On April 22nd
, 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 day
Belgian day
7 h
Wake up + Drinking
coffee
7 h 8 h
Wake up + Breakfast
8 h 9 h
Work
9h 12 h
Work
10 h 11 h
Breakfast
12 h 13 h
Lunch
11 h
Work
13 h- 17 h
Work
14 h 16 h
Lunch + Siesta
19 h
Dinner
22 h -23 h
sleep
16 h 19 h
Work
22 h
Dinner
24 h
Sleep
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 ifSpanish 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 hasnt 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 wasnt a problem. He even found it a
bit odd. We Belgians, worry about those 5 minutes. In Spain, its 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
Im 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, its a Spanish problem: I asked the same for the more European
shops, like Benetton and H&M. He answered: Spanish people will never
change!
