Perhaps my favorite part of Spanish culture is the sense of humor. This stands prominently in a playground in Castellon (at the base of the hand sculpture), and my first reaction to it was, "Can you imagine the 'morality' groups in the States who would protest this?" There is just more freedom here for artistic expression and less analysis about how people will be offended or misinterpret that expression. That leads to more authenticity in personal interactions, and that was a refreshing change from my world in which I am constantly forced to evaluate myself so that I don't offend people.
One striking example of this was when my new friend in Barcelona gave me a tour of the city. A discussion about the differences between European and Latin American Spanish quickly turned into a discussion about "bad" words. After much cajoling, I shared some of my "dirty" Spanish. In the States, I would have been quickly judged for what I said. There, however, I rolled my eyes and joked about how I learned it because I thought it would help me make friends. We laughed and moved on. No judgment. No condemnation. No binding agreements.
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