Today I walked in the Parque del Buen Retiro since it was 60-some degrees, sunny and absolutely gorgeous in Madrid. Between the statues, fountains, trees, benches and garden-like areas, I took plenty of pictures. It almost made me forget that it's Valentine's Day and that my Valentine is an ocean away. :)
On the way to the park, Sonya (my roommate) and I walked through the Feria del Libros, which is a permanent book fair alongside the Ministerio de Agricultura and the Museo Prado. The books range in price from 1 euro to many euros (and therefore out of price range), but there are scores of hardbacks that would look fabulous in my collection. The bad news is that the vast majority are in Spanish and the ones that aren't are quite pricey. Now while I can read Spanish (hence the reason for my trip here), doing so regularly constitutes work as opposed to reading fiction in English which constitutes pure pleasure. Therefore, while it wasn't my favorite city/country by any stretch of the imagination, I am considering a weekend trip back to London as I'm CERTAIN I could hit the jackpot with hardback books AND those of our favorite authors (since they are, after all, British). I of course prefer visiting new countries as opposed to returning to old ones, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and who knows when I might be back in Europe again to buy books closest to their origin. I'll keep everyone posted.
Having been in Spain for a month now, I have made a few observations about Spanish culture that I would like to share. The first deals with Starbucks. Before I begin though, I just want to thank God and America for this coffee establishment. Now I'll begin with my critiques. :)
The American-ness: So it is EXTREMELY rare to find anyone here that takes coffee to go. We read it in our information preparing us for this trip, and upon arriving here, it's true. There simply is no such thing as a to-go coffee mug in most families. I think my host mom would turn her head sideways and say, "No te entiendo," if I even suggested a cup of coffee for the long walk/metro ride to school. The way the study abroad people explained it to us is that it's considered rude to not eat and drink everything slowly in one place. It's "rude" to walk off with it because you are in too much of a hurry or too busy to stay.
Now as I'm sure most of you know, this is blasphemy in America. For those who drink coffee, in their cupboard can also be found numerous to-go mugs. The avid drinkers would never set foot out of the house, be it for school or work, without one such mug filled to the very brim with the remnants from their morning's fresh brew.
This brings me to the American-ness. Starbucks in Madrid offers 0.40 euro cents off when you bring in your to-go coffee mug for a refill. That's right. Buy a coffee mug, bring it with you on your way to work, and pay 0.40 cents less for your java. Let me now explain why Starbucks does not offer such a thing in America: Nobody would EVER pay full price for coffee!
So Starbucks may be trying to Americanize Spain, one coffee drinker at a time, but hey, I can't say that it's all bad. :)
Now on to the Spanishness: As I'm sure I've explained to most of you, everything about the day happens later in Spain. People wake up later, lunch is later, there is a siesta, dinner is later, and I believe I'm the only one under 40 asleep in Madrid before the Metro closes. I knew this going into this program. I knew that the odds of Starbucks being open at 6am weren't great, but what I came to discover made me curse - aloud - this particular aspect of Spanish culture.
So Friday morning I decided I would wake up a little earlier in order to take the Metro to the Gran Vía (a very large commercial area about 15 minutes from where I live here). My classes don't start on Friday until 10am, so I figured I would spend a little time at either Starbucks or Dunkin Coffee (as it is for some reason called here), reading my book before continuing on to the University. I arrived outside of Starbucks at 7:50am and at first was not dismayed by the closed doors and dark interior. I thought that by 8am, surely it would be up and running. I rounded the corner to see men carrying large crates of donuts into Dunkin Coffee and became even more convinced of their opening. Well 8am passed and still no signs of coffee brewing. The street was quite empty and I was getting impatient. I walked around a bit more and noticed on the other side of the street a knockoff Starbucks called Café & Té. I swallowed my craving for American coffee and settled into the Spanish version for some cafe con leche (as I've already explained that black coffee doesn't exist in truly Spanish establishments.) I spent the next hour or so reading my book and sipping on the incredibly tiny cafe con leche, when I noticed at 9am the doors to both Dunkin Coffee and Starbucks opening. 9am. Really? All I could do at that point was curse and grumble about how half the morning was now gone and how damn lazy everyone was to only now be getting out of bed to need their coffee.
And if you do the math, 9am doesn't even make sense. Sure everything in America happens earlier. We eat lunch earlier. But not 3 hours earlier, as one might imagine since our Starbucks opens 3 hours earlier than in Spain. Sigh.
So there you have it. Both the American-ness and the Spanishness of Starbucks in Spain. And call me capitalist, but I think impressing upon Spaniards to take their coffee to go is minor compared to forcing Americans to wait until 9am to get a good cup of joe. :)
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