The amazing difference living abroad makes
Every year, I would take two-week trips plan to a certain locale, board a plane, walk around, and go happily exhausted. When my husband and I moved to Madrid three weeks ago all our stuff for sale and arrive only with two suitcases and our dogs, I was expecting much of the same.
Instead I found a city full of people I could call my friends and neighborhoods I do not want to leave.
Everything is a learning experience
this morning, I stopped at the local bakery for a baguette. The owner remembered me and asked: "Pistola?" The kind of the bread was the last time I had bought. I do not shook his head and pointed to what I wanted, a thick crusty bread with a dusting of flour. He took a moment to mention the different types of bread: colon, integrally, baguette, barria, pisolin, Chapata, and so on. I slowly learned the names of these things and said, "colon" with a smile. I paid a single euro coin, and we both said, ". Gracias" My mini-lesson in Spanish bread was complete.
When I visited Madrid, I would probably never have I dared to go near now call home, much less regularly in the bakery, market, or fruit stand become. My time would sightseeing and restaurants were filled with English translations. Here in the Chamberi area of Madrid, most people do not speak English. Waiters correct me beautiful, and always locked and out of my home has taught me more Spanish than I had learned in the tourist district. manufacture
compounds
Twice, I take a week my Spanish language exchange partner in a cafe. For an hour we speak English, for the other Spanish. I have a Spaniard from Andalusia met who shared his favorite recipe for gazpacho, a pilot from northern Spain who convinced me quickly express my V as B and shares his insights in Spanish politics and Madrileños couple Toledo tour wants us ,
This relationship is one of the best things was about living abroad. They offer the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of others, whether it is the meaning of work and life, the possibility of other Americans see, or daily life in Spain. Over coffee or wine, we laugh, examine our cultural differences, or just a few people watching.
beyond the tourist paths go
Since we here to rent for three months, an apartment, owning Spanish mobile phones, and firmly implanted, it made sense for us to find permanent transport. We decided a Vespa for our time to hire and have studied so much of the city from a different angle. There is a beautiful sculpture of a hand, almost six feet tall and made of brass, that I pass every morning as we errands. We found a Chinese-owned shop that sells everything from ice buckets to DVD players. During the summer rebajas (sale), we found deals Spanish clothing and shoes. At the end we saw parts of the city that would be too cumbersome to traverse on vacation, and we loved every minute of it.
driving slowly in short stays inclusion
If you do not live abroad, you can delve deeper into the goal. Try to get a hotel in a neighborhood outside of the main tourist attractions of choice. Frequent local shops and talking with the locals begin. Spend wandering a one-day sleepy area of the city, and observe how the locals move in the city. Or even better, find a local language of all and to meet some new people. They will return with a better understanding of the culture and maybe even make a few friends along the way.
Christine Gilbert in Madrid lives with her husband and two very large dogs who can not speak a lick of Spanish. More of her writings can be found on her blog :. Almost Fearless
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