Icky Feet

One thing I've noticed about Spain: the feelings about feet.

- being barefoot is unacceptable. In a situation where I would generally remain shoeless (say, just after waking up), I now wear house slippers.
- objects, like purses and backpacks, are not placed upon the floor. Once, a teacher at my school went so far as to pick my bag up from the floor and set it upon a table for me. Special purse hooks are used by many women to prevent purses from sitting on the floor while at a restaurant.
- floors are mopped every few days. This is a combination of the fact that every single floor is made of the same faux-marble white tile that highlights every fleck of dirt, and (I think) the feeling that feet are unclean.

These observations could suggest that Spaniards are somehow 'cleaner' than Americans because of their awareness about the germs that might inhabit the feet/floor, but I don't think it works quite like that. While precautions are high surrounding these lower appendages, hand-washing is at a minimum. I think it all evens out.

What do I do? Well, I'm torn between adapting this particular Spanish trait, and rejecting it. Thus, my actions are inconsistent and a bit odd. I always wear some form of shoes, because that one seems most important, but I can't quite decide what to do about contact between my bag and the floor. So, sometimes it's on the floor, sometimes it's on a chair, and sometimes I switch it back and forth. (I'm only half joking about this.) And I'm completely unable to take up mopping every few days. That would be far too much work. Partial adaptation seems sufficient, for now.

Full adaptation may be further in the future.