La familia, la casa
When I was preparing for my semester abroad, there was one giant question looming over my head. It followed me all the way to where the taxi dropped me off in front of an unfamiliar apartment building, grew more intense as I lugged by baggage up the stairs - until I eventually saw my host mother poking her head out of her door, waiting to greet me. What would the homestay be like, and who was my family?
It's pretty common for students to be paired with an couple whose kids have moved out, or a single older woman, but my housemate Rachel and I got extra lucky. We're living with a young, energetic host mother and her two kids: a 4-year old girl named Carmen and a 10-year old boy named Luis (not their real names). I'm so happy to be living with kids, especially since I don't get to hang out with them very much when I'm at school. The minute I came into the house, Carmen started asking me to play with her. So far, we've drawn pictures, messed around with beads and played some game that I didn't really understand but she somehow kept winning. Luis spends most of his time playing video games since they're still on summer break, but he did ask me to play Mario Bros with him. Needless to say, I think I disappointed him with my gaming skills. Neither of them speak any English (although Luis does say "what the-?" when playing video games) so it's pretty interesting to communicate with a kid whose whole world has been Spanish and only Spanish. I'm learning a lot from how they talk to each other, their mom, and me, and it's only been two days.
Our host mother, Bea, is an incredibly patient woman, who is willing to take care of her own children and two college students who speak very imperfect Spanish. She listens to us, asks questions, corrects our grammar and makes sure that her kids speak slowly so that we can understand. Whenever we try to help with dishes, she shoos us away and does it herself (technically, she told us that we could help if we wanted to, but we haven't been successful yet). I like her a lot, and I'm very grateful for her letting us into her home.
Our apartment is on the first floor of a building right next to a park, and walking distance from the center of town. Rachel and I each have our own rooms, which is nice, and the living room and kids' room reminds me of a model IKEA apartment for some reason. The kitchen is small and in its own room, and there are double doors that open up to the apartment courtyard. It's only a courtyard for us, though, since we're on the first floor; instead, it's a small but tall area where people can hang their clothes up to dry. Nobody sits out there or anything, but we could technically access it if we wanted to. Since the courtyard is a square, my bedroom windows face it, and I can hear things happening from the other end of the apartment just by opening by the window. For instance, right now I'm sitting on my bed at 11:37 pm and I can hear Carmen singing from the living room. We ate at 9:30 and she's not the slightest bit tired. I'll go more into food and eating schedules later, once there's a pattern established.
Nos vemos,
Sophie
It's pretty common for students to be paired with an couple whose kids have moved out, or a single older woman, but my housemate Rachel and I got extra lucky. We're living with a young, energetic host mother and her two kids: a 4-year old girl named Carmen and a 10-year old boy named Luis (not their real names). I'm so happy to be living with kids, especially since I don't get to hang out with them very much when I'm at school. The minute I came into the house, Carmen started asking me to play with her. So far, we've drawn pictures, messed around with beads and played some game that I didn't really understand but she somehow kept winning. Luis spends most of his time playing video games since they're still on summer break, but he did ask me to play Mario Bros with him. Needless to say, I think I disappointed him with my gaming skills. Neither of them speak any English (although Luis does say "what the-?" when playing video games) so it's pretty interesting to communicate with a kid whose whole world has been Spanish and only Spanish. I'm learning a lot from how they talk to each other, their mom, and me, and it's only been two days.
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| The kids helped Bea show us to orientation by leading the way on their scooters |
Our host mother, Bea, is an incredibly patient woman, who is willing to take care of her own children and two college students who speak very imperfect Spanish. She listens to us, asks questions, corrects our grammar and makes sure that her kids speak slowly so that we can understand. Whenever we try to help with dishes, she shoos us away and does it herself (technically, she told us that we could help if we wanted to, but we haven't been successful yet). I like her a lot, and I'm very grateful for her letting us into her home.
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| My bedroom |
Our apartment is on the first floor of a building right next to a park, and walking distance from the center of town. Rachel and I each have our own rooms, which is nice, and the living room and kids' room reminds me of a model IKEA apartment for some reason. The kitchen is small and in its own room, and there are double doors that open up to the apartment courtyard. It's only a courtyard for us, though, since we're on the first floor; instead, it's a small but tall area where people can hang their clothes up to dry. Nobody sits out there or anything, but we could technically access it if we wanted to. Since the courtyard is a square, my bedroom windows face it, and I can hear things happening from the other end of the apartment just by opening by the window. For instance, right now I'm sitting on my bed at 11:37 pm and I can hear Carmen singing from the living room. We ate at 9:30 and she's not the slightest bit tired. I'll go more into food and eating schedules later, once there's a pattern established.
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| The living room (left) and the kitchen (right) |
Nos vemos,
Sophie
Thanks for sharing with us, Sophie! Can't wait to read more. If Carmen was up at 11:30 pm, what time does she get up in the morning?
ReplyDeleteFrom what I can tell, people generally stay up really late here and then sleep in more than we do in the U.S. The earliest I've seen here awake is like 9:30 am (which is also when her mom gets up).
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