Last September, our dear member Liisu decided to get a Mediterranean breeze and leave for a 11-month ESC volunteering experience in Terrassa (Catalunya) with our colleagues from La Vibria. After the first few months, we have asked her to share with us some insights of her life in Spain so far, and the result is not dissapointing at all! Enjoy the reading!
Did you miss the first part of Liisu’s story? Click here
“But enough about work! The more interesting part is probably the cultural shock I have experienced. Most of the stereotypes you have heard about Spain are probably about the South of Spain. in Catalonia the differences might not make such a big contrast and can’t be so generalized, but still, there have been some funny incidents.
Timing
I still remember my first day at work: my coordinator had already told me that if the workday starts at 9:00 AM, then it is ok to arrive later, because no one will be there yet and I can not get in. So there I was, doing my best to be late, arriving at 9:08 AM instead of 8:45, only to discover that the doors were indeed closed and people arrived only at around 9:20. I don’t want to say that all Spanish people are late (not true, it depends on the person for sure), but still, there are many incidents where I understand that the perception of time is really different here, as well as the reaction of somebody being late.
The shops work at strange times, too. I still have not figured out all the lunch-break times for all the shops here: some companies close for one hour, some for three, some don’t close at all and of course for all of them the opening and closing and siesta-times are different. Also, many of the big supermarket chains don’t work on Sundays and are closed during the holidays.
Regarding holidays, the Spanish have a lot of them (compared to Estonia) and the festivities are big: when they celebrate, they really celebrate- with parades and carnivals and festivals.
What is also very different is the meal and activity times. For example, the afternoon here means the time from around 16.00-21.00. People eat dinner around 21-22 and for example the clubs only open at 00.00 and get crowded around 2 AM, not early evening.
Behavior, facial and body expression
It is normal to smile on the streets to random people, without you being considered weird. Also, it is kind of OK to be curious and look at people directly, without it being considered creepy. It is normal, even in a big city like Barcelona, to talk with people you don’t know (if you don’t have a big line of course) like a pharmacist, shopkeeper, bartender, street artist, people on a train or whoever, without it being considered as an intrusion on their personal time (it is actually quite rude not to respond).
People are used to doing things together (at least more than in Estonia), such as going shopping, watching movies/series, going to the cinema, eating, cleaning, traveling etc. Of course, again it depends on the personality, but I do feel the more collectivistic (as opposed to the more nordic individualistic) mentality quite strongly here. That was a little overwhelming in the beginning, but after a while this kind of mentality is actually quite nice.
Another thing is of course the different understanding or need of personal space (Estonian 5 meters vs Spanish 0.30 meters).
People say hello with hugs and kisses to their friends and acquaintances, so you can imagine the shock when, seeing a familiar face, I raised my hand from a safe distance for a classical wave-and-hi but in the blink of an eye found myself in an embrace and a touching cheek.
Or sometimes when people talk with you they put a hand on your shoulders or just come very close. At first I stepped away automatically without even noticing it, but after a while and the understanding, that indeed totally normal people interact this way, I might still not respond the same way, but it has started to happen (a few times) that I did not run away from a hug and once even initiated one myself (and it was not a birthday).
Other customs
The majority of people wear shoes in their houses. Maybe it also comes from the fact that most of the people’s floors are covered with tiles, so the floor is quite cold. But if you go visit someone, no one expects you to take off your shoes, even if they would have guest slippers, the thought would not come into peoples heads.
People also love to gossip, it is considered normal and not rude, it is just showing interest in the life around you and it does not immediately mean that you gossip bad things. The humor is also different: of course, the language barrier disrupts a lot, but this specific Estonian irony/sarcasm we tend to have is not so well understood here. Yes, people like dark humor, but it is different. For example, it often happens that I make a joke about myself in a situation and instead of laughing with me like normally in a company, people start to comfort you that it’s not so bad and are very nice to you.
This is all based on my own experience and observations but I do think there is one thing all the Estonians who have lived in Spain would agree withh: te difference in priorities.
The further North you are, the more there tends to be the mentality that “you live to work, and love will follow” (tee tööd, siis tuleb ka armastus). The further South you go, the more opposite it gets: you work a little to be able to live. It is not admired if you work overtime and kill yourself with work.
Here it is actually a good thing if you have a lot of free time and you spend it on hanging out with friends and family. It does not mean that you are lazy, but the opposite: that you are smart and have good priorities.
Settling down: Language
In my free time I have been trying to learn Spanish, extra to the Catalan courses our program is providing. The thing here is that Catalans have their own language, which is similar to Spanish but also a mixture of French. All of them speak Spanish, but they are trying to preserve their own language, which Estonians might understand well.
The problem with the Catalan courses is, that it’s in Spanish-Catalan and other students are mainly from Latin America, who do not speak English. For me the Catalan classes are quite impossible because my Spanish is only on the basic Duolingo level, so most of the time I don’t understand anything in the class and I’m also trying to learn Spanish at the same time.
Finding my space
I also started dancing bachata and salsa in Estonia, so on my second day in Spain I enrolled in dancing classes and this has been a very cool opportunity to continue dancing. Even though the classes are in Spanish, I understand most of the things and the practice parties here are on a much higher level than in Estonia. It’s also been a great way to meet local people from very different fields. I managed to attend a big Bachata festival in November with them and it was super cool.
I’ve been also trying to discover Catalunya as much as possible: A few weeks ago I managed to visit Girona thanks to my kind mentor who has a car, which was very beautiful with its old ruins and rich history. The last new place I visited was the beautiful seaside town of Sitges, which also included having a picnic on the beach in the middle of January, while there was a snowstorm in Estonia: for me this is insane.
Since Barcelona itself is only a 45 minute train ride away, together with other volunteers, we often go there to also discover different areas of the city and to chill on the beach. I am happy that I’ve made different local friends already: it helps to get to know the complexity of the Spanish-Catalan culture and mentality.
At the same time, I’m also very grateful that we have such a big volunteer group. Athough all of us have different hobbies and interests and our own lives, we manage to find the time to hang out together and we stick together, which helps us through the tougher times.
Difficulties and learning points
Of course, everything is not always perfect and ideal and there have been some difficulties: I don’t want to hide that part and give you the wrong idea. On my second trip to Barcelona someone managed to stole my phone from my bag, even though my hand was on my bag and I was being careful.
Due to a system error we did not have gas for 5 weeks in our apartment, which meant no hot water or heating, so we either took a shower in other people’s flats, in a hostel or did it the old school way by heating water at home. Once we did not have electricity for 2 days due to another system error. Now our washing machine broke in the flat and fixing it takes time (yes, everything takes time in Spain).
There have been fights with flatmates and days where the general language barrier issue at work or in Terrassa itself has really made a negative impact. For example, I had an injury in my back and had to visit the doctors here, but it turned out they do not speak English, so I always had to find a local person to come with me.
We have health insurance, but because I can not use the European Health Card anymore (Estonian laws, since I’m not officially working), that meant I had to pay a lot of money first to the doctors and then wait a long time to get the money back (PRO TIP: make sure that you have some savings or options when you go and do your ESC).
Trying to learn 2 languages at the same time without proper classes also makes the possibility of actually being able to understand at least 1 language a lot smaller in this short time we are here and sometimes the language barrier is very frustrating: when you want to visit the market or just talk with local people or understand the notifications in the train station, etc. Managing the pocket and food money during this inflation is a challenge so again, it’s better to have some extra savings.
But managing all of these problems is also a part of normal life. It all comes down to how you look at it: treating every setback as a huge, inevitable obstacle OR try to laugh it out and learn something from it and not give up.
I can say that I have learned how to appreciate the modern luxuries more, how to read more body language and communicate with less words, how to manage conflicts with very different people, how to not always be in a rush, how to save money and look for creative solutions and most importantly: how to find some inner peace and prioritize during the more difficult times.
All in all, the ESC experience with all its ups and downs is definitely worth doing. It is an amazing time to experience everything to the fullest and try out so many different things and discover a lot of new things about yourself that would never appear while being in your normal comfort zone.“