pride

Being a Rotary International Youth Exchange participant allows for a lot of interpretations on the word pride. You have to enter a completely foreign culture with a sense of open-mindedness and humility, yet maintain the idea that you're a representative of the country where you were born and raised, you have to maintain that pride while not letting it overcome you and inhibit your experience.

Yesterday, I went over to my tutor Guadalupe's house so that she could show me her Christmas miracle (an ENORMOUS nativity scene that fills up an entire room with tiny statues and real running water, sand in Egypt and smoke rising out of the little houses in Bethlehem, Christmas lights with specific meanings to the colors running along it all, and Silent night playing overhead. I was blown away and she was overjoyed at this, if not by my reaction then by the creation itself, which takes her a month and a half to set up and she (obviously) enjoys a great deal, considering it's February :) and to dine on Spanish hot chocolate (which is way thicker and richer than ours... You literally can't drink it, it's for dipping things into) and cakes. Somehow along the way we got talking about American and Spanish healthcare, because everyone in Spain knows about the recent election in Massachusetts. This surprised me, I think if I took a poll of Americans and asked who the Spanish Prime Minister or King was, only a small percentage would be able to tell me either. It's really emphasized in schools here that you should keep globally aware. I like that.

Guadalupe is a very old fashioned woman and much of that is due to the fact that she's from a different generation entirely. She lived through the dictator Franco and is a really wise lady. She was also a mathematics teacher. Now, don't get me wrong, but the lady mathematics teachers that I've had have been no-nonsense and down to business, and Guadalupe is no exception. She's a kind, caring lady, but she has some very outdated views on the world and can be a bit infuriating at times. When it comes down to it, however, she's a dear and I do love her company.

She explained to me how ludacris she thought it was that American healthcare policies were still so radically different and far from reaching National Healthcare stability and security for all Americans. The Spanish healthcare system is, admittedly, different and in my opinion a great improvement on the American system. Rotary kids coming to Spain were required to purchase Spain's healthcare insurance before arrival and I can tell you firsthand what a blessing it has been. Though I've been fortunate and not been sick yet, I've had friends come down with a flu or a cold. Here in Spain, you call a doctor if you're ill and they make a house visit, or you can go to a clinic any time day or night without an appointment. They do an inspection and diagnose, write you a prescription which costs next to nothing, if anything at all, and send you on your way. It's all free, it's all simple, it's all taken care of. However, this does mean that the Spanish are very accustomed to taking a pill whenever they feel any little thing. I'll tell my host parents I'm going to lie down because of a headache, and they immediately pull out a drawer literally filled to the top with boxes of tablets. I'm not a big fan of that.

Being a member of two cultures is a great advantage in that it teaches you what pride can mean. I stubbornly defend my American culture on the issues that I believe in, but after having experienced a totally different manner of doing things in a different country, I can also learn to place my pride other places and accept the changes that could be made in the good ol' USA (or wherever it may be). No one place is better than the other... For example, America produces some of (if not THE) best films in the world, yet Spanish movie theaters are unbelievable in comparison. They are enormous and meticulously clean, seats are comfortable and it's rarely full because it's so huge. I went to see Sherlock Holmes with some friends on Friday and could have slept there I was so comfortable. Strangely enough, my recent running paid off that night as we ended up having to do an all-out sprint on the train tracks as one was approaching to make sure we reached the station. Absolutely hilarious, totally unforgettable.

I am Proud to be an American.
I'm also proud to not let that define or restrict me.
Besos, Sami



The marble countertop in the bathroom gave in (they've had it for 20 years) ... It's currently being supported with books


Here's that drawer full of pills I was talking about



SO SPANISH


The famous Spanish sun... I'll really miss how bright everything is here




Bea has been completely SWAMPED with projects for university and studying, she's studying architecture and this project of hers sits in our bookcase