First post, nothing too fancy

Alright, here goes -the thoughts, musings and experiences of Devin.

I'm in Spain right now, Barcelona. I've been here 2 months and I live in a host family. I have a mom (Nidia), dad (Alvaro) an amazing dog (Greta) and two buddies from home, Garrett and Brandon. We live in what I would describe as a small apartment. Everything in Barcelona, like any big city, is compact and we are no exception. We are on the first (primero) floor, but in Spain that means the second floor, i'm not quite sure why.

My (and Brandon's) room has a balcony that looks out onto our street, Enrique Granados. It is very quaint, dotted with cafes and bars and a one way, one lane street that goes through the middle. (I'll post some pictures soon). Enrique Granados has a few benches that line the street. I've visited one particular bench more than anything else on our street. This is the internet bench.

I can get wifi there, (I don't know why or who's it is) but late on weekday nights or sometimes during the day in can always be counted on and the three of us can be seen crowded around the bench getting our internet fix. This bench is right in front of an indoor ATM machine that after about 9:00pm no can seem to get into. This can provide ample entertainment as one spaniard after another slide their card through the card reader and then push as hard as they can to open the door, but each one fails miserably and will usually give up after 3 or 4 tries.

Our host parents speak 0 english, which is great and we talk to them a lot. Nidia is very catholic and volunteers at two different churches while taking care of the house -cooking, cleaning, and reorganizing furniture. It seems that about once a week the couch in the living room will move to another wall, I don't know why. Nidia cares a lot about us, always asking if we want more blankets or different food options and -she's an amazing chess player.

Alvaro is my dad. He's great he speaks slower and is easier to understand. They're both amazing and have some interesting views about the world. Alavaro likes Obama, and i think Nidia does as well, although she has told us that she likes Bush and thinks he has "cojones grandes" (big balls).

Alvaro told me he thinks everyone in the world is a little racist. He and Nidia do not like the chinese. According to them, in spain the chinese don't pay any taxes but still get the benefit of socialized medicine and are using up all the states' social services. It seems to parallel the illegal mexican argument in the US. I'm not sure how much of this is true, but its interesting to hear them talk about it. Alvaro has joked that the only good chinese person is a dead one, and that sounds bad but for some reason when you're here listening to them talk, its not. It seems more like its part of the culture, which can sound like a poor excuse for a racist belief but its something more than that. They've had exchange students from everywhere, South Korea and Japan, but never from china. Nidia has told us that she likes americans the best, and you'd think she tells that to whoever she has, but I believe her.

I can't think of a nice way to end this first post, but I'll have another one up soon.

adios from barcelona