the best kind of gorgeous

it is a strange and beautiful thing to be able to walk into the house of complete strangers and feel, almost immediately, warm and welcome.

that is exactly what happened when I got here.

the room I will be living in is exactly what I wanted- tiny and simple. all that fits in the room is a bunk bed. i share the room with a darling ten year old girl named Ivannia. on the small shelf that sits beside the door are barbies, and from the wallpaper a hundred tinker bells smile enthusiastically at me. yup. definitely in the room of a ten year old!

this house is very much alive with beautiful people, and the sort of character that things get when they start to look slightly weathered. the walls, for example, have many imperfections that i find rather animate. and there are old rusty spiraling stairs leading up to the roof that are absolutely gorgeous. gorgeous in a "if-you-didn't-look-twice-at-me-you'd-never-notice" sort of way. the best kind of gorgeous to be, i think.

my host mom and i share a love of burning candles.

who lives here...
theres mom (elvira), a gracious lady who, I am finding, seems to be very much like myself
dad (gerardo), a good man who knows some english which is relieving for when i get stuck
daughter (ivannia)- she snores rather loudly, luckily I brought my earplugs! she's cute, more one her later.
a girl named laura from venezuala
a cool guy named alonso from somewhere spanish. he showed me how to get on the roof, which i thought was a nice gesture
an older-ish women named luth from the canary islands (a part of spain, off the coast of morocco)
and another student name oliver from switzerland who knows very little spanish but seems super nice

i guess that makes 8 of us!
elvira, gerardo, ivannia, laura, alonso, luth, oliver, and me. wow. hmmm.

some things:
-apparently there are free salsa dancing lessons wednesday nights somewhere. i am going to find them!

-my placement test this morning at school got me into the advanced spanish course! hopefully im not getting myself into something too difficult...

-...as nerdy as this may sound, i'm excited for classes to begin.

-oh, ha. i found the equivalent of sweet potato. it's called camote... a glorious find (because sweet potatoes are a favourite of mine)

-i have a new friend. her name is alma and she is from belgium. i like her a lot. i think we might be in the same spanish class.


now, as i sit in the dim light of of a quiet living room, the smell of incense wafting soundlessly into my nose, i'm wondering to myself how it is that i could have found such a beautiful place to live...

in this mysterious country i never seem to be able to guess where tomorrow will take me and i have to say, that's a pretty good feeling to have.