Tranquilo...

I thought, at first, that I might have to end this blog since I have officially moved back to the United States. Though I may not physically be in Spain, it is impossible to keep my mind from wandering there. As I readjust to life in America, I can't help but compare the two cultures.

One skill that I think Spanish people have conquered is how to stop. I feel like Americans never stop. I remember after being in Spain for a few months, it seemed like there was nothing to do anymore. My roommates and I would ask each other, "What do people do here?" We had already done everything in that town that there was to do and we wanted more. What do people do there? They do the same thing over and over again each day. They go to the same places each day and spend time with the same people. They don't expect to be entertained the way Americans do. We, as Americans, are so used to be entertained, to filling our schedules to the max, to never having an open minute of our day where we can honestly say we have nothing to do. There is always something to do. We never stop. Are we afraid of what will happen if we stop? Are we afraid of being alone?...of thinking?

It used to bother me that Spanish people could not plan to do more than one thing per day, whether it be an errand or just meeting with friends. Time is slower in Spain. Things move slowly. People take 2 hours to eat one meal because there is no rush to do anything else. When they are eating with people, they are eating with those people. Nothing else is more important. There are no cell phones sitting at the table. They don't have 12 other things on their mind distracting them from investing in the people they are with or fully enjoying the food they are consuming. I used to eat with people at what I would consider to be a normal speed until I realized that if I did so, I would be sitting there with an empty plate for another hour and a half at least, or served another portion. I eventually learned how to eat slowly and enjoy each bite as an event, rather than just a quick energy boost to keep me from slowing down the rest of the day. Spaniards want to slow down. They want everything to go slowly. They take an hour to complete something that an American can do in five minutes. (This was also frustrating to me...) It isn't because they can't do it in five minutes, but because they don't need to do it in five minutes. They have all the time in the world, so why rush?

Why do we rush? What are we, as Americans, trying to rush to do? Are we rushing through life so it can be over sooner?

My mom always tells me to live in the moment. I don't think I fully understood how to do that until I lived in Spain. I used to walk down the streets at a speed 3 times as fast as those around me and if I were able to use my cell phone to call a friend on the way, I would have. I eventually slowed down so I wouldn't get stared at. I'm thankful for not being able to take out my cell phone and call someone while I walked places because I would have missed so many details- the women mopping their front steps and sidewalks, the orange trees growing out of the sidewalk, the colored designs of the tile lining the walls of the entry-ways to the houses, the fact that each house number was painted differently and each balcony was shaped differently (some were glassed in, some weren't), the architecture of the doorways of the churches, people yelling to their neighbors from one balcony to the other, babies in carriages dressed up like in storybooks as if they are on display, the bluest blue sky I have ever seen...

I now live in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Yesterday there were tornadoes here and the power was out all day. I couldn't use my computer last night, nor could I see to read. I had no idea what to do with myself. My roommate and I started lighting candles. We got out a deck of cards and started playing games and talking. The last time I played cards was with my roommates in Spain when there was nothing to do, which was often. Those were some of the most fun times because there was nothing else to think about or distract us. It's sad to me that my current roommate and I had to experience a tornado and losing electricity to be able to to stop and have time for each other. It was the first time since I've been back in America, that it hit me truly how fast the pace of life is here. I feel like I've been in a tornado ever since I got back from Spain and last night I was forced to stop.

One of the first words I learned when I moved to Spain was "tranquilo." I didn't know what it meant at first, but I knew it must have been important because everyone around was always telling me, "tranquila! tranquila!" Eventually I learned that they were telling me to calm down. I don't even think I was especially "un-calm" but to them, I was. Spain taught me how to live a calmer life.

I'm happy to be back in America. I'm glad to have things to do and people to see and to be able to use my phone again to catch up with friends and family. However, after having learned how to stop and be calm in Spain, I will always appreciate the moments I can do that here, in America. I will cherish those moments, even if they are just sitting on a bench outside of Starbucks surrounded by buildings and businesses and passing cars, instead of olive trees and a castle and little elderly couples linked arm in arm walking as slowly as they can because they have no place to go.