A love/hate letter to Lola, my host family's dog.

Dear Lola (my host family's dog),

I had high hopes for you. I really did.

At first I was disappointed that you simply existed when I found out my host family assignment. I didn't want to live with a dog! My friends said I would like you better than the 2 year old. I was doubtful of that claim. I knew that I would love the child more than you.

However, you didn't seem that bad at all. You made strange grunting noises when you breathed, but it was just plain funny. You were a little annoying when I would come home from school and you'd scratch at my brand new gray leather boots. But you made up for this typical dog behavior when I would leave again, and you would stand in the doorway, nearly getting your head stuck in the door because you didn't want to see me go. You even followed me around the house, and got so excited when I said your name.

Of all the dogs I have met in my life (and subsequently hated) you didn't do what they did. You never put your paws on my legs when I was sitting (you were too short, and too fat) and you never ate or chewed any of my personal belongings (yeah, I still remember that dog that chewed my 8th grade yearbook. To that dog: you've made my list). You never barked (except for the rare occasion there was something on TV that you didn't like). You never drooled. All you ever wanted to do was sit in the same room as me and sit on a blanket or piece of cardboard or Dante's counting mat to protect your butt from the cold marble floor as you looked like a cross between a person bobbing to sleep on a bus and a dog who's face was melting as you dozed off.

That's all you wanted to do. Follow me around the house, or sleep. It didn't matter where you slept, but it had to be somewhat warm. Warm, like the Alicante sun on a Sunday afternoon.



When I was in my room and you were on the patio, the sound of me rustling things around would draw you to my windowsill, where you would sit until you saw my acknowledgment.



Even your creepiness was charming, when at night I would go to my room at the end of the hall and you would stand in the hallway, the dim light outlining your silhouette as you watched me retreat to my room for the night and shut the door.




I loved you for all the times I would exit the bathroom into the dark hallway and get jolted out of my skin when you were lurking in the shadows, growling, or as you like to call it, breathing.



You had so many charms, and I had high hopes for you. That is until today, when you threw up on the living room floor.

Home Stay Tour...second attempt

Here is a direct upload of my home stay tour.


Enjoy.

This is my home.

EDIT: THE HOST FAMILY VIDEO IS NOW AVAILABLE AT THIS LINK http://melissainspain2010.blogspot.com/2010/02/home-stay-toursecond-attempt.html

If you are wondering how I live it up in Alicante, check out this tour I did of my host family's house.


I will embed the video here, but if you can't view it below, go to this direct link. It is private, so that might be a reason that the video below may not work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_private?v=0mSxKUjxtTs&sharing_token=c2MqgKgEHYpNHT8-ZG0IDA

Fact of the Day

Today, when I asked Carlos why Lola didn't have identification tags on her collar, he told me that all dogs are required to have a chip installed in their inner ear.

If a lost dog is found, or something bad happens to it, the police have a machine that scans the ear, and on the screen it shows the name of the dog and the address of the owner.

I feel like I'm in I Am Robot or something!!!

DANTE TIME!

Some great Dante moments as of late:

I had my backpack on the floor in the corner of the family room the other day when Dante saw my cell phone sitting on top. He wobbled over to it and saw me watching him, then picked up the phone, rotated it 90 degrees, then set it back down again. I have noticed this is his behavior all the time with my phone: he either picks it up and rotates it, or he picks it up and moves it 3 inches then sets it down again. I have no clue why.


At lunch the other day...
Dante: Quiero agua. (I want water)
Rocio: Si. (she pours him water)
Dante: Quiero jamon (i want ham)
R: (passes him the ham)
D: Quiero mas comida. (I want more food)
R: (she puts more food on his plate)
D: Quiero...cerveza (I want beer)
R: No, no no no...es la cerveza de mama.(No, it's mom's beer)
D: quiero cerveza! (I want beer!)
R: Toma mas agua. (here, take some more water.)


After lunch the other day, Rocio was enjoying a cup of coffee. The sugar bowl was on the table, which Dante spotted and immediately he requested: "Quiero azucar!" Rocio laughed and made a face like "like hell you are eating a spoonful of raw sugar," as she moved the sugar bowl to the other side of the table. Rocio and I were chatting about something, and Dante was playing with his toy cars. He stared at us talking, then did a lap around the table and said "Mama aqui, y Melissa aqui (mom here, and Melissa here) pointing to our seats in which we sat, respectively. Rocio responded with a "si." Then, as she turned to continue our chat, Dante (who had planned this sneak attack all along) started going for the sugar bowl. Rocio spotted it and took the sugar as he was an inch away from obtaining it.


Dante was coloring on some paper with his markers when he picked up the yellow one, took the cap off, then held it with both hands, perfectly straight up in front of his face. He slowly approached Rocio, repeating "Look! Look!" She was like "Yes, I see, the pretty yellow!" Then he was about 5 inches from her face when she realized he was coming so close in order to draw on her face. She laughed and grabbed the marker, saying he couldn't draw on her like they do in school (they have had a body painting unit the past couple weeks). After he cried a bit and after she explained that she wasn't mad at him, she rolled up her sleeves and let him draw on her.
Dante: (eyes wide, with an inquiring face) Te pinto? (can I draw on you?)
Rocio: Si, carino. (Yes, honey.)
He then proceeded to take full advantage of the opportunity, going to town with the green marker all over her forearms.


When it was time for dinner the other day, I found Dante five inches away from the TV, pressing the eject button on the DVD player and watching the tray slide in and out, over and over again. I grabbed his hands to lead him to the dinner table, and he said "NO!" and slowly laid down on the floor with his knees bent. He then used his heels to push him backwards, sliding on the floor on his back.


During lunch today, Dante's food was hot and his dad instructed him to blow on it. He would do these short bursts of air, almost near hyperventilation, until it was cool enough to eat.


I found his little ball-popper toy in the hallway on the floor, so I picked it up. Dante was walking towards the dining room, so I took the popper and rolled it towards him, kind of chasing him. He kept looking behind himself at the toy, grinning at whatever game we were playing. I chased him around the 3 foot diameter coffee table about 20 times before I had to stop because I was getting really dizzy. He LOVED it.



After I came home from my cooking class, Dante was eating dinner in the kitchen: tiny noodle stars with butter or something. They were all over his face, some noodle stars even were under his eye, or near his temple. I love how he eats so haphazardly. Later, when he got up, there were some noodles stuck to his pants behind his right ankle.


Rocio, who was out for the night, called Carlos on his phone. Carlos handed it to Dante, who picked it up and had the following conversation:
Dante: Ma-MA!
Rocio (you can hear her on the other end) Si, Carino (yes honey)
Dante: ma-MA!
Rocio: Si, carino.
D: Ma-MA!
R: Si, carino, que quieres (what do you want)
D: Ma-MA! (he then took the phone off his ear, brought it to the front of his face, and yelled MAMA into the receiver five or six more times until Carlos took it back)


After his dinner, Dante followed me to my room, where he grabbed his favorite thing: my house keys. He sat there playing with them for a while, until he suddenly looked at me and asked ...
Dante: Tienes hambre? Has comido? Quieres comer? (Are you hungry? did you eat? Want to eat?)
Me: No, he comido en la clase de cocina. He hecho la comida. (No, I ate in cooking class. I cooked the meal)
Dante: Has...has...has hecho la comida? (Did you, did you, did you make the food?)
Me: Si, he hecho la comida. (yes, I made the food)
Dante: Has hecho la comida? (you made the food?)
Me: Si, he hecho la comida. (yes, I made the food)
I love when Dante acts like the host of the household.


While in the kitchen, Dante took his empty cup and held it up to his mouth and shouted into it "MELISSSSSSAAAAAAAAAAAA" and kept doing so until I responded with a deep "DANTEEEEE", to which he responded with a grin and a squealing giggle.


He had one of those party blowers that makes noise and unfurls a piece of paper, and he just honked and honked in the kitchen, scaring the crap out of Lola, who was frantically looking for an escape.


Once he was done with the party noisemaker, he told Lola he just wanted to give her a kiss. He got on his hands and knees and tried to catch Lola so he could kiss her. Traumatized by the previous noise, she was running in circles around him. Dante tried to crawl and catch up to her but was way too slow. He at one point grabbed her tail while she wailed in pain, but she wriggled free. The best part is that the kitchen is about 12 by 5 feet wide, so this was all happening in a fairly tiny space. He started getting upset, repeatedly saying "I JUST WANT TO KISS YOU, LOLA!" I was dying of laughter. Finally, Carlos yelled at Lola to sit. Lola, hesitant and fearful, stood still, then warily sat down. Dante leaped onto her, grabbing her body and kissing her side. Lola wriggled free once again, leaving Dante to fall over.


Finally, after playing (and by playing I mean "picking up various objects and moving them around the room) in my room, Carlos came in to tell him it was time for bed. I have never seen Dante get so upset to part with me! He started crying and saying how he didn't want to say "hasta manana" (until tomorrow) to me, and he wanted to keep playing.

Today was a good day.

bad dreams:sad::ice skating:happy

I was in the family room area with Carlos and Rocio, while Dante was napping in their room, and I heard some quiet tapping noise. I get up and turn on the light in the hall, and it is just what I thought: Dante hurriedly running in the dark hallway towards the family room on the verge of tears. I am pretty sure he had a nightmare. Carlos quickly ran into the hall and swept him up and handed him his "chupa" (pacifier). He quietly sobbed in Carlos' arms, then Carlos took him to sit on the sofa chair. Dante quietly sucked on his pacifier as he calmed down.

Eventually, Dante got up and laid on Rocio, who was napping on the couch. She woke up and wrapped the blanket around him and they cuddled. It was so adorable. Carlos continued watching TV while Rocio and Dante laid quietly on the couch, until Dante perked up at a TV show that Carlos flipped to. Dante, as usual when it comes to television, zoned out, mystified by the moving pictures. It was partner figure skating ("patinaje" en espanol).

Every time the partners would do jumps or acrobatics like flipping upside down, Dante had this huge grin on his face. Like I've mentioned before, when Dante likes something, he just grins and screams/squeals at it. He did this earlier when he was attacking Lola (the dog) with his push-and-pop roll-y toy.


(Imagine a 2 yr old child traumatizing a 2 yr old puppy by aggressively and repeatedly ramming this toy into it as he laughs maniacally)


He grinned and laughed and squealed for a good half hour. Carlos, Rocio and I especially liked the Matrix routine (2 people dressed as The Matrix characters and skating to a soundtrack song) when the girl did a flip over the man (who was laying down) and was an inch away from spearing his forehead with her ice skate.

After watching happy ice skating for an hour or so, you could tell Dante felt much better.

Un día increíble

Today was EVENTFUL!

See, I knew this whole "doing nothing" thing would change after the other students returned from Madrid.

So, just like I went on the Madrid tour last year, some of the students in the program this year went, too. Today was the day they got to meet their landlords or their host parents. In San Sebastian, we just went from our hotel (from orientation) straight to the houses/apartments via taxis. Here, it was a huge production. Luis, the program director, would announce a student's name, then introduce them, in front of the group, to their host parents. It was pretty funny, because the first girl went to her host mom and hugged her for a full minute, squeezing her like she missed her so much (when in actuality, this was the first time they ever met!). I technically didn't have a reason to be there, since I obviously already know my host family, but I wanted to see some of the other students in the program.

So, I went to this meeting in hopes that I wouldn't stand out so much as an americana in the streets of Alicante. To accomplish this, here is what I had to wear...my knee-high heeled boots with dark jeans tucked in, my hair down and curly, and my red plaid jacket, a wool version of this one:


So european. And guess what!? No weird stares that scream "you are SO americana." Only stares from lecherous men.

But when I was waiting at the flower shop for the USAC kids to arrive, i chatted with my host mom (in spanish of course) and when the kids arrived and were asking around, I spoke spanish to them. I think that some of them thought I was spanish. I think my clothes were just THAT GOOD. Plus I think they were confused that I said I was living in Alicante already (if only for 2 days).

But anywho, Rocio and I walked home with a host mom who lives close with a student from USAC. Tomorrow we'll meet up to walk to the flower shop again to take a bus to campus.


For lunch, Rocio made paella. And I watched. I will be an EXPERT by the time cooking class begins! She thought it didn't turn out well because the rice was a but hard. But i thought it was wonderful. And PS to my parents: what you should get for a souvenir is a paella. That is the pan paella is made in.
Then, as she was cooking, her friend (that she met through a friend), a Cuban girl who lives a few blocks away, came over for lunch. It was nice to meet new people. Especially because she is young and very pretty: ERIC, attention. And she is a physics or a science teacher for a special school for slower students. Pardon my wording...I spoke a LOT of Spanish today sin descanso and the translations to english to spanish to english are a bit weird.
Then, after Rocio, carlos, y Suyin (la chica) ate, Dante came home with his aunt (maria) and uncle (javi) who he'd been spending time with all day in the mountains to see the snow. They showed us pictures and Dante was throwing the snow and having a great time in all of them. When he gets really excited and happy, he stomps in place and then screams with a grin. In some of the video the aunt took on the camera, Dante was doing just this. And he was so cute: he didn't know that the snow was so cold, so he would throw it, then shake his hand violently to try and get rid of the cold feeling. And i don't know what would be the translation of this in English, but apparently he was calling the snow "blanco" instead of "blanca" (la nieve is feminine, so the adjective needs to end in an 'a'), which rocio thought was cute.

When the guests were over, they were all talking about the snow (the news channel was on). Let me digress for a moment: the people are reacting crazily to the snow in Spain. Like, of the two days of news I have watched on TV, about 70% has been about the snow in various parts of Spain. Either there is no important news, or this is the most important news EVER. The same footage they have shown for the past few days.
Suyin thought it was especially funny that there was footage of San Sebastian in La Concha (the name of the main beach) where there was snow on the sand, and people were skiing, but then in the background you can see people surfing. I think everyone has seen this footage by now, because even the woman who lives down the street with the USAC student mentioned it. I think from the way news dedicates its coverage to the topic of snow so much, everyone who has watched the news in the past WEEK has seen this.

Then, after lunch, around 5 or so, we went to a friend's birthday party. I was really excited when Rocio invited me, because first of all I would have been bored as hell waiting at home, and secondly, I wanted to see other little kids and converse with more people.

So we went to the party, which was outside of Alicante (so we drove). Dante passed out in his little car seat, his poor little head whipping around at every bump. We flipped between a few stations on the radio, one of which was the sound of broken glass and a train. I don't understand it. It was just a long recording of someone breaking glass, then it transitioned to a train on tracks, then we went to another station for a while, then came back to it and it was still a train noise. Rocio said there was different kinds of music, and this was just broken glass and trains. I don't really know if I would regard that as music, but it was interesting to listen to.

We arrived at the house and the party was in the basement, where there were about 12 kids of ages 1 to 9 or so. The birthday boy was turning 2. And I am pretty sure he NEVER spoke. And he was staring at me most of the time. With the not talking thing, it was kinda creepy. His paleness contributed to the creepiness.
But Dante was having a great time, playing with the birthday boy's gifts, like the mickey mouse rolling backpack. He just carried it around in circles, then rolled it around in circles, then when it (and he) fell on the ground, he just clutched the bag really close, rolling around on the ground.
The kid also had lockable rollerskates like this, with spiderman on them:



And the spaniards call him SPEE-dur-man.
And Dante called the skates (which are patines) patones, even after his mom kept correcting him. so cute.
But Dante loved those, even though he needed his mom's help to skate around. He wouldn't take them off. And then he found the toy cars. (he has 20 or so here at home) He got really excited, and when he gets excited with the toy cars, he parks them. No, he isn't like a normal kid who wants to roll them, race them, ride them, make them go all over the place. No. He loves toy cars so he can park them. He even has a toy parking garage for them. No, not a race track. A parking garage. So tranquil.

There was a girl there, about 5 or 6, who had her dog with her, a baby version of Lola (my host family's dog). Like, super tiny. And she carried him around EVERYWHERE. Rocio kept saying "pobrecito perro!" (poor dog) because the kids just kept chasing it and picking it up and putting it in baskets and grabbing it and screaming its name (which was Bob by the way) over and over again. The dog was beyond exhausted. And the way they pronounce Bob is more like "bow" as in, tying a bow, but with a b at the end. Like Bohb. Not Bahb. Bohb.
So the kids are chasing this little guy:

yelling "bohb! bohb! bohb! bohb! bohb!"

After a while, me being me, I was playing with the little kids' sand art, which by now was one brownish pink color that they were pouring into a bear-shaped bottle. I was helping scoop the sand with them when Carlos and Rocio said jokingly "melissa wants to stay...she likes it here!"

I also learned that they speak a second language here in Alicante, much like they speak Basque in San Sebastian. Here it is called Valenciano. And I found out that the people from Valencia only call it this, even though it is the exact same as Catalan (the second language in Barcelona, which is a mix of French and Spanish). Weird, right?

Then at dinner tonight, I asked how many students they have hosted and they said I was the 5th or 6th one. The girl who was here when I was in San Sebastian was named Julianne, and I actually have met her! And we took a picture together!

(that's her in the middle!)
I only knew Kristen and Josh (the girl I am very affectionately sitting next to, and the only boy in the picture), but when they came to visit San Sebastian last year, they brought some friends. One of which was the ex-student who lived with my current host family. Weird!

After dinner I got to play with Dante and Darth Tater. I made a game of it by holding up a body part, then asking him which one it was. I held up the tongue and was like "what is this? an eye? an arm? a foot? A nose? a tongue?" and he would respond to all of them "no," even tongue, so I would say another body part and come back to tongue, giving him a chance to say the correct one. But no, he just said no all the time until I would just say "yo dante, it IS a tongue."

Also, I learned that Rocio and Carlos each have more than one cell phone. Phone plans are expensive, so they bought one phone that has cheap calls in the evening, and one with cheap calls during the day, so they can make cheap calls all the time!




And thinking about and talking about my semester abroad makes it seem so much closer than it really was, which is weird. I feel like the summer and fall just disappeared, and it was only a month ago when I was in SanSe.