Conversation in new york last week.

Me: my husband is Spanish

She: what country is he from?

Me: Um, Spain.


In THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET, Sandra Cisneros's character Esperanza (Mexican-American) gets called "Spanish girl".... so the ONION is on to an interesting cultural problem

Hehehe....

I don't know how many times I have got remarks about Army-knives, Hiking & yodeling, watches and cheese, upon telling Americans about my Swedish origin.

About Mexican cooking : I can recommend you a good book if you're into reading at all. A book by Laura Esquivel with the Spanish title "Como aqua para chocolate".

A wonderful blend of Love, Mexican family life and food. I would not know the title in English.

Enjoy

Hello all,

The english title for Como Agua Para Chocolate is Like Water for Chocolate. Also made into a movie.

Yes the onion is satirical, but alas ... not far from the truth. How many times have I heard someone ask "isn't it all the same?" when I try to explain my hispanic lineage?

And while in Spain after 9/11, how many times did I hear people say how uncultured Americans are? "Is it true you all sit around eating hamburgers and junk food?"

Yet a few months ago I had dinner with some Spanish friends in Miami who had never seen/heard of/tried sushi ... now thatwas interesting.

Just goes to show ... we are what we thinkthink we eat ... an open tummy reflects an open mind.

saludos a todos madri-fanaticos y a madridman!

Maria

Along some of the same lines, one of my girlfriends in law school was of (very proud) Albanian descent. Several times, our (not so) clever colleagues said things along the lines of, "Albania...I didn't know you were from upstate New York!"

So I guess it isn't limited to (real or fictional) people thinking "Spanish" means "Latin American" or "Cuban" or "Mexican" or anything else!

Tara

rgf: that conversation about your husband reminded me of my trip to the doctor to get a check up before leaving for spain:

Doctor: Ah, so you're going to Spain.
Me: Yes!
Doctor: So, what language do they speak there?
Me: Uh, Spanish...
Doctor: Oh! Is that like Mexican?

Ok so I know that many languages are spoken in Spain, but to not know that Spanish is one of them?...

Arg!!1 I was trying to email this "article" to my parents, but the link doesn't work anymore and they don't appear to have archived it in their own system. Did anyone happen to copy it?

The Onion's done it again--this article isn't about Spain...but anyone who has been or has hosted an exchange student will understand it!!

http://www.theonion.com/onion3813/japanese_student.html

It reminded me of how, on my first night in Spain EVER, our former Spanish exchange student and her family kindly took me out to dinner...at VIPS!!!! The only worse thing would have been for them to take us to McDonald's!!!

And the french fries were horrible.