shocked.

In the midst of conversing with an Israeli tourist couple, I slowly lost eye contact as my eyes drifted to the wall behind them. "kike". I pointed and they looked. I expected a reaction from them, but no eye brows were raised, and no mouths agape. I asked, "don't you know what that means?" they replied no, that they had never heard of this word before.

Shocking. From this meeting on, my eyes have been more opened than ever, scanning every single wall and poster, sidewalk and lamp post. This graffiti is merely from two streets in the center of Madrid. I can't imagine how many other photographs could be taken.

I'm not quite sure what to think. I'd like to ask one of my teachers about the use and meaning of this word here in Spain. Yet after learning "Spanish common phrases" (that are claimed to be politically correct as they only "reflect history" and not current day opinion) such as "you didn't go to Church today? Don't be a Jew!", I'm a bit hesitant. My professors teach that the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492 solely for "building their character too much" (becoming too wealthy), and insist that "religion has never caused expulsion in this country". They claim that a sense of racism and anti-Semitism doesn't exist to the same extent we believe it is present, and rather explain this phenomenon by "we just don't mix. The Jews with the Jews, the Arabs with the Arabs, the Blacks with the Blacks, and the Latinos with the Latinos".

Judaism is a large part of my identity, and I thought that identity follows you wherever you go, but here in Spain, it will not.