Spit- a new Welcoming Ritual

 Normally, when you arrive to a new country, you get your lovely passport stamped, everyone looks at you a little funny but is relatively nice, you find your way to where you are supposed to be, and VOILA you slowly slip into the background and no one really notices. At least that is what happens in Madrid, because it is a huge city made up of random people from all over the place and overran by tourists. So really, you can easily slip in and begin your life as a Madrileña and no one will really say anything about it.

I mean look at all these people, you could easily fit right in.

 UNLESS you are ME, then you receive the warm welcome of a glob of spit in your hair by a drunken dirty beggar dressed in a homemade jean cape and ratty jeans. 

Google failed me and I refuse to get near this guy to take a photo- so this is BASICALLY exactly what he looks like. Now just imagine him SPITTING on you.

 Yes, that is right; my warm welcome was quite literally warm yet not as welcoming as I had hoped. What is even worse is getting it in your mouth! Poor Maureen, she was looking at me when I got spit on and she too enjoyed the warm salivate welcome - pow! right in the kisser. It’s one thing when you exchange saliva with a sexy European man, but it’s another when a dirty old man decides you should be bathed in his saliva. 

Ahhhhh, that's refreshing!!!

 I mean I’ve heard of spit as a welcoming ritual back in the days of Pangaea, but seriously I never read anything about this exciting new Spanish welcoming ritual! Oh man, sign me up!! Every time I see this guy, I just want to walk up to him and say, thank you, thank you sooo much for welcoming me to Spain, I can’t believe that you would be so kind as to spit on me! NOT. 

Yeah... I wasn't happy either.

 Who does this guy think he is? I mean I barley take a shower daily, let alone twice a day, and I definitely didn’t want a Spit Shower from a guy who doesn’t even remember what a shower looks like. Honestly I have never seen him asking for limosna, so perhaps he dresses up like this and is selectively a drunken dirty old man that enjoys spitting on young girls. Sounds like a dream job to me; maybe I should quit my studies and become a Welcoming Spit Girl for Spain.