A Little About the Family...

Carmen

My host mom is wonderful. Although she is a very busy woman, you can tell that she genuinely cares and respects her study abroad students. She has been hosting students for over 10 years while also working (she used to work with naturopathy and now babysits her two nephews each weekday). Additionally, she now also helps (and mostly) takes care of her two-year-old grandson, Delek. Carmen seems to understand that I truly want to improve my Spanish, and tries to speak with me whenever she can. She has said several times how important it is for us to speak only Spanish in the house because our time here is so short, and if we try not to use English, our speaking skills will develop more. She has said that she has no desire to learn English, which I'm not sure is completely true; from time to time, she has asked what a word in Spanish means in English--either way, I think it is great that she requires us to speak Spanish, as I can use all the practice at home that I can get.

The other day at lunch, she also asked me if I were happy with my placement in her house, and of course I said I loved it. She replied that she was very happy with me (and my roommates) also. Carmen is also very understanding and patient; she also tries to do whatever she can to make us happy (or atleast I have noticed that.. haha). For example, I have said several times that I do not like mayonnaise (but still have tried it a couple times when she cooks certain dishes with it), so the other day when she made a vegetable dish that she puts mayonnaise in, she set aside a small bowl without it for me! Also, the other day at lunch, I somehow started talking about how much I loved the combination of tomatoes, spinach and garlic together... later that night she had made a side dish of just those ingredients with dinner :)

We have also had several discussions about certain health issues that I have, for example, my trouble sleeping, my stomach/intestines and also my heightened acid reflux recently. Carmen has mentioned how easy it is for me to go to the natural foods store nearby, where I can buy things that will help with my stomach, etc, but to be honest, I feel like it is a waste of money and I cannot afford it! When she heard me mention that I couldn't eat certain things (after my acid reflux was acting up again), she seemed concerned and suggested eating apples because they are good for your stomach. She also said that this food that looks like jelly that we sometimes eat with cheese here is very good for my stomach and helps with the acidity in my stomach. Today, when I got home from class, Carmen and I were talking and then she showed me that she bought a package of the jam/fruit spread and told me it was "solamente para ti por la manana"... She specifically bought me some of the fruit spread (I can't think of what type of fruit it is...) for me to have in the morning right when I wake up. It is supposed to be very good for your stomach. I thought that was so cute and so thoughtful (there was also only one apple left and she left it at my spot for after lunch since we always have a piece of fruit after).

Some funny things that Carmen says: "Madre mia!" as well as the others I mention under Delek's section. 

Carmen Maria

Carmen is also a great host. She and her mother take turns cooking dinner for us, which usually is split up according "younger Carmen's", as Maeve, Molly and I refer to her usually, work schedule. My host sister is very welcoming and is also very good at English. Though she tries to keep us talking Spanish all the time, it's nice to be able to ask her how to say something in Spanish once in awhile. A couple of weeks ago, when we had a long weekend (and my roommates went away to the Canary Islands...), Carmen invited me to go out with her and her friend Maria one night (that I had already met once or twice). We went to a cute little bar outside of Sevilla to listen to a band play 80's Spanish Rock. It was actually very good and entertaining. It was nice to be able to just hang out and talk about things with them, as well as practice my Spanish. Carmen and Maria are both social workers and are only given 2 weekends a month off! They are very busy. Throughout our conversations, they kept impressing the idea into my head that I need to get a Spanish boyfriend, which I thought was very funny, since it is often the topic of conversation at the dinner table. Maria was more interested in getting an American boy and I told her that we should all go out sometime.. but when I told her I was 20, she replied that she might be too old for my friends in the program. But, I told her not to worry because who knows...(and Carmen also reasoned that American girls still go for the Spanish boys.. it's basically the same haaha).

Maria and Carmen!

Delek

What can I say about Delek? He is adorable! And has a crazy personality. One second he could be ecstatically happy and the next he will be crying about his "buba", aka his "boo-boo". He loves Mickey Mouse and always asks where Mickey is. Some of the cutest things that comes out of his mouth, though simple, are "Soy Delek!" or "Es de Delek!" or one of my absolute favorites, when Carmen tells him to go back to bed or to come to the table, "Yo voy!". Though they are the simplest of phrases, they sound so cute coming out of his mouth. When Delek does something bad and upsets Carmen, the funniest things she says are, "DELEK! POR FAVOR" (It just sounds funny for it to be enunciated like that haha) and last night she even said "Dios, Delek...". When Maeve, Molly and I first met Delek, similar to both Carmens, he could not pronounce their names, but constantly said my name. I don't want to sound cocky or anything, but I honestly think he likes me the best out of us three. He always tries to come into my room (a lot of the times when Carmen doesn't know where he is, she knocks on my door to see if he came in here haha). The other day, Carmen was finishing up making our dinner, but Delek was finishing up his (he sometimes eats completely different meals from us) and needed to eat his yogurt.. and really wanted it. Carmen had the yogurt in the kitchen and I told her I would feed him. He was so adorable. I never realized how much he loved yogurt until then... he was completely silent while I fed it to him (and the second he was done, he was full of just as much energy as ever!), but he did tell me "gracias, Kara!" several times :). One last reason I say that he likes me more than them is because the other day he hit Maeve for no reason (I'm not saying it's a good thing, but it's just an observation).