Cultural Diversity And Assimilation
CULTURES AND SHOCKS
One of my many cultural shocks was the fact that at 2 AM, I saw kids with their parents on a promenade on the Rambla. I found it perplexing that there were activities at that hour of the night and even 5 year olds were up and about at this hour. This was prior to me understanding what a social and lengthy event dinner was in Tarragona. Especially on weekends, families typically spent hours at dinner and drinking. The attitude towards alcohol in Tarragona is very lax but to my surprise, people drank responsibly. It was a shock to locals when I declined offers to have a beer/wine as it is customary to have at least a glass of wine at dinner. As time went and I assimilated to the culture, what I found initially perplexing became the norm. I grew accustomed to seeing kids at late hours of the night, especially on weekends.
Another cultural shock I had was the siesta. A group of my mates went to the bank, around 2 PM, on a weekday to change some money only to realize it was closed. I initially thought it was a holiday of some sort that we did not know about. A deeper and longer look at the operation hours posted on the doors showed, with the help of Google Translate, that the bank closes from 1:30 PM and reopens at 4:30 PM for siesta. I was accustomed to banks working straight hours without closing entirely for a midday siesta. Welcome to Spain. This was not just banks. All businesses followed this schedule so restaurants, grocery shops, and government institutions all closed at some point during the day to reopen in the evening. It took some awareness to avoid running to a closed bank/restaurant.
SAFE & SOUND
As a relatively small, cultural and history rich town, Tarragona is quite safe and not infested with any serious crime, at least to my foreign eyes and knowledge. So there is not much to be said in outside of the ordinary terms of what to do to be safe. The townsfolk are very familial and tend to be very social in almost every aspect of their lives. The only time I have seen anything that warranted some caution was when a group of drunk partiers were trying to wrestle. I was initially alarmed that someone might get hurt but it turned out to be just a sport. Another incident that deserves mention is keeping an eye on ones personal belongings, especially in a public place. For this trip, I bought a GoPro action Cam to capture all the fun and memorable times that I anticipated we would be having. As mentioned in the past, one of our favorite places is the beach and so one evening, we went and rented a pedal slide boat at the beach. I gave the GoPro to those going on the boat to capture whatever fun they were having as part of this blogging project. I ended up leaving the beach, sending a text message reminding them not to forget the GoPro and entrusting that the party on the slide boat would take care of it. Now as fun as the slide boat can be, it is tiresome, especially in a windy/strong waves conditions. This faithful day was windy and the waves were a little bit rough so it was a difficult task to maneuver the boat in and out of the ocean. At the end of the fun, the party forgot the GoPro on the boat and did not get my text because the particular individual I texted’s phone died. The GoPro, along with all the memories it captured, disappeared. This is something that could have been avoided and has little to do with the safety of Tarragona.
