Pili and the Gang

My 1st host mom picked me up on some street in Alcalá. I had no idea where were- thank God Chelsea lives close to me. She is super short, a little chubby and has straight blonde hair with bangs. She seems sweet so far, but I'm afraid I'm never going to adjust to her cooking- my mom's is just way better. Pili has two daughters, Pili and Laura, which actually remind me a lot of Lisa and Katie. Pili, who's the same age as me, practically stays in her room all day and is really quiet. She studies physical education at the univeristy. Laura, who's nine, is a little more feisty and is not afraid to speak her mind. She's super cute and everyone time she sees me it's, "Hola Jenny." She loves American cartoons and macaroni. Antonio, her husband, seems really nice as well, but is usually either working or watching T.V. so I haven't really talked to him much.

As far as the house goes, from the outside, I think I'm in the ghetto of Spain. The inside is cute, but Pili always makes a point of comparing her house to those in America. I have my own room which is nice, but I clearly have too much crap. First problem- they keep the cat litter in the shower and every time I want to shower, I have to move it- gross! Second problem- they must not understand how to use the heat because I'm freezing! I've been sleeping in 3 pairs of socks, fleece pants, a long-sleeve t-shirt, sweatshirt, about 4 blankets and a down comforter, which Pili says they've never used. Oh well, I'll use it.

In addition to being really homesick, I was sick for the two weeks with some stomach virus- it is quite embarrassing to be in the bathroom every five minutes. I think it's the water even though Pili claims Spanish water is the best. I visited two doctors and bought so much medicine, most of which I have no idea what it was. At one point, she wouldn't give me water and has this thing about proving me wrong so when she found a clementine peel in my garbage... blah blah that's bad for your stomach. Well, so is your food.

So I need to have less clothes to wash because I'm only allowed one dark and one light and I'm allotted one shower per day. At first, she wouldn't buy me a new pillow, but rolling a blanket and putting it under the pillow definitely works- not. Finally, I got a new pillow and flannel sheets. Thank God! Save me from the cold. At this point, things were tolerable. She was kind of cooking things I like minus the jarred veggies, but I'm still not allowed to boil water and am pretty much follow wherever I go in the house. Also, the neighbors upstairs are ridiculously loud at all hours of the morning. Oh and I forgot to mention that at some point I came home to a note on my bed saying not to let the cat out of the bathroom. Since they leave the cat in the bathroom every night, I wasn't exactly sure why I had this note until I opened the bathroom door to find a stray cat in the bathroom. You're shitting me right?

Fast forward to the beginning of March- the family goes up north for the weekend for a wedding. She leaves me food in the refrigerator, but I ask to be able to boil water over the weekend so I can have tea. After much resistance, she finally agrees and makes me practice just to make sure I know what I'm doing. Come on- it's not rocket science. Anyway, I wake up the next morning and Pili tells me that she talked to her husband and he said I can't use the stove aka I can't boil water. What is this the 5th century when we are all subservient to our husbands? Needless to say, I was really pissed and showed it. I left for class super annoyed and Pili definitely knew it.

When I met up with Chelsea, I explained to her what happened and said, "What do you want to bet they hide my teapot?" That afternoon, after my Spanish classes, one of the Chinese girls in my class offered to make lunch so I went to her host family's house. Oh hey go figure, she can have people over for lunch, but Steph and Chelsea can't even step inside Pili's house. Anyway, the food was delicious, however, when I returned back to my apartment guess what was MIA- that's right my teapot!

So when they come home on Sunday, the teapot magically reappeared on the counter where it usually is. The next morning, she gives me a huge attitude, saying that I had no reason to be upset. After talking to my director, I found out that my host mom had called her, explained what happened as if she would agree and asked for a different student. However, my director thought her actions were inappropriate and completely understood why I wasn't happy, thus she began to search for another home for me.

The morning before I left I took a little surprise visit to my new potential host family. Though I felt bad leaving, the decision was pretty much a no-brainer. I packed all afternoon and planned to have my director call about an hour before I left to say I was leaving. However, I thought it would be more appropriate if I told her myself. So I explained that it just wasn't working and I thought it would be better for both of us if I moved. I felt really bad because that afternoon she had made me paella for lunch and bought me a box of green tea. She said she already knew I was leaving, asked for the tea back so she could give it to her next student and also said she wished she would've known earlier so she didn't prepare my dinner. I thanked her for everything and proceeded to carry two suitcases and about five bags down the road.