GRANDISIMA

I have grown very accustomed to hearing comments about my height. I don't know if I've ever gone a whole day in my life without hearing some sort of reference to it. Well, maybe before I had my growth spurt. Anyway, that being said, I expected no less here in Spain. And I was not incorrect in my assumptions.

Now, in the states, people usually come up to me and say, "How tall are you?" or some direct question about my height. Or they will whisper, "she's so tall!" to their friends. Sometimes causing their friends to turn around and stare also while they are walking by. Whatever. I'm used to it. Mostly its just amusing. Those of you who don't normally walk around with me in public may think I'm exaggerating. Those who have been to a mall, etc., with me know that this is the honest truth.

Again, this just doesn't really bother me. I'm used to it. Plus, honestly, when I see someone tall, I am kind of fascinated too. The word "tall" has no bad stigmas attached to it. Well none that I'm aware of or bothered by anyway. But things are a little different here in Spain.

In Spain, I still get plenty of comments regarding my height. But they just don't have quite the same innocent sentiment that they do in English. First of all there's the difference in language and terminology, second there's the difference in where the comments are coming from.

In English, I'll hear someone quietly say, "oh gee, she's awfully tall..." In Spanish, what I usually hear is "¡¡¡GRANDE!!!" or some variation of that. Literally, "BIG!" Now, I've never had any insecurities or problems with my weight. Someone could tell me to my face that they thought I was fat and I'd laugh at them and not think about it again. But I don't like being referred to as "big." This has a very different connotation from either "tall" or "fat." "Big" makes me feel like a man. Or an ogre. Or some horrible monster. hahahah That may be an exaggeration. A little one.

I still just laugh when someone says that, but it's just not quite as entertaining or amusing here. I was talking to one of my professors about this the other day. He said, "yeah, but you're not grande." Exactly, so why do they say that. Anyway, besides this difference, there is the difference in the source of the comments. Sometimes I will hear something from a woman, if I am talking to her. Like in my class at the elementary school, there was a substitute yesterday. And she said, "how grande you are!" That's fine, I just smiled and we went on our merry way. But other than that, I have never heard comments from random strange women on the street.

Now men....that's another story entirely. Spanish men are not known for their subtlety or consideration. I should take that back, there are a lot of considerate Spanish men I'm certain. But for the most part, they are very assertive and confident and to-the-point. One of the warnings CIEE gave us before we came was to not be surprised by comments from random men on the street. They just like to cat-call, "piropos" in Spanish. Very common. Most girls get comments about their blonde hair, or their nice butt, or the fact that they are a foreigner, a "guiri." I don't actually get that many comments. In fact, there's this group of guys that stand on the corner of one of the streets we walk by every Tuesday and Thursday on our way to teach our English classes (I think they're selling lottery tickets? They love their lottery here.) The girls said that when they walk to school with me this group of guys usually leaves them alone. But when the girls go alone they get more comments (apparently they really do thing I'm a grande monster and they're scared to say anything most of the time). Pretty hilarious. Anyway, when I do get comments, its about my height. No surprise. "¡Qué grande!" or "¡Qué grande mujer!" I just chuckle to myself and keep going.

But then today happened. I was walking to Plaza Nueva to meet Ale for a coffee. The road I take has some construction on it and the sidewalks are closed off. So you have to actually walk in the street to get by. Now, you're not supposed to do this. But no one walks all the way around the construction. So I was following this guy on the road when a big white utility van came from the opposite direction. I hear "¡¡¡¡¡QUÉ GRANDE!!!!!!" as it goes past. And the guy in front of me looks back to figure out what the comment was all about. Because it obviously wasn't about him, he was rather short. He started chuckling when he saw me and looked at me sort of apologetically like, "eh, what are you gonna do?!" I was laughing too. And continued laughing for a while. This story just doesn't sound as funny in writing, but it was pretty hilarious to me.

Anyway, that's the story of my grande-ness. To give you an idea of the piropos from Spanish men, here's a video. Gerardo either helped make this video or at least knows the director. He is going to be working with him on his next short. Anyway, its hilarious. It's all in Spanish, so most of you won't understand it (I don't understand it all either-these are not words nor phrases that you learn in class...or that you ever want to hear spoken to you). But all you need to know is that the guy is yelling really crude things to a girl walking by. Just watch it til the end....that's the important part. I'm sure you can figure out what's going on without understanding the language. And understand that this is an exaggeration of the Spanish men. But not much of a stretch...