Settling In

Yara picked me up at the train station, walked me home and even helped me carry what had become impossibly heavy bags. She´s studying for medical exams - she´s in school for Chinese medicine - so after dropping me off at home she was back to the library for most of the rest of the day.

Their place is great. By European standards, it´s quite big. There´s a miniscule kitchen, a decent sized living room, a bathroom, and two large bedrooms and a third teeny tiny one, which i´m occupying. It´s certanly small, but it´s got a lot of light and good energy. It has a big window facing the street, with two big panes of glass that swing in and out - typical of European windows but it charms me every time. There´s a green iron grill outside the window, to keep people out and let air in (mosquitoes too, unfortunately). They have two dogs, so there´s a bit of a pet smell, but they´re very sweet animals. Generally i prefer cats, but these dogs don´t jump and push themselves on you, they wait to be invited for a cuddle. There´s a small courtyard in the back with an outdoor shower. They have roof access, and Yara says we can clean it off and do yoga up there.

Sant Boi, the town where i´m living, is less than 20 minutes by train to the center of Barcelona, and i´m glad to be living outside of the main city. It´s quieter, safer, and smells better. Mostly people don´t speak English, so it´s good for my Spanish, especially since Yara and Martín speak English at home. I´m a little disappointed about that. At the moment, i´m using the internet at the library, and i got a library card all by myself without asking the woman to slow down or repeat herself. There´s no wireless access at Yara´s house, unfortunately, but i´m pretty sure i´ll have it at school.

Yesterday, Yara took me to get keys made for their door, and to get sheets for the bed at the "Chinese stores" - they have a little bit of everything, for cheap. I still need to get a lamp for my room, adaptors for the outlets, switch my cell phone to the Spanish network and put more minutes on it. Then i went into the center of Barcelona, walked around and found my school (though like everything in Spain, they´re closed 90% of the time in August), and ate some falafel. My body is still adjusting, and hasn´t wanted very much food so far while i´ve been here. Very strange.

I am happy to be living with Yara. She is kind and generous and sweet and tough. Her boyfriend works most of the time, he´s a pizza boy, so i have only seen him once. Also i´ve been sleeping a LOT since i arrived, going to bed between 11 PM and midnight, and sleeping until noon or 1 PM. Today i will try to work out the rest of the little things i need to be settled and then tomorrow i´ll go to the beach to meet up with my new classmates, and then in the afternoon maybe go to Can Mas Deu, the community on the northeast side of the city.