Como?

"Como" is similar to "What?" in English. And in the midst of infinite miscommunication, misunderstandings, and drastic cultural differences, I find myself asking "COMO?!" quite frequently. Here are some examples that give you a taste of Spain.

(me at the Royal Palace in Madrid)

1. I walked into our hotel room in Madrid (mind you, I've just been up for 24 hours) and I cannot get the lights to go on. No matter what I do, the lights will not go on. I try a combination of switches, putting one up, one down, etc. There's a panel with a little light on it situated right next to the door but it doesn't have a button. Frustrated and tired, I decide to go down to the front desk to ask for help. Maybe a fuse was blown. As I walk down the hallway, I see una camerera (cleaning lady) in one of the rooms. And somehow her lights are on. So I peek around the doorway and see that she has put the key card into the little panel with the light. All of the hotels so far have been like that. You must put your key card into the little panel in order for the electricity to work. Europe conserves, America wastes.

2. This morning, I was walking down the hall coming back from breakfast and saw that the cleaning lady was in my friends' room, with the door open, mopping the floor in the dark. Huh. Oh, and let's not forget to say that my friends are still in their beds sleeping. I say hello and keep walking, wondering what on earth is going on! I walk into my room and Alyssa, my roommate says she has a story to tell! Apparently, shortly after I left for breakfast, the cleaning lady came into the room and began mopping the floors. Alyssa is still fast asleep but wakes up when she hears the lady moving my bed to make it. She sleepily greets her and lays there, completely unsure of what to do! After finishing my bed, the lady comes and stands over Alyssa until she got out of bed. Our room was going to be cleaned then and there! What a wake-up call.

3. You hardly see any kids in Madrid, but today at the park there were families with strollers. Half the babies I saw were twins! Just thought that was interesting.

4. Madrid has a large cleaning crew. Every night, they mop the sidewalks! What's America doing with OUR tax dollars?! Don't answer that. :)

5. While riding on the tour bus through Madrid, I saw this little screen thing. It has the air quality posted on it 24/7. You can't see very clearly, but the screen is in the picture below. It shows CO2, NO2, SO2, O levels. Pretty crazy! Just wait for one of these to pop up in your local city.

6. I'd say one of the top 2 foods in Spain is paella. It's a rice and meat/fish dish that EVERYBODY gets. They sell it like french fries in the US. Below is a picture of the "Paellador" sign, which shows that the vendor is one that sells Paella.

7. This will come as no surprise to you all. But little kids speaking Spanish are the CUTEST ever. I just sit here and listen to them. If I can figure out a way for my kids to come out speaking Spanish in those little raspy voices I'll do it! Maybe they'll be able to roll their r's since I can't :)

Hope you enjoyed your little tour of Spain! :)