Joie de vivre!
December 19th. Joie de vivre! Joy of living! This may have been an expression invented by the French but it is practiced by the Spanish. The people of Barcelona seem to live life fully. They laugh and cry and argue, then laugh some more. They appear very happy, even when they are in the middle of a heated discussion.
It is interesting being an outsider observing how people behave. French children, including teens, are happy and well-behaved. Spanish children are happy, noisy and somewhat unruly at times. Young French women wrinkle up their noses and physically shrink from anything they consider unappealing, and this especially includes finding themselves beside a larger person on public transport, yet they don’t seem to even notice the amount of doggy do on the footpaths around Paris. More mature French women look pinched, cold, and dissatisfied with life. French men seem aggressive and demanding (perhaps this is why French women look the way they do).
Spanish women of all ages, on the other hand, seem to live, love and laugh much, and generally live life with gusto. Spanish men also seem to enjoy life in the moment, although a little more quietly than the women. Even Police in uniform can be seen wandering up the street chatting away to a colleague with a cigarette in one hand.