Aquí en España se vive muy bien.
One thing that my wife picked up on when I first lived here were some peculiar little phrases and questions that Spanish folks would say to me.
The Spanish, like most people, are proud of their country. It's understandable; among the many reasons why, there is some formidable culture here and some great food to be eaten.
One thing that I found in my time here is that when I first meet a Spanish person they like to ask me - in Spanish - "So, how do you like it here?".
At first, being the polite person that I am, I would simply respond saying something like "oh, it's fantastic", which they would then run over with one of the following phrases:
- Aquí en España se vive muy bien.
- Como aquí no se vive en ningún sitio.
- Como aquí no se come en ningún sitio.
Now these loosely translate to the following:
- The living is really good here in Spain.
- Nobody lives like we do here in Spain.
- Nobody eats like we do here in Spain.
So once I had clued into what people were saying, I found myself wanting less and less to be polite and more and more to explain things, but alas, my Spanish wasn't good enough, and now that it is, I just feel like being polite again.
But here's the weird thing
Okay, a story.
The other day I went to get my haircut. The hairdresser was in her mid-twenties, and lived in a house with her fiancee in the same village as her parents. Given that she lived with her fiancee - in a small'ish village no less - this girl could be considered a bit out of the norm for Spain. The youth here do not usually leave home until the day after their wedding.
Anyways, this girl was chatty, and she asked me where I was from. I told here the whole story of how I came to live in Spain, and what I'm up to now. She responded by telling me that she hadn't been out of Spain but that she would love to go travelling, however her fiancee wasn't into leaving the peninsula.
After a little more chatting she then asks the inevitable: "So, how do you like it here in Spain?". I began to respond in a positive manner - and she must have taken cue from that because she then cut me off with a "Of course, nobody lives like we do here in Spain". Now this wouldn't have phased me at all, but this person had never been out of the country!!
Anyways, that is oe of the charming peculiarities that I have noticed in the Spanish.
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