30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day Twenty One: 5 Things I Noticed So Far In Spain
Today is an interesting milestone: we are officially in Spain for exactly 3 weeks. Enough time to start identifying some small pieces of information, some things that are consistent enough to be called "specifics".
1. The coffee shop culture
People here seem to have a culture of the coffee shop. Except for the siesta time (between 2 PM and 4PM) almost any coffee shop that you see has some customers in it. Places aren't big, or spectacular, but people just seem to blend in them constantly, for a small coffee, for a beer or for some local cuisine (from bunuelos to paella, and from churros to horchata).
2. The "one more second" stare
I don't know if this is specific to Valencia, or it's just because we look strange (no reason for that, IMHO) but people here seem to maintain eye contact for more than the "average". We are relatively open in Romania, but even for us it looks a bit more than normal. An English person would probably feel a bit uncomfortable, for sure.
3. The "azul" light
The sunshine here has a very specific color. It's not deep blue, like it is sometimes on the peak of Romanian mountains, and it's not light blue, as it is in New Zealand. It's a very specific nuance, which in Spanish I think it's called "azul". Very soothing for the eyes.
4. The laid back approach
People around here are more laid back than I remember them from the first visit, in March this year. They aren't necessarily slow, on the contrary, they seem to be rushing more than you would expect, but there is a certain relaxation in their behavior that I find extremely healthy.
5. The expensive and slow internet
I wanted to put in the title something like "last century internet speed", but I refrained myself, because the access point might get upset and stop functioning. I'm kidding, but it's real: internet here is way, way slower and less unreliable than the one in Romania (or even for the one you get in coffee shops in London, for what matters). Although at times it's painful to wait 20 minutes for a 100Mb file to upload, it's a price that I'm willing to pay, for the time being.
Previous posts in the challenge:
- 30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day One: All Ultramarathons Start With Just One Small Step
- 30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day Two: How Much Garbage Do You Carry With You?
- 30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day Three: Pushing Things To Happen Versus Letting Them Happen "Through" You
- 30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day Four: The Rain In Spain Stays Mainly On The Plain
- 30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day Five: Books, Coffee And The Smell Of A Gentle Autumn
- 30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day Six: Revisiting The Harry Potter Trees In Turia
- 30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day Seven: Sand Castles
- 30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day Eight: Be Careful Of New Beginnings
- 30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day Nine: Tuesday's Free Writing
- 30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day Ten: The Power And Toxicity Of Lists
- 30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day Eleven: Unblocking Writer's Block - A Primer
- 30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day Twelve: Riding The Wave Of Change
- 30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day Thirteen: When All You Have Is A Hammer, Everything Looks Like A Nail
- 30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day Fourteen: Sunday Stillness
- 30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day Fifteen: The Next Major Social Disruption Will Be Technological
- 30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day Sixteen: The Difference Between Sound And Light
- 30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day Seventeen: Ten Years Of Bitcoin
- 30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day Eighteen: How Long Is Long Enough? Spoiler: Until It's Done...
- 30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day Nineteen: The Surprising Benefits Of Gratitude
- 30 Days Challenge Fall 2018 - Day Twenty: Just A Photo Journal For Today
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I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.
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I agree with #5. Interned speed definitely needs to improve in this country.
Hey
Spain is having slow and expensive internet... then what about middle east 😀😀😀😂😂😂
For the coffee shops phenomena ...well most of countries on the meditrain white sea have this culture as there are so many coffee brands... take an example Turkey... they call it turkish coffee.... on each street in middle east you find a small coffee shop.... serving fast snacks and hot drinks....
Mr. Samer is a very kind man... he us alwsys inviting me to drink hot Karack tea ...in dubai or abu dhabi.
Ok ok i know i an far away from your post points but in our local culture karack tea is more deliouce than coffee ... ok ok i will stop here😎
We do not drink alchohol in general but now adays many coffee shops are serving beers... abd some fancy restaurants are serving wine...
But we love to eat and drink as spanish culture is very near to the Arabic middle east.
I am from bangladish but i have lived here and worked in middle east for long time more than 39 years so i love the life style here
Resteemed
Cool five facts about Spain. Too bad about the internet. In the US internet can be whatever and everything, slow, expensive, cheap, super fast. All depends on where and what service and what carriers. Big digital divide here based on where you live and how much you have to spend on internet. Day 21 :)
Very funny, waiting 20 minutes for an 100mb download.
My country's network isn't that bad, I never knew we could still be better than some so called western world countries. We even have fibre optic here and works so faster than anything you can think of, I've not used it before though, am using 3G and it's fast to an extent, while some are already cruising 4G.
Download is ok, it's the upload that is problematic...
Last century internet. Very funny
I get frustrated if i had to wait long even for few seconds. Great you are keeping a calm mind
Internet is also slow and expensive here in Nigeria... & a relaxed behavior is surely healthy for self and for people around! It would be so wonderful to visit places like these but certain things would not allow one! Please carry me along sir @dragosroua
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I live in Libya, I can tell tales about how slow and expensive our internet is... We pay the equivalent $1 for 2-4 GB depending on which service you use.