Gypsies

Back in November I remember hearing about how a 10 year old had a baby here in Jerez.  I kind of forgot about it until recently when my mom found an article about it and sent it to me.  It made me remember it and I had completely forgotten that it happened here.  The family is a Roma (gypsy) family that lives in Lebrija, a town closer to my school so it's maybe 25-30 minutes from here, but the baby was born here in Jerez.  The article talks about how the mom was happy that her daughter had a baby and how she doesn't see anything wrong with it.  It also talks about cultural differences among the Roma.  Here's the link to the article if anyone is interested in reading it: http://www.aolhealth.com/2010/11/03/mom-in-spain-happy-her-10-year-old-gave-birth/?ncid=txtlnkusheal00000002

One thing you will be sure to find in any semi-large European cities are gypsies.  They always hang around the major sights and here in Spain it's usually the Cathedrals.  Here they try and sell you something that could be rosemary, but who knows.  In the major European cities they come up to you and ask "Do you speak English?" and beg for money.  Most people know to just ignore them, but of course there are those who don't.  Example:  I was eating ice cream over the weekend and sitting on a side of the Mequita and these two guys maybe around my age were walking.  A gypsy woman and her baby she was carrying would sometimes randomly ask for money and as she passed the two guys one of them stop and sort of hesitated.  She had kept walking, but as soon as the one guy hesitated she went right back to him and they kept walking, but she followed.  I kind of laughed and two other guys sitting nearby were too and eventually the one gave her some money.  Over the summer we saw so many of them who would always ask "Do you speak English?"  I eventually told one of them in Berlin in English, "No, I don't speak English."  They're pretty easy to spot too.  Usually they have tan skin and darker hair and they always wear long skirts and mismatched shirts.  It's not like they blend in.  When we were in Paris we stopped to take a picture of the Arc d' Triomphe and one gypsy girl came up to Jill and barked in her face and then left.  Literally.