Now the Spanish have a slightly different lifestyle than in the US. The mid day siesta is a reality of life. Literally, from 2pm until 6pm everything shuts down. Everything closes except for most of Restaurants. This is extremely annoying when you wake up at 1:45. It is a completely different mindset than that of the American, where you work work work, to get ahead. In this socialist country it seems just kind of like whatever It may seem like the mid day nap is a waste of time, but it is a necessity when you are like the Spanish and go to sleep as late they do. Imagine staying up until 2am on a weeknight, then having to go to work the next day, by 2pm you will need a nap. Apparently, if you work in an office the day goes as such:
arrive at 9am
drink coffee/eat a breakfast type pastry until 9:30
work until 10:30
take a 15 to 30 minute smoke break
work until 12:15
take another 15 to 30 minute smoke break
work until 2:00pm
leave work, eat dinner, take a nap until 6pm.
Return to work at approximately 6pm, work until 9pm(taking smoke breaks every 30 mins)
Eat supper(snack at 930-10)
Go to sleep at approximately 12am
Not a bad life
May 27, 2009
New Friends...
So making friends when you can only partially speak the language is difficult, however I was able to manage this with decent success. I met some stand-up people while I was in Spain. Do I plan on keeping in touch with these people when I make my next random stop in Spain... possibly. Thanks to the advice of random world traveler Erica Alexis, I had already made a hotmail/msn messenger account, because Europeans are all about that. Anyway, Below I will chronicle people that i met.
Adolfo:
Apparently Adolfo thought I was real cool. Adolfo is from a town not too far from Plasencia and is a teammate of Dom's. It was a little hard because when I met him, he told me that he didn't speak ANY english. And this was while he was driving me to the little party area in Plasencia. My Spanish is not the best, which can make things slightly awkward. However, I've realized that partying is a universal language. Also oddly, he spoke no English, but LOVED American Hip Hop/Rap even though he probably has no idea what the songs are about. Imagine getting into his new Audi and hearing him bump "my president is black"... AWESOME!!!! Due to the the magic of facebook and the tagging I was able to find him and if nothing else we will probably remain friends on facebook.
Ouardo:
(the one in the middle) This was a friend of Adolfo that we met in Madrid. She was real excited, extra crunk when she met us. . I honestly thought she might turn out to be annoying, but apparently Spanish women can be like that. She spoke decent English, and combined with my decent Spanish we were able to communicate well. She does something in fashion, like a buyer/dresses people, something like thatShe ended up being SUPER cool. Cool as a fan, I'm real happy I met her. I actually forgot/never quite sure I knew her name but again thanks to the taggin of facebook photos, I was able to find her, and her name, and request a friendship.
Santana:
(The one in the middle in the Red.) He is another teammate from the Dominican Republic, and he was quick to tell me that he has a girlfriend that goes to North Carolina. He is a cool dude, who knows how to have a good time. I have my doubts about how much English he actually speaks, I'm not too sure he understood me when I was talking to him. According to his coach though, "some people mature at 15, 18, some at 28.... maybe you'll mature some day Santana"... ouch coach!!!!
Kris:
Kris is another teammate from South Philly, which he has conveniently tatted on his triceps, S on one, and P on the other. Kris speaks NO SPANISH at all, which is hilarious... imagine Dom translating EVERYTHING for him. He still goes out by himself and apparently that doesn't hinder much of his social life in Plasencia, if you catch my drift.
Nacho and his Girlfriend:
I actually talked more to Nachos girlfriend than him. She was cool as a fan, and spoke no English. She is from Salamanca, and apparently I faked understanding Spanish, because she complimented me on my ability to understand Spanish. She moved to Plasencia to be with her real serious b/f Nacho, a teammate of Dom. I have no idea what her name was though. We ended up dancing it up that night. I was reminded by Nacho and told him repeatedly we're just dancing, y nada mas.
Dave:
Now this was the roommate of Dom. He came onto the team halfway through the Season. He is from Guadelupe, which is a French territory near St. Martinique. He speaks French, Spanish, and English all fluently. I'm not goin to lie, I was surprised when the roommate of Dom was a huge soft spoken black dude from the Islands. He was smart as I don't know what, but dropped out of college in France because he was making money playing basketball. I have his MSN messenger name and will no doubt keep in touch. He did A LOT of translating for me in the club with some special interests of mine.
Random Girls:
I met a lot of random girls. I remembered none of their names. I did learn that "hola mami" is not an appropriate way to make friends in Spain, but it is a good way to get laughed at. One of the best moments was when I met my new friends, we were talking to them, and she called me basically "hella cool" and I thought she called me a "son of a bitch." Thanks to Dom, we translated that one and dealt with that awkward moment. Again, special shout out to all the randoms I met whose names I do not remember!
Adolfo:
Apparently Adolfo thought I was real cool. Adolfo is from a town not too far from Plasencia and is a teammate of Dom's. It was a little hard because when I met him, he told me that he didn't speak ANY english. And this was while he was driving me to the little party area in Plasencia. My Spanish is not the best, which can make things slightly awkward. However, I've realized that partying is a universal language. Also oddly, he spoke no English, but LOVED American Hip Hop/Rap even though he probably has no idea what the songs are about. Imagine getting into his new Audi and hearing him bump "my president is black"... AWESOME!!!! Due to the the magic of facebook and the tagging I was able to find him and if nothing else we will probably remain friends on facebook.
Ouardo:
(the one in the middle) This was a friend of Adolfo that we met in Madrid. She was real excited, extra crunk when she met us. . I honestly thought she might turn out to be annoying, but apparently Spanish women can be like that. She spoke decent English, and combined with my decent Spanish we were able to communicate well. She does something in fashion, like a buyer/dresses people, something like thatShe ended up being SUPER cool. Cool as a fan, I'm real happy I met her. I actually forgot/never quite sure I knew her name but again thanks to the taggin of facebook photos, I was able to find her, and her name, and request a friendship.
Santana:
(The one in the middle in the Red.) He is another teammate from the Dominican Republic, and he was quick to tell me that he has a girlfriend that goes to North Carolina. He is a cool dude, who knows how to have a good time. I have my doubts about how much English he actually speaks, I'm not too sure he understood me when I was talking to him. According to his coach though, "some people mature at 15, 18, some at 28.... maybe you'll mature some day Santana"... ouch coach!!!!
Kris:
Kris is another teammate from South Philly, which he has conveniently tatted on his triceps, S on one, and P on the other. Kris speaks NO SPANISH at all, which is hilarious... imagine Dom translating EVERYTHING for him. He still goes out by himself and apparently that doesn't hinder much of his social life in Plasencia, if you catch my drift.
Nacho and his Girlfriend:
I actually talked more to Nachos girlfriend than him. She was cool as a fan, and spoke no English. She is from Salamanca, and apparently I faked understanding Spanish, because she complimented me on my ability to understand Spanish. She moved to Plasencia to be with her real serious b/f Nacho, a teammate of Dom. I have no idea what her name was though. We ended up dancing it up that night. I was reminded by Nacho and told him repeatedly we're just dancing, y nada mas.
Dave:
Now this was the roommate of Dom. He came onto the team halfway through the Season. He is from Guadelupe, which is a French territory near St. Martinique. He speaks French, Spanish, and English all fluently. I'm not goin to lie, I was surprised when the roommate of Dom was a huge soft spoken black dude from the Islands. He was smart as I don't know what, but dropped out of college in France because he was making money playing basketball. I have his MSN messenger name and will no doubt keep in touch. He did A LOT of translating for me in the club with some special interests of mine.
Random Girls:
I met a lot of random girls. I remembered none of their names. I did learn that "hola mami" is not an appropriate way to make friends in Spain, but it is a good way to get laughed at. One of the best moments was when I met my new friends, we were talking to them, and she called me basically "hella cool" and I thought she called me a "son of a bitch." Thanks to Dom, we translated that one and dealt with that awkward moment. Again, special shout out to all the randoms I met whose names I do not remember!
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