A day in the life

This past week I went to dinner at my friend Laura's house. I got to sit down with her host family and get to know them and their daily life. Lucas (upper left) is 13. I was able to ask him a few questions about his life as an adolescent in Alicante. He is studying English in school and asked me if we could do the interview in English! It was a great opportunity for him to practice his English and share some insight into the life of a Spanish teenager.

Here are some fun facts that I learned about Lucas:

• Lucas lives with his grandmother (Pepa), his little brother (Alberto), his mom (Maria), and my friend Laura
• His favorite food is "American Hamburger"
• His favorite sport is futbol and his favorite team is Barcelona
• He goes to El Colegio de San Vicente where he takes classes in Math, Sciences, English, and Humanities
• His favorite show is the Simpsons (which is on TV almost all the time here)
• He likes to go skating at the skate park with his friends on the weekend
• His favorite way to pass time is to play on his Nintendo Wii (He kicked my butt at bowling!)
• Lucas' most prized possession is his blackberry because he can talk to all of his friends and family whenever he wants and he can access his tuenty account (thats like the Spanish facebook but they also use facebook too)
• He likes going to visit his Dad in Valencia because there is a lot more to do and the skate park there is even bigger than the one here.
• Lucas has a girlfriend named Atiana who is 14 and lives in the same apartment building
• He likes going with her to the mall or to the movies
• When he grows up he wants to study computers and design video games
• If he could go anywhere in the world he would go to Thailand and ride elephants
• His favorite music artist is Pitbull but his favorite song is "We found love" by Rhianna (we must have listened to it 3 times that night)
• In 20 years he sees himself living by the beach with his wife and kids but he says that he'll be rich enough to move his entire family into his giant house
• He normally goes to bed at 12:30 am.....depending on whats on TV
• His favorite part of living in Alicante is the beach 
• His favorite book is the 3rd Harry Potter
• His favorite movie is the Matrix
• He wants to become fluent in English (he practically is!) and he really likes practicing with the exchange students that live with him and his family year round. 

I was surprised to realize that Lucas is a lot like the kids I know in Portland his age. What do you guys think? What aspects of Lucas' life can you relate to? Does anything about him seem curious to you? Where you surprised by any of his answers? This weekend I'm going over to his house for dinner (really for a rematch on the Wii... I must redeem myslelf). Let me know if you guys have any questions you would like me to ask him! 

On a side note... there was a flash flood this morning here! I walked to the bus, without my raincoat or umbrella, and there was no sign of rain. Ten minutes into my bus ride thunder and lightening began followed by a crazy down pour! The second leg of our trip to school took twice as long because a bunch of the cars got stuck in the road because the water was above their tires!!! I literally walked through giant puddles of water up to my shins. Lightening hit my school building and broke off a huge piece of the roof! The power was coming and going and the ceiling was leaking! It never rains in Alicante... but when it rains, it POURS! 

Have a great week guys!