Bull in a china shop

Balconies across the street from my hotel in Sevilla feature a woven palm frond and potted plants.

The Poetry Thursday prompt is to write about a topic we avoid. I don´t like relating unflattering things about my fellow countrymen. But often I see travelers behaving as though they are in their home countries, without regard or respect for local culture. On such occasions, I have been known to pretend I don´t speak English, cringing at the thoughtless behaviour of fellow English-speakers.

The overweight middle-aged American
in his tight shorts and hat and Rolex watch
shouts out in the small mercado
that sells exquisite hand-painted fans.

"It closes in 15 minutes so we need to go!
Anyway this is ´el junko;´
I thought you said we were going to a good store!"
His cultured wife frowns in embarrassment and dismay.

The proprietor pretends she doesn´t hear "el ruidoso,"*
managing a small tight smile while turning her attention
to tidying the impressive display of fans
that flamenco dancers fling;

romantic fans behind which senoritas flirt
and senoras keep the heat at bay
breathtaking fans which evoke sighs and dreams -
but not for the bull in a china shop.

*the noisy one

Comments

[my backyard]

Sigh. I hope you don't catch me inadvertently doing something equally rude some day.

[Willow Grace]

I'm late in commenting but I'm enjoying reading your adventures in Sevilla.

It's unfortunate that so many of us can relate to that uncomfortable feeling of a fellow countryman acting like the stereotypical "ugly American." It makes me cringe. I was traveling with my friend and boss several years ago in Bali and she continued to comment in front of our Balinese guide the nastiness she observed with her eyes. It was embarassing and I felt like the wife of the inconsiderate husband. At least I don't have to live with it.

[cathy]

Quite an entertaining one to read from you, lol, I really enjoyed. I should write my own version :)

[artzyjudie]

Ah Tara. Try to let these kind of people go in one ear and out the other. They are not just Americans, but in every culture. There is always "someone" who NEEDS that attention, who NEEDS to feel important by being loud and obnoxious. I live in a tourist area and they come here too. You just have to shake your head and go on.

[patry]

I like the way you contrast the delicate fans and the bull in his tight shorts. El ruido to be sure.

[Pam Aries]

Oh my Gosh! I don't know where to begin...(since I live and work in a tourist town, Charleston,SC)Ewwww...I have seen so much of this embarrassing behavior in our own area..I have often thought how awful these people must be when they travel abroad! I wouldn't even want to admit that I am an American if /when I get to go to Paris! I could go on and on. I don't get it! THese folks have NO class and no idea how to conduct themselves in another culture!!!

[Pam Aries]

Oh my Gosh! I don't know where to begin...(since I live and work in a tourist town, Charleston,SC)Ewwww...I have seen so much of this embarrassing behavior in our own area..I have often thought how awful these people must be when they travel abroad! I wouldn't even want to admit that I am an American if /when I get to go to Paris! I could go on and on. I don't get it! THese folks have NO class and no idea how to conduct themselves in another culture!!!

[GoGo]

Yep, I've been there, watching someone's neck swell red as the noisey one makes a fool of him/herself.

[annieelf]

Foolish people live everywhere. I wonder why they even bother to travel. **sigh**

[Becca]

The photo is excellent and your very well composed poem all too familiar!

[Deborah]

Great poem, Tara. I had a run-in with a rude American in Paris at a restaurant near Le Tour Eiffel ... he was loud, demanding and made no attempt to speak French. I was SO embarassed to be American at that moment.

[Sophie]

"el junko" brain indeed

well observed and wrily captured:)

[Di]

You know I have to flee your posts in these days ... don't you?

It sounds like you're having a truly manificent time and I'm envious.

However, I know you deserve these times so forgive me :)

xo

[naturegirl]

Well said I see "el Junko" when I travel abroad too!!
The palm wrapped around is so brillant and original!!

[tinker]

I wonder if it's because people think they're in a different country and the locals won't understand them (which may have been true long ago, but certainly isn't now - so many people in the world speak English as well as their native language) - or if it's because they think "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" applies to the whole world!

How embarrassing for you, the salesperson, and his wife! At least the bull fertilized a poem out of the deal m_m

[Catherine]

So many people do travel without a clue about other cultures. Your poem expresses it perfectly.
I love balconies, one finds some amazing visual treats by looking upwards once in a while

[meredith]

I like your poem, it made me smile, perhaps because it rings familiar to me.

[Chelle Y.]

People who write poetry like that make me sick! Just kidding! :)

[jessie]

oh man...your poem makes me cringe with embarrassment and disgust and then swoon with romance...you have said it all.

perfectly.

[rel]

Tara,
Rude, obtuse folks are an embarassment at any time. Much more so if we share a common language with them. We think we'll be lumped into the same catagory.
Perhaps the "bull in the China shop" would have been more at home in the bull-ring.

You've expressed the situation well in your poem. It flows so smoothly and makes the point emphatically.

How's your Spanish?
rel

[Colette]

"Rude dog!!" she said, flinging her fan open.

I have one of those fans, brought back from Spain for me by a friend, who also taught me how to fling it open in the correct Spanish manner.

I believe the palm fronds are from Easter. Palm Sunday. At least, that's what we used to do.

xoxo

[AscenderRisesAbove]

Interesting take on the prompt. That photo is amazing; I had no idea the fronds were kept and used.

[Rosa]

There's one in every bunch, unfortunately.

[wendy]

We, the truly interested, and mild mannered Americans, rely on you..to right wrongs done here. Grace, however, can be American. I really belive this is true. Rude and loud....aren't there thosewho are rude, in every culture. You just proved your class is genuine. i think most rude people don't even no they are...rude. You are like the princess and the pea fairy tale. Classy...thru and thru.

[Amber]

Aww! That makes me cringe!!
How was your weekend with the hubs? Did you have fun? I hope so. oxox

:)

[Laura]

What in the world is a cultured woman doing married to this chunky yokel?? I spend a lot of time here inwardly cringing and,just occasionally, outwardly cringing--- as yesterday on the metro, when a (another) chunky person, all in prison-orange pantaloons with a white tshirt, dirty white tennis shoes, and bright orange reading glasses, decided it was time to take her one-woman comic monologue from New Jersey on the road (or rail), at top volume. Yikes. Her scruffy husband even looked abashed. But enough about me ;D, Hope your classes are going swimmingly, dear Tara. SO wish you were here, though.

[miss*R]

I would love one of those junkie fans. What a delightful photo - I would love to look at it every morning. I wonder what the palm frond is for?

[Giggles]

I am still laughing at the visual of this post. Hilarious! “El Ruido” OMG that was so funny. Can you say POMPOUS!! HAHAHA! Thanks for the laugh!

Giggles Sherrie

[Mike]

I have long said I hate tourists even as I often fell under the same classification. I cannot begin to relay my embarassment at some of the conversations I have overheard at times particularly given the absolute ignoranc that is usually strongly reinforced in the same excahnges. It never seems to fail the they are the loudest in the room. Such is life, I fear...