La familia y el internet

I'm currently blogging through Google Espana and I'm stealing internet from the hotel several blocks away. Cool.

On Sunday I moved in with my family. I live on the Aviguda de Xile, en un piso (like an apartment) on the 11th floor. From our balcony, I can see mountains and directly below us is a sporting club, and there are tennis courts, soccer fields and an area for horseback riding. Our neighborhood is mas tranquilo del centro, the area where we stayed in our hotel. It's a little far to walk to the University from my apartment, so tomorrow I will buy a T-Jove, the 90 day transport ticket for students under 25.

My host mother is Isobel and she's very sweet. I appreciate how much she talks to me, even though I was too nervous to talk back in the beginning. I'm already getting better, giving short answers to questions instead of just saying "Si si si vale" to everything, and I've initiated a few conversations. She's horrified by how "little" I eat. To put that in context, I can eat a who plate of food, and she'll be concerned when I don't want more. A quick side note on food, I have tried new things. I ate fried eggs for dinner the other day, and I've had a couple tapas with los frutas del mar. It helps that many things are fried.

With us in our piso are Jose Luis, Leah y Gea. Jose Luis is Isobel's son and Leah is his wife. Leah is a 2008 graduate of Knox College (clearly, Barcelona is the place to find a husband). They're both very nice and it helps to have Leah around to translate sometimes, but they're both out of the house a lot. They have a home farther away, but they moved in with Isobel because Jose Luis was having trouble commuting to and from the city. Gea es la perra, our dog. She is technically Jose Luis' dog, but from what I can tell, Isobel takes care of her. Gea has a lot of energy because she is from the mountains and produces more red blood cells (this was explained to me half in English and half in Spanish, so I doubt I'm completely correct). She's a handful, but she's que guapa (interestingly, I'm called "guapa" too).

I'm very happy. I get frustrated when there's a word I don't know or when I've spoken incorrectly, but I feel like I'm getting better. It's a matter of constantly forcing myself to listen and speak, so that the words stick in my head. It may be interesting to note that I had trouble with my English in this post and I often started words in Spanish. Maybe one day I'll write an entire post in Spanish without meaning to.