Impresiones Primeras

2 de marzo

Today is only my fifth day living with my host family, but it already feels like home. I live with Natalia (Nati for short), her boyfriend Ariel, a 22 year-old from France named Anna, and a 21 year-old from Austria named Veronica. Oh, and of course Luz, a beautiful Siamese cat.

I am so glad that I was matched with Nati. She is funny, interesting and kind. She loves Tim Burton, lots of sugar, and surprisingly, could live without la carne. She is very artistic, and while she is getting her art degree, she is also working as a makeup artist for performers in plays and concerts, and doing drawings of sets for movies. Right now she is creating a huge elephant mask for a play. Nati made a huge color-coded map of the city for me, showed me how to take the subway and escorted me to the CIEE building on my first day. Ariel is also very interesting. He studied philosophy in school, and spent probably an hour talking to me about Platón y el mundo ideal. He also is really into horoscopes, and insisted that I tell him the birthdays of everyone in my family so he could interpret our family dynamics. Ariel is also very sarcastic. When I asked what kind of juice we were drinking, he responded with a straight face “de caballo” (from a horse), and last night he told me that dinner would be at 2 AM. Unfortunately it is harder for me to pick up on sarcasm in Spanish, so even if I do pick up on his jokes, it is usually too late. I didn’t really get to know Anna at all until yesterday because her mom is visiting, but I know that we will get along very well. She is studying history here, works at a nearby bakery and loves salsa dancing. She has already offered to take me dancing with her and to take me to her favorite museum. I have yet to meet Veronica, who is travelling and is coming back in two weeks.

My first night at the house went out (literally) with a bang. After only an hour or so of arriving, I decided to charge my computer. To my utter horror, the moment I stuck my adaptor in the wall, the house went black: the entire apartment building lost power. Great first impression, Ali. When I told them it was my fault and apologized profusely, they insisted that it wasn’t me, and that they had lost power several times that week because of the storm. I’m almost positive that it was my fault, but it was nice of them to say otherwise. Anyways, we had a lovely candlelit dinner, and a very memorable first day.