Home Stay...

So remember about a few lines ago when I said I wasn’t sure what my Señora would be like? Well it turns out I made some pretty good guess… She’s a very young 60 and it turns out that it’s not just me an her in the house. There’s another man living here, a Brazilian man, who may or may not be her boyfriend… I haven’t been able to decipher the exact workings of their relationship quite yet… Anyway we live in a neighborhood that is becoming more and more pija (think posh and expensive with a little bit of snooty-ness, you know…) There are unnecessarily fancy children’s clothing stores every few blocks and local merchants have had to give up their businesses to make way for more high-end chains and boutiques. While this tends to be the trend, there are still some local staples that have been and will continue to be here forever. There’s the local lecheria (dairy store) where the storeowner, an older woman, was described to me as the local therapist/gossip. In other words, if you need to talk or want to know something, she’s the one to talk to. Other persons of interest include the two men who work at the olive stand next to what used to be an open-air market that has now been closed to make way for a larger building. These two men have been working together since the dawn of time and apparently have been fighting with one another ever since then as well… Anyway, after I arrived here by cab, I made my way up to the 5th floor apartment and settled in. My Señora took me on a small walking tour and to run a few errands. We then returned and the man living here with us (his name escapes me at the moment…) had made paella with mussels and shrimp for lunch. We had picked up some different varieties of olives and a few bottles of beer along the way and sat down to eat. Everything was very delicious and it’s still kinda really exciting to think that I’m in Spain eating Spanish food with Spanish people… Laura, my Señora, is a very interesting woman who’s extremely interested in art, architecture, theatre, film, and television (not at bad match if I do say so myself…) Apparently she used to be a producer on a television show some years ago but now she works at a tennis club. Anyway, she seems to know everyone and is friends with a very prominent director in the Madrid-ian theatre scene whom we will be having dinner with tomorrow (Sunday) so that should be very interesting. The apartment itself is very cute and the building, which apparently hasn’t been renovated since it opened in the 30’s, is also very charming. The apartment has 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a small kitchen, a study, and a multi-purpose room (think dining room and den combined) my room is quite large and has its own balcony which is blocked by some old Spanish style shades that I can’t seem to operate at the moment, but I’m hoping to learn… Well I’m guessing I should go as my Señora just walked by in a t-shirt, headband, and her underwear and I think she wanted to take me somewhere. But just one more thing: as nice as these living arrangements are it is still somewhat awkward living in someone else’s home especially with the language and culture barriers in place. I’m sure it will get a better and easier as time goes on but for now, I’m just a tad bit uncomfortable… Oh well, que será, sera… Catch you later ☺