Before I begin, I often get some grief by referring to “Spanish” people whereas in actual fact our experience is only of Andalucia and so these comments are a reflection only of the people in the South of Spain. I really don’t know what the rest of the country is like!
I was chatting to a Spanish friend at the school gates the other day. He’s been unemployed for nearly two years now and he was there to pick up his son from school.
Whilst we were chatting I asked him what he was up to now. “Nada” was his response, which translated means “nothing”. He said he just sort of hangs around the house and does the school run. Him and his wife are soon to relocate back to their own “tierra” as they are not from this area so they are just sort of biding their time.
So my response to him was “you must be getting a bit bored now hanging around here with nothing to do”. He looked shocked. “Aburrido? No, nunca estoy aburrido” (Bored? No, I’m never bored).
We chatted a bit more before the kids came through the gates and it seems that being bored is not something that crosses his mind, even if he’s not doing anything. It’s as if I had introduced a new concept to him. I just hope he didn’t go home and started feeling bored after our conversation.
At the beach.
On another occasion we were talking to some other Spanish friends of ours about beach life.
When we go down to the beach, the kids go off and play and Susan and I take a book or a newspaper to read. You can spend a good few hours at the beach and I can’t imagine just sitting there for so long without reading something. The beach can get a bit boring sometimes.
Our Spanish friends were shocked again. The thought of taking books to the beach seemed inconceivable and it would be rude ignoring the other people there. They said they never get bored at the beach.
I think on this occasion a lot of it has to do with the fact that the Spanish tend to go as a big family to the beach and some even take a TV and a generator. Yes, I see this every summer. They just don’t allow themselves to get bored. They make sure they bring plenty of food and sometimes board games and they make a good day out of it.
Boredom just isn’t a factor.
Some of our expat friends, for example, can’t seem to do more than an hour at the beach. They start getting hot and bothered and bored and soon head off to find some other entertainment.
In the morning.
In the morning sometimes I like to go for a coffee at the bar around the corner from us. They do a splendid “café con leche”. It’s usually the same faces in there every morning and I love going there.
I always take a book with me to read whilst I sip my coffee but no-one else in there is doing anything apart from just sitting around the bar or at the tables, many on their own.
They think I’m the odd one sat there reading a book!
I have got to know most of the regulars in there quite well now and for the purposes of this article I was talking to them about being bored.
Again I got that shocked look! Bored? Never. They just don’t get bored. They are happy to sit there sipping a coffee, doing nothing, and they don’t find that boring.
I just can’t do it myself. If I have nothing to read I don’t go.
Let’s relax a bit
I think there is an important lesson we can learn from the Spanish here.
All day long I don’t really stop. I’m always doing something. As soon as I stop I start feeling bored. We’ve dragged our kids around half of Europe already as we just can’t stop doing things. We always need to be entertained and doing something.
I really like the fact that the Spanish (Andaluzes) don’t need to be constantly stimulated for them to be happy. They seem to just enjoy that moment in their lives, particularly the quiet relaxing ones.
So now I’m off for a coffee and I’m not going to take a book. I’m just going to enjoy the moment.