My Spanish Family :)

My Spanish family is completely different than my American family, but I still think they're great. At home, I have 2 brothers, my mom, my dad, and Luke and Leia (the puppies). That makes 4 guys total, the majority of the family. Here, it is all girls. In fact, when Marisa's brother Valentin was here the other day I was kind of in shock to hear a man in the house. I live with Lucia and Marisa, and Luisa (the grandma) is here at least part of the week so I consider her part of the fam too! She has been staying here since her cataract surgery 3 weeks ago, and at this point I don't know if she is ever going to leave. But she cracks me up so its all good!


Marisa:

Marisa is my host mom, and she is absolutely adorable. She is everything that a stereotypical Spanish mother should be. She always yells at me for not dressing appropriately, and there was a time when she may have thought I was anorexic since I apparently don't eat enough. However, since then I have been eating a bit more cause she has started only making food that she knows I like haha. She still offers me extra food items after every bite, and when I say no she hands it to me anyways and says I need to eat it. She likes to pick fights with Lucia by purposefully being difficult, and she is always telling me it is freezing outside when it's not. She likes to knit and she just finished a jacket for her grand-daughter in Chile. When she found out that I crocheted, we immediately bonded, and now she shows everyone that comes over the scarf that I made haha!


Lucia: 

Lucia cracks me up so much! She is 31 and gorgeous! I recently found out for sure that she doesn't have a job and already finished school, but she is studying for a test in June that will give her a certification in English and Italian. She refuses to speak in English to me, but I have heard her on the phone and I know she speaks really well. I had no idea she spoke Italian also though! I guess she studied in both Italy and London. She is very loud and opinionated, and she acts like an adult. She refers to Marisa by her first name, which drives Marisa nuts haha. She dresses really cute but casual, and she is always going out to study or to go to the gym. Tonight at dinner she yelled at Marisa when Marisa asked why Finland was playing in what she thought was the World Cup. After explaining that it was a world league and therefore Finland could play, she shook her head and said Marisa was crazy. Also, Marisa randomly stopped talking and looked at Lucia and said "Hola" out of the blue, and Lucia told her she was nuts. They are like children together, always arguing and definitely not acting like mother-daughter! Finally, the Finland-Spain game is on and Lucia is getting very into it (as she does for a lot of shows) and she keeps yelling "Joder". Just to paint the picture, she is sitting on the couch with her mother and grandmother, and she keeps dropping the F-bomb casually. And they don't even flinch haha.


Luisa:

Luisa is 87 years old, but does not look it. She has her own apartment, but lives with us for part of the week, and lives with Laura's host mom for part of the week. She is fully capable of being independent, but I don't think she likes to be alone. She is one of the craziest old ladies I have ever met, and I can't help but constantly laugh around her! She doesn't like technology or anything from our generation, and I think she is opposed to change in general. One day I came home from class and she was the only one home. I told her I was going to shower, and she stared at me with the radio in one hand and a paper in the other. She said something along the lines of "I am SO bored. They left me alone and I am SO bored. I don't know how to work the phone. Do you know how to work the phone? I don't know how to do it and they left me here and I am SO bored!" hahahaha. She also loves to argue, I think it's a family trait! She is constantly saying things that I am pretty sure she knows are incorrect, just to get Marisa and Lucia started. Half the time when I go in the bathroom after her there is water EVERYWHERE, and I don't know how she makes such a mess! Today at dinner there was a piece of bread on the floor, and I'm sure she purposely dropped it just to see what would happen! haha. Also, when I am in my room, she sometimes randomly walks by and waves. Doesn't say anything, just waves at me. Of course I wave back haha :)


Luisa and I are often treated like children, which I think is hilarious. Lucia and Marisa do all of the cooking and cleaning, and Luisa and I are always served and given more to eat. We are called to the kitchen, and then we sit at the table together waiting for our food to be served to us. I offer to serve myself or help clean up, and I just get told no. So I guess I will just continue taking advantage of it! We also both get yelled at if we leave the house without an umbrella or a coat, and we are constantly wandering around aimlessly-me because I'm just being awkward, Luisa because I honestly just think she forgets what she is doing in the middle of doing it. Or maybe she is trying to find a new thing to meddle with, I'm not sure haha. Currently she is sitting at the table doing the crossword (or pretending to do it, who knows) and talking to herself while I blog and Marisa knits. Since the game just ended, Lucia went to bed.

One lovely, and maybe a little crazy, Spanish family :) I couldn't have asked for a more entertaining bunch!