Things I find strange and/or awesome about Spain

The display and prevalence of jamon. It is everywhere and served on or with everything. And they find it necessary to display legs of pig in all eating establishments. If a restaurant or bar doesn't have at least 3 or 4 legs of pig hanging from the ceiling, don't bother. You're much better off going into one that has at least 35 legs of pig hanging inside, and the half-carved leg displayed in a prominent area.

The use of plates. They serve you everything on a plate. My coffee comes on a plate. I ordered an apple at the semi-ghetto train station cafe and they gave it to me with a plate and a knife. So refined.

The use of placemats. Call me crazy, but I find it perfectly normal to just eat my food off of my plate on a table. Not the spanish. They use placemats. Both of our hosts so far have used placemats to eat their food, and I think I got a couple strange looks for not doing the same. So, I've started using placemats in their presence. (For the record, I'm not being rude and scratching up fancy tables with my plates...we're talking about plastic ikea tables here.) I like the placemat tradition, because it says, "This is where I eat." Not, "This where I update facebook write angry emails to Chase because they suck." I keep seeing those kooky placemats in souvenir shops, and now I want some.

Siesta time. Everything does close around 1:30 pm and re-opens around 4 or 5. This is incredibly inefficient. We've observed plenty of foot traffic during siesta time -- those people could be buying things! That said, I've certainly enjoyed coming home every day around 2:30 and lounging around until 6.

Nobody straightens their hair. Everyone has giant hair here. This is awesome, because I look normal here, and I enjoy that. Actually, I don't entirely blend in due to my semi-tourist clothing. But, it is the girls with fake straight hair that stand out and get pickpocketed and harassed by those guys selling horse-drawn carriage rides. HA!

Paseo. Everyone goes for a walk in the evening. They're not actually doing anything, just walking around. While it is technically exercising, there are no yoga pants and 5-finger shoes to be seen anywhere.* Cute boots, leggings, and sweater dresses prevail.

Moroccan Food. I wasn't expecting this much influence. It was mostly only in Granada, but Moroccan food is probably the best that we've had on this trip.

*5-finger shoes should never be worn in public.