Every morning when I go to work, I have to stop at an intersection two blocks from our apartment, to let some young kids on their way to school cross the street. Apparently they are obliged to wear some kind of school uniform, what makes them all look like little angels.
The other day I saw one of the teachers enter the school, and all the kids were waving at him with a big smile.
Now this was an image I had never seen in Belgium.
I thought: it must be a piece of cake to be a teacher in this school! it looked as if teasing, bullying and fighting are things they don't have to deal with.
Now I'm sure I'm wrong about that, but the image was so different than the image that I was used to see at the entrance of any normal school in Belgium.
I personally have known teachers of students not much older than these kids, who were afraid in the classroom, often crying at night because of the intimidations by the brats.

But life in general is much more peaceful in Spain than in Belgium, at least where we are living.
When I just moved here, and we used to walk home through the abandoned streets after going out at night, I used to feel uncomfortable, double checking every strange sound I heard. Mónica reassured me however that it was quite safe to walk along the streets at night, and that she used to make these walks alone.
It is something I still have to get used to.
There is a completely different feeling of security in the streets where I live now. And it affects the way people walk down the street and treat each other incredibly.