Our New Home

We woke up at 9am, which was waaayy too early, gathered our luggage and headed to our homestays! I am living in a homestay with Alex Rivkin on Calle de Garcia de Paredes, a small neighborhoody street that is super close to our school.  Rivkin and I were dropped off at the address we were given, and without direction, we wandered into the apartment building to try to find our new home. After struggling to get our huge suitcases into the tiny elevator, we finally arrived and were greeted by our new mother, Maria de Carmen Vives Perez.  I called her Maria, but apparently she goes by Carmen.  A little confusing considering she has five names.  We also met our homestay sister, a 25 year old Russian girl named Alex who speaks fluent English, Spanish, Russian, and Japanese.  She is studying at a university in Madrid and has been living in this apartment for 4 years as an exchange student!  She is really sweet and was so welcoming when Alex and I arrived, but it was difficult for her to show us around the apartment because she has some sort of handicap that makes it extremely hard for her to walk.  We're not sure what it is, but she's able to train as a swimmer and can drive a car, so I guess she manages.  We also learned that Carmen's 28-year old daughter lives in this apartment, as well as another study abroad student from Philadelphia.  Full house!

Our host mother is an adorable old-ish woman who loves to cook (yay) and was also extremely welcoming when we got here.  She has 4 kids (ages 28-41).  The 28 year old lives with her, another one of her children lives on the third floor of this building, and the other two live close by.  Carmen also told us that her husband had died about 5 years ago from cancer and that she misses him, but she now has a boyfriend Martin, who is just as adorable as she is. Carmen doesn't speak a word of English, which is good because it will require me to practice my Spanish more, but it is sometimes difficult to understand what she says and respond appropriately.  It is really helpful that Alex (the Russian exchange student) speaks English because she is able to translate some things that we don't understand.

The very best part about our homestay (and I know Rivkin would agree) is Pinky, the cute little Westie terrier.  There's something about having a dog around makes me feel much more comfortable.

I'll post pictures of the house and my room soon! Buenas noches.