Bringin the boy home...

After spending some time in a country you start to see some of the more personal and family related cultural differences.

Last night our house Mom got off the phone and came in to talk to me, I was on the couch and Megan was in the shower. Julía put her head in her hands and started crying. She was telling me that she had just hung up the phone with her granddaughter, Sophie. She was struggling and said that she had called to ask if she could bring her boyfriend over for lunch the next day. She kept saying, she´s only 18 and then she would struggle to stop crying.

Now I should mention that that is all that happened. Here in Spain you never ever under any circumstance bring a guy home unless you are pretty well planning to marry him. The families have no interest in knowing the guy  beforehand...and they are not welcome in the house until they are serious and going in the direction of marriage.

This morning Julia cleaned everything! She mopped and cooked all day and prepared for this kid to come over. He is actually a couple years older than Sophie and is just working right now, not going to school. So that is about all the information we have up to the point that we come home from school today. We are sitting in our room just unwinding from classes and waiting for lunch. The phone rings.  After a few minutes of conversation Julia starts to cry again. My heart breaks! She is arguing on the phone and from what we get on this side of the line, the granddaughter was no longer coming over, she had decided she didn´t want to or I don´t even know. And Julia is getting upset because of all the work she has put into everything and how much food she has cooked, we are minutes from eating!

So she gets off of the phone and she has us sit down to start eating and she´s of course happy and talkative with us. I know she knows that we could understand everything, but we of course mentioned nothing and just ignored it. Well we are just starting to eat when the doorbell rings a good ten times. So Julia goes and answers it...it´s the Sophie and her boyfriend.

Now we have met a lot of people in Julia´s home and she always introduces them and then we stand and kiss them on both cheeks (there is no handshaking in this country). This time however, Julia walks down the stairs to the table, and without looking at him says "Él es el novio de Sophia." No name, nothing just this is the boyfriend of Sophie! So we both looked at Julia for approval to stand and kiss him on both cheeks like we always do. She grabbed the bowl of pasta and started piling it on our plates. Approval to stay right where we were.

So then the granddaughter makes a snappy comment to her abuela and then the two of them leave the room and proceed to more or less scream at each other. So it´s Megan and I, two American girls, and this guy who we have no idea if he even has a name and who doesn´t really know if we speak any english. What´s better is that he has just walked into this house and after 30 seconds has caused a fight and is stuck with the Americans! He also has a mullet...yes a mullet. And to he´s pretty much a loser, he says curse words and that´s about it. He can´t speak in complete sentences and Megan and I are doing everything we can to not burst out in laughter!

So eventually they come back into the room and Sophie says she doesn´t want to eat until her aunt got there. Angela is her aunt and she always comes in late but for whatever reason Julia has us eat before she gets home, I think because she gets home so late. Anyway, Julia and her still spat back and forth. And Julia tells her that she (Julia) is going to eat with us! So she sits down and we do our best to pretend like we don´t understand. Meanwhile the boyfriend is sitting on the couch.

We eat as quickly as we can and get out of there. We go to our room and practically glue ourselves to the wall to listen to what´s going on...it was loud and clear. Things like "I am your grandmother" were said and it was pretty fascinating! At one point she said to the guy "You want to be a doctor!" (with the yeah right, you have to be kidding tone of voice!!!)

We didn´t siesta, no one could have in that house! But we went to the park with the group and that was nice...and it was one of the most interesting days thus far!

What did I take out of the experience. I am grateful and relieved to know that no matter what, no matter the situation, bringing a guy home will never, ever be this bad. I counted my blessings.

Vida, Amor, Viaje....and a little humor.