A typical Spanish Day

Life in Spain is not the same as life in the UK. It's really quite different. I didn't know this before I moved, I thought it would be like the UK but in the sun. I was wrong.

The first thing that is different is the working day. There is the 'morning' and the 'afternoon' (generally what we would call the evening but there isn't a word for 'evening' in spanish.) Everything is open in the morning (although a lot of shops don't open until 10). So, if you need to get things done, banking, errands, bureaucracy (there's a lot of bureaucracy here) you need to get it done in the morning (and expect it to take ages.) The banks are only open in the mornings here.

The shops reopen in the afternoons, generally at about 5 and stay open till 8, or later (especially in the summer).

Schools also have a '2 day in 1' system. School starts at 8.30 or 9 and stops for lunch at 12.30. Then everyone goes home and has a large lunch. Then everyone goes back between 3 and 5. (or 6 if you do after school activities.) Double the number of rush hours.

Luckily we live really close to school. Nursery is a little bit further away and the 4 journeys back and forwards between home, school and nursery does eat into the day. Apart from anything, it's the getting ready that takes children ages. And as we walk along (the walk is lovely as the town is so pretty) I am constantly having to chivvy them along (boys will be boys I guess and little boys will be little boys.)

After school, at about 6ish, the spanish have an afternoon snack ('merendar' in spanish, 'berener' in catalan). They generally don't eat dinner until about 10. Even children stay up late although I think people with children eat a little earlier. It's not unusual to see young children up and about late at night when mine are safely tucked up in bed. The nursery had a parent's dinner which started at 10pm, the notice made a point of saying 'without children'.

In rather British style, we eat early, pretty much straight after school and my children are in bed by 8. If you go to a party, it may well not start until midnight. One New Year's Eve, one of my retired friends commented that they'd be home early as they had the 'abuela' (grandmother) with them. They'd be home by 3.

I don't quite understand how the spanish (adults and children) get by with so much less sleep than us. It's not normal to have a siesta here (I think further south it may be). Perhaps it's the relaxed attitude to life, or a cheeky kip on the beach. Anyhow, somehow or other they seem to get by.

Post Script. The photo is of the children walking to school. Spanish siblings always wear the same clothes and the boys like to too. They often choose their t-shirts together. Not sure that's going to work when 4 of them can choose.