Jet-set Cupcake: Day 12: European Oddities

So usually I write these posts as a chronological record of my day. Today, however, I watched copious amounts of Jenna Marbles videos on Youtube and simply cannot conform to this previous standard at the moment. I'm feeling random. So here we go... things that are so far strange about Spain:

*ahem*

FIRST of all... why is it that showers in Europe have hand held shower heads? They're not on the wall like the ones in the US and they don't have something to hang the shower head on the wall like they did in Brazil. The few showers I have encountered in Europe so far are the kind where you have to literally put the shower head in your hand and bathe yourself like they do at the hair parlor when you get a fancy haircut. It's weird. I'm unaccustomed. I'm not sure I'm using it right. Am I? I don't know! Maybe this is why my hair is so greasy?!

SECOND of all... it has come to my attention that people actually use IRONS here... and for those of you girls in America, by Iron I do not mean Hair straightener iron or Waffle iron... I mean the straight up clothing iron. At first, I admit, I judged the people of Spain. Like, wth, guys? But then I came to realize that Americans seem to be the only people I know who own and use dryers... as in washer and dryer. To us, they're a pair; a set; they are inseparable. But in other countries? A dryer is seen as a joke. Why would you waste the money and energy when you could just hang your clothes to dry? This is a valid point, but non dryered clothing is then a little wrinkly (thus the iron) and kinda... crunchy feeling. Do you know what I mean? Like when you have a towel that got really soaked and then you kinda left it in a heap in the corner for a few days and when you pick it up again it's kinda crunchy and molded into an abstract shape? Yeah. Like that.

THIRD of all... rice and eggs seem to be international staples that Americans are NOT all about. I eat rice when I go out for sushi or sweet and sour chicken. Those are the only times. I eat eggs for BREAKFAST or when they're in a cake. Those are the only times. Here, it's totally okay to mix eggs and rice and tomato juice and call it a meal. o_O

FOURTH of all... people here are all about their house shoes. It's kinda adorable. They have little slippers that they always wear around their house. Like, they get home, take off their "outside shoes" and put on their slippers. People don't seem to walk around barefoot, either. They NEED their cutsie little house shoes. It feels like a carry over from the early 20th century when women wore their hair up in curlers and had house coats and yes, house shoes and it's really endearing. Nonetheless, I'm still content being barefoot, unless it's winter and my floors are that cold.

FIFTH of all... Americans have bad taste in shoes (outside shoes, not house shoes). Seriously. I need to go on a shoe shopping trip in the next week because my silly little shoes just don't cut it here. I can feel people staring at my feet and judging me. I feel like in the USA, purses are a big status symbol and sometimes the brand of jeans your displaying proudly on your ass, but here it's all about the shoes. How adorable your shoes are equals how adorable you are as a human being. I brought my sexy high heels, but I walk so much every day that I don't believe that would even be intelligent...

~*~

Now that I feel better having gotten all of that out there, picture time can commence:

My madre folded all of my clothes! CUTE! (Even my underwear. WEIRD.)

There was a tampon tied to the window in the bus. For real. I wonder how long it'd been there?

Little rainbow clown man on a bike near a trashcan. Random!

Prettiest Rose in the whole Rose Garden! <3

Prettttty! ^_^

I tried to put my Tiffany & Co. ring on this flower to get a cute picture, but then it fell and I lost it in the bushes for a hot minute. >_<

Framing the cloud to make it look like a heart. Awwww!!! <3

The infamous boat lake in Retiro Park.

What a typical awesome street looks like in downtown Madrid... so pretty!!

My main train station / metro station transfer place @ Atocha - RENFE... it's huge! It even has a little park inside with those turtles I mentioned previously. LOL.