Spanish Lessons

Street view from our roof in Puerto de Mazarron - we can see the sea too!

Spanish Dancers at the Fiesta in Mazarron

Puerto de Mazarron beach

John at the beach....will he go in?

Moorish castles on every hilltop!

Ham is an important part of Spanish culture.

The raffle prize is....HAM!

Everything we have done since we arrived in Puerto de Mazarron can be filed under the title “Spanish lessons”. Not only the language classes we are attending twice a week, but all the other details of living. The grocery stores are closed between 2 and 5 in the afternoon and all day Sunday. The afternoon does not end until after 7 pm and the restaurant kitchen will not be prepared to serve a meal until after 8. Nudity is to be expected in TV advertising and uncensored rap will be played on the radio. There is only one sport, football (soccer), and there are only two teams: Real Madrid or FC Barcelona. There will always be a lineup at the post office, and the wait will be between 30 and 45 minutes. The Senora in the apartment across the street will step out her door and look across into my kitchen when I open our window blinds in the mornings.

Are we adjusting? We have learned to speak some Spanish and understand a lot more. John can order his own “Fanta naranja” in the restaurant and Nelson can select between a “copa” or a “tanque" de cervesa. I can communicate in the past tense and future, simple, if I concentrate very hard. We have learned to eat a late lunch and not start supper until after 8. We have learned that the stores re-open between 5 and 9 pm and that’s the best time to go shopping and people watching. Exposure to a less censored society has lead to some interesting conversations about morals, expectations, gender roles and physical stereotypes. We are Barca fans, and John has a shirt to prove it. The best way to pass the time in the post office line is to plan to practice Spanish with the other victims of bureaucracy or to elicit a life story and good advice for sight seeing from a sun-tanned ex-pat. When I open the blinds in the morning I wait for the Senora to look my way and then I wave! We have a smile across the street relationship.

I believe it would be possible to live here for years without learning Spanish (or adapting to a Spanish life-style), because there is a large British ex-patriot community and an extensive network of people providing service and entertainment in English. We have not met any other North Americans except for a random Canadian from Vancouver who introduced himself after he overheard Alison and I talking on the street in Madrid. I find the ex-pat community quite as interesting as the Spanish community because I am always curious to know what makes people want to move away from their homes and settle permanently in a foreign country. Many of the stories I’ve heard feature the idea of getting away to a more relaxed and safer life than Great Britain has to offer. I suppose that in the last few years the financial advantage of the pound over the euro has disappeared, so the people who are still here are the ones who really appreciate the lifestyle. We have certainly seen many places for sale and wonder if some of the British people we see here can’t afford to go back.