Rewind: Las personas

I got so caught up in the frenzy of things that I forgot to explain the details of my life in Spain.
I'm living with a family in Olesa de Montserrat (a little outside of Barcelona. This may be review for some of you, but just hang in there.) In the mornings I go into Barcelona to the University, and have until 5pm to go to classes, and do what I please. At 5pm, I'm back in Olesa to pick up Tomas (we'll get to who that in a moment) and I take care of him and teach him english until 8 or 9 when his parents return. But now, who exactly are these people that i've decided to "adopt" as my new (temporary) family.

First, there is Marta, the mom of the family. She is a tiny little women, but is the kindest, sweetest person imaginable. She is always fluttering around making sure I'm comfortable and content here. Sometime's she reminds me of a little kid, because she often gets giddy and giggly when she's talking to me. She love's having me here, because it's another girl in the house, so she's already started showing me the new clothes she's bought, or asking me about her hair and all the girly stuff. Plus, I LOVE the bread she makes, and I guess thats not many people do, so she bake me a loaf every other day. (Sidenote: this is one of the many reasons you should all anticipate me coming home at least 20 pounds heavier.) Plus, we both have an avid love of espresso and diet coke, so that made bonding almost inevitable.

Next is Tomas, the father (not to be confused with Tomas pequeno (little Tomas.) He is a little more reserved, but anything that comes out of his mouth is usually always some joke or poke. After he made me my first meal of snails, (which didn't go over very well on my end) he told me that if Tomas pequeno didn't learn perfect english in a month, that I'd be eating snails every night for the rest of my stay... (at least I hope that was a joke.) But besides the snails, he is a fantastic cook, and it seems like he's always either making the next meal, or preparing to make a meal for the next day. Regardless, the food he makes is always fantastic.

Now, Tomas pequno, the only child of Marta and Tomas, who is 4 years old. He is probably the hardest to describe. Because on any given day, my discription would dirastically vary. Two days ago, for example, I would have told you he is most similar to a 4 year old, spanish speaking devil, who cries at everything, and refuses to listen to anything, anyone says. But if I were to give you a description of this same child yesterday, I would tell you how adorable and determined he is when speaking to me in his broken english, how cute he is when he dances and sings, and how he is in love with me because I introduced him to Thomas the Tank engine (which for a kid, a cartoon character with the same name is the best.) So maybe that kind of gives you an idea. Luckily, must days tend to be like the 2nd. It's just the occasional "devilish" day that throws me off. But he'l almost 5, maybe he'll grow out of it...

Now, for some other, non-"family" members (I'll try to make the descriptions a bit shorter... )

Rodrigue: My language professor at the University, who is absolutely hilarious, and make classes so much easier and actually fun to attend. Since the point of the class is an intensive language course, to improve our spanish, it is pretty small, only about 10 other students. So he actually knows us (more then a lot of teachers do...) And always seems genuinely interested in helping us with Spanish and Spain in general.

Marcel: I seem to make friends in random places, but Marcel is now dubbed my "Bus buddy." He also lives in Olesa and studies in Barcelona, so I met him one day when the bus was super crowded. He turned out to be so sweet, and has since introduced me to all of his friends in Olesa, so I know have people to hang out with after work or on weekends. They're all really wonderful, and so patient when I'm trying to explain things in Spanish, and are always willing to help me with directions to somewhere, or things to do. So thank goodness for having crowded buses and having to sit by a stranger (who turned out to be a great friend.)

There's so many more people, and I'm sure there will be more to come... But we'll save that for a different post.