En el barrio (in the neighborhood)

We took a stroll through our neighborhood today with our other roommate, Dana.  Dana was here last semester so she knows all about the neighborhood and everything.  This is really helpful because things here are not labeled like at home.  At home, you'll be walking down the street and see a grocery store in plain view.  Here, grocery stores are hidden deep in buildings.

There is this semi-mall across the street from our apartment.  Sarah and I had walked in yesterday and seen a cafe and a lot of stores but today we learned that there is a grocery store underneath it and all these crazy food places where you can get tea and candy and pasta and udon noodles and meat and everything like that.  And some gelato that looks really good!  But we never would have known about all this!  There is also a nightclub in this mall!  It is crazy!

Our neighborhood is mostly locals which is really nice.  There are a lot of homes (all apartment buildings), stores, and places to eat.  There is even a Starbucks and a Burger King which is strange.  There is a school right next door to us and a busy street about a block away.  That street has a path where people can run or ride bikes.

So here are some pictures of the neighborhood:

 At first we thought this was a parking garage but that was only the reflection of the cars from the street in the windows.  I will chalk this delusion up to jet lag since that excuse can probably be used for a couple more days.








Roses outside in January!!












Orange trees












And then it looked like winter...