Hello embartisanknitters, how are you?After reading the satirical criticism, ridicule and lies of Mr. Chris Haslam of the prestigious newspaper The times about my country Spain, ' How to be Spanish .
As a Spaniard, I'm not going to shut up, and I think what I'm going to write is normal for me to write the false cliches that this man and some foreigners think about Spain and the Spaniards.
Spain has 17 autonomous communities are: Andalusia, Aragon, Balearic Islands, Catalonia, Canary Islands, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Community of Madrid, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, Comunidad Valenciana, Extremadura, Galicia, Basque Country, Principality of Asturias, Region of Murcia and La Rioja. Castilian or Spanish is the language spoken by the majority of Spaniards, although not all do so as a mother tongue. In fact, there are also other languages of great regional importance: mainly Catalan, Galician, and Euskera. Other languages are the Aranese spoken in the Aran Valley, in Catalonia, the Aragonese and the Asturleones or Bable. This gentleman says that to be Spanish you have to be badly spoken, unpunctual, know how to differentiate pinchos and tapas, expose many hours to the sun, shout, etc. This man has no idea how to be a Spanish. in the first place, it depends where you go to Spain, people are different, this means that each autonomous community has a personal character, there are communities in Spain that have more Greco-Roman culture, other Phoenicians, there are other communities that have more pronounced Celtic culture, did you know that in Galicia and Asturias they played with bagpipes? . so not all Spaniards are equal. I do not like to hear that Spaniards are unpunctual, because I am very punctual (this was taught to me by my father), many Spaniards like to say 'thank you' and 'please' (we are not as repetitive as English speakers, but yes We do it, Mr. Haslam says that to be Spanish and call the waiter you have to say 'oye or oiga', this is not true, an educated Spaniard will tell the waiter 'when you can.'
Mr. Haslam also says that you have to kiss and hug everyone in Spain, seriously ?? hahaha ... giving two kisses is to your family and your intimate friends. A old lady or businessman ..they don't tolerate kisses if they don't know you .
He says we scream? Well when there is English football ..they scream like crazy. This is about criticizing the people of a country ... you have to be careful with this, there are people who are extremely ignorant and critical for criticizing, nobody is perfect, I am going to tell you a couple of anecdotes that have happened to me here in Ireland, one was that I went to a hairdresser and she made an e Stupid comment: 'Esther, you are Spanish, but your skin is very white, but your eyes are typical Spanish browns, and surely if you go back to Portugal-Spain, your skin gets dark'. This woman proved to be an ignorant ass. This woman does not know that there are Spaniards dark, blond,ginger hair , with green eyes, blue and brown, this ignorant woman doesn't know that in my country in summer with 40 °, the Spaniards, French or Nordic skin becomes darker. In the winter the snow exist too in my country. Remember ththat Pyrenees separated Spain and France.
Oh hairdresser Spain is a country ,Portugal is other country .
Another anecdote that happened to me here in Ireland is that I was looking for a house to rent. The lady asked me where I was from. I told her that I am Spanish, this poor woman, she wanted to be funny, and she told me: 'in this house you can dance flamenco the times you want'. I replied to her 'I'm sorry, I do not like flamenco'. She did not know what to do or what to say to me because she made a fool of herself. This, dear friends, you have to be careful. Not all Spaniards like bullfighting or flamenco, for example I hate flamenco and bullfights. Since Franco died, the mentality of the Spaniards has changed. okay ? . other than mr. Haslam made me laugh is about 'the siesta', he says that all Spaniards have a nap between 3h / 4 h, hahaha ... Mr. Chris Haslam ,' la siesta ' is between 30 minutes to 45 minutes. and in the big cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia ... not everyone takes a nap, can you imagine Madrid or Barcelona paralyzed 3 or 4 hours, according to this journalist? that he says in a town, because it could be that yes, but in a city like my Barcelona? .Nope! . Mr. Haslam, if you want to pass yourself off as a Spanish and not look like a guiri in my country, do the following: Treat the waiters with education and respect, we have to think that while we are on vacation, they sacrifice their vacations to serve us well. Paella, tapas or whatever we want. If you want to be a Spanish drinker but without getting drunk, I mean enjoy drinking and eating in a company with a good friends or family. Being a drunk is not well seen in Spain. Never enter a bar or restaurant in a swimsuit (this is a sign of bad manners in Spain).
In Spanish we use tu ó usted ,both Mean's You in English, but in my country by careful with that. We used Tu( you) to our family or our relationship or friends. Usted ( you) we used authority people ( police,Judge,priest...) old people, or people who never we met . ( this is a rule very important in Spain about good educate )
Try to learn some basic words in Spanish, ok English is a universal language, but not all Spanish people know English, and some do not want to speak English because they know that you are in Spain and Spanish is spoken. Do you know why many Spaniards who know how to speak English refuse to talk about it? . because there has been a lot of talking English speaking that says that when we speak our accent is Spanish.
Of course our accent is Spanish !! and if that bumpkin country vspeaks Spanish ... his / her accent will be French or English or the corresponding country. You don't know that as much as you know other languages, the maternal tong always stands out? . I know five languages, but my Spanish accent is mine, even if you try to speak Spanish I will also know where you are from because of your accent. This is normal !! Don't laugh about someone who trying talk your, mine language.Don't be ignorant, please!
So, now I want to ask Spanish people their thoughts about foreign tourists when they visit Spain. From moment Mr Haslam his profile is locked.
All this is a example that We should never criticize other countries.. All countries are beautiful and special for visit and respect.
Hugs to all.
Esther embartisanknitting & crochet
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