All moved in with my Spanish Mamá!

Today is the big day! My roommate Jenny and I are meeting our host Mamá who will take care of us, feed us, do our laundry, and help us learn Spanish! We had to meet down in the hotel lobby at 10 this morning and then we waited for her to come pick us up! This woman in a long leopard print coat (awesome, i know) and huge sunglasses (which were either Maria's or from Maria), pretty sweet. We meet her- the common greeting is a kiss on each cheek- definitely going to take some getting used to... and then we go into the main room to discuss allergies and whatnot. Then it begins. OMG SHE SPEAKS THE FASTEST SPANISH EVER. Jenny and I mostly kept up, but it's hard to get into the swing of Spanish. We went and got into a cab- a little Mercedes cab with 3 huge suitcases, 2 duffel bags, a backpack, and 3 people!! 3 euros later, we are at the apartment. We have to use a key to get into the main door and then take the elevator (tiniest thing ever) to the 6th floor and then we walk all the way to the back of the apartment and into this room that's about the same size or a little smaller than a dorm room (I'm talking Wall/Gates) with 2 twin beds and a tiny closet (which sadly fits all of our clothes). There is one bathroom for the 3 of us- there is a tub-ish thing with no curtain and a hand held shower thing. The toilet is pretty normal except it took us forever to realize how to flush... we had to pull up on this thing on the top of the toilet and it worked! The one at the hotel was a push button, so we were all confused. While we were unpacking Mamá asked us to go with her to "El Corte Inglés"- the pretty sweet mall with her to run some errands. She went and got some cute pj's and then returned stuff. We got home and she made us lunch for noon- so sweet of her because she thought we would be starving- which we were. The normal eating time is 2pm for lunch. After we stuffed ourselves with amazing food, we took a siesta... from 2pm-7pm.. haha!!!! We are still in our beds because it is 56.5 degrees and too cold to not be under covers and bundled up. It's insane how cold these people live. I should have brought my robe!!! The forecast says it is going to be raining for the rest of the week. Awesome.

So I'm sitting in my bed and I'm noticing how much people honk outside. Weird. It's like being in New York City.

Learning Spanish is going to be a very interesting process. As of now, I understand the majority of what Mamá is saying, and I can- for the most part- answer her, but there are some words that I don't know. For instance, it's so cold in the room that we needed more blankets.. but I didn't know how to say blankets... yay for Spanish/English dictionary!!

Our Mamá is making dinner now! Woo! It's almost 8:30pm!
Jenny and I are probably going to meet up with Katie and Bree tonight! Hooray for living near each other!

Anyway, I'll put up pictures later.. for now..

Adios!

Love,
Merick :)