Welcome to my blog From Manchester to Malaga.
I´m Ciara and I´m the newest member of the team here at CBLingua. To start off, I´ll tell you a little about me.
As you might have guessed I´m from Manchester but before I came to Malaga, I was living in Sheffield. I did a Master´s in Translation Studies at the University of Sheffield. Before studying the Master´s, I did a degree in Hispanic Studies. Soon after finishing my dissertation, I saw an advert for the job here, and as they say…the rest is history!
Recently The Times published an article that painted Spanish people and Spain in a not so flattering light. After talking about it, it seemed like a good way to start my blog and reflect on my first few months in Malaga.
One of the main themes is the overused stereotype that Spanish people are lazy. The writer suggests, “Stopping everything at 11am to nip out for a beer and a sandwich”. If you have a job here in Spain, I would not suggest trying this. Despite Spain´s reputation for being lazy, working hours are very similar to the U.K., some shops and businesses close at midday for a few hours but then they re-open and stay open later in the evening.
They obviously close for a siesta. The infamous and elusive siesta. When I first told my friends and family that I’d found a job in Spain, one of the first things they asked was “will you get a siesta?” the answer is no. The time where the shops and businesses close is for eating. Lunch in Spain is the main meal of the day so having some time where work stops, helps families to eat together, where possible. After working in offices in the U.K. where the culture is to wolf down a sandwich at your desk or nipping to the canteen to get back to work as soon as possible, having one full hour every day to take a break from work, is really refreshing. I feel much less stressed and pressured and can come back ready to face the afternoon.
The next stereotype that the writer touches upon is the idea that Spaniards are loud, touchy feely and rude. They describe Spanish people as shouting, refusing to say please or thank you and throwing food on the floor whilst hugging and kissing strangers. In the three months I have been in Malaga (and in all previous trips/visits to Spain), I have never encountered a scene like this. Languages and cultures have different understandings of politeness; in Spanish, it is simply not necessary to say, “Could I possibly have some more olive oil please?” in fact, if you translated that literally it would sound quite silly. The hugging and kissing, this does happen but you´re under no obligation to join in and this is something that is common in many countries around the world…just not the U.K. In my opinion, loud is fun.
The only thing I’ve noticed that feels very different is everything starts late. I arrived in Malaga not knowing anybody and I imagined myself making friends at dance classes and spending my free time enjoying live music, so, when I was settled I started looking for local clubs, classes and concerts. Only to find that salsa classes start at 10, concerts at 11…but I start work at 9am, I need to be tucked up in bed by eleven, not only just going out! I’ve started to get used to it a bit more, I have my tea at about 9.30 instead of 7. I’m still not sure how the Spaniards do it, they just must have more stamina than we do…or maybe it´s because of the siesta.
My advice is to just get involved and you´ll really become Spanish in no time at all. Forget stupid stereotypes, just enjoy all of the advantages of living or travelling in Spain and if you don´t like it…well you know where the airport is.