My Host Family

Today has been a pretty chill day. No new adventures to write about. I basically went to class, came home, had lunch, took a nap and worked on my homework. We may go out later, we may not, it's all still kind of up in the air. The only new thing is that there is a new person in our class from Canada, her name is Lyz she's from Toronto, she's nice and she's here for a couple of weeks so Alexi and I got her info, and hopefully we'll get together with her soon.

So, today I'm going to write about my host family here in Alicante, since I always mention them in passing but you all don't know much about them except their names.


Concha is my señora. She is a lovely person and her house has so many beautiful things in it. Her house takes a lot of inspiration from India as she did some mission work there when she was about my age with church. She absolutely adores everything about indian culture. There are statues of Buddha in her entryway and pictures of hindu gods on the wall. She also combines her Christian, Buddhist, and Hindu beliefs into a really cool mix of religious ideology. She burns incense daily, she plays chanting music at night, and she works with her church to help people who can't help themselves by running errands for the elderly. She has done mission work with her church in Africa and India. She lived in Madrid for some time, and has travelled to New York and Canada with her family.

She loves color. Her walls are pink, blue, purple, and terra-cotta, and her house has many precious and beautiful things. She loves shoes, and she cooks well. I think I've eaten more vegetables here than I ever had in my entire life, and it sometimes gets old, but overall the food is delicious. Plus, it's 'free'. Yay not having to pay for meals here!

She is the chatterbox of her family. She can sit and talk with Alexi and I for hours, and not let us get a word in edge-wise but she speaks with a really cool lilty tone in her voice and I don't mind listening to it.

The only thing that's a little annoying about her is that she is all about the body healing itself, and how your mental state can impact your health. I respect it, and some of the stuff she's taught me is legit, but she's very mind-body-spirit concious and she diagnoses problems that I really don't have. Alexi's more of her favorite target because she knows she's an insomniac so she tries to find "soluciones naturales" to her ailments. She kind of yelled at me the other day when I took some Motrin for a headache I'd had for most of the day saying "you don't need pills, pills are bad for you. I'll fix it with this cream" and proceeded to put some stuff on my head. So, my meds have been hidden well in our room and we just won't tell her that we're taking them when we need them.

I think she's kind of psychic because when she does talk to us after dinner she seems like she's been in my head all day because she addresses stuff that I've been worried about without me saying anything. It's kind of creepy but I've learned a lot about myself from her.

Roberto is a completely different kind of person than Concha. He's pretty shy and quiet and it's hard for me to get a read off of him. He doesn't say much but when he does talk he talks a lot. He's an IT guy so he knows a lot about computers and mostly keeps himself to himself.

When I have hung out with him and talked to him it's always been fun. And he's pretty funny once he gets comfortable with you.

He's a product of Spanish chivalry. He holds doors open for you, and says you look pretty all the time, and he gives you compliments all the time. He might swell my head before I leave but I doubt it. When Alexi and I came home after the movie with his friends he walked with us though we told him that he should go and have fun since they only had room for five in their car and were going to a different city to hang out. I felt really bad but he seemed completely content to do that. It kind of blew my mind.

I think the American boys should take some lessons from the Spanish.

We have yet to meet Mario but I doubt that we will as he lives in Curacao. He's a graphic designer and he works for a magazine in Spain. He calls his mom at least once a day and from what Concha has told us about him he sounds like he would be a lot of fun. Concha said that "Cuándo Mario entra un cuarto es como un terremoto es allá" which translates to when Mario walks into a room it's like an earthquake is there. Apparently he hugs everyone and spreads the love.

He told Roberto and Concha that he wanted a picture of all of us so he could feel like he was here. I think the job in Curacao is new and he probably misses home.

So that's my host family.
They're pretty cool and I'm a pretty lucky girl.

Until next time,
Avery