Sun, 8 November 2009
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Watch out that too much Sangria does not make you lose your manners, or expose your ignorance.
HELLO, ladies. And I use that term loosely.
I couldn’t help overhearing your dinner conversation last night, since you were speaking a few decibels louder than the rest of the dining room. I found myself enchanted with your insightful cultural observations gleaned from your mammoth 7-week stint here in Spain.
1. I suppose it is, “freakin’ awesome” that you don’t have to tip here, as you do in the States. However, I think your waiter earned a tip when he kept the sangria flowing (also deemed freakin’ awesome) and tried to translate a bit of the menu for you when you were struggling. Making fun of his accent when he left was a bit much – but really, he was clearly not a cultural ambassador like you, so what would he know about speaking another language? The nerve of that guy.
2. You’re right – they sure DO eat a lot of olive oil around here. Man, good thing it’s part of the Zone Diet, but it’s not part of the South Beach Diet, so maybe it was good that you just drank the four pitchers of sangria instead.
3. I’m sure your parents paid good money for you to come here and be independent women of the world, but soon, you will go home. Madrid is not Vegas, so that ‘What happens here, stays here’ attitude that you mentioned is only half-true. You will go back to Big Midwestern University where you are considered wholesome; your American reputation will be left behind. But hey, the pub party whose theme is “Have Another Vodka-Red Bull and Show Us Your Tits” will totally equip you to return to Minnesota and wax poetic about your new international outlook.
4. The ‘s’ in gracias is not pronounced ‘th’. You sound like Donald Duck.
Besos!
Not a Tourist
photos by Flick contributors GETA.80 and WordRidden
The writer, Kristen Bernardi, is a blogger with Expatica Spain and contributes to a fortnightly blog on alternate Fridays. If you would like to share your experiences of living abroad and blog with Expatica too, please send an email to Spain@expatica.com.
Well, Kristen, you obviously LIVE in Spain now, as opposed to the Yanks and other boors who are just visiting and that gives you the moral right to criticize their manners, make wild conjectures about their geographical origins and take the piss out of their accent.
Seems to me that they were having a good time, whereas all you have is your righteous indignation and your "moral superiority".
It figures that a tourist would not enjoy this article and not find themself smiling and nodding along. In case you didn't read it, Expatica is "not for tourists" for this very reason!
Of course we expats know how to have fun and enjoy our settings - that's why we moved here! We've all had a few two many pints and made arses of ourselves, cringing about it later. But living abroad does teach you to have a certain self-awareness about those who are spot-on on holiday, and you cringe for them too.
Wow, you are totally superior.
We, europeans, are very liberal about alcohol. We like our sangria, our vinho tinto, and so on. But we do not not like to see people make an ass of themselves and lose their manners and be disrespectful. No matter if they are tourists or not.
Get drunk, have fun, be happy, but stay in control.
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