Too much "jamon"

Today I made the mistake of trying to eat ham, Spain's No. 1 food source, it seems.

The Spanish love their ham, whether steamed, cured, fried, spiced, sliced, etc. I was a fan as well, at first. And then the excessive ham became, well excessive.

So it had been a while since I'd tried eating ham. It didn't ever really seem appetizing, until I saw some at the lunch buffet this afternoon. The ham was a nice rosy color, and the olive oil used to cook it gave the thin slices a slight sparkle. It looked delicious. But it tasted awful.

There was an excess of fat, and a terrible taste in general. A bit too much salt, too greasy and an awfully chewy consistency. It sort of made me want to throw up, to be honest.

So today I learned that I'm over ham, chorizo, and all the other produced meats the citizens of this country depend on so much. I'm so over meat that the idea of turning pseudo-vegetarian is starting to sound quite appetizing...

How to define being "Latin"

From the various Latino Studies courses I took at Northwestern, one of the most memorable topics I learned about was the different meanings and history behind the two words used to describe people of Latin/Central/South American and Caribbean ancestry, "Latino" and "Hispanic."

I specifically recall one heated discussion in my Latino Studies class in which students disputed whether "Latino" or "Hispanic" should become part of the common-use lexicon. Hispanic, some disputed, was a label created by the U.S. government to classify an ethnic group of people descending from Spanish-speaking countries. The problem was that this term included the Spanish themselves, who always placed themselves as belonging to a different category, that of Europeans (aka White).

Latino, on the other hand, commonly refers to the ethnic group of people strictly descending from Latin/Central/South American and Caribbean countries, and who have a shared history of exploitation and colonization from the Spanish. Technically, I think the term can be used to describe any person whose language has Latin roots, but that would include Italians, Portuguese, French and Romanians. When I refer to Latinos here, I'm talking about the people with this shared history of exploitation and colonization.

In any case, I've come to really notice the distinct cultural differences between Spaniards and Latinos, and I've realized that Spaniards don't generally categorize themselves as "Hispanic" in the same way Americans do. Besides the superiority complex some Spanish hold over other Spanish-speakers of darker skin tone, some Spaniards also like to consider the Spanish-language used by Latinos as archaic. The Spanish are Europeans, plain and simple, while South Americans (which in Spain encompass people from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean as well as those from the South American continent), are Latino. There is no Hispanic.

So I found it strange today when one of the teachers at school referred to our "collective Latin blood" as the reason behind our happy-go-lucky attitude and our love for silly rhymes (such as "Ready Freddy?" or "See ya later, alligator"). Because I've come to see the Spanish in a different category too, and all the things that make me Latin don't really apply to her. My dark hair, my tan skin, my sense of rhythm (which the Spanish really don't have). The one shared "Latin" stereotype we have is that we're loud. So why the sudden urge to group ourselves together?

What I wonder is: If I were to ask a Spaniard in the United States, where would he/she categorize him/herself? Would the cultural similarities and the shared language make them more inclined to group themselves with the Latinos from Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia and Puerto Rico? Or would they still consider themselves closer to the White Man from Europe? When the good people in the Census Bureau are making up these labels for us all, what is the most accurate way to do it? By a shared history? A shared culture? A shared language? Since we know that none of those are mutually exclusive, it certainly makes things a bit more complicated to try and put everyone in to a clean little box. And really, why the need for the box and the categories and labels anyway?

So that's my random thought for the day. And keep in mind my disclaimer: I'm obviously making blatant generalizations, and over-simplifying things. I know things aren't always black and white (or brown and white, in this case), and there's always exceptions. But these are just some random thoughts I have at times that I want to share with y'all.

Except for the Spanish-can't-dance-thing. That's not a generalization -- I'm pretty sure that is true. Particularly since I have yet to see a Spaniard really get down and bust out a good merengue.

Happy President Obama day

I rushed home from school, trying to catch as much of the inauguration as I could. Of course, my pathetically slow internet made it nearly impossible to catch any of the streaming video from CNN. That, however, led me to this fantastic multimedia presentation on the NY Times website about "Obama's People." There are some really fantastic photographs in that slide show, and it gave me the chance to really see the faces of diversity President Obama is hoping to include in his Cabinet. I ended the day with some good old fashioned American burgers and desert at TGIF's. God bless America, indeed.

Modern European art

Reading my Metro Madrid (a free daily paper distributed at numerous entrances to Metro stops)earlier this week, I came upon a hilarious article.

An artist from the Czech Republic was commissioned to create a piece in celebration of the Czech Republic taking over the presidency of the EU council. The artist, David Cerny, was also to find 26 other artists from countries belonging to the EU to help him with the piece.

The piece, "Entropia," was revealed this week and was reported to have caused an outrage in the Czech Republic, as well as other EU countries. In the piece, each EU country was represented by its worst stereotype.

Some examples:
Germany is shown with roads criss-crossing the country.
France has a banner with "strike" written across it.
Bulgaria is represented by a toilet.
Sweden is covered in a cardboard box with an Ikea sticker on it.
Spain is an ant farm, and each Spaniard is an ant.

Cerdy also forged the names, resumes and work of the other artists that were supposed to help him with the piece. The Czech Prime Minister has apologized on behalf of his country, while Cerdy has explained that his piece was an experiment of sorts, to see if the EU could laugh at itself. I think he got his answer. Oh,

More here.

Feliz Dia de los Reyes

In my time here thus far, I've really learned just how much the Spanish love their holidays. Not content with just having Christmas and New Years' (and of course, Christmas Eve (Noche Buena) and New Years' Eve (Noche Vieja), the Spanish must save the best celebration for last: Three Kings' Day (Dia de los Reyes Magos).

In case you're not familiar with the Three Kings, the gist of the story is that three Zoroastrian priests, who were really into astrology, read the stars and recognized that Baby Jesus was born. They came "from the East" and each brought a gift to Baby Jesus.



In modern times, some Latin American countries still celebrate Three Kings' Day, usually eating a "rosca de reyes" and often giving small gifts to children. I myself remember getting a small gold bracelet from my godparents when I was 7 for Three Kings' Day. In Spain, however, all major presents are reserved for Three Kings Day. So it's a pretty big deal.

Madrid has a huge parade, which conveniently starts about 3 blocks from my house. You'd better believe I attended. The parade has lots of the usual stuff -- lots of floats, costumes, etc. -- in addition to throwing out candy and small toys from the floats.

What I found most interesting about the holidays, however, occurred while I was riding the train earlier that day. As I sat to observe the people around me, I saw a family of Asian immigrants (I assume Chinese, as that seems to be the majority here) carrying a roscon and a bag of wrapped gifts. They were speaking Spanish with an accent, and making jokes. As I eavesdropped on the family, I began thinking about the tradition of eating this roscon, something I have always heard about but never really done (in this city, the lines in the bakeries selling the roscon were often out the door and down the street).

While looking at this immigrant family, I started thinking about assimilation. I wondered when this family first started buying a roscon, and why they did it? Is this also a Chinese tradition that I was unfamiliar with? Like me, did they cave into buying a roscon because they saw that everyone (and their mothers) bought one as well? Do they enjoy this tradition, or do they do it to fit in with the other families? Are the pressures to assimilate too great for them to maintain their old traditions? And is it right for them to give up their old traditions and take up the ones of their new homeland?

I often think about these thoughts in the context of American immigrants, but that incident made me think about the pressures of immigrants in general. Losing your culture, picking up new traditions and the like aren't only problems for immigrants to a certain country; it's really something that people all over the world have to deal with. Maybe, as I'm here trying to avoid falling into the Spanish lisp trap, some Spaniard in the States is trying to convince his coworkers that just because he's Hispanic doesn't mean he loves to eat spicy food.

Feli(th) Año Nuevo!

So the new year is off, and I started it in the middle of Puerta del Sol, Madrid's No. 1 tourist spot. Madrid really doesn't have one single tourist trap, like Paris' Eiffel Tower or London's Big Ben, Tower of London, etc (you name it). Puerta del Sol is probably the closest thing to a monumental tourist trap, and every noche vieja (new years' eve), Madrileños ring in the new year here, sipping champagne and eating 12 grapes as soon as the clock strikes midnight. Think of it like Spain's version of the hubbub of Times Square in NYC.

I headed out to Puerta del Sol with my two roommates, another friend from our program and her friend visiting from LA. Pushing through the crowd, we realized we arrived much too late to catch a good view of the clock. Instead, we settled for one of the streets leading off from the main square, which was also jammed with excited revelers. As we waited for the countdown to commence, we de-seeded our grapes, took some photos, and talked about how fortunate we all were to be ringing in the new year in someplace completely different than usual, and thousands of miles from home.

About 45 minuotes after the clock struck midnight -- when we were finally able to follow the heard of people out of the Plaza -- the 5 of us headed to the Bilbao neighborhood to find a place to spend the rest of the night. Fortunately, we ended up at my favorite dinosaur-themed bar (and to be honest, my favorite bar in Madrid, period), Diplodocus Rock Bar. Along the way, we met another group of Americans who were being followed by a pair of Austrians and a pair of Australians, and we all joined forces to have a fantastic time jamming along to the 80s metal played at Diplodocus. The Americans were from Chicago and Wisconsin, so I reminisced a bit about the cold Chicago winters and road trips I've taken with friends through Wisconsin and into Minneapolis (Two words... Mall. Of. America. Wait, three words...).

Drinking dinosaur-themed beverages, thrashing along to AC/DC and chilling with friends, both new and old, I must say this new year is off to a fantastic start.

As for my resolutions, you ask? Well, I've decided to try this little thing called optimism. Things don't always work out the way you want them to; in fact I'm sure they rarely do. But maybe that saying that attitude is everything really does have some truth to it. Perhaps going in with a more optimistic and open attitude will make things turn out a bit better in 2009. Here's to hope!