The impression that I get

Perception is a funny thing. I had a drink the other night with a friend of a friend of a friend, a Spanish woman who doesn't speak English. It was encouraging that we were able to have a real conversation, even if I sounded like an idiot a lot and didn't understand everything she said. Anyway, we were talking about the so-called smoking ban in Spain and she told me that she had visited California right after their smoking ban took effect. She smoked at the time and said she felt like a real outcast, that whenever she went outside to smoke the only other people smoking were homeless. I was also a smoker in California right after the smoking ban, and I remember thinking that the ban wasn't that big a deal because most of the bars and restaurants have outdoor terraces with heat lamps where you can smoke (and lots of people did). But I guess coming from Spain it must have seemed pretty strange because smoking is so much more common and accepted here than in the US.

She also told me about a friend of hers who visited New York for two weeks and came back raving about how nice and friendly New Yorkers are compared to Barcelonans, especially on the subway. Now I'm a big proponent of the idea that New Yorkers are a lot nicer than most people give them credit for (grumpy and nice are not mutually exclusive), but "Don't make eye contact" is basically the NYC subway mantra. But if she happened to run into a few chatty people (they may have been from out of town....) during a two-week visit, the NYC subway probably did seem like a pretty friendly place. I'm glad it's not though--who wants to talk to strangers when you can listen to your iPod and stare at your feet?