Time lag with kisses

Yes, I know, there isn't any so called time lag between Spain and Hungary, but sometimes I feel that because of their way of life. Here people do lots of things in a different time or in a different way as in Hungary or in lots of other European countries. Now, I collected some, that are my favorites:  

Coffee-break, siesta, fiesta

Before I came here I knew, that people in Southern countries start the day later, but it was new for me that they finish it much later also (although, it's logical...:). Let's have a look at a timetable of an average day:

opening hours of a supermarket

After starting the day at 9.00,  it's necessary to have just a half an hour long coffee-break at about 10.30. :) Then at 14.00 it's time to finish work and have lunch, and after, it is siesta-time! That is good for having a rest because almost everything is closed. Here in La Seu – in my opinion, there are two supermarkets opened, so it's possible to do some shoppings, but nothing else: no post office, no banks, no specialized small shops etc. So life stops in siesta-time. Then, back to work at 16:30 until 19.00, or from 17.00 till 20.00o 21.00. But, after again: when you finish work, nothing is opened (only some supermarkets until 21.00). Complicated. I can’t even imagine how is those people's daily routine, who have children.
Just to see the difference, here is the Hungarian way: people usually start to work at 8:00 - in fact I don’t know if  I will ever be able to get used to this again, because in my case it meant that I had to woke up at 6.30, and it 's terrible, but the worst in winter... On the middle of the day at about 12.30 or 13.00 we can have a half an hour or an hour long lunch break, but not more, and people usually finish work between 17.00 - 18.00. (Of course everything depends on the type of  the workplace, but it's common enough.)

And another very strange thing for me: the free-days. Since I’m here I had so many free days in four months, like in a whole year in Hungary. Religious free-day, free-day for the Saint of the town, free days for the festival of  the town and of course national free-days for whole Spain. 

And the result? Well, maybe people say that it can be a strong reason of the Spanish economic problems, but I think in human life. Ok, I don’t have too much work experiences here, but what I see is different from home: people are NOT nervous all the time, and NOBODY is shouting with his/her colleagues (just because he/she was 10 minutes late)... 

Midnight is not late at all:

Another interesting fact is still in connection with the different life rhythm. Let's look some typical examples what you can see and hear if you are sitting on the terrace of a pub at midnight on the weekend: passing cars, people who are cycling, walking, walking with their dogs, drunk youngsters, laud music from a neighboring party or the tired neighbors who are shouting: silence, please (or in worse case it is not a "please").

But here you can hear and see one more thing: the noise of the children who are playing on the playground at midnight!

And if you prefer ice-cream instead of beer, don't worry: the ice-cream stands are still opened:) 

Eating habits

To be honest I prefer the Catalan cuisine instead of Hungarian. Much more vegetables, fruits, seafoods, and fortunately, a bit less sugar and fat. But if we just speak about foods, the difference is not that big. Hungary and Spain is not that far from each other, so most of the foods that exist at home are usually exist here and on the other way back.
The big difference is, again, yes, the time:  

Well, breakfast at about 8.00, that is normal, for me also. Coffee and maybe some extra food at about 10:30. Lunch: late enough, between 14.00 or 15.30 (for me it is between 13.00 - 14.30). It is all right, but the dinner time!

When I, the Hungarian finish work at 19.00,  I have dinner after, between 19.00 and 20.00. On the weekends it can be between 18.00 and 19.00 (as it is normal in my country). Honestly, I tried to change it, but i can’t. On the evening I usually go to run, and I can’t with full stomach and what even worse: I cannot sleep with full stomach. (Of course it is possible that I’m hungry later, and then I eat, but only a fruit or some vegetables, that's all.) But here people start to have dinner at about 21:30. (When I do have dinner between 18.00-20.00, they have a small tea: e.g. a croissant.) It is just a possible beginning, 22.00 or 23.00 is also normal. Well, it is ok, it's up to the culture. But, the big question for me: if they eat so late why are Catalans not fat? 

The unforgettable kisses: 

I'm sorry, it is something that I really hate and I can not get used to that. But yes, it is a cultural difference, there is nothing to do against it. I know that the forms of greetings are really different all over the world and even all over Europe. There are cultures where everybody kiss anybody else, even boys each other, or cultures where people neither kiss on the cheek each other nor shake hands. 

The Hungarian way is on the middle: if we are introduced to somebody, we shake hands, very rarely if I’m introduced to a close friend of my close friend, it's possible to give kiss on the cheek, but I prefer not to do it with a stranger. Boys shake hands, boys and girls shake hands and/or give two kisses, girls and girls shake hands and/or give two kisses. (Hmmm, it seems quiet complicated.:) And later if we have a good relationship with somebody we automatically give two kisses on the cheek. 

But here…

No handshaking, just kisses for the first time. In this way I managed to kiss lots of people: in offices like Consell Comarcal of La Seu d'Urgell (the local administration and government organ), the  editor-boy in Pirineus TV, and - my favorite - once I managed to kiss a major:). 

I'm afraid all of my „partners” felt that I’m not on a friendly terms with this habit, for this reason, often I can’t find the right side to start the procedure, step too close and step to their feet or because of it I loose my balance and almost tumble down, but definitely become totally ridiculous...

So, these are my favorites, but I found some new almost every day, and don't worry I'm going to share them.

Molina/Malaga (Mid-Term Training) 13-16 Septembre

      I was really excited about this training, Because I was going to meet my friends who are from my last training in Malaga. We could talk what we are feeling after 2 and a half months about our project. I really wanted to know what they are thinking and feeling now. First of all, I missed them, surely.
      Eva and me got in train to go to training and then Eva realized that her friends who are from her last training in Camaruga. So I thought that this training could be very crowded. After 4 hours, we arrived to Malaga train station. Everybody come to meet in there and finally we had meet again! Unfourtanetly some friends wasn´t going to be in this training.Then we went to Molina and the hostel that we will stay.
      There were about 70 volunteers who were from almost every contry in  Europe.After dinner, we had to be in meeting-room. And in there, we meet with training team. They presented theirselves to us.
       Next day, we started to training at 9.30, after breakfast. There were 5 groups, each group had own trainer. In my opinion . it wasn´t good idea because each person could know and spend time with volunteers who are in same group. So, for example, in my groupe there were 15 persones, I talked and shared my ideas just with them.
       Anyway, fisrtly we started to talk about our project. And we played some games for get to know each other. Our trainer encouraged us to talk about our problems and everybody started to talkwhat they don´t like or they don´t have in their project. In my groupe, almost everybody was content to their evs, of course they had some problems about pocket money, food, flatmate,project but although they were happy.
        If it is necessary to be honest , I said my one problem that is spanish course. As I saw in this training, my spanish was bad, it was really hard to understand them.
        At night, there was cultural night. Volunteers presented culturel of region that they live in Spain. There were 22 volunteers from Catalunya. We showed the other volunteers Sardana Dance and Human Tower. However we wrate some sentences to show them what are te differents between Catalan and Spanish. And we watched other volunteers´s presentation. Galicia, Andalucia, Madrid, Castella y Leon, Canarias... I t was really funny. In that way, we could understand better each other.

         Second day, our trainer gave us some informations how can we fill in our Youthpass and he told us what should we do for it. And he gaved us contact of National Agence, if it can be necessary. And we created the photo of our project. What do we feel? Why do we like or not our project?.... It was really good opportunity to realize that.
        At night, there was a creative night like costume night. Everybody weared colorful costume and we danced a lot. It was great, And we wathced some videos that training team preapered us. Ther were about volunterism, of course.
        I really liked this training, we learned and realized a lot of things about evs. And they listened our problems and feelings. However they wanted to know what can we offer for next volunteer and next training.
        In my opinion, with this kind of trainings, we can get to know new friends. For me, one best thing, because in this way, I can learn, their culture and their think of way.., sure, it´s impossible to know everything about them, but, it can be enough to have general ideas.