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Watching me watching you

I wouldn't say that the average Spanish local stares at you because they are rude, just inquisitive. Upon arriving to our rural corner of Granada we found ourselves the centre of attention, the very first shopping trip was like walking around the village with three heads, people just stared and stared. New foreigners to take an interest in…

The Englishman does stand out like a sore thumb mind, as white as snow on arrival and looking like a "gamba" a week later. We wear funny clothes, speak a different language, drink a lot of beer and keep strange hours - to the Spaniards anyway. Three years on although we have been accepted into the village community people still stare. It is not like they haven't seen us before, or that we have dyed our hair pink, they just keep on taking an interest in the foreigner. This can sometimes be quite blatant too, I remember one day sitting in the car waiting for my wife when I felt a "presence" at the passenger window!It was a sunny day and I turned around to face an old village resident with his face pressed against the glass hands either side looking into the car. A loud HOLA! And a wave of the hand seemed not to deter him as he kept on looking at me and around the car interior. After what seemed like an age he left and went on his way with not a care in the world.

Situations like this tend to happen quite regularly, in the street, in the shops and in traffic. It is not uncommon to have strangers in your garden having a good nose around either as we found out last year. Looking out of the window we observed two elderly Spanish women commenting on the plants and herbs, the car was parked in the garden so it was obvious someone was at home but they appeared quite oblivious to this fact!

We find that upon being "visually examined" it is best to acknowledge the individual with an Andaluz "bwena deeya" or "laa" (hola) which always results in a response and in most cases a smile. This can lead onto a full conversation and most certainly a greeting the next time. The locals in our village are very much old school Spaniards many of whom have seen the Franco days, decline of the area, etc. Some find it very strange that an Englishman is willing to pay a fortune for a cave that they moved out of to live in the village and couldn't even give away a few years ago. So it's all very peculiar.

The Englishman will always be a foreign looking individual in rural Spain and will always have eyes following him wherever he goes. It's not rude it's just because we are new.

Article written by Iain Macdonald
www.orceserranohams.com