Had a long chat with a Spaniard from Malaga in the park the other day. He told me all about Spain’s woes, especially now that their bad economy is making them unliked by everyone else in the EU.
They're not particularly happy with any of their neighbors. They don’t like the French because they’re too snobby, and historically they’ve always looked down on the Portuguese for being smaller and poorer (“our little brother.”)
“What about the Moroccans?” I asked. “We can’t stand them. They move into places, take jobs, make a mess, have lots of kids. But they’re getting smart. They don’t want to pick strawberries for nothing, either. So the Rumanians are coming to take the low pay jobs and work in the greenhouses.”
“How do the Spanish feel about the Rumanians?”
“We don’t like them much either.”
Then David said Ecuadorians are also in Spain, doing the really low-pay jobs--cleaning hotels and child care. The latest trend is for Polish students to stay for the summer to earn money to pay their university expenses when they go back to Krakow and Warsaw.
"The Spanish like Ireland," David said to an Irish guy who had joined us. "It's cheaper to learn English there than to go all the way to the States, and they think the Irish are more charming than the English. But they don't go there for the beauty, just for the language."
Over the years, I have not found the Spanish very friendly. I guess it's not personal! Even though Barry and I have been to Spain several times, this was probably the longest conversation I’ve had with a Spaniard. He was friendly and funny even though the topic wasn't.
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