Public Displays of Affection...definitely part of the lifestyle here in Spain. I thought I had seen it all, until recently.

As I have mentioned before, it is quite common for many native Spanish people to live with their parents until they get married. As such, you can have people that are like 35 living at home. So, when they have their parents around, Romeo and Juliet "take it to the streets".

Now, my apartment building is like many others. The outside door opens to a foyer, with our mailboxes and utility shit, then there are a few more stairs leading to a second locked door.

A few nights ago I was coming home from work around 10pm and walked in. It´s very dark in the lobby of my building and sometimes it takes a while to find the light. I find it, and switch it on. In my head, I screamed "HOLY SHIT". But, to be tough, I kept it inside. A girl who lives upstairs (probably 21 or so) was making out with her boyfriend in the dark and they scared the shit out of me. Oh yeah, they both were smoking cigarettes at the same time. Remember, everyone smokes, all the time. I think some actual smoke in their sleep. I guess they never saw those Smokey the Bear cartoons when they were younger about preventing fires. It´s a shame because Smokey told me that "only I could prevent fires."

Last night, I come in from work. A shade after ten. I open the first door and this time I was startled, but in a different way. I saw those crazy kids before I opened the door this time, only from the outside, I couldn´t tell what they were doing. I believe the term is "making babies", according to Ralph Wiggum. And like Ralph, one of the babies looked at me. She was stradling him, on the stairs to the second doorway. I simply said "Buenas noches" and "Hasta Luego" as I walked past. They actually replied. I thought that was at least polite. This time though, I didn´t have the heart to turn the lights on. There are some things a person doesn´t need to see. I didn´t turn the lights on, but I secretly pretended to take the elevator and watched in the dark for the next 30 minutes...