HOMESTAY
At the request from several people, I finally got some pictures of my homestay lifestyle. I'm currently living with a Spanish family (a widowed mother, her son, and his wife). The mom runs the show and doesn't speak a word of English, but she often takes on guests for weeks or months at a time. The economy is going through a rough patch here as well so I assume it's to make a little extra money.
Here we are sitting around the dinner table. The mother (Maria-Jesus) is the one sitting next to me, the younger couple is her son and daughter-in-law, and the older gentleman is one of the many house guests who have come through. Just by luck, he lives less than an hour away from my parents back in the states.
And this is their cat, Fernando Redondo (even the pets have two names here!), who is apparently named after a famous Real Madrid soccer player. He sheds like crazy and loves my room and specifically my closet. I've already given up trying to pick off hairs at work...sometimes it's just easier to go with the flow.
EATING & SLEEPING SCHEDULE
These are the two major aspects of Spanish life I have yet to come to grips with. In an effort to keep up with my coworkers, I have conformed to the following daily schedule: wake up at 6:30am to eat a light breakfast (toast or just a coffee), work from 8 until 11am when we take a 30 minute break for a small sandwich or coffee, then going for a large lunch at 3-4 pm lasting about an hour, then eating a large dinner at 10-11pm. I think overall it turns out to be about the same quantity of food, but clearly my body isn't "digging it" because I always feel like I'm eating at the wrong time. And the killer is eating dinner and then going straight to bed; I'm not a doctor, but that can't be healthy.
For sleeping, I'm averaging about 6 hours a night. This does not bode well when the weekend roles around, and read on to find out why.
NIGHTLIFE
Europeans in general really take partying seriously, but the Spanish love to brag about their nightlife. The people don't necessarily drink a lot, but they all stay out until ridiculous hours. Many streets hit their daily peak traffic for at 3am! Many clubs are completely empty until 1am but will stay packed until 6.
Just to give you a feel, these are some pictures I took walking around on a Friday night. This one was taken around 3am.
And this one about two hours after that...the cars in this picture are bumper to bumper and not moving.
I've even heard of people staying out so late on Thursday night that they head straight to work on Friday. I read that Spain has the lowest productivity per worker hour in the entire Western EU, and now I understand why!
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