Dominican Time vs. Real Time

In a comment on my previous post, Yamaya asked about punctuality in Zaragoza. Yes, in general Spaniards are very punctual, and more as it relates to Dominican Time. What is Dominican Time? Well, if you were going to meet up with your friends at 10pm and you jump into the shower 5 minutes before 10pm and the bar is at least a 15 min drive away, then you are on Dominican time. It's like Allan said in another comment and I'm paraphasing, but he'll say he's 5 mins away even if he's 20 mins away. For Europeans and Americans who value their time, punctuality is very important.So, it comes as no surprise that the first time they visit DR, the time thing throws them off. But after a while they pick it up on it.

Comments and questions are more than welcome

(In the image, the very busy corner of El Coso and Plaza de España in Zaragoza, Spain)

TIME = DISTANCE

When you're waiting for someone, at first it would seem that the simple question "where are you?" would have a somewhat simple response: "I'm at ....."
but it seems that in Zaragoza, something which jarred me a little the first couple of times I heard it, time equals distance.
So, the very frequent answer of friends who ring me up while we're trying to meet up somewhere in the street, or we're late for a rendevouz with other friends, and whoever is with me calls up from his mobile (cell phones in Spain are called mobiles), to that question of "where are you?" is " I'm at x minutes". " Si, estoy a tres minutos del cafe."
When we're bar hopping, the usual thing to say in NY would be "Ok, let's go to the other bar, it's only 5 blocks away."
But, my friends will usually say, "let's go to the other bar, it's only 5 minutes away". "Queda a 5 minutos de aqui".
Distance = Time


ZARAGOZA 28.5

European Impressions

On this blog, I will talk about my personal experiences in Europe, and how I view and compare the things that make us the same and the things that make us different. I am a native New Yorker of dominican descent, who lived in that caribbean nation for the last 15 years or so. I've spent the past 3 months in Europe, starting in Amsterdam, then onto Madrid and am currently in a lesser known spanish city named Zaragoza. It's in the Aragon Region, and one it's assets is basically being about the same distantce from Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia and other spanish cities.
I'll reflect on my times in this city, the people I've met, the food, the wine, the music, bars, beers and of course the city itself.
Spanish Politics is not of particular importance to me but I will focus on some key issues that keep coming up, specially now that Spain finds itself at a delicate crossroad, where many regions are gaining greater autonomy and the threat of ETA has a real chance of coming to an end.

Soon I'll post some of my first impressions. I've already written them on paper but want to reflect on them, before I post them, edit and expand on them because they have to do with a very delicate issue, racism and immigration.

welcome.