Day Two

Hola, todos. I´m learning how to navigate this spanish keyboard. Slowly but surely.

So yesterday, I wrote an entry, but I was about to go to bed and also I was writing on my iPod. As such, I now am typing on a laptop and can write a proper entry.

I arrived yesterday about 2. My señora, Julia, (pronounced who-lee-uh, don´t get it twisted) met me there and took me, via taxi, to her apartment. At times like these, I am grateful (greatful? i miss spell-check...) for my previous experience in Europe. When I stayed with a family in Switzerland, I was expecting a lot more, like the shamefully spoiled American teenager that I was (and let´s be real-still am). It was a family of two children and two parents, and they lived in an apartment that the average American college student might live in alone. So coming here yesterday, to my señora´s tiny apartment, was totally expected. Obviously, it may seem way too small for any American´s standards, but I´m okay with it. It´s downright charming. I´m glad I learned about European standard of living before coming to live here. I´ve mentally prepared myself to take shorter, colder showers, walk a whole lot more, use the lights a WHOLE lot less, live in a smaller space, wear more layers indoors because they don´t use the a/c like we do, and all that other stuff.

Anyway, after we got back, we ate. Then we both slept. After that, she took me out to see the town a little bit. There´s a café next door called 942, and we stopped there and had thoroughly spanish coffee and watched the fútbol game between Santander and Barcelona. (Go santander.) We were winning for the first half, then Barcelona caught up. With a thrilling neck and neck race of 1-1, we left and walked toward the sea. Which is awesome, because it´s only about 2 blocks from the apartment. I know it´s the city and it was a Saturday night, but it was so lively. So many people just walking the streets and what not. One thing that was really cool was, when she was showing me where we were on the map, she said, "Aquí es donde vivimos," which means "This is where we live." Where WE live. How freaking cool is that? Perhaps I am easily impressed.

I don´t think my señora gets much exercise because we walked just about 2 blocks and she said she was tired and we took the bus home. Before going back to the apartment, we went back to 942 and watched the end of the game. We walked slow and stopped to take pictures and talk to people, so even though we walked a short distance, it took us about 35-40 minutes. And guess where the game was? Still at 1-1. Don´t tell the Spaniards i said this, but that game is so boring. Why do people care?? Nothing matters. The crowd cheers and goes crazy when the players even get close to the goal, but here´s the deal: It´s hard to control where the ball goes, it´s so easy to intercept the ball, it´s so hard to get a goal, and it´s so easy to block the goal. Result? No one scores anything. For hours, no one will score anything. Nothing. At all. The game last night went into like 37 overtimes and still, there was a tie. I mean, it seems after a while, they just give up. "Well, you all suck and you´ll never accomplish anything, so let´s just call this one a draw. Pack it in, let´s go home." One good thing about fútbol, however: all the players are extremely, extremely good looking. It´s like there are 2 requirements for making the team: be good at soccer, and be really sexy.

Though it´s only day 2, I feel like I´ve learned a lot. Maybe not about the language (yet), but about the culture. People say that they  are less polite, and in some cases, meaner than we are in the US. But i think i´ll have to disagree. They´re not mean, they´re not impolite, they just have different standards for what is polite or mean. What I´ve noticed is that when walking the streets, they don´t smile and usually avoid eye contact with strangers, which, as a girl who grew up in southern America, is extremely hard for me. I´m used to not only making eye contact and smiling at complete strangers, but even saying hi, or "how are you?". Aparantly, extended eye contact or smiling at a stranger, especially men, means that you want to sleep with them. I´ve only been in Spain for about 24 hours, but I´m pretty sure that there are at least 100 Spanish men who think I tried to seduce them. Oh well...permanant damage there. Another thing I´ve noticed, is that no one, NO ONE, cares about driving or parking laws. I mean, seriously. Not a single shit do they give. I knew this from before, but it never ceases to make me laugh. Next time I see one, I´ll take a picture and post it to facebook. These people park wherever is convenient, and I mean wherever. This may mean popping a curb or maybe even parking in the middle of the street. Or, like I saw earlier today, right in the middle of an intersection. Yes, you read that correctly. Also, I´m trying to cope with the idea of being a more aggressive pedestrian. I´ve noticed that if you´re not assertive, you probably won´t get to cross the street. Ever. Really.

Anything else I think of, I´ll write in tomorrow´s update. Okay, have a good day everyone. I´m about to take my mid-afternoon nap and it´s strange to think that you all are just starting the day. See you in 3 months.

"El mundo es un libro y aquellos que no viajan leen solo una pagina."

-Sherri