The night before my flight to Spain I invited my friend Mekkena over to help me pack. Needless to say, I fall short in the area of most domestic tasks. Sure, I can do them and some things have actually grown on me like cooking and re-arranging furniture but some things still faze me, like packing a suitcase for six weeks of travel. Mekkena is one of those people that never ceases to amaze me with what she can do domestically. You need 16 dozen vegan cupcakes for a wedding shower? Or maybe you are looking for someone to hand sew you some persian drapes for your living room picture window? Or maybe you want to re-stain your grandpa´s vintage dresser from before the Great War…..call Mekkena.
My intentions were that together we would pack my suitcase, but as it turned out I ended up sitting on my ass drinking a beer and pointing to indicate if said object was going with me or not. I tried to help, but even my mother insisted that I stay out of it as much as possible.
¨Look at how nicely Mekkena folds your shirts¨, she said mournfully.
¨Whatever, I fold my shirts just fine¨, I snapped and took a swig of my beer.
¨You have a lot of pants¨, Mekkena interjected ¨How about we reduce it to three pair and some shorts¨.
¨You´re the expert¨, I said half bitterly.
¨Which ones do you want to take¨?
I pointed my beer towards a pair of straight leg khaki´s and then towards a pair of straight jeans and then to a pair of bootcuts that I thought might look cute with my nikes.
¨I can´t let you take these¨, Mekkena stopped me when I got to the bootcut.
¨Why, what´s wrong with them?¨, I inquired.
¨Nobody in Europe wears these, they´re not in fashion. Here´s another pair of straight legs why don´t we pack these instead?¨
Besides slightly deflating my ego, that was my first lesson in European culture versus what´s acceptable in the United States. So eager was I not to look like a foriegner once I set foot on Spanish terrain; more so to look European and not American, that my first purchase was a pair of BRIGHT orange skinny jeans, which do wonders for my behind by the way. I feel very at home when I wear them here, seeing as every other girl has on a pair of some sort of exotic color. The style here is distinct, it´s hard to put my finger on it exactly, but I like it. It is also much cheaper to buy clothing here, and quality clothing may I add, than it is in the US. Those jeans I bought were only ten euro, which is like $13.50 in USD. I can´t say that in every country it is this cheap, but in Spain it is. So if you ever get the opportunity to come here, be prepared to shop.
k. lawler 