Catalans have the reputation of being more reserved, serious, and entrepreneurial than other Spaniards. They are polite, and I have never seen any outward displays of anger among people on the street. Well, I have heard some loud drunken yelling, usually on Saturday or Sunday morning around 7am when some all-night partygoers are stumbling into bed, but that's unusual. These aren't your passionate, fiery Andalusians.
People here are well-educated and well-mannered (aside from blowing smoke everywhere and dropping cigarette butts on the ground, which drives Mark crazy). People say that it is hard to get into the inner circle of friends with Catalans, and they won't invite you to their homes readily. However, our experiences have not proved that to be true. Granted, they aren't generally very smiley, but they are plenty warm. Friends greet each other with two kisses in the air while touching cheeks (right cheeks, then left).
The Spanish in general speak with loud voices. They interrupt each other. They speak with their hands. They touch you on the arm or the leg, and stand quite close to you. I don't mind it, but some people (the Germans or the Japanese, for example) find it uncomfortable.
This is not a violent society. Women walk around alone at all hours of the night without fear. However, petty thievery and pickpocketing are rampant. We have seen crying tourists on the beach who had their passports stolen. When eating, a woman keeps her purse in her lap. Bikes are kept indoors or chained with multiple locks. You need to buzz to be allowed into banks, and many shops have security standing by the door.
Barcelona has excellent shopping-- plenty of high fashion boutiques. However, it is not like New York or Los Angeles, where one feels pressure to be stylish and thin. People are down-to-earth, the women dress fairly modestly (not flashy or trashy) and do not wear ridiculous amounts of makeup. It's not a fake, plastic-surgery type of place. Attire is casual-urban. Few men wear suits to work. Right now long scarves are in, for both men and women. Tights with boots, too.
This is a city full of people from elsewhere. According to some outdated facts from wikipedia:
According to Barcelona's City Council, Barcelona's population as of 1 June 2006 was 1,673,075 people,[49] It is the main component of an administrative area of Greater Barcelona, with a population of 3,218,071 in an area of 636 km² (density 5,060 hab/km²). The population of the urban area was 4,223,000. It is the central nucleus of the Barcelona metropolitan area, which relies on a population of 5,083,000.[50]
The population density of Barcelona was 15,779 inhabitants per square kilometre (40,870 /sq mi),[51] with Eixample being the most populated district. 62% of the inhabitants were born in Catalonia, with a 23.5% coming from the rest of Spain. Of the 13.9% from other countries, a proportion which has more than tripled since 2001 when it was 3.9%,[34] the majority come from (in order) Ecuador, Peru, Morocco, Colombia, Argentina, Pakistan andChina.[52] The city also has the largest Jewish community in Spain, with an estimated 3,500 Jews living in the city.[53]
In my Spanish class of twenty-five students, I estimate that one-third are from mainland China, one-third from Russia or ex-USSR countries, and the rest a smattering of others. Walk through the lower-end neighborhoods we have observed many Filipino families. That makes sense because they are a former colony, and Tagalog has a lot of Spanish in it. As in other parts of the world, many Filipinas are employed as domestic workers and caregivers. Ten years ago, they were so pervasive that Barcelonans would use the term "my Filipino" to mean my housekeeper/nanny. Nowadays they use the more PC term "canguro" or kangaroo to mean nanny (one who keeps the kids in a pouch), and "chica" to mean a housekeeper.
There are a good number of Latinos here, and they seem to dominate the moving business. They prowl around the entrances and exits of IKEA, handing out business cards, and offering to deliver whatever furniture we car-less city folk have bought at a fraction of the price that IKEA charges.
A good number of wealthy Russians are buying property and dropping megabucks here. But there are plenty of middle class Russians who have retail shops here. Spanish with a Russian accent is also pretty difficult to understand. The Russians like it here because the weather is so much nicer! And apparently the prices here are lower than in large cities in the USSR.
The Chinese who come here run "basar chinos" which can be found on every block. Generally they are stuffed to the hilt with a random assortment of hardware, housewares, underwear, toys, and school supplies, all at good prices, not always of good quality. They are a family affair, with kids working alongside parents after school. I like to practice my Mandarin when I go in. Frankly, Spanish spoken with a Mandarin accent is really hard to understand and not very pretty. Because the languages have absolutely ZERO overlap, in pronunciation, writing, or cognates, the first generation immigrants have it rough. Add to that vast cultural differences. Most of the Chinese people I have talked to admit that they don't like it very well here. They don't feel particularly welcome, they find the language difficult, and they look so different from Spaniards that it can be difficult to fit in and feel comfortable. I haven't witnessed any blatant racism, but on numerous occasions I have been mistaken for someone who works in a restaurant or store by local customers-- it it because I look like someone of the worker class? Recently the Chinese have also diversified into running restaurants (bad Chinese food, Japanese food) and bars that serve Catalan food. By the way, a bar here is what we would call a restaurant or café. I sometimes feel a little guilty, that I have had such an easy and comfortable transition here, when I can see how hard it is on them.
Recently there has been an influx of Pakistani immigrants. The men run small supermarkets. The women tend to stay in the Raval area, pushing strollers with their heads covered with scarves.
Turkish restaurants with spit-roasted doner kebab are common and popular.
Then there are the Europeans of every stripe-- many are expat families transferred by their companies. But also a fair number of Germans, Italians, etc. marry locals and settle down here. Our school is full of these. The Europeans I've talked to all love it here. The weather is better than where they came from, the lifestyle is more relaxed, and they feel comfortable and accepted. Although the salaries here are lower than in many other European countries, the prices are also lower.
I see a few Africans, almost all men, and I only see them pushing shopping carts from dumpster to dumpster scavenging metal. I do not see them working in restaurants or shops, and I don't see them with families. I don't know why.
There are a few gypsy women who wear scarves over their heads who beg for change on the street. I have also seen some homeless people sleeping on the street, but not many compared to in San Francisco. Spain has been hit hard by the financial crisis, but we don't see the effects that much, at least where we live. But there are plenty of "buskers" or people playing music for money on the metro or the street.
There are virtually no mixed-race couples here. There are a good amount of children adopted from China. We were thrilled to meet a couple in a Chinese restaurant with a Spanish mother and Taiwanese father. I feel like people look at me when I walk down the street, perhaps because I do not look like a mainlander, nor do I talk like one. But happily the kids have felt nothing but welcome. And since English and Mandarin are the two languages in vogue here, they are admired for knowing both.
The Spanish do NOT speak English well. They are behind the rest of Europe on this, and they know it. The problem is that because of Latin America, there is a large Spanish speaking market, so there are lots of Spanish books and music, and everything on the television and in the cinema is dubbed. Whereas in Holland or Finland, countries with populations smaller than Beijing or California, people are surrounded by American movies and music, and they speak flawless English. The kids have English class in school, and it's laughable. When the kids sang some Halloween songs in English, I could hardly understand them because their pronunciation was so bad.
Compared to the Bay Area, I'd say that Barcelona is just as cosmopolitan, but less racially and culturally integrated. Most likely in large part because the immigrants to the Bay Area are generally well-educated scientists and engineers, so the workplaces are very integrated. Spain only recently opened up to foreign immigration, so it is still quite homogeneous. Yet, I feel comfortable now, and I feel like I belong here.
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