So, something strange happened today that I thought I would share with everyone. I was walking home this evening from my last private lesson and I decided to stop at the ATM to check my balance. I pulled out my red libreta and fed it into the appropriate slot, when I realized how weird it was that this action was something that has become completely normal for me. If you are confused, you need not worry--I shall explain:
When I set up my Spanish bank account upon arrival here in Salamanca, I asked them how I could check my balance (totally expecting them to direct me to their online banking services), but they gave me a little red book, or libreta, that you feed into a machine at any bank branch or at certain ATMs and it prints all of your latest transactions, as well as you current balance onto the pages of your little book. I remember thinking that was the weirdest system in the world, but now I don't really think twice about it and when I walk by an ATM, I'll think, 'ah, let me see what my balance looks like,' and ill pull out my little red libreta that I conveniently keep in my wallet.
Someone updating their libreta in the machine, just to give you a better mental picture.
The good thing about living in Spain as a Spaniard is that I am so submerged into the culture that I forget what used to be "normal" for me and I accept the Spanish "normal" as my own (in most-but NOT all-cases). What made it dawn on me how weird the libreta system used to be- and I'm going to venture to guess that it probably is for many of you, too-was that I was thinking about my parents' upcoming visit and I was imagining their reaction if they were to see me whip out my libreta to check my bank balance, and then it hit me--'yeah, this is pretty weird..."
Something similar happened the other day when I was teaching one of my private lessons, and I was having a lesson over "city" vocabulary, such as: hospital, supermarket, school, bakery, etc. Then the kid that I was tutoring, Enrique, asked me, "Well, what do you call the place where you go to buy fish?" I immediately knew he was referring to a pescadería, or a fish market, but in the United States (at least for me) it is much more common to go to the grocery store to buy fish, meat, fruits and vegetables, etc. Enrique kept asking me where I buy my fruits, meat, bread, pastries, etc., because here in Spain they have individual stores for fruit (frutería), meat (carnicería), bread (panadería), etc. At that moment I again remembered how weird it was for me that they would have such specific stores that only sell one type of item. You can pretty much take any noun, translate it into Spanish, and tack on -dería and you've got yourself a store in Spain. Last weekend when I was traveling, we were in Burgos and we saw a paragüería (umbrella shop) with a vast selection of fancy umbrellas, and I just thought, 'you have got to be kidding me," but no. This is real life here in Spain.
Just your average umbrella shop.
A watch shop.
Aaaaand the best kind of shop there is ;)
And with some exceptions (like the paragüería) this is becoming "normal" for me without me even realizing it. Come mid-June when I return to the states, I'll more than likely be having some major reverse culture shock.
But until then, friends and fam, I am going to do my best to keep bringing you updates and stories from this side of the globe. Love and miss you all!
XOXOXO
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