Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Besides the hills of Spain

One of the most difficult things I've had to adjust to is people's brusqueness. Now if you know me, I'm not the most subtle person on the face of the planet, there is a long line in front of me. But even I wouldn't say what some of the Spaniards say openly.
For instance, like I mentioned in my last post I went with a friend to her doctor's appointment to act as an interpreter, well today we had a follow up. After he finished the check up and routine questions to make sure she was feeling better, he started going on about how her Spanish was bad, and she needed to work on it, which is true, but not something I would have said to some basically random person.  If they asked maybe, but not outright, and especially not in the manner he did. It was just shocking.
Another example is that my host mom keeps calling me fat. Now I know I'm not skinny and that I will realistically never fit into a size 2, and I'm ok with that. I like me, for the most part, as I am.  On top of that, I've lost weight in the two weeks I've been here, nothing major like 100 pounds or anything, but enough that I can tell the difference with how my clothes fit me. Now my host mother is sweet, and I know she doesn't mean anything by it, she's just pointing out a fact. But as an American, I'm floored every time she does it, because we don't comment on people's weight to them, that's like social faux pas number one. The funny thing about this is, that if she were serious about me losing weight, she would stop feeding me so much food. Every lunch I eat at home, is a three course meal, and I'm not joking about that. I get a pasta or salad first, then a meat course with some other side, and like half a loaf of bread. That's a normal lunch. Now I'm not complaining about the amount I get, because if you know me, I LOVE TO EAT. It's kind of like my best skill, besides being awkward, making situations inappropriate, and creeping people out. So eating this much food is fine by me, I just want my ama to stop commenting on my weight if she's not going to do anything to help me thin myself down.
ON A POSITIVE NOTE: I have now walked up Satan's hill two days in a row without having to take a break, and today I did it after playing an hour of soccer (granted I was the goalie and failed epically, but it was a fun time, and I was still somewhat active).

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