25 Things...

Hey all, Colleen wanted to publish another blog entry, but apparently she’s just too busy what with hanging out on the beach and enjoying this weekend’s sunny blue skies. Instead, she put me, Cádiz, in charge of this post. Since the “list 25 things about yourself” is all the rage on Facebook, I think I’ll join the crowd and share some random facts about myself with you blog readers…

1. The beaches here yield some pretty gorgeous shells, but no sand crabs
2. It doesn’t get light until 8:00am.
3. My first name was Gadir, which changed into Gadis, which turned into Cádiz, which stuck.
4. People from Cádiz are still called Gaditanos.
5. The grass to dog ratio isn’t too favorable around these parts, so it’s important to have nimble feet/be careful walking on the sidewalks unless you enjoy the scent of dog doo on your shoes.
6. Chirigotas are currently rocking the city’s music scene.
7. Chirigotas are mini-choirs that perform during Carnival season. The songs performed tend to be cleverly worded and humorous in a social commentary/criticism sort of way.
8. Which brings me to Carnival, aka party of the year, where everyone dresses up in costumes, hangs out in the streets at all hours of the day/night, and has a good ol’ time.
9. Official business hours are from 9 to 2 and 5 or 6ish – 8 or 9ish… Monday through Friday.
10. La Caleta, the beach near old town, was a filming site for one of the James Bond movies. Apparently it looks like Cuba?
11. Gaditano food staples include: fried fish, fried potatoes, egg and potato omlettes (why would anyone cook vegetables?). Don’t worry, despite this we’ll do our best to convince you that we have the best cuisine around.
12. If you wait for your turn to speak in a conversation, you’ll never get a word in. Just start talking if you have something to say, and if someone else is talking while you are, just talk louder.
13. Sunsets are consistently amazing.
14. Matching your outfit before you leave the house is serious business. Earring, belt, shoes, headband, scarf, bag all the same color? Does that color happen to be purple or red? Okay, great, then you’re good to go.
15. Job security here is great. Once the government appoints you a position, you’ve got it for life. Great for keeping individual stress levels to a minimum, but not a great technique for ensuring productivity around the workplace.
16. All schools are surrounded by walls and/or gates. It’s necessary to push a button so you can get buzzed in. Every. Time.
17. XOXO doesn’t mean hugs and kisses. It actually denotes a slang term for female genitalia, … and in Cádiz specifically, it’s used as a nickname (for girls). Example: Oye, xoxo, qué pasa?
18. Other Gaditano language quirks: letters and sometimes whole syllables just aren’t pronounced. The “-ado” part of “escuchado” is “escuchao”, just like “esto” is “eto” and “es que” is compacted into “eque”.
19. The “ch” sound isn’t that popular around these parts either. The words coche, leche, and ocho all sound more like “co-shay, ley-shay, and oh-show.
20. The local government provides free wifi in a good number of the plazas… provided you happen to have a laptop that is.
21. A jar of peanut butter costs 4.40. A similarly sized jar of nutella costs 1.49. Huh?
22. Bus fare in 2009 is 0.98. In 2008 it was 0.93.
23. Foreigners are called giris, not gringos.
24. The American accent is much more difficult to understand than the British accent.
25. There is one McDonalds and one Burger King, both located within two blocks of one the most prominent high rise hotels… someone’s gotta feed the tourists…