365 letters

Letter 36

P.S. What is in parentheses is just a translation from Spanish to English and is not what she wrote in the letter. And if you do read Spanish forgive my misspellings I'm not perfect :)

dear landon,
"what happens in Spain, stays in Spain."
-me (unless someone said that already)

We went to the houses we were assigned to. We were one of the last ones to get dropped off, although they were all in the same neighborhood, Madrid.

We arrived at the address we were assigned to and I gazed up at the constructed shelter. It was made of brick walls and was two stories high. The yard they had was beautiful. It was what I would picture as a dream house.

"Clarissa, Lance, Landon, and Chelsea this is your stop."

We retrieved our luggage from above our seats and began making our way off the bus.

"Don't forget about your schedules!" Mrs. Ramos shouted after us.

"Gracias," I thanked the bus driver as I remembered from Spanish class.

We walked off and walked up the sidewalk to the front door. Chelsea seemed nervous, "What if they say we can't stay there anymore!"

"That probably won't happen," Lance spoke up.

"Yeah they can't," Landon spoke bitterly next to her.

"Who's ringing the doorbell?" I tried to ease the tension.

"You. You should probably do something right for ones that will actually benefit you," Landon said.

So he was going to keep going at it with his moodiness. Was he on his meriod or what? I don't understand why he can't just get over it. What's it to him anyways? I wasn't going to allow him to ruin my trip. It's not everyday you get a chance to visit Spain.

Ring.

A middle age woman opened the door looking curious as she suddenly smiled.

"Jose!" She yelled up the stairs.

"Si cariño?" He came approaching her. He took notice of us and waved for us to come in, "Bienvenidos! Come in, come in!"

"Please, take a seat," he gestured to the couches as to were he lead us into. His wife stood besides him as he introduced us to her, "This is my wife Theresa."

"Holla mija," she pulled me into a tight embrace.

"Hola."

She did the same to everyone else. It was then Jose looked a his watch and asked us, "It's around seven in the afternoon. Are you guys hungry?"

"Kind of...mostly jet lagged," Lance spoke up from my left.

"But hungry," Landon, who sat to the right of me, said.

"Come on. The chef made a special meal."

We followed him to the dinning room and took a seat in the first chairs we say next to each other.

"Ven para aca!" (come here)

"Deja me en paz!" (leave me alone!)

"Para!" (stop)

"Niño! No sean groseros!" (don't be rude kids)

"Who's is this?" The older boy questioned with a thick Spanish accent.

"Are these the students you said would be visiting?" The younger girl questioned with less of an accent.

"Yes, they are. And they are guest so treat them like it and act appropriately please," he warned them giving them the look, "These are my kids Carlos and Yolanda."

"Hey," I waved as the others followed. We might seem outgoing but we have our moments of awkwardness.

"Sonia, please serve us." The maid they had came closer and took us to the dinning room.

"Si." We ate in silence as we sat around awkwardly. It wasn't until Teresa sparked up a conversation and asked us about our trip. Carlos then started asking me and Chelsea very inappropriate things until he was scolded by Mr. Santos who apologized to us for him. I wasn't sure how we were suppose to manage living with such people when we couldn't even make a conversation. Yolanda also asked us about school and how it was going for us. Turns out that school wasn't as different in two different countries.

"Thank you so much for the food it was delicious," Landon praised Sonia, the maid.

She didn't seem to be as outgoing, or maybe it was to keep herself professional since she was on the job currently. So therefore all she did was smile.

"Toma," she handed a paper to Lance. I leaned over to read what is says.

Week schedule:
Monday- I'm sure most of you will spend your evening sleeping but if not then don't stay up too late
Tuesday- scavenger number uno (one)
Wednesday- scavenger number dos (two)
Thursday- scavenger number tress (three)
Friday- free day (keep it age appropriate)
Saturday- we will have dinner together "a las ocho de la noche" (eight in the night)
Sunday- we will be leaving at 12:00 p.m. So I suggest to get packing when awakening or Saturday night.

Good evening/morning,
I'm not sure what time of day you shall be receiving this. But I'm going to test your Spanish skills and see if it's as fun as you say it is. Your going on a scavenger hunt tomorrow at "quince para las cinco." If you misunderstood then I wish you the best of luck. Attacked on the third paper is the clue.
P.S. The first group to arrive gets points towards extra credit.
-Mrs.Ramos

We all pulled away from Lance as we sighed in frustration. This was going to be one of the longest trips.

so, that was an interesting adventure. soon i'll write about the first scavenger hunt. this will hopefully spark some memories.
-clare