Welcome to my “normal life” !

I love to write about the ‘normal’ stuff. I often think that everything should be as special as possible and as good as possible. On this blog I’ ll only simply express my own experience and opinions about things that hapen in life. I often think that life should be as special as possible. I noticed that what i do, it still looks like i don’t seem to get there. I experienced the most thinks in life as ‘normal’, but for other people it can be amaysing. I guess it’s just your own feeling. So therefore “welcome to the normal existence”.

You can find al kind of topics here. Life experiences like, living in Spain, internships, living in another country. How to deal with al kind of problems, like health (care), happiness and some of my first blogs that i needed to make for school, The Hague (university of applied sciences).

“Well done is better than well said”. Rather than talk the talk it’s better to walk the walk. Much of what is spoken is just hot air, and if you find yourself talking about what you’re going to do rather than talking about what you’re doing you may be in a state of not getting things done.

Benjamin Franklin

First short review: Blog living in Spain Did you already know that Spain is not all that perfect and has some problems if we look at the male/female differences?!

• How can I deal with this culture?

How am I treated and how do I respond? I try to approach people not directly here in Spain. Unless it is indicated that you can approach people directly. I try to formulate questions as neatly and politely as possible. I have to try to be careful when giving orders or if it want to tell something that really doesn’t suit me. I am very open myself. I sometimes don’t like criticism / feedback, but I see it as something useful to get. I treat everyone equally. I prefer to talk with everyone and ask all my questions. So I have to be careful with this in Spain and adjust myself. To avoid conflicts. I didn’t experienced a lot of problems yet. I also try to talk a lot in Spanish and a little bit of English, because I noticed that the treat your nicer then.

• Did I experience an awkward situation and what have I noticed of this country?

Coincidentally already the first weekend haha. I wanted to visit my grandfather and grandmother in Santa Pola. So I took the bus on Thursday evening. I told the driver that I had to go to adv. de Europa in Benidorm. He ignored me a bit, he made a sign language that it was okay and that I had to sit. He gave back me my change. It was a party week, so it was busy on the bus and everyone was dressed up. I was supposed to be there by the bus station in 20 minutes. But I was already on the bus for 40 minutes and did not see where I was. I saw the same stops passing by… so I asked an old man next to me if I was driving well. I could not understand him well. So an English woman responded to me. She said I was going the wrong way. I got out quickly when the bus stopped. I told the driver that I didn’t come by the stop at all. He yelled things back angry in Spanish and another old man in the busy line laughed a little. I was super irritated because I had to catch my bus ride from 8:00 PM. I ran to the taxi that was the most closed by. That taxi driver was young and he helped me well and took me to another big bus station (here you can take special bus that drive to other big cities like Alicante, Calpe etc). Here I bought a ticket from an older man. I laughed with him. Later the bus picked me up. The driver was very strict. He looked a bit angry and did very serious when he checked my ticket. After the previous ride I didn’t think it was bad or weird anymore. Then I sat quietly alone in a kind of school bus. I told my family this story. My grandmother, who lives in Spain, said that this was normal and that this happened a lot when you ask or talk to some men. It is okay because I experienced this and learned from it.

On my way back to Alfaz del pi (where I live). I had also a experience with a bus driver. I was asking him where I could take the bus to Alfaz del Pi. He reacted bothered and angry. And said IN English: “pfff don’t ask me! Look and ask it somewhere else, I can’t speak English (he was reacting in English but yeah…) ”. I didn’t take it personally, because I knew how is goes in Spain. I only said: “oke thank you”. 20 minutes later I finally found an older couple that wanted to help me. The husband was just making jokes and only asked me about what languages I could speak. Later he talked German to me (not even Dutch haha). The older woman said angry to her husband: “SHE WANTED TO KNOW THE WAY”. She said in Spanish: “come don’t listen to him”. She walked me without her husband with to the normal bus station (that was literally 10 minutes long walking). Till I had my bus, she was waiting with me. Later we said goodbye and I was her soooo tankful. I will never ever forget her. Know I finally know all the bus stops haha.

Furthermore, I notice a difference between everyone. The one is very angry, raised and present. The other is more nice and happy. Same for women, the one said nothing and just looked mad if you say something. The other laughs nicely and talks nicely. So… that is my experience of the male/female differences in Spain so far.