Just call me Yessica from now on, because that is my name here in Spain with my host family. It has been a very interesting two days with my host Senora. Her name is Mari Lou, and that’s about all I can understand. Mari Lou and her daughter in law Candy came to pick me up Saturday morning from my hostel, and since then I have been attempting to communicate with both- very poorly I might add. So far, I have told them that Chicago is always 20 degrees Fahrenheit below zero, and that my mom was born in Italy (both of which are not true…). Oh well, I’m trying.
I am also trying to hold my food down in my stomach- not because the food isn’t good, but because they won’t stop feeding me. I have secretly been storing bread in my shirt and later hiding it in my room. Along with this stash of bread are oranges, chocolate, and a tuna sandwich- and it has only been one day. The food has been very interesting, I tried paella for the first time for lunch my first day, and for dinner I swallowed down some squid (that looked partially still alive…ugh). At least wine is served with almost every meal, so that’s helping!! J
The first day, Mari Lou and her son and her daughter, along with their spouses, took me out around the town. They showed me where the school was in relation to her house, and showed me some streets where the best shopping was. Then we went for some great tapas at a local bar- overall I was very lucky. Some of my friends hardly had any contact with their families on the first day, and I know Mari Lou is trying very hard to make me feel comfortable. She is in her late 60’s, and her husband passed away 2 years ago from some illness, so I think she is just lonely. However, her accent is very strong and she doesn’t know a drop of English. She doesn’t even understand the word “internet” unless I say it with a Spanish accent (it is the same word in Spanish). The leaders of the program, Miguel and Nerea, are very easy to understand because they know to pronounce their words slowly and clearly, and to use vocabulary that we would probably know. Mari Lou has a thick Granada accent- she drops all of her “s”, and uses slang and kind of speaks in a mumble of verbs and nouns that I don’t know the definitions for. We use a lot of hand signals when we talk to each other…but we are both trying really hard!
Most of the day we are in her family room, which consists of chairs and a tv and a table that has a heater beneath it and a blanket on top of the table. While watching tv, you lift the blanket onto your lap so they heat reaches your body- apparently this is found in most homes in Spain because they do not have central heating or air. My room is the same size as a dorm room, not too big but I have a queen size bed and some closet space. The only thing that makes it very different from a room in America is that it is decorated with stuffed animals and dolls nailed to the walls. I’m not sure who came up with this idea, and from talking to my friends I don’t think this is a normal thing they do in Spain. Frankly, it is really really creepy. There are just dolls everywhere staring at me, or stuffed animals from Looney Toons like Tweetie Bird. It is her daughter’s old room, but I wish she would have gotten rid of it all and made it a simple guest room.
At least I have made a new friend in Luna, her little dog. I think the friendship between man and dog must transcend language, because this dog frickin loves me. Either that or Americans just taste good, because she never stops licking my hands and jumping all over me. If you know what my dogs Bo and Luke look like, Luna is half their size.
On Sunday, I went with my group to the Alhambra. It felt good to be with my peers and FINALLY speak English again. La Alhambra is a very important part of Granada, because it has influence from Muslims and Catholics, and in all of Spain it was the last community to be converted to Catholicism. This city lasted 200 years before it fell under the influence of the Catholic kings and queens. The architecture and the gardens are amazing, I took way too many pictures but it’s worth it. We walked around the Alhambra for more than 6 hours, and afterwards we were all exhausted. I feel like I have seen so much during the last couple of days! It has been amazing. At the top of some towers in the Alhambra, you can see the entire city of Granada and it is beautiful, it really is like something out of a movie. Sometimes I forget that it is real life here.
Ps- Today I ate hotdog soup. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone in the states hahah ughh.
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