I was super nervous to meet my family, but when they called my name and told me that my madre and padre were at the hotel to pick me up, I gathered up my bags with as much confidence as I could muster and hugged Wellington tight as we walked to the (*pause* I've only been in Spain for two days, but already I am forgetting words in English!)... uh... part of the hotel where you check in and there are chairs and it's right inside the front door of the hotel. Yep. Whatever that word is, that's where Welly and I went to meet our family.
I could quickly see that my family was adorable! My madre and padre both quickly kissed me on both cheeks and hugged me and Cristina, the coordinator, told them that I was a very fun and giggly girl and that we'd both have a great time together this summer. She said I'd even brought my own puppy to play with theirs!
On the drive home, they asked me all about myself. They said they'd tried to stalk me on Facebook, but they couldn't find me (oopsies... pesky using my middle name on Facebook...)! They were really adorable and were telling me they all spoke a little English but would not be speaking a word of it to me all summer long! Yay! I then inquired as to whether their dog, Deu, spoke any English? They paused, and for a moment I was worried they thought I was just an insane American, but then went on to tell me that their cleaning lady was from Ukraine and swore that Deu spoke Russian because he always obeys her the best out of everyone! Hahaha!
When we arrived home they quickly showed me to my room and helped me bring all of my luggage upstairs. And ohmygoodness my room is adorable! It has orange-melon colored walls and an orange and red flower-printed bedspread with an orange clothing hamper, to boot! There is a little Japanese lantern next to my bed for my reading light and a Japanese lantern above my bed, as well!! My desk is huge and has a window in front of it and they gave me a bookcase, drawers and a closet with hangers, too! It's SO cozy in here - I love it!!
After they gave me time to pack they called Maria and me ("Chicas! Cena!") downstairs for dinner! Oh - Maria is my hermana! She's also 22!! She was so giddy to meet me -- it was ADORABLE. The last girl they hosted went to UW, as well, so she was super excited that I studied there, as well. When I told them I was from Colorado they were all trying to figure out where that was and informed me that America is just too huge and they need a good map to put up in their house! Hee hee!!
Dinner was really yummy and consisted of salad, empanada (different than in Brazil... but so good) and "french" something which, basically, I'm thinking was like an omlette, but just egg and olive oil. For dessert we had yogurt - adorable. They told me they eat dinner around the TV on their two couches and that watching so much TV everyday in Spanish will improve my Spanish drastically. Ha! But they also said they eat lunch (they call it "comida" here and not "almuerzo") at the dinning room table. How funny!
Deu the Dog loves hanging around during dinner and laid on my feet. Cute! After dinner Maria let him lick the rest of my yogurt. When her dad (Jesus) saw what she was doing, he informed me that Deu became much fatter after she'd returned from her study abroad trip in Germany a while back. Haha.
After dinner, Cruz (mi madre) showed me how to find the bus stop, their house (it's like a townhouse/quadraplex type place) and use the keys (one of them is like those quaint old HUGE keys -- love it). Shortly after Jorge (mi hermano - 20) came home. They all told me before he arrived that he was a very serious sort of person and Cruz walked around the living room real stiffly and saying "Hola" and walking away and then coming back and saying "Adios" really curtly. It was hilarious and Maria and I giggled. ^_^
Since then I've been in my room organizing and unpacking and arranging. Mi padre gave me the password for the internet - which was the longest password I've ever seen in my life and he read me off the whole 25 character long thing in Spanish, which even he admitted was a pretty comprehensive test of my knowledge of numbers and letters in Spanish - and was very proud to have such a ridiculously secure network, as he works with computers I believe as his career.
So, yeah. Things are just SO ducky here. Tomorrow's the first day of school and mi madre is driving me to the campus so that I am not stressed out trying to find the place my first day! ^_^
Although the picture of the day has already been posted, here are a few of my room. Tomorrow I'll get a few of my familia, also!!
XOXO
Your Jet-set Cupcake <3
