Un Cachito

Cameron's Links

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• CNN
• Fox News
• NY Times Headlines
• Deseret News
• The Economist
• The Funnies (via Dan)
• America First Credit Union WebAccess

I have more time now, so I'll add to my last post.

Pros

• Again, as in much of Europe, people walk a lot, whether it be walking the frequently visible dog or going to the store or whatever. Like other countries, there are lots of little stores at the bottom of the housing on every street (and there are a lot of streets). Together with consumption of much less fast food (it's just not very available, plus a Big Mac is like 5€). I think this leads to much better health.
  
• Children. As opposed to what I observed in France, there are little kids all over in Spain, being walked or pushed by parents. I thought it was nice.
  
• Respect of family/elders. Besides the children, I saw quite a few elderly folks out walking and what hit me most was that many of them were arm in arm with a younger person (like one of their children). I thought that was nice.
  

Cons

• Like in all of Europe, everyone smokes, but...
  
  • I read that Spain actually smokes more than anyone else, at least in Europe and maybe in the world (I don't quite remember). That was in the NY Times. Also, yesterday a new controversial law went into effect that says smoking is no longer alowed in certain sized public places like taverns and such. The limit is something like 100 square meters. The majority voted for the law, but I've heard lots of grumbling and seen quite a few signs advertising that smoking is permitted in a particular location.
  
  
• Sirens. Holy cow. At least where I'm staying, it seems like the police stay pretty active and they turn their sirens to the loudest level when it's nighttime. In New York, they would just use flashing lights unless a siren was needed in order to cut down on the noise. That's definitely something they should take into account here.
  
• My hotel room. The thing is tiny. The bed is quite hard and quite short. There's very little pressure in the water coming out of the shower, and hot water takes like 5 minutes. That said, the girls at the front desk are very helpful, freindly and cute, if I may say so.