I must seem really stupid to my host family

So last weekend I figured out that my host family is Argentinian! I'm sure they must have told me before but it was just one of the many parts of conversations that I've missed. They moved here in 2000 from Mar de Plata which is south of Buenos Aires, pretty much right on the coast. So my host sister was about 5. They moved because of the economic crisis. My madre asked if I knew about that and was quite ashamed of myself. Basically the only thing I know about Argentinian history is the existence of Evita Peron and the Madres de Plaza Mayo. The Madres is a group of mothers whose children "disappeared" between 1976 and 1983. They gather in the Plaza Mayo and protest and ask the government for help. I mean it's much more than that. I've seen a fictional movie about it and also a documentary. Learn more here.

But anyway my madre told me that they left and moved here. I asked why they came here. She said it was because so many other Argentinians were moving here. I don't think they have family in Spain. And I doubt they've been able to visit Argentina since then. Kinda sad.

So now so many things make sense. The difference in what we eat, compared to the meals my friends get, the way they talk, certain cultural things I recognize. I wasn't really paying attention to their accents but now that I'm paying attention I can recognize the way they say the double L or the Y sound, like in "yo" (I) or "llamar" (to call). Instead of it being like our Y sound like in "you" they use more of a combination between the J sound and the SH sound. It's really hard to describe here. But I hadn't been paying attention. I was just concentrating on the words, not the sounds. So Spanish was Spanish. But I really should have noticed the absence of the Spanish lisp... I guess I'm not as observant as I thought. Oops.

**Do you know why the people of Spain speak with a lisp? The legend is that King Ferdinand (of Ferdinand and Isabella, they let Columbus go to America) spoke with a lisp so his people just started copying him. Might or might not be true. I like thinking it is.**

So now I understand why my madre hasn't made paella. And why she makes so much pasta. Thank goodness though. I'm hearing stories of the other mothers shoving food down the throats of already full Americans. Apparently they won't take "I'm full" as an excuse not to eat. They also pull the same guilt trip... "Think of the starving kids in Africa." I guess they get really upset when you don't finish EVERYTHING. And I don't think they'll consider just making less food. Thank God my madre's not like that.

I'm quite content with my living situation. Though, call me crazy, I won't mind moving to the smaller room down the hall. I don't really know why. It's empty and seems more cozy/cozier(?). It's closer to the rest of the house. It's not the peninsula room so maybe it'd be warmer. It just looks cuter.

So on Thursday I started new classes. Then even more start this coming Monday. I'm taking four new classes: court interpretation, Spanish literature with Armando, another Spanish grammar maintenance class, and Spanish anthropology/culture. No classes on Fridays (woot woot) and classes start late on Mondays so I can return from traveling early on Mondays if I want. Yay! With the court interpretation class we are expected to sit in on five court sessions where there are interpreters. Pretty cool huh? And Cynthia teaches it so that works out reeeeeally nicely.

**Another side note, I probably aced my final exam today.**

Man, I had so much I was gonna write about but I kept getting distracted! I'll continue writing tomorrow then.

And now it's midnight and I wanted to go out tonight but no one made plans. Hopefully tomorrow is a fun day. The weather is supposed to be AMAZING this weekend. Today was beautiful and it's supposed to get to 70 on Sunday!

So stay tuned for another update this weekend. I shall talk about my walk to the Castillo and the ongoing joke about olive oil.

Besos!