Defining Culture

"You eat lettuce on your sandwich. You're 'so American.'"

"You wear flip flops even when you're not at the beach. That's 'so American.'"
"You're happy and optimistic all the time. That's 'so American.'"

"You drink your coffee with ice. That's 'so American.'"

These are just a few things I've heard from the Spanish people involved in my life during the past couple of years. I never knew that all of these little things could reveal so obviously that I am American. Normal things that I've never thought twice about are now dead give-aways as to where I'm from. Naturally, if you live within one culture your entire life, these things don't seem odd. If you escape that culture for a period of time, you realise that those things wind up forming a part of who you are. To me, there are many things that Spanish people think are normal that I find strange. For example, mopping the sidewalk outside of their house, wearing big hats to weddings, not eating lunch until 2:00, buying fresh bread each day, letting their dogs leave their poop wherever it may fall, etc...

When we are living within the boundaries of our own culture, we don't see things as a part of the make-up of that culture. These things are normal and, from our perspective, the rest of the cultures are not. You may think that as an American, you are very well rounded because the United States is a melting pot of many cultures offering exposure to different languages, foods, and ways of life. But, that exposure in itself, is something that makes you even more American. The fact that I am sitting here right now craving Chinese food, or maybe I'd prefer Italian food, or maybe a Greek salad, makes me even more American. Those options are not so prevelent here in Spain and therefore it would seem odd to a Spanish person to hear me say that I am craving some vegetable lo mein instead of croquetas or flamenquines whatever other fried meat that may interest you.

Back in time..

Having just left a culture where cell phones are not the center of the universe and are often forgotten about and seldomly used, it was quite a shock to return to America for a visit and be surrounded not only by my family and friends, but by their cell phones as well. It is incredible how the use and necessity of the cell phone sky rocketed within the past year. Everyone is so accesible and so needed. I guess that's one of the reasons people cling to their phones as if this device is an extension of their arm. People like to feel needed and important. But I can't help but wonder if with that sense of importance also comes the annoyance of feeling obligated to answer. People know you are within reach and expect your immediate response.


Now having returned back to the tiny pueblos of Andalucía, I am reminded of the means of communication available here. I walk through the steep and narrow streets of Alcalá la Real and say hello to the elderly couples sitting right outside their front doors in what look like broken and faded lawn chairs. Instead of doors concealing the entrance to their cement and stucco houses, long sheets of plastic streamer-looking strips hang down. Everything is open and everyone is welcome. Why shouldn't they be? They have all known each other since their childhood when they ran through those very same streets.


I continue walking down towards the center of town where the children of this generation are riding their bikes and running and skipping around the fountain in the main square of the town. Their parents don't have to worry about using their cell phones to call the other parents to set up play dates. The children leave the house and find all the friends they could possibly ask for all together in the center of town. Meanwhile, their parents stroll around town saying hello to the people they know and sharing the latest gossip about their neighbors and updates about their parents' health. They pass by the tables of the cafes lining the main square and pull up extra chairs to join their friends and aquaintances for some coffee or a beer. Their children zoom by on their scooters chasing little dogs who have been released from their leashes to run free and play.

I suppose in the midst of all of this, some of these people are receiving text messages but they certainly don't know it yet.



A couple of weeks ago, I went with a friend to an outdoor cafe for some tapas. We were talking about our lives and differences between languages and the ways to express things. (We didn't have our cell phones out and laying on the table.) What was interesting was that instead of getting interrupted by incoming text messages, we were interrupted by people passing and saying hello from afar or physically stopping at our table to talk with my friend. You see, she was born and raised in this town and therefore knows everyone. It would be impossible to have an uninterrupted conversation anywhere in public with her because the people would constantly be saying hello. It is exactly like being in America and constantly receiving text messages begging for immediate responses. Someone says "hello" to you if they see you sitting at an outdoor cafe and you feel kind of rude to just ignore them to continue your conversation with the person you're with. If someone sends you a text message saying "what's up?" while you're visiting with a friend who has been out of the country for a while, you would also be rude to just ignore that message. That feeling of obligation exists in both cases. The only difference is the medium in which the salutation is received and then returned.

Neither place is better than the other but the intimacy of the relationships and friendships can certainly be compared. While the average American may be able to keep in touch with and constantly communicate with over a thousand people from all around the world, the average Spaniard from a small pueblo only communicates with about a hundred people but on a much more personal level. This could be good or bad depending on how involved in your life you want other people to be.



Disclaimer: In order to not sound like too much of a hypocrite, I will admit that by the end of my 6 weeks back in America, I was able to get my speedy text messaging skills back up to par.

Patios- Córdoba

In May, the people in Córdoba who live in the oldest part of town enter into a Patio competition. It is a time of year when they let people into their houses to walk to the center to see their patio. (The patios are usually in the center and the house is built around the patio instead of being in the front or back.) Everyone decorates their patios with as many flowers at possible. It was really pretty.

VIDEOS (Under the Sea & Jump Down Turn Around

A few months ago, we entered our 2nd grade and 5th grade students in "singing in English" competition. The competition will be through videos so we had to record the students singing their songs and then send it to the judges. If they get selected, they will be asked to perform it in the capital of our province, Córdoba, for the public. We have been working really hard in the bilingual music classes, learning the lyrics slowly, and creating some coreography to go with it. The parents came up with wonderful costumes and Bram and I and some other teachers put together the backdrops for this competition. The first video is of the 2 second grade classes singing together. "Jump Down, Turn Around" The second video is the 5th grade class singing "Under the Sea."


"Jump Down, Turn Around"




"Under the Sea"

Home Sweet Spain

It's my second year in Spain. Things are a lot less scary this year. Instead of feeling like I am fighting to survive the language, I am feeling comfortable and adjusted. I feel like I can actually enjoy meeting people and getting involved in activities through the community and in my school. This year I am teaching music to first, second, third, and fifth graders. I'm also teaching math and science and I'm loving it all. I feel more prepared before I go into the classes now that I have the experience and I feel closer to the students so it's easier to get through to them. For Christmas, we are prepared Carols and traipsed around the school caroling and knocking on the doors of other classes to sing our songs. Click play on the video below. :)





I haven't been traveling as far and wide as I did last year but I have been able to start accomplishing my goal of exploring more places within Spain. So far, that has included Monturque, Cadiz, Valencia, and Tenerife. I've also been on a few trips with one of the choirs to sing in some nearby towns such as Benemejí, Moriles and Doña Mencía. They are all small towns similar to my town, Cabra. We sang in concerts or masses for different events in each of the towns.

Monturque & Cadiz

Monturque is a small town very close to where I live in Cabra. In fact, we went there by bicycle. Me, Bram and Josecarlos rode from Lucena, where Josecarlos lives, to Monturque, explored a bit of the castle and museum there, and then rode home to Cabra. Monturque sits up high kind of on a small mountain, which is cool because from up there, you can see really far and the view is very beautiful. The castle is neat, too, but the coolest thing about Monturque is that is has these underground cisterns that the Romans used as their water source.
They have it set up so you can walk through and read about how the cisterns were built and how the people accessed them.



Cadiz was also beautiful but in a different way. It is an island off the coast of Spain but connected to the mainland by a large bridge. One part of the island was the inspiration for the construction of an area of Cuba right along the coast. Apparently it looks exactly the same, so much so, that Hollywood movies have been filmed in Cadiz, appearing to be set in Cuba since Americans can't actually film in Cuba but create plots that take place there.