Un Poco Diferente
When I get out of Spanish class each day, my brain is tired. It doesn't want anything to do with real thinking, so this is usually when I notice the little trivial things that are different between Spain and the US.
It goes something like this: "Huh, they have cool round mailboxes. Ours are square and blue, theirs are round and yellow. They are different. One is yellow, the other is blue." or "Our phones don't look like that. Ours are more square. Theirs are more round" etc. Not a whole lot of brilliant, high level thinking going on just after class.
Then I take a picture of the item, and people look at me funny. Now, I have amassed quite a number of these relatively-pointless photographs, and feel I must do something productive with them. So, let me take a moment to enlighten you on a few differences that you probably never really cared to know:
There are A LOT of Smart Cars here. I love looking for the Smart Cars. I know there are presently a limited number of Smart Cars in North America, but here in Madrid they are quite popular here. I think the picture at right does a pretty good job of illustrating why! (I wonder if this is even legal?)
I know these cars are sort-of 'death-traps' but the environmentalist in me loves how popular they are here.
For those of you that are also reading Joanie Calder's South Korea blog, you'll surely remember when she showed a photo of a Korean building under construction that was covered by a lovely tarp to disguise the work-in-progress. Guess what Joans...they do that here too. They even make their coverings faux-colonial. Nice touch! (Has anyone seen this done in the US?)
And here's one more thing that's a little different, but pretty cool. In order to increase the number of pedestrian only zones, Madrid has this great system for allowing only residents of a given street access the street. There is a small post blocking the street, and only residents know the code to make the post lower down momentarily to allow them to pass through. They punch it into the key pad, and the little post lowers. Much less obtrusive than a big gate or a flimsy piece of wood blocking the way.
Okay, yeah...I know it's a odd thing to take note of, but I think it's kind of cool. (And perhaps it is also done in the US, but I haven't seen it yet.)
It goes something like this: "Huh, they have cool round mailboxes. Ours are square and blue, theirs are round and yellow. They are different. One is yellow, the other is blue." or "Our phones don't look like that. Ours are more square. Theirs are more round" etc. Not a whole lot of brilliant, high level thinking going on just after class.Then I take a picture of the item, and people look at me funny. Now, I have amassed quite a number of these relatively-pointless photographs, and feel I must do something productive with them. So, let me take a moment to enlighten you on a few differences that you probably never really cared to know:
There are A LOT of Smart Cars here. I love looking for the Smart Cars. I know there are presently a limited number of Smart Cars in North America, but here in Madrid they are quite popular here. I think the picture at right does a pretty good job of illustrating why! (I wonder if this is even legal?)
I know these cars are sort-of 'death-traps' but the environmentalist in me loves how popular they are here.
For those of you that are also reading Joanie Calder's South Korea blog, you'll surely remember when she showed a photo of a Korean building under construction that was covered by a lovely tarp to disguise the work-in-progress. Guess what Joans...they do that here too. They even make their coverings faux-colonial. Nice touch! (Has anyone seen this done in the US?)
And here's one more thing that's a little different, but pretty cool. In order to increase the number of pedestrian only zones, Madrid has this great system for allowing only residents of a given street access the street. There is a small post blocking the street, and only residents know the code to make the post lower down momentarily to allow them to pass through. They punch it into the key pad, and the little post lowers. Much less obtrusive than a big gate or a flimsy piece of wood blocking the way. Okay, yeah...I know it's a odd thing to take note of, but I think it's kind of cool. (And perhaps it is also done in the US, but I haven't seen it yet.)