From the everyday activities to the slightest body language, Spaniards have a particular flare in how they do things. I tried my best to break it down into logical categories, but this might end up only making sense to me. Be sure to check out the other three parts to this set on How to be a Spaniard in How Spaniards Eat It, Say It, and Live It.

Inter-personal

- Kisses are the currency of love and compassion, more so than hugs.  It took someone pointing out this hug-drought to me before I realized it.  So a greeting/so-long is done with 2 “kisses” (lips don’t make contact with cheeks unless you know the person really well), one for each cheek; instead of a handshake or hug.  I have even been told “dame un beso” (“give me a kiss”) when I was parting with someone.

- Walking arm-in-arm between friends or family members (like a mother and adult daughter). Especially for a stroll around the block or in the park for some excellent people watching.

- Many old women hire young immigrants to be their caretaker/nurse. You will see them walking arm-in-arm to the store or even just around the block, inch by inch. Why use a walker or cane when you can hire someone to keep you up?

-Staying out until 6am at the clubs (because that is when the Metro opens again), only to wake up a few hours later for work. There’s one reason why siesta may have earned its reputation for nap time. This strong nightlife culture came just after Franco’s death when the people could finally be on the streets after hours and act/dress as they pleased.

-Staring is ok to do, like I experienced and first really took notice of in Italy. I was once on a train and the woman across from me stared at the chatty group of friends across the aisle from us for a good 15 minutes. She wasn’t even trying to be discrete about it. Instead, it seemed like she was watching a movie or a TV show.

- Love lines, so much so that if they don’t like yours they will make their own, right in front of you and even ignore your response when they ask permission to do so (not that I know from personal experience or anything). It’s even worse for flights. 15 minutes before the 30 minutes early boarding time they are already lined up!

- No personal space at reception desks. Back up, please!

- Ask for change explicitly at the register. Even if you don’t have it all, they still ask for a few bits of change. Almost demand it, digging through coins in your hands.

- PDA (Public Displays of Affection) everywhere. Our explanation is that since most Spaniards live with their parents until they get married and beyond, the streets and parks are the only place for “privacy.” One quick kiss quickly leads into another and another until you think you’re going to need to get some oxygen in between the couple because neither is coming up for air. I was once at a bus stop witnessing something like this and I assumed that maybe they were saying goodbye to each other, parting for a few days/weeks/months (at the rate they were going!), but when the bus arrived, both hopped on together. So much for that theory. It was so hard not to stare. Most Spaniards just think “Aww, the cuteness of young love” instead of my friend’s reaction of “get off each other or go get a room, for crying out loud!”

- One of the first nations to allow same-sex marriage. It is still just as controversial of a topic as it is here.

Shopping

- On Sundays nearly everything is closed. They really take that “day of rest” thing seriously. Some restaurants stay open, but most people go to the park and spend time with family and friends.

- Tissues mostly in individual travel packs. No boxes around the house or in the bathroom. Even finding a box in the store was hard to come by. Maybe their noses don’t run as much?

- Love of socks/stockings and shoes. Everywhere you look there are stores that just sell socks (don’t ask me how they stay in business) and you can’t go a block without finding a shoe store, or zapateria as they’re called.

Government-ish

- Election campaign for two weeks! You could’ve missed it if you weren’t paying attention. Nothing like our multiple year campaigns. Then again, they are still working out this democracy business post-Franco.

- Street cleaners in neon green jump suits for dog poop, trash cans, garbage, landscape, maintenance, painting. Quite a diligent crew.

- People clean their street fronts in the morning. Sweep and even mop.

- Tax included on purchases, but not always for food (IVA). So if your tag says 3.90, you really pay 3.90. Mentally, things seemed cheaper because you didn’t have the price increase at the register.

- Commas instead of periods when writing out money, prices, and large numbers. ie 3,46€ or 3.000.000,05€ Formerly, this is known as a difference in decimal separation.

- Lottery tickets sold on street corners by people either wearing the sheets of tickets or stacked up on an easel. On my running route, I saw the same men everyday selling tickets. Just standing there, waiting for a sale.

Stylistically

- Men not afraid to be stylish. How often do you see guys in capris?

- I saw a guy with sideburns shaved in three stripes across he cheeks like he was branding his face for adidas.

- Men with long hair is not uncommon. Sometimes the length is just in back (ie mullet or tail). Surprisingly, the style can actually be quite attractive—once you get used to it.

- Piercings in weird places—top of mouth, under lip, all over the ear; men and women alike.

- Hair/beauty salons everywhere. For men or for women. I have no idea how they all stay in business, but I did get my haircut for 9.60 with a double discount—cheaper than the US even with the exchange rate.

Individually

- Old women are tough cookies. They can hardly walk, yet they are out and about. Their feet are so mangled and swollen with age that their shoes hardly fit, but that doesn’t matter. I think the strong drive to be social and perhaps run into someone you know brings them out. Or, you can be like our neighbor who complained every single day about the quality of work from the contractors. Every day she came knocking about a spill or who knows what. She even cited her immobile husband.

- Leave dishes on table at fastfood-like restaurants. It felt so wrong to get up after I was done eating and leave all my trash, so I always bused my own stuff but the workers were always quick to get it out of my hands. It only gets dirty, I guess, when they are short-staffed and it is real crowded.

- Dog poop all over the streets. No one picks it up even if it’s in the middle of the sidewalk. I am guessing that it’s the extensive street crews in neon jumpsuits that keep people from feeling obligated to clean up after their pets.

- Smoking! Not just outside or loitering in doorways, but there are signs everywhere boasting that smoking is allowed inside this teeny establishment with no circulation whatsoever. Inside the airport, the smoking booths are overflowing with people and smoke. Some smokers just can’t stand to be in the rooms so they grace us all with smoke and stand just outside the poorly ventilated room (it’s more like a space in the middle of the terminal with glass walls surrounding it and fans attempting to remove the smoke).

- Rolling your own cigarettes.

- Wedding ring worn on right hand but still on the Wedding Finger. Took me way too long to figure that one out.

- Pee in the streets—bums and regular folk alike. The bums will do it in broad daylight, while everyone else tends to wait until after dark when they are drunk to perform this lovely act. Men will walk up to walls, fences, or stand beside/between cars (hopefully near a drain). Girls will take off their jackets to make a wall encircling the urinator. If you smell urine, don’t try to fool yourself—you really are smelling it. There was this one spot where all the African parallel-parking assistants/guards in the neighborhood near my school that always reeked and I had the pleasure of learning the obvious truth why when I was walking by one day. It also is acceptable to walk into places just to use bathroom.

- Smelly—either perfume/cologne (e.g. old ladies) or nothing (i.e. B.O.)

-Still do Sudoku as much as we do.

- Do it tomorrow attitude in Spain. Whether it’s business or pleasure, there was always time later to do it.

Work

- Siesta is really just family/personal time in the middle of the day. None of that nap stuff. Usually the small shops and some grocery stores close (2 or 3pm to 5pm) and people go out to lunch or their homes for a meal. Of course, there are some companies that don’t “honor” siesta hours. As a result of the time off in the middle of the day, people usually work until 8 or 8:30. My host mom got a hospital logistics job from 3-10pm, so even later is not unheard of.

- Underline books/readings with the help of a ruler? Not everyone did it, but I saw it a few times. You can’t have crocked underlines in your notes, I guess.

- Accordion players in parks and on the streets to earn spare change. Most common type of street performers.

- Tell-me-everything-you-know exams. You are literally given blank paper and the broadest question you can think of and a few hours—go! For example, “What was the Spanish Armada and how has it shaped the history of Spain?” It is expected that you do a brain dump and then hope that you a) didn’t forget to write something you knew and b) somehow convince the teacher or whatever he/she is (sub)consciously looking for.

- Sheet protectors are the means of organization. Readings, tests, handouts—all are shoved into those clear, plastic envelopes (instead of folders or duo-tangs). The “pockets” are carried loose and not snapped into a binder, either.

- Universities have very little social space to hang out or even study in. No big comfy chairs or long tables to spread your books out on. I don’t know this from personal experience, but rather from my host sister’s lament. The autonomous university for Madrid did have a smoky café/bar/student eatery. Granted, there are some gorgeous, historic campuses from the 13th century.

Miscellaneous

- Encore/Excessively clap at concerts. I had to leave in the middle a few times and that was after two minutes of clapping.

- Recipes with the specific measurements of x grams and the unspecific of spoonful or little spoonful (i.e. no such thing as measuring spoons with table- and teaspoons).

- Standard crutches do not rest in your armpits, but like extended canes from your upper arms. Officially they are in the US and called elbow crutches. I was told they are easier to use and less painful.

- Carts for trucking stuff back and forth from stores (since most people walk to get groceries)

- Non-uniform listing of phone numbers. The country code is two numbers but the nine numbers that follow were sometimes in groups of two, other times in three (### ## ## ## or ### ### ###). Supposedly the grouping depends on the number so as to make it easier to remember. I was thinking that it was a difference between commercial and residential, but it’s not. I was also told that you can buy cell phone numbers, with the easiest to remember (like 666 123 456 or 666 29 29 29) selling for thousands of dollars when a new company comes out. There is a special area code for cell phones (like we have 800 area code numbers for toll free calls).