The Spanish lifestyle,that is the sort of life lived by Spaniards impinges very little on expats who live in Spain.If you employ Spaniards then you do get a whiff of it and you learn a lot.Not just having to use the language but also their working times,working habits and also their eating habits.
We had Spanish builders renovating out home for six months and it was a delightful revelation about another way of life.Of course we were comparing it with similar experiences in the UK.Here,in Spain, we were delighted when the workmen would come and wish us a “buenas dias” every morning and the boss man would come and shake our hand every morning ,as though we were the most valued people.We don’t know whether this was just good PR or whether it was just a genuine piece of courtesy.Whichever ,it did cement relationships ,even though we spoke a different language.
The men were always extremely punctual.They started work at 8am on the dot.At 9.30 they stopped for their breakfast.This was usually eaten sitting in the garage on boxes.What a feast it was too.Always a whole barra( baguette) and with it a variety of meats and pickles ,usually the very hot green ones!Often there would be cheeses and fruit.They were always very grateful for a cup of coffee to wash it down.At 10am the work would begin again and they would work non-stop until 1.30 when it was lunch-time.Usually they went off site but if they stayed on site then it was another barra and whatever was inside it as a filling.They would then find a spot to have their siesta as work did not continue until 3pm.There was never any shirking and at 3pm they were back at work–there was no foreman waving a stick,they just did it and they worked again until 6pm.In the summer I did ply them with icecreams and cold drinks as it was so hot.They were ever courteous towards us and we did have some laughs,me with my dictionary and they with their gesticulations.
One of the guys ,who looked 60,turned out to be younger than my eldest son.He constantly had a cigar hanging from his lip and as my husband enjoyed a cigar too,he introduced him to the strangest creations which were narrow at one end and broad at the other.We had a demonstration of how they were rolled on the thigh,all to lots of laughter.
These were a true insights into the way in which the Spanish worked.I think the business was a long established family business and maybe that was an influence but I shan’t forget it .It was one of the rare insights into a culture which has often been much maligned.
