Me gusta...No me gusta...

Nothing to amazingly exciting is going on so I thought I would share a list of things that I really like (me gusta) and don't like (no me gusta)about Spain. Now most of these things are beyond the basics, like siesta, tapas, flamenco,etc, so hopefully it will give you more insight into Spain.

Things I Like About Spain:
1. Spain loves carbs and I love carbs. It's a match made in heaven. There's bread at every meal, french fries (patatas fritas) are a diet staple, and pasta and rice are often on the dinner plates. It's a good thing I walk a lot.
2. Speaking of food, since Spain uses the metric system, I can't really tell how many calories are in food, so I just like to pretend it's not much. Again, it's a good thing I walk everywhere.
3. The architecture. Regular buildings are really pretty here.
4. The incredibly unique history.
5. Flan. I can only explain it as jello meets pudding and lives happily ever after. It's delicious.
7. Really good oranges. How good are they? Well, I didn't really like oranges until I got here.
8. Store windows. I walk by the same stores every single day and I never get bored of looking at the window displays. These people know how display merchandise. I've never been to New York, but I imagine it's something like this.
9. The cities are built for walking and everyone does it. For the far away places, there's public transit.
10. Bookstores on every street. I of course haven't bought anything from these bookstores, but I like the idea of a reading nation.

Things I Don't Like About Spain:
1. Dog poo everywhere. People don't pick it up here, so you have to constantly watch where you step.
2. I think #1 occurs because there is very little grass/green spaces here. There's courtyards, but those are usually tiled and just have some plants in them.
3. Insulation and central heating haven't really caught on here. So, buildings are drafty and cold.
4. Graffiti everywhere. (I think I'm cheating on listing this one because I've already mentioned this, but oh well, it's my blog and I can put it.)
5. Eating dinner so late. I get really hungry by dinner time, then I eat too much and then I go to bed. (Again, cheating).
6. They don't have my shoe size. I also hate this about the U.S. I'm bigfoot and I know it, but it's even worse when you're surrounded by great shoes that are amazingly cheap.
7. No Dr. Pepper and no Milky Ways, in addition to myriad of other foods I miss.
8. Stupid, terrible exchange rate.

I did this list as a little way to show that I am enjoying my time here. A lot of my dislikes are little things and are just more cultural adjustments. Spain is different, but as they say, different is good.
:)
Andrea