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