this week in barcelona

this week i had to get a coke zero ('cause they didn't have pepsi) and i was surprised to see the word "daniel" printed up one side of it. the barista (is she still called that if it's an over the counter cafe rather than a starbucks? it feels right) pointed out that there are a variety of names. i got home and looked it up online to see if there was some reason behind these. i couldn't find any, but there are pictures, so there's that. 
this week at the grocery store i spent €22.50  and the cashier was trying to tell me something in spanish. i didn't know what, so i tried to walk away. he dealt me 4 pieces of green peel-paper, which i left on the counter, unaware of what was going on. he picked up one and peeled it open to reveal a "P" or something. then he put it down, did the same to the three others. the last one had a different letter (i didn't see what) which sent the cashier jogging to some corner of the store. he came back with a bottle of wine. for me! yay, i won by accident! :) 

i have figured out how to order a pizza here. muahahah! i think that's the fastest i've done this in another country. anyway, if i call the barcelona domino's call center and ask them to take my order, it's much easier than calling the badalona (the suburb i live in) call center because those peeps don't speak enlgish. meanwhile, pepperoni y piña worked out super well for me. bonus: i ordered a large pizza and the total was €17. the lady on the phone said, "if you ordered 2 medium pizzas, the total would be lower"... she said this of her own volition!! wow, spanish customer service at its best, no?

stores and homes

today i ate a spanish version of bagel bites for dinner. they were alright, but i've noticed in my travels that americans put way more sauce on pizza and pasta products than most other nationalities. that's fine for us, as we're used to it, but it means eating 'italian' things in other countries is a bit disappointing to me. i miss the sauce! i remember trying to order extra sauce on pizzas in hungary and china and finally settled on having my own sauce at home and dipping pizza in it. really? oh well, these were good enough that i'd eat 'em again.

at the store i was happy to see pickles! well... what i thought was just pickles turned out to be pickles stuck inside olives all in a vinegar sauce. i did not buy these. 

this is a photo of the WHOLE cereal section of my local grocer. there are like 16 kinds of cereal and they're not that great, mostly sugary or uber healthy. they have more varieties of frozen pizza than cereal. whoa! i guess the spanish don't eat cereal too much. i'll look into it. 

the toilet paper seems the same as everywhere else except there are animal mascots for most brands. most surprising are the THREE brands that use elephants. i mean, they're cute but does that really say 'soft' to consumers? hmm. ok, i know nothing about advertising.

 this is my front door. if someone can explain the doorknob placement, i'd be so appreciative. this particular door also locks with every close, so i have to be careful to ALWAYS have my keys with me, especially when taking xander out. we've been locked out (me in my pajamas) in china before and it was no fun. 

 it seems customary for spanish homes to include a bidet. that's cool, i guess, except i've never used one. well, NOW i have!! haha, but i just washed my feet in there. it's the perfect height for that and the sprayer thing is handy. idk if i'll ever use it for its intended purpose, but as a habitual foot-washer, i'm glad to have it. ;)

time magazine covers in different regions (comparison) in 2013

i've recently seen some comparisons of time magazines in different regions, but they all showed covers that were several years old, so i've compiled the TIME magazine covers that were different in the US just from 2013. there are a handful of covers that are different in other regions, but the majority of differences are seen by the american readers of time. the covers we don't see are usually about international affairs, politics, war, and other countries in general. is this what makes us so ethnocentric??

does american journalism cater to americans' seemingly nonexistent desire to know about foreign affairs? or do we care/know less because of american media? either way, it might be worth checking international news sites once in a while, just to see what's going on in the world. 

inspiration for this post is from: http://www.buzzfeed.com/hunterschwarz/time-magazine-covers-in-the-us-vs-the-rest-of-the-world which shows differing covers over the years. 

(all photos taken from TIME.com)

best things so far

i realize i've been complaining on here since i've been in spain, so here are some things i've liked. 

both in nyiregyhaza and songjiang i had taxi drivers who saved my sanity on regular bases. following suit, i very luckily scored an excellent taxi driver to take me from the airport to a hotel when i arrived in BCN. he gave me his card because he was also trying to rent me an apartment. little did i know, i'd spend the entire day with this guy, Paulo, a few days later when he took me to get xander. this particular taxi driver is handy because he speaks spanish, catalan, and english annnnnnd he's not spanish (he's brazilian), which means, according to him, he's much more patient than his spanish counterparts. at any rate, we're in each other's phones now and i know i'll call on him if i'm in a bind. 

the metro system here is impressive. it's logical, clean, and convenient. there are stairs and escalators at every exit and the escalators all go up (logical!). there are also elevators for old people, moms with strollers, and handicapped people. nice!

the insides are modern and clean. more amazing to me is how crowded they are NOT! :) this girl hated the metros in china because of the wall to wall, door to door, seat to seat, ceiling to floor, handrail to handrail people! here the trains come and go so quickly and frequently that i've never had to elbow my way anywhere or fear for my safety yet. 

there are ticket machines at every stop. they are available in a variety of languages. they're user-friendly and modern. i bought a 10 day pass with no incident on my first day.

the people here so far (minus one teacher) have been so nice, helpful, and easy on the eyes. perhaps i was used to ignoring men in general, as hungarian men never tickeled my fancy, nor did chinese men. these spanish men, however, are so beautiful! wow. i mean, there are some average, and below average spaniards, i'm sure, but i'm noticing many many more pretty guys than not. there are also a lot of tourists here, so who's to say who's who, but on the whole i'm impressed with the beauty. the women, also pretty, are not the extremes i found in hungary and china. there's just an overall beauty to everyone, it seems. maybe it's in the eye of the beholder, but i like what i see in barcelona.

the people i've encountered either speak english well or are patient enough to tolerate a conversation in spanglish until the point is clear. (i've asked a non-english-speaking lady on the street where she got dog poop collection bags and she was able to tell me where to get them without either of us being annoyed or frustrated.) 

i was able to order a domino's pizza on the phone in english yesterday, so that's already head and shoulders above china and hungary (in this respect).

there is a chinese shop just around the corner from my apartment. i've gone in there a couple of times and spoken chinese with the proprietors. they have a mishmash of cheap stuff, so far i've gotten a pillow, scissors, and dog food/water bowls. one guy who works there chased me down the street to give me back 40 euros that fell out of my wallet when i was paying. this isn't what i'd consider typical chinese, but i was so grateful and appreciative. i'll go there more, i'm sure. 

 

spanish tv isn't like hungarian or chinese tv to me. there are a TON of shows in english (even without subtitles). there are more commercials than i've ever seen on tv in any country ... like there were 18 ads between segments of the big bang theory the other day. 18 commercials in a row on tnt!! omg, i'm glad i watch tv on the computer. i do keep the tv on in the background of using the computer (like now) so i am exposed to some spanish every day. maybe i'll learn it subconsciously.

the weather is fantastic. i've walked around, to school, shopping, with xander, and used public transportation all without dying of heatstroke (what, texas?!). the windows and sliding doors in the apartment have been open since i got here. there's a nice chill at night, cool breezes during the day, and it hasn't rained yet. weather: win.

the last thing, not yet pictured, is my apartment. i'll do a post about the place soon, mmk? 

why didn't i take spanish in high school???

so far, i'm not impressed with UPF. this could be because my expectations were too high, i admit. i chose this MLTA program for several reasons:

1. it was cheap (the whole program is about $5000)
2. it was one year (rare and not actually ideal for a master's program, but enticing)
3. it was in barcelona (the #1 tourist destination in europe at the moment, great weather, etc.)
4. the acclaimed linguistics department (in fact, pompeu fabra, UPF's namesake, was a linguist)
5. the website was impressive, informative, and kept up to date
6. the whole master's program is guaranteed in english

1-5 are still true, but that pesky #6 is proving hard to enforce. 


thursday i went to my second ever class (Cognició, comunicació i competència lingüística) with of bunch of other linguistic students. the professor began speaking in spanish. then she noticed some faces lacking the comprehension look and asked whether everyone spoke spanish. a girl from macau (who speaks chinese and english) and i raised our hands to signal that we don't speak spanish. she explained in english that it would be too hard for her to maintain english for the three hour class each week (well, for 5 weeks) so she was just going to speak in spanish. she said not to worry, though, because the powerpoints and handouts would all be in english. 

wtf. 

some girl next to me kindly interpreted a few important things the teacher said during the next couple of hours, but i was just sitting there seething and hardly cared what she said.

that night i went home and wrote an email to the teacher, citing the page of UPF's website that guarantees the possibility of taking the entire linguistics major in english. i told her how i (and the other girl must have) felt isolated, discouraged, frustrated, and angry. i asked for her suggestion about what i should do about this class, as i won't be sitting through spanish classes any more. 

friday i went to the registration office to pay and confirm my schedule. i asked the nice ladies up there (who speak english on a lower intermediate level) what could be done about this lady who speaks english but simply refused to, or if not about her, about my schedule, since hers was a mandatory class for my discipline. they said i should tell the department head. since i'd already written an email to the lady, i decided to wait for her reply before doing anything else. 

after registering and paying, i went to my only friday class, only to find that not only was the professor speaking in spanish, but all the materials and powerpoints would also be in spanish. i walked out of the classroom less than a minute after i walked in and headed back to the nice ladies in the registration office to tell them another class of mine needed to be changed (thankfully, this one was optional at least). while i was telling them, i started to tear up in frustration. they were so sweet and assured me they wanted to make me happy and comfortable at UPF. they said they'd talk to my adviser and get me out of the optional class. then they'll get the department head involved, who will talk to the first teacher, and if she won't switch, then they would help me change my discipline to get out of taking her class.

changing my discipline would mean my mandatory classes change and my classes would be better suited for a professional or research career than an academic career.

my expectations have been lowered a lot now, but so far i'm not impressed with UPF (except the admissions and registration ladies).