A Day of Rest

Hidden within the humble habits of people are the keys that unlock the peculiarities of a culture, and as a result their values.

 

Sitting down for lunch and discussing differences in culture with my roommates. This is Ayelén from Argentina. She purchased something similar to mussels at the grocery store and boiled them until they opened. There’s a lot of local seafood here. I tried one; it was chewy and extremely salty.

Sunday is truly a day of rest in Spain. My roommates were incredulous when I told them I usually work eight hours on Sundays; most of them have never had a job. This information shocked me, and when I inquired how they managed to pay for college, they responded that almost all education is free. Only one of my roommates spends money on education, she attends medical school and it costs her 3,000€ per year.

Then I had a thought I experience often here, which goes something like; “That makes so much sense!” followed by, “Why don’t we do that in America? Do people even know this exists? I feel like we should know about this.” So I will share what I have learned and observed so far. I am sure you are familiar with the debate concerning the legalization of marijuana in the United States. The problem is not solved here by any means, but it has certainly reached a reasonable compromise. Selling cannabis on the streets is illegal, but the government allows each person to grow one to two plants in their own home, or in other words only as much as they can consume themselves.

Other small things I have seen so far that make sense include; lights on timers, charging 1c for plastic bags, outdoor exercise equipment in public parks, toilets with handles that adjust amount of water usage, five minute showers, cloths rags instead of paper towels, and hanging up your laundry outside. I am sure there are more I have yet to discover or understand, but what gives me hope for the future as an environmental scientist and nature-lover is that these habits and devices were already in place when I arrived, and are seamlessly integrated into the culture. I never hear anyone complain, or get the sense people were coerced into doing what is good for the environment. They were raised this way. It is how they live.

All the stores are closed on Sunday. Every. Single. One. If you were completely out of food, you would have to ask your neighbor or family to feed you. There is nothing open. It forces anxious work-a-holics like me to relax. Of course, I found other ways to occupy my time. After my eleven mile run I decided to take on the challenge of laundry in a foreign country. My detergent bottle has little tips written on the back on how to be ‘green’ by using cold water and making sure to fill the entire washer. I could only fit half the clothes I needed to wash in our miniature machine squeezed into our cramped kitchen. I do not know anyone who owns a dryer but have heard rumor of them in laundromats. An hour after I strung up all my clothes out our window, it started pouring. My underwear and socks hung like tiny flags across my room for three days afterwards.

In the future I will check the weather before I decide to do laundry. We are on the sixth floor of my building, it was nerve-racking to hang them up and I worried they would flutter away with the wind.

Something as simple as participating the ritual of washing clothes makes you experience a different pace of life. We are used to popping our clothes into the dryer, throwing on the warm clothes, and running off to our next appointment. When I realized it would be two full days before I could wear my clean clothing- it struck deep that the clock runs much slower here. It will take a while to adjust, but I dread when the day when I must wind up the pace again.