Mi Familia

Wow, I´m terrible at this whole blogging on time thing... Oh well here comes a bit for all my super fantastic fans out there :P.

So anywho, the next morning we had to take the Metro to the bus station and take our bus to Oviedo. At the bus station we ran into a bunch of other Utah kids, so that was nice. It wasn´t a super eventful bus ride...just five hours long so I´m not going to bother recounting it. The countryside as we drove further north was gorgeous though.

When we got to Oviedo it was raining, but of course I had forgotten my umbrella...on my bed...back in Casper...did me a whole lot of good. We had an interesting little excursion trying to find La Catedral for the first time from the bus station. We eventually got there...even if we were a bit soggy. We met up with the rest of our class and waited for our host families to come pick us up. I was soooo nervous to meet my family that first day...really not in good shape. When my mom, Virtudes, came up and gave me my dos besos I barely understood a word she said. She asked me the EASIEST question ever and I could NOT understand her....she really must have thought I was an idiot at first because I didn´t know that she asked me if I could speak any Spanish until she repeated it 5 times. By the way, I´m totally used to the dos besos thing meow, I´m gonna be coming back to the U.S. and kissing people everytime I meet them....

So, my new mom grabbed me by the arm and ran me to her son who was waiting with the car. His name is Manuel and he´s 33, he polices the French/Spanish border. He had a break my first week here though so he was staying with us. He just left yesterday, and I´m slightly bummed because he was definitely the easiest to understand. Here´s a weird, fun fact about Spain. The birth rate here is extremely low because kids live with their parents into their 30s. When I told my mom that I lived by myself when I was at University she flipped out. In the U.S. if you live with your parents past your early twenties, you´re a freak, here it´s completely normal...no thanks on that cultural experience.

My host father is also named Manuel, and I STILL can´t understand what he says when he speaks. I´ve adapted to the accent a bit here, but it´s still really strange and he slurs his words so much that I always have to have him repeat questions. My entire family is very nice though, and now that I´m not so nervous I talk to my host mom about lots of things... I still feel slightly awkward around my dad. My mom and I were joking around yesterday though and she calls me her cariña and chiquitina which basically is what you call your kids...really cute :)

The one thing that I CANNOT get used to though is the meals. My mom piles SO much food in front of me at every meal, and then even if I don´t finish it she starts offering me everything else she has in the house too. I´ve tried to explain to her that I just CANNOT eat that much, but she just doesn´t seem to get it.

I just realized that I haven´t taken a picture of my family or house yet....I´ll post that up here as soon as I take one; but anyway, at least the part that I was most worried about on this trip has worked out well. I love my host mom!