As it stands, I have lived in Scotland, Argentina, and now
Spain for a chunk of time. There are
many things that you learn or experience about being abroad that are unique.
1.)
Rubber. Rubber.
Rubber.
I
don’t care what it is, but you need to get something that is made with some
part of rubber. Personally I like to
have a pair of shoes with rubber soles because they are slip-resistant. But rubber is also great because it does not
conduct electricity. Whenever you have an electrical problem while abroad and
are afraid of getting shocked. I can bet you that you won’t have a pair of
rubber gloves nearby, so your next best option will be that rubber object. This happened to me when I was in Scotland in
my apartment. I was using an
international adapter and all of a sudden it began shooting sparks
everywhere. I freaked out because I
needed to remove it before it caused an electrical fire. I quickly grabbed my
shoes with the rubber soles and yanked it out the wall. Had I not had the rubber gloves, I would’ve
been at a lost and probably would’ve improvised but having the rubber-soled
shoes really saved me the hassle. Also, don't forget rubbers when you have a night with a foreign lover. He or she may seem exotic or foreign but wrap it before y'all tap it because foreigners can carry just as many sexually transmitted diseases as anyone else. Don't be caught like the guy from Christopher Columbus' boat who came back from visiting the New World and the only souvenir he had was Syphilis.
2.)
Your race
changes from country to country.
The
concept of race is a cultural phenomenon. You will learn that what you grew up
considering the cultural norms of what is Black and what is White and what is
Hispanic will get flipped on its head.
For example in the United States, I am a Black man although I consider
myself Black and Native American. In
Spain, I’m considered “mulatto” because I’m not Black. For Spaniards a person that is Black is
actually dark-skinned in this sense of the Senegalese population that resides
in Spain. So when my high yellow self
hopped off the plane, the Spaniards were like, you’re brown not black. In addition to your race changing, you’ll
start viewing race in a different way as well.
Through my travels in Spain, Spaniards come in a large variety of skin
colors that one would easily consider Hispanic or Black in the United States
but they’re still considered White due to Spaniards being Europeans.
The racial binary that prevails in the
United States about White vs. Black is not as apparent in Scotland or
Spain. Whenever a conversation with race
comes us, Spaniards and Scotsmen/women seemed baffled by the racial problems
that we have in the United States. But
what I am slowly realizing is that the binary hasn’t disappeared, it just has a
different form. In my part of Spain, the binary seems to be Spaniards vs.
Gitanos (Romanian immigrants in Spain).
3.)
Crazy people are
everywhere
While
traveling abroad you meet many wonderful folks that help you along the
way. In this process though, you’ll meet
a few crazy people and a few jackasses.
Your definition of crazy may be different from mine, but for me a crazy
person is one who believes that you and them have imaginary plans, shouts at
you for no reason, stands you up, etc.
Perhaps I am combining jackass and crazy into one, but eh, there are
jackass crazy people. You’ll never see
these folks coming, so it is important that when you realize you’re with a
crazy person or a jackass that you say what you need to as concisely as
possible to come up from out of the situation.
Sometimes it may be as simple as saying “Hey, this wont’ work for me.”
or sometimes you may have to get a bit “real” and use your street “Spanish” or
any other language when situations get out of hand. Also if you hang out with
enough native people of your town, they’ll help you spot a crazy person from a
mile away. For example, they may say,
“Oh this is Xurxo, beware of him because he’s an utter and complete
jackass.” (All Xurxos that I’ve met have
been fantastic people.
4.)
Reading is
fundamental.
I
have always been a fan of RuPaul’s quote about reading being fundamental. It’s
a very true statement and more important when you find yourself in another
country. Read everything you can. Read the newspapers, the signs, on occasion
the people, read information about your town online, and read Google. You can acquire a lot of information very
quickly just by reading about what’s going on around you. It’ll also help you adjust and become part of
the country’s culture. For example, one
day I was in a bar and while waiting on my food, I decided to pick up the local
newspaper. I read about the recent passing of the first Democratic President of
Spain (which is a big deal because up to about 1975 Spain was gripped by the
dictatorship of Franco). From reading the newspaper, I learned about the difficulties
Spain had from transition from a dictatorship to a democracy and how Adolfo Suarez unified the country. Reading also
keeps you abreast of the politics that may be affecting your local area and it
always provides a good talking point for you when you want to strike a
conversation with the locals.
To be continued...
