Cultural Experiences.. o algo así

In spite of the fact that I have lived in Spain for nearly a year now, I still find myself calling things that would be of the norm in daily life in the United States definite cultural experiences here. Trying to get internet, going to the doctor, going to the farmacia, going to work, dealing with the policia (or umm getting hit on by them as well as sleezy imigration officers, etc), going to the gym, asking old men for directions, paying bills, etc, etc, all result in experiences that make me go 'hmmm' in either a good, bad, ugly, or hilarious manner. Even after a year of Spain, I still find myself surprised by so many things, and find the language barrier with the Andalú Spanish still getting in my way of communicating with ease in every situation, though it continues getting easier as my vocabulary extends out to every new situation I have to embrace and I slowly master translating their words into the words I learned in Castellano.

Here's an artistic look at the dialect spoken in the deep south of Andalucía (I think this chaval is from Jerez de la Frontera): http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1186801052692540560#

After a long week of pressure headaches and one tooth giving me hell, I decided I had to dive in and have yet another cultural experience: el dentista. This morning, I arrived to my appointment on time (5 mins early, pure america style), checked in, then proceeded to read juicy spanish gossip magazines for a good 40 minutes while nervously awaiting my fate. I finally got my consult, explained the problem, got xrays, and then was taken to the exam room where I waited another 30 minutes staring at a big screen tv with an xray of my mouth. There anyone could see the cause of the pressure: giant wisdom teeth growing in the wrong direction. Awesome. My dentist told me last year I wouldn't have to get them out.. apparently things change. So after an excruciatingly long wait, the dentist comes in, finds a few cavities, then tells me to come back with her to the office to discuss what we should do--which doesn't even involve removing my wisdom teeth. Meh. I am going to ask around for a better dentist asap who doesn't try to convince me to get braces I don't need or root canals. Eek.