Stating the obvious, perhaps

This past month I discovered a tool that has "changed my life" here in Spain: Google voice.   If you don't have it, get it.  It is an app through google that allows me to call American phone numbers (cell phones, home phones, business phones)  from a computer, FOR FREE.

I mean, it's insanity. My European cell phone charges me a 50 cent connection fee, then its 30 cents a minute. And unlike skype where you have to arrange a time to call somebody and make sure you look decent enough since it's face-to-face communication, with google voice you're given the anonymity of being just a voice from the other end.  In trying to figure out my apartment lease for next year (UGH!!!), it has actually been quite helpful.  

But sometimes I wish, selfishly, that I could be living here 10, 15, or 30 years ago...or in a time where communication was less developed and the only way of talking to friends and family was by "snail mail." Hand written letters and postcards are the best, but let's be honest: they take time to write and to send.  How weird would it be to go home after having been abroad and see my family and talk to them after having been away for 9 months?!

I guess what I am trying to say is: with tools like Google voice, my world gets smaller and more connected. So that when I need to deal with my lease crisis for my apartment, I can call my mom or best friend at my convenience, and that's awesome.


PS Happy Spanish Labor Day! aka, another day of no school for me! I love this country.