Antonio, por favor!!

We have two new students staying with us, both for about 4 weeks. One is from Germany and arrived on Sunday, the other is from Norway and arrived today just as I was getting home from school.

Antonio is a dirty liar and told me it would be a great day today, so I didn’t bring a rain jacket, and of course it started to rain. I was literally jogging from the metro to the apartment through the rain when I passed him. I stopped to say hello and get under his umbrella when I realized he was walking with someone else. He told me that she speaks English, so I said “Hello” to her and nothing else. I then realized that she was coming into our building, and that she had luggage. This is always when I realize we have new roommates: when they show up to the apartment with luggage or they come into our living room and sit.

This was the girl from Norway, who told us to call her May to avoid having to prounounce her actual name, and she does not know any Spanish. She says she can say “Hola” and “Como estas.” Ana is kind of worried, but I told her I would help. Ana is the sweetest woman in the world and wants everyone to be comfortable here and I know she’s worried about the communication barrier, but I told her I would help, so she’s been asking me to tell her things, even as simple as “Do you like the food?” Ana was explaining last night how if she just keeps a notebook with her and takes notes and learns at least one Spanish word a day she'll be in good shape.

So we had a full table at lunch today, and the energy just seemed more exciting, even though it was still only Sydney, Antonio, Ana, and myself contributing to the conversation. We had flan again for dessert, which is becoming one of my favorite things that Ana cooks for us. It was still in the molding when Antonio brought it to the table, so Ana flipped it on to the plate, but it wouldn’t come out. She kept trying to shake it, and Antonio would lean over to hit it with his knife, and Ana would try to block his arm saying “Antonio, por favor!” and he kept doing it just to mess with her. So freaking funny, I wish I had a video of it. Ana would have it in her hands and he would just lean over and whack it with his knife for no reason and then just sit back and laugh. I want to bring these two back to the states with me, they're just too adorable.