Gloria has been many things in my life for four months: a friend who tells me where the best tapas restaurants are located (and tells me how to meet attractive Spanish boys), a mother who has to see my outfit before I leave for the night (and then asks me a million questions about where I am going and with whom), a grandmother who teaches me how to cook delicious food (and gives me the recipes to bring home).
She feeds me mountains of food everyday to make sure that I am eating well, she does my laundry and cleans my room, gives me milk and honey when I am sick, and helps me to improve my Spanish.
She cooks paella, talks really fast, and sings Flamenco in the kitchen. An authentic Spanish woman.
She has already lost her husband and one daughter in her life, and so she hosts students year round to keep her company. She loves to talk to people, learn new things (especially new recipes from other countries), and cook. So naturally, she enjoys her life with the study abroad students whom she calls her "hijos," or children.
Here is a small essay I wrote for my journalism class. We were supposed to write about an interesting person in our lives. Naturally, I chose Gloria. I have translated it into english for you all so that you can get to know her a little better:
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Flowers
For Gloria, her life had a distinct purpose: to have children. She had worked all her life, and while she enjoyed busying herself with her job, she knew exactly what she wanted. She believes children are fundamental for a fulfilling life. “For me, a life without children is like a garden without flowers."
At the age of 20, she married, and within one year she had her first daughter. Gloria does not hesitate to recognize the birth of her first child as the happiest moment of her life. "It is an incredible moment in the life of every mother. There is nothing like it," she proudly said.
Her life blossomed with the birth of her first child. She felt fulfilled, living with a profound purpose. She was the stem, providing support and growth to her child, and in return, she grew even stronger by sharing her life with her husband and daughter. “I love kids. I can’t nor do I want to imagine my life without them. And I feel very fortunate to have this happiness in my life."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gloria and I eat lunch together everyday, and have talked about everything from my studies, to the weather, to prostitutes.
You all already know how we like to watch our telenovela, Arrayan, after dinner. But during lunch, she likes to watch a show called "De Buena Ley," which means "Of good law." Every day, the show features a different "hot topic" that the audience debates. There are always two "real-life" people that come on the show with their disagreement (anything from 'who should pay for a broken window' to 'should a teacher be allowed to be a prostitute on the side'), and then the audience (which consists of the same crazy Spaniards every episode) debates it. At the end, of course, a "judge" makes the final decision.
Ramón, my intercambio, says it's "basura" (trash). But I like it! It always makes me giggle to watch the Spaniards yell at the top of their lungs in the tiny studio audience about matters that do not concern them at all. Plus, the show always spurs interesting conversation between Gloria and me.
In my opinion, for being a person of her generation, Gloria has an incredibly open and acute mind. Here are some tidbits of conversations I had with Gloria that were prompted by the show:
Gloria on racism:
People don't like to say it, but racism still exists in Spain. I personally don't understand it. When Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas, he left some Spaniards there on their land, and no one said anything about it. But now when people from the Americas want to come here on our land, everyone throws a fit. I just don't understand it.
You can especially see the racism with our current economic crisis in the country: the crisis of course has affected everyone, but it has especially affected immigrants. The immigrant population is the biggest unemployed population in the country. And I don't understand that either--an immigrant can work just as well as any Spaniard. Probably even better.
To me, everyone is the same. We are all human, and that is what matters. It does not matter to me what color you are or where you are from. First and foremost, we are all human, and that is all I need to see.
Gloria on multi-racial couples:
What should it matter the race of your child's spouse? All that should matter is your child's happiness. Period.
Gloria on food:
I believe that in the future, we will all eat healthy food at home--that soon we will all eat home cooked meals with fresh and natural ingredients at the kitchen table again. And why not? It's better for you. People say that they don't have time to cook, but there are many good dishes that do not require a lot of time. And even if you need to set aside twenty extra minutes of your day, it is surely worth your health to do so.
Gloria on feminism:
That's another thing I don't understand. The sexism in this country is out of control. How could one possibly think that a woman is somehow less than a man? A woman can do perfectly well anything a man can do. Well, maybe she can't lift as heavy things as he can, but her brain is surely just as strong, if not stronger.
Almost every day on the news we see that another woman has died from gender violence in Spain. This, I think, is one of the worst travesties of our time. The world is going crazy, and women are paying for it.
The key to any good relationship is compromise. The woman does not have to do everything in the house. Sure, the world was like that before, even when I was married. But things are not that way anymore, and we are better for it. Who can say that a man cannot make his own bed? Or iron his own shirt? Or wash the dishes? No one. A man can do all those things perfectly well for himself. He can probably even cook himself a good dinner if he really put his mind to it.
Gloria on prostitutes:
Prostitutes have always existed in the world. And still today, everyone blames them. And I am not saying that prostitution is a good job to have, but I am saying that hardly anyone pays attention to the men who are paying the prostitutes. Do you think prostitutes would still exist if the men weren't asking and paying for their services? As long as prostitutes have existed, men who want and are willing to pay for their bodies has also existed. And this we don't talk about as much.
She never ceases to surprise me with her keen and hilarious mind. I feel very sad when I think about leaving Sevilla, and the feeling gets a lot worse when I remember that I will have to leave Gloria, too. She has been a fundamental part of my positive experience abroad, and I will miss her dearly.
But I try not to fret too much. I plan on returning to Sevilla some day (you know, when I have money), and when I do, Gloria made me promise to visit her. (This was really not a hard promise to make--I would eat her paella any day!) She also made me promise that when Michael and I get married, we will come to Spain for our honeymoon because they have the best beaches in the world. I told her that she would be the first invited to the wedding.
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