The Spanish lifestyle has some notable nuances that I picked up on. It is quite an interesting collection of observations, some of which I am sure are over-generalizations and all of which are biased by my living situation and ways of passing the time.  Be sure to check out the other three parts to this set on How to be a Spaniard in How Spaniards Eat It, Do It, and Say It.

Household Lives
- Earth-concise. Heat is off during the night (lots of blankets on my bed) because gas bills are astronomical if it’s not–I think the government regulates it to be that way. Everything from styrofoam trays to giant juice box-like boxes for milk to yogurt containers and the standard paper, glass, and cans are recycled. Electricity is also very expensive (my host family’s highest bill), so any room that currently is not in use will not have any lights left on.

- And speaking of lights, their switches are backwards: up is off and down is on. Switches are also outside the door instead of just inside the room. I’ve caught myself a couple of times in the dark feeling for a non-existent switch.

- Dryers are not necessarily a household item. Lots of people hang dry their clothes, my family included. Semi-related, our washer is in the kitchen next to the water tank and dishwasher (thank goodness for dishwashers with 7 of us). This ended up being problematic because our clean clothes kept ending up in limbo on the counter before the clothesline—that very same counter with drips and drops of dinner on it (so that’s how I got a stain in the middle of my back).

- Radiators are the most common means of heating a room. None of this central heating and cooling through air ducts.

- No screens on windows. Supposedly there isn’t a problem with bugs, but I don’t believe it.

- Outdoor blind/shutters that open with a strap inside. They are more like those accordion garage doors outside street shops, but on every window. Houses really shutdown overnight and I remember walking through one pueblo thinking that no one was home or the whole town was asleep by 11pm. Kind of eery.

- Garbage collection every night. This could just be a city difference. We would just put it outside our door by 7pm and someone came by to take it downstairs. At around 10 or 11 that night the garbage men would come by. Makes sense to do it this way because people eat dinner so much later and can get the meal’s garbage out. Plus, there is no one on the streets to be bothered by the constant stop and go (or to bother the garbage men, for that matter).

- Pillows the width of the bed (smaller than a twin) with holes on both ends of the case. We always had a few laughs shaking the pillows in the case, only for it to end up out the other end and on the floor.

- Toilets flush with buttons or a rod that pulls up. Lever on front or side not really around.

- 2 flush options to conserve water—half or full flush, and I think you can figure out what they correspond to.

Streets/Public Spaces
- Huge recycling bins in the street for personal and household recycling. I saw a lot more trash bins with the separate holes for glass, plastic, and paper.

- Sidewalk is not your standard slabs of concrete—bricks or other small removable tiles. I witnessed why this is so when walking past a few sites with underground work (only the problematic area needs to be removed and put back together).

- Traffic lights go from red to flashing yellow to green. The flashing yellow is for pedestrians to cross; if there aren’t any (or the driver doesn’t think so—quite a few close calls!), you pass as if it were green.

- Street signs on buildings instead of on poles posted anywhere convenient to people walking or in cars. It takes a bit of time to adjust yourself to looking so far from the street for directions.

- No steam vents in the streets. Not sure where all the heat from the underground transportations systems goes.

- Drinking fountains (if there is one around at all) are fountain-like or a spout with water running out of it that you stick your head under. The ones I did find that looked like a traditional fountain were in bathrooms.

Public Buildings
- 0-based floors, so when you enter a building and go up a flight, you reach the first floor.

- No wall-to-wall carpet and area rugs are hard to find, even in hotels. Not even the so thin, may-as-well-be-cement carpets! Sore knees and the freedom of bare feet welcomed the cushy carpets of the US.

- One/Two person elevators exist! So tiny.

Merchandise
- Books are printed and sold a bit differently. Many books are shrink-wrapped for sale at bookshops (FNAC was the closest thing to a Borders/Best Buy). Newsstands sell them with an oversized cardboard ad on the back and plastic wrapped around it all. The text on the spine is printed in the opposite direction, from the bottom to the top, so you’re constantly flipping your head to read them on the bookshelf.

- Sleeping bag-like blanket for strollers—genius! All sorts of neat toys and gadgets for babies that we wouldn’t bother creating.

- Graph paper instead of lined paper. I had to bring my own, almost pointlessly doing so for forgetting that A4 is the standard size (not 8.5 x 11).

Daily Lives
- Prescription medicine is really cheap. The governmental philosophy is that if you need it, then you should be able to afford it. Mostly generic brands, as a result. On the other hand, beauty products (e.g. shampoo, lotion, hairspray, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.) are quite expensive.

- SANITAS is the national insurance. For around $10-15 anyone is able to purchase a card (myself included) and simply showing it in any public clinic, hospital, or specialty office gets me service without paying a cent. I went in for knee therapy everyday for two weeks without paying anything. My parents are still expecting a bill in the mail. I can’t remember if this insurance extends to dental or eye care, or what would happen for major treatment like an operation.

- Common to not have a car or only maybe get one after you turn 30. 30 is also about the age when many kids move out of their parents’ house.

- Military time, but not conversational. All tickets and station times are without the am and pm. I always had to triple check my times (and I was still anxious) when I bought tickets; only once did I arrive 4 hours early.

- Spain actually has a lot of immigrants (a higher incoming rate than the US, in fact). It was kind of odd seeing non-Spaniards in Spain and speaking Spanish, to boot. The Chinese are the main business men, running convenience/snack stores (called Frutos secos) open long hours and holidays, as well as dollar store like bazaars. The way they said Chino always rubbed me the wrong way.

- Euros designed for each country. I was only looking at the front (which is always the same), but the backs have different symbolic pictures from the country of origin. Similar to the US’s State quarters.

- PCs are most common; hardly any Macs in personal or public spaces. iPods are not nearly as ubiquitous.

- Pre-paid minutes/money on your cell phone is more common than having a plan and a monthly bill. When you use up all your money, you go get another card at your local tobacco store or the phone company. People just transport their SIM cards from phone to phone. Similarly, cell phones have their own area code.

- Not really coupons for groceries or merchandise; definitely not in the newspaper. Big sales happen twice a year where prices actually go down (because there are other rebajas but hardly worth the discount).

Assortment of Sorta Common Stuff
- Toilet paper that comes out like tissues. What a pain.
- Bathroom stalls with individual light switches.
- Door knobs in the middle.
- Horses still around for police in pedestrian areas and for Royal rituals.
- Showers on the same floor as the rest of the bathroom (no tub or ledge), sometimes with just a partial piece of glass to shield the water (no door or curtain). I was always afraid of soaking the whole place.