One week ago, I had my last meeting with Patrick. One dimension we haven’t mentioned yet: nature. What about nature in Spain? Here in Belgium, everyone is  worried about global warming but nobody is taking action!

So I asked Patrick what the most natural difference is  between Spain and Belgium. Immediately, there was an answer. The weather. Why didn’t I come up with that….   Of course there are minor differences of nature. In Spain you will find windmills more often than here. Also, you don’t have to go to Spain if you want to see green grass because it is very dry over there.

My second question was: What about the people and the respect towards nature? Well, he was quite honest, according to him, we, in Belgium, are more attentive to recycling. We recycle everything. In Spain only the common trash gets recycled, like leftovers from vegetables and fruit, paper, glass,.. . It took a while before they started recycling this.

In Spain, the people are aware of the environmental problem in the world. Like Patrick has said in the first blog, it's everyone for themselves when it comes to major disasters. I asked Patrick if he occasionally throws a paper on the floor when he doesn’t  see a trash bin in its immediate vicinity. However his response was rather simple again: in Spain you can’t throw anything on the ground,  there are millions of trash bins.

That is perhaps the only difference between the Spanish and Belgian street image regarding environmental facilities. Where in Spain you might have six bins in one street, you would have only two in Belgium. Here in Belgium, we have some new invention, to draw our attention to the environment, literally translated it’s a can catcher. Surprisingly, Patrick almost fell off his chair when I explained the system, in Spain ,they don’ t know such thing.

 In Spain they are more outer-directed. Is the weather good then they  all migrate to the beach, the weather is bad then they just stay home. They just follow what nature got in store for them, and make the most of it.

My last question to Patrick was: What do you think about the world and its pollution? What would you do? According to him, some drastic changes will occur. He does whatever he can do, for instance, here in Belgium, he uses a bicycle. In Spain, it’s just too difficult to use a bicycle. A car is more safer in the their traffic. He's not the perfect "green guy" but he would make an effort if possible.

That was my last conversation with Patrick. Too bad, because it was a great experience. Sometimes it’s shocking how hard habits may differ in two hours flying from our country. Sometimes it seems they live on another planet. Well, I must say that Patrick is a very nice guy. I wish him lots of success in his future studies and who knows I run into him again someday, here in Leuven ....

18-05-2010 om 16:29 geschreven door JulieDebecker  

On April 22^nd , I had my second meeting with Patrick. The second official meeting, anyway. Occasionally, I met him in the night life of Leuven, he enjoyed it a lot. As I mentioned in my previous blog, today we will discuss the relation with time, the slightly more delicate side of the average Spaniard.

When we are talking about time, there is a big difference between Spain and Belgium. I asked Patrick what an average workday in Spain would look like.. 

Spanish people take two breakfasts. Before they go to work, they drink a cup of coffee and at 10 h they take a big breakfast. Also remarkable is the time of lunch and dinner. Spanish people eat later than us. The highlight of every Spaniard is their siesta. Then, the Spaniards rest for a moment before they return to work.

When I asked Patrick if  Spanish people were really strict, I already knew the answer to my question. I have been several times in Spain so I know the mentality of our good friends already. Mañana, Mañana, Mañana. In my opinion, Patrick hasn’t got any problems with the Spanish mentality. Every time we had an appointment, I was the one who arrived too late. But if I sent him a text to report that I would be 5 minutes later, it wasn’t a problem. He even found it a bit odd. We Belgians, worry about those 5 minutes. In Spain, it’s a habit.

Patrick is a very punctual boy. I also noticed that when I was asking some questions about tasks with a deadline or with an important appointment. But deep down, there is the Spanish blood and the Spanish way of working. Some days, his day is so full that at the end of the day, he only finished the really important things, those that were the most urgent.

When I asked Patrick, what he thought about the Spanish reputation in Belgium, but also in Europe, namely that Spanish people have lots of time to spend, he answered that all of us have a wrong idea. Here in Belgium, we are too strict. When you arrive in class 5 to 10 minutes late, they make a big deal of it. Are you over 20 minutes too late, you should be ashamed of yourself.  

This summer I’m going to Spain, so I asked Patrick some advice. He gave me the advice, never to go to a shop on time. Guaranteed that the shop opens half an hour later then mentioned. I thought this was only a problem of the more local and typically Spanish shops. But apparently, it’s a Spanish problem: I asked the same for the more European shops, like Benetton and H&M. He answered: “Spanish people will never change!”

25-04-2010 om 14:48 geschreven door JulieDebecker  

On March , the 15th, 13.00 pm , I had my First date with my Spanish correspondent, Patrick, an Erasmus student.  He was waiting for me (right on time in the lobby of our school.  We found ourselves a table in the cafeteria and started talking.  Patrick lives on the island of Tenerife , has an Irish mum and a Spanish dad. What a multi cultural boy . Patrick studies economics at the university of Malaga in Spain.  Why he had chosen Belgium as a host country ? ‘I want to go to college in English ’  He stays in a loft together with an Italian friend.

Today I want to talk about ‘culture’

For me Tenerife means, sun, sea and holiday .  Patrick tells me people in Tenerife work day and night to give the tourists a nice holiday.  Unfortunately because of the economic crisis there are less tourists: this means less income and more unemployment. 10% of the population is unemployed. For women it is hard to find a job and once they have found one, they get paid less as the men.  Little by little this situation is changing. In the meantime Patrick orders a beer ; he says he likes it a lot and maybe it will help us to get out of the crisis

Now let’s be serious again.  Is there a difference between the street images?   To him it is obvious: there are differences.  In Leuven  buildings are old; in Tenerife buildings (houses) all have at least one balcony and they are usually  painted in white or yellow.  He is glad he can cycle in Leuven; I prefer to take the bus   In Tenerife cycling is dangerous because traffic is very chaotic.

He noticed immediately that we are very kind and friendly.  In Belgium when you are lost and you ask for directions,  people will try to help you.  In Tenerife they won’t do that and, if they do, they send you totally wrong. Jokers

In his opinion Spanish people are more open.  Although at first sight  we are also open because of our hospitality, but we know everyone a little bit.  In the beginning Spanish people are reserved, but once they get to know you they are very close. They also use nonverbal communication. They are open, they  try to understand everyone and they want everyone to understand them  When there are minor problems in their own environment,  they will help each other.  When there is a big disaster, it will be everyone on his own. In most parts of Spain they prefer relationships above rules.

No doubt we live a lot more healthy than the Spanish. I find it rather funny when Patrick tells me if they go to play soccer they go to a pub with some friends and watch it on television.  Or is he fooling me ?

So, this was my first ’date’ with Patrick.  It is logical  there isn’t a big difference between Belgium and Tenerife. We are both European countries; so we can’t speak of a huge cultural difference.  Next week we’ll talk about our relation with’ time’.  The favorite of Spanish people! I’m looking forward to it ….

28-03-2010 om 22:16 geschreven door JulieDebecker  

28-03-2010 om 21:46 geschreven door JulieDebecker