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| Plaza de Tendillas en Córdoba |
Hola mis amigos! I owe you a long overdue introduction to my host family.
My señora’s name is Valle, she’s not really a señora because she’s quite young. She has two kiddos named Enrique (ki-que for short) and Lorena. They are probably the rowdiest kids I’ve ever met. There’s not a moment (except for siesta) where these two aren’t bouncing off the walls. It’s quite a zoo here, but I am so blessed to have them as my family. I love it.
Valle is super patient with us. I’ve heard horror stories where the mom treats the student as she would a tenant. Or giving them curfews and not letting them out. Our mom definitely wants me and Janice to feel a part of the family. Already the first day, she asked us to help her in the kitchen. But you know me, I’m probably the most uncomfortable and incompetent in there. And boy, there was no need to translate that into Spanish.
So she makes all the meals for us, and you can tell she puts a lot of thought and effort into them. She wants us to be able to experience the different types of food. She’s like the perfect host mom. She chats with us over meals, helping us with our Spanish. And she’s always so happy to see us, telling us every so often that she’s so happy that we’re her “kids”. Every morning, she greets me with a “buenos dias bonita” and gives me a kiss on the forehead. She’s really quite precious.
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| Quique y Yo! |
It’s always so fun in the house. There’s always so much going on with the kiddies. Our Quique is 2 years old and going through potty training right now. Valle told us on the first day of school. He peed and some kid fell in it while another sat in it. The other day, I saw Kique pee his pants and, ok, I kind of rubbed it in his face, a little. And that whole day, he was mad at me because he was embarrassed. He would call me tonto (stupid) and hit me. And open the door just to yell at me in baby language, and slam it, and open it again, yell, and slam, about 3 times. To say the least, he’s quite the sassy one. But it’s quite funny because he’s like a little man.
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| Lorena y Quique |
Lorena is 5 years old and she is such a beautiful little girl. She looks like a little model and you can tell she’s one of the more popular kids at school. We painted nails the other day and she insisted on painting one of my feet orange, and the other blue. It was a crazy mess because she painted my nails like she would a coloring book and she didn’t bother to stay in the lines. She is precious.
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| trading shoes ! |
And then there’s the dad, Big Enrique (his father’s name is Enrique as well). He’s super nice, but always at work. He takes the kids out to the park after work every night. I still find it weird that the kids don’t have dinner till 9 or 10 and they’re still up at 12. I feel like a gramma all the time because I sleep way more than the kids do.
I’m so thankful to be a part of this family. To able to go through this stage of life with them is such a privilege. I’m also so glad that my house mate is Janice. If you don’t know her, we’re apart of the same college ministry at UCSD. Its funny because we both insist on speaking Spanish no matter how hard it is. But most of the time we’re just asking “como? Como? Una vez” We are trying though!
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| Cookie |
Oh, can’t forget the family cat. Cookie, who always insists on sleeping and shedding on my pillow every time I leave the room. Last time I caught her crashing in my suitcase. No me gustan los gatos :(
