My New Housemate

Last Wednesday was a big day at my house. In the afternoon, Sophie and I were taking our daily siesta when Francisco knocked on our door. He came in and said that Begonia, the director of our program, had just called him to ask if he and Aloana would be willing to take in another CEA student. He explained that she was in a home stay by herself and was very lonely. Sophie and I were really surprised, but he told us that the decision was up to us. He said they could make room but that this is our experience and if we didn't want another person in our family they would tell Begonia no. Of course Sophie and I said it was fine even though we were a bit hesitant. Francisco called Begonia who then said our new housemate would be moving in the next day. I had a few theories on who it might be based on some conversations I had with people and what I'd seen on facebook. Out of the two girls I thought were strong contenders, I liked one of them and wasn't sure what to think about the other.

Aloana had already planned to take Sophie and me to a movie and dinner that night so they cleaned the house all day in preparation for our new "sister." I really didn't know what to expect from the whole movie situation and it turned about to be quite an adventure. Apparently, Francisco and Aloana have a car which explains a lot about where they go when they're not here. We walked to the car, with Ana Clara in tow, only to discover that Francisco had forgotten his car keys. As he ran back to the house to get them, Aloana explained that he forgets his keys every time they leave the house and that she usually has hers, but of course hers weren't in her purse today. He came back to the car, we loaded up, and off we went. As we drove through the city and towards the highway (which I didn't know existed), Aloana  pointed out various buildings. When we arrived at the movie theater, Aloana rushed us inside to buy our tickets. Sophie and I were so confused about what was going on because we were late and no one had explained exactly what the plan was. Eventually we figured out that Aloana, Francisco, and Ana Clara were going to go grocery shopping while we went to the movie. Sophie and I could not get over how the theater was set up because it is literally inside a mall except the mall only has restaurants. It was gigantic and unlike any other mall/theater I've ever seen. We bought our tickets to Brave, but there was a miscommunication with the ticket man so he gave us tickets to the wrong movie time. Long story short, Sophie and I ended up watching Brave 3D in Spanish without 3D glasses. After we finally stopped laughing at how ridiculous the whole situation was, the movie was really good. I understood pretty much everything because it's a children's movie so they speak slowly. We met up with Aloana, Francisco, and Ana Clara to get dinner once the movie ended. The restaurant is called Euromania and they have 100 different kinds of sandwiches to choose from plus salads and appetizers. It was very overwhelming! The sandwiches turned out to be small (the perfect size actually) and for dessert we had chocolate sandwiches which are literally chocolate bread with Nutella and M&Ms. Needless to say I'm a big fan. At one point during dinner Francisco told us that Sophie and I were part of their family now and that if we didn't like our new "sister" we could basically veto her out. It was very sweet and reassuring.

The next day, Thursday, our family expanded as Francisco keeps saying. He told us to wait at school when we were done with class because he wanted to pick us up after he got our new "sister" so she didn't feel uncomfortable walking with just him (her Spanish isn't very good). Begonia had already emailed Sophie and me to tell us that Brittany was moving into our home stay, and Brittany had messaged me on facebook so there weren't really any surprises at that point. Brittany was one of the girls I thought might be moving in and I thought she was really nice when I talked to her so I was excited. The first day involved a lot of adjusting for everyone! I really like having another person to hang out with at home.