Cinema, life, bombing...

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I went and saw an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G movie tonight at the cinema. It was called "El orfanato" which means The Orphanage in English. I think it's coming out in December in the USA. It was a freaky horror movie by the guy who made Pan's Laberinth, but it wasn't like the typical horror movie I'm used to in America. This movie actually had a really powerful meaning, and I actually felt moved at the end. I would tell you all about it, but I wouldn't want to spoil anything.

Life here couldn't be better. I am working, paying rent, reading every day, and experiencing Europe in a very unique way. Living in the USA your whole life is like living in a fishbowl: to a fish the tank seems great, but to the observer there is so much more outside the tank that the fish never sees or notices. I think Americans have an extremely ethnocentric view of the world, in the sense that a lot of people in America think they live in the best country on Earth and all other countries are inferior in some sort of strange way. Now that I live in Europe, I am seeing so many things from an observers point of view about America that I would have never normally thought of living withing the USA. It's really too bad that I can't move all of my friends and family here to Europe, because what was once a depressed area of the world is now soaring over America: the once promised land of hopes and dreams. Depression rate is less here, the rate of obesity is less here, the rate of drug and alcohol abuse is less here, the rate of education and literacy is higher here, and the rate of poverty is no where NEAR (I stress this word strongly) the rate the US is at. It takes me such a long time to express to people here that in America we have to pay for: health insurance, education, and other resources which should be free to human beings. Also, people don't understand why we allow people in our country to live on the streets. Here, although it sounds almost offensive, begging on the streets is strongly looked down upon. The reason for this is because employment is GARUNTEED by the Spanish government to any citizen of Spain. This means that if someone is on the street begging for money it simply means they are too LAZY to work. In America it is quite the opposite: many people simply don't have the same opportunities as everyone else. In a suffering capitalistic society, it isn't about who you are, it is what family you were born into, your economic status, and how good of connections you have. Also, inside America we don't think of it, but the country has become nearly a dictatorship. I really believe that America is headed straight for Europe's past, and also another great depression.

On a brigher note, it's the weekend for me!!! And that means I have all weekend to read, take pictures, and plan my lessons for next week. One group of students wants me to prepare a lesson of slang terms and street talk for them. I tried to explain that back in America, most street talk is very vulgar, and I will try to keep it as appropriate as possible for them! I think they just want to sound more like a native speaker, which is very good. While teaching, I've been trying to lose my American accent, which is pretty difficult to accomplish. No one here understands Americans, because we talk very fast, slur our words, cut our words short (don't pronounce a lot of letters), and use a lot of slang.

Well hope everything is well!!
Love dave

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