Placement test, Host family, and My new HOME for the next 4.5 months!!

Hi everyone and sorry for the longish break in between my posts. I'm still trying to play catch-up with all that has happened in Spain, so stick with me!

Okay, so the day we took our placement test, I was pretty tired but still tried to listen when we were addressed in SPANISH by some of the professors from the university. It was difficult to pay attention to them as they spoke because I was tired and was sitting in a COMFY chair in an auditorium. (All of us were now international students and this included students from a few universities in the Midwest and from the East Coast.)

Nevertheless, after being welcomed to the university, we then moved to new seats so as to sit every other person as we took the placement test by hand. I didn't know what to expect until the papers were in my hands. After I got my copy of the test, I just began filling out what was required and was finding it to be difficult and yet simple at the same time. The last part was the essay portion, and I was pretty sure after messing up and then trying to improvise with my answer so as to not start all over again, that I may have really messed up! We wouldn't find out our placements until the next morning (we would either be in Intermediate 1,2,or 3 or Advanced 1,2,or 3), so now that that portion of the experience was over, we all went back to the hotel Isla de Cuba so we could wait for our families to come and pick us up.

The greeting in Spain when you either meet someone for the first time, greet someone you haven't seen for a while, or just flat out greet someone, is to give each other two kisses. It is such a fun greeting...if you feel comfortable with who you are about to greet. But remember this, you first kiss to the left and THEN to the right. Be careful!! There haven't been any problems on my end yet. Let's hope it stays that way! I saw several UNI students being greeted in this way by their host mother's and I was so excited to meet mine! (During our prep class for study abroad, I actually got to request the family my sister lived with two years ago and guess what??? I got them as my family!!) Okay, so as I was waiting and getting excited to meet my family, I saw this smallish woman walk in with a long fur coat on and in her sweet Spanish accent she asked for Jan Lauren. THAT'S ME!!! I thought it was cute since she addressed me by my first and middle name, but I double checked she was looking for Jan Byrd...just to make sure I understood her correctly. As it turns out I did, so now I was going to begin walking with her to our piso (apartment).

My host mom's name is Albi, short for Albina. She asked me where my luggage was and so I had to tell her that it was lost but that the people at the airport had my information so they could get in touch with me when my luggage arrived. She just kind of laughed (which you will find she does a lot with me), and then we were on our merry way. She has a kind of walk that is one of confidence and leisure, and I just felt like such a BIG DEAL as I walked the streets of Oviedo with her in her long fur coat.

haha! But really, as soon as I met Albi, she was so good about speaking in a way that was not too fast and she had good diction. However, since I haven't spoken Spanish since I was born, this was the beginning of me practicing my comprehension of the language with her. As I would try to listen to her and she would see that I understood, our conversation moved smoothly. However, as soon as she saw a look of confusion across my face(which was a lot the first day we were together), she would throw her head back, give a little giggle, and then start again so that I could try to understand her. What I absolutely love about Albi is her patience with me as I try to understand what she is saying and then form my own answer to share with her.

Well as we were walking, I was trying to take notice of where we were going and I thought to myself, "I don't think I'm going to remember all of these turns." Well it just so happened that I really had no need to be paying too close attention to where I was walking because it was the long way home and not the way I would walk in the future. As we continued on our journey home, she let me know we were going to meet up with her husband, Miguel, and walk home with him. I was so excited because I didn't remember what he did for a living exactly; but then as we approached his store, I saw him sitting in his BARBERSHOP reading a newspaper. It was sooooo cute and perfect for him and his Spanish self. He locked the door and now we were a little closer to my new home. As we were walking, Albi told me Miguel was going to pick up a map for me so that she could trace out the best way for me to get to school. I was happy to hear that!!

Something that just cracked me up as we were walking was that Albi would send Miguel to do some errands for us like getting the map for me or running into a market to buy something we would need for lunch. We still kept walking as opposed to going wherever Miguel went, but then he would rejoin us and Albi would send him on another errand. It was so funny to me because no matter where Miguel went, he was always able to catch right back up with us. (Something to know about Albi is that she can walk either pretty quickly or pretty slowly when she has no rush, so this was one of those moments where we were walking pretty slowly.)Since I am a fast walker, I was definitely adjusting to her rate of speed, which is a lot less than mine!

So after walking in the city for about 30 minutes I'm sure, their piso was finally in sight;

and when we got to the door to go inside the building, I understood exactly what Miguel said which was, (it was in Spanish of course) "this is your new home for the next few months." He said it with a smile as he bent over to unlock the door and I was so excited to be with him and Albi!! It was so comforting for him to call their home MY home as well. I knew I had been blessed by God in being able to live with this family after they had already hosted my sister in the past. She loved them, and so I knew from the start that I wouldn't be unhappy with my new family. God is so GOOD!!

Hasta Luego!