Back to Kissing...And Other Things

I forgot about the way to greet women in the Spanish culture until my host’s daughter walked in the room. She went right up to me, bent forward and kissed me on each cheek (more like a cheek to cheek kiss). I remembered this greeting about the time her face was three inches from mine, and even then I wasn’t prepared for the double-sided greeting. In Peru it was only one cheek, but here in Spain it’s both.

Onto Other Cultural Stuff...

On my first day in Spain David, my host, explained the very different daily schedule that people in Spain have. Generally, the workday starts around nine, though some start at eight and still others at ten or eleven. This means they work till later at night.

We usually have breakfast between 10:30 and 12:30pm. Then we do some stuff. Then we have lunch around 3 or 4pm. Then we have dinner at 8ish. Then we have another meal around 11 or even later sometimes. After meals we usually have tea or coffee and sit and talk. I really like that part of the culture because we actually take time to slow down and be with each other. So yeah...four meals a day, one because more of a snack either during the day or later at night.

Greeting people...

My first day in Spain my greeting to a man on the street was ignored. Robert, a missionary here from the US, said, “It’s very different here from Latin America. People don’t say hello to people they don’t know. And if you do say hello to a stranger, they might look at you with a face that says, ‘Do I know you from somewhere?”