Western movie, dubbed into Spanish. It was hilarious. We both enjoyed making fun of how corny it was. So there I was, an American, watching an American movie, dubbed into Spanish, with my Spanish senora. Quite the collision of cultures!

I find that happens a lot here… the collision of Spain and the United States. In the stores and restaurants, they play mostly American music. My intercambio’s favorite music includes U2, Johnny Cash, and Coldplay. And most of the movies on television are American movies dubbed into Spanish (like my favorite Western), and there are a lot of American shows dubbed into Spanish too (like House, Gilmore Girls, The Simpsons). AND most of the movies in the theaters are American movies – right now The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is huge, and Pink Panther just opened up this past weekend. But the Spanish people say they like American entertainment better – I guess I never realized what an influence American programs had in Europe, but I think America just puts a bigger emphasis on entertainment (and puts more money into it). Anyway, it’s interesting how much of America infiltrates Spanish life.

Alright, and the picture of the day is... from when my friends and I went out for tapas (kind of like appetizers) and dancing last weekend. :) It was a lot of fun, and hilarious to watch the Spanish people sing along with the American songs. Yay dancing!