Round 2

I've gathered up enough observations that it´s time once more for another fun and exciting round of "Things That are Different in Spain."

1) Spanish News
The news in Spain is a lot more graphic. I´m guessing maybe it´s for the ratings, but I can´t be sure. For example in the United States when they cover a car crash, they never show the bodies, just the clean up of the damaged cars. Not here in Spain however. I´ve yet to go through a news watching segment without them showing bodies lying on the side of the road. Most of the time they are cover with a sheet or in a body bag but other times they´re not. My host family never seems shocked by it, but it seems to me as a gross invastion of privacy after death, and I would be very upset if it was my mother/father/sister/friend, etc. that was shown on TV. In addition to car crashes, they´re also a fan of showing other graphic things, such as torreros getting gouged by bulls, bulls dying in los Correros, clips from abroad such as the Chinese toddler being repeatedly run over, and Gaddafi being beaten. There are no "Warning this clip contains graphic content," advisories, they are just straight up played. I´m not a fan.

2) Dread Mullets
Now supposedly mullets went out of style at the end of the 80s but I guess no one informed a lot of people in Spain. Not only are mullets a regular occurance, but a high percentage of the mullet wearers have upped the anty and DREADED the long part of the mullet. I´m not really sure how they think that it looks good in any sort of way, and I´m guessing they´re going to wake up one day several years from now, look in the mirror, and think,"What the hell is happening on my head?! Did a small animal die up there? Oh wait, it´s just my dread mullet." In my opinion, it's pretty hideous.

An example of a dread mullet (photo courtesy of Google)

3) Nuns
There are nuns everywhere. I guess it makes sense when you think about how large a percentage of Spaniards identify as Catholic (around 80%, though a smaller number are actually practicing Catholics) but it still throws me a little whenever I see one, since I could have probably counted my nun spottings back in the United States on my hands with fingers left over. The most amusing nun spotting was a month or so ago when some of my friends and I went hiking in Bejar. We went to use the tiny bathroom in the bus station, but before we could get in, THREE nuns came out, one after the other. It was a little like clowns leaving a small car. I see them all over town, and I'm pretty sure there's actually a monastery somewhere in Salamanca. 

That's all I can think of right now. However, there's probably more things that I've noticed, so eventually there may be a round three! Hasta luego!