This offer began back in September, 2022 when I received a work opportunity to extend my stay in Europe. At that time when I received the room and board opportunity, I was already vacationing in the Eastern region. Now, the Western region awaits, and I’ll be navigating this part of the adventure solo.
The initial two months of my trip were spent in the delightful company of my mom, during which we explored seven different countries. Holding the reins of my journey now, I’m determined to make the most of this opportunity. I’m breaking free from thoroughly planning every day of my travels and embracing the enticement of the unknown.
It all began when I contacted my former spanish teacher / mentor, sharing my wish to visit her hometown. Little did I know, fate had something much deeper planned for me. As it happened, her neighbors were looking for someone to teach their daughters English. Without having met them in person, I found myself standing at the train station, ready to embark on this new chapter.
The morning of my arrival, I was greeted by Marcelo (the host dad) and Candela (the eldest daughter), who picked me up from the train station. From that moment, my journey took an unexpected turn filled with excitement and uncertainty.
He drove us through the city back to their apartment. Right out of the elevator, I was welcomed with open arms by Maria (the host mom) and introduced to Julia (the younger daughter). The girls graciously gave me a tour of their home while Marcelo brought my bags up from the car. Maria was already busy preparing lunch in the kitchen.
Throughout my stay, the girls seized every opportunity to ask me questions, eager to get to know me better. I arrived on a Saturday, and from that night onward, every Saturday was reserved for spending time with Maria’s family. On Sundays, they would dedicate their time to Marcelo’s family. I was excited about the prospect of meeting their families, but I couldn’t help feeling a bit nervous about expressing myself in Spanish once again. To be completely honest, my host family had set the stage for success, and we all connected very well. I knew that this temporary role teaching the girls English could potentially be everything I had hoped for.
Candela was the most vocal among them, having picked up numerous English words from her private school lessons. She made it a daily ritual to greet me with “good morning” and “good night.” Right from our first week together, she was determined to enhance her pronunciation and sentence fluency. We even collaborated on her English and math homework.
Julia, on the other hand, started off rather shy until her birthday party. She enjoyed sitting beside me but initially felt she couldn’t connect with me unless I spoke Spanish. Although English was meant to be our primary mode of communication, Julia was keen to make a deeper connection. Her enthusiasm shone through as we jointly planned and decorated for her birthday celebration and Halloween. We designed a scavenger hunt for her friends, baked a cake, adorned picnic tables at the park, captured countless pictures, and danced to her choice of music.
Maria is the heart and caretaker of the family. She thrives on bringing laughter, joy, and togetherness by organizing fun games and outings. During the day, I often accompanied her while running errands and preparing home-cooked lunches. We shared a close bond, and I would confide in her about my life back home and my aspirations for the future.
Marcelo, conversely is more reserved and tends to keep to himself. I completely understand, given that he’s the only male in the household. He consistently took charge of dinner preparations and ensured the girls were safely picked up from school. Marcelo was also my go-to source for recommendations on places to explore or things to see. Occasionally, he’d ask me to translate phrases into English for him, and as we encountered challenging words, we started compiling a list of basic sayings that they would practice repeatedly.
October was far from an ideal month, given everyone’s hectic work and school schedules. Nevertheless, we refused to let that deter us from having a fantastic time together. In addition to immersing myself in their lifestyle, I wanted to share some aspects of my own.
I introduced them to my beloved homemade chocolate chip cookie recipe, and our Halloween decoration project remains etched in our memories. The girls were diligent about finishing their homework quickly so that we could dedicate more time to perfecting our decorations well in advance. Initially, the parents voiced concerns about the clutter left around, but they soon realized that we were creatively recycling materials to craft cut-out ghosts, pumpkins, witch hats, bats, and black cats!
I stored most of the decorations in my closet until the week of Halloween. Little did I know that we weren’t the only ones partaking in the “trick or treating” festivities. Julia dressed up as a Devil, while Candela represented a main character from a series called “Money Heist.” Upon our return with buckets brimming with candy, the parents had a delightful surprise in store for us!
We saved the best for last, our penthouse. As we entered the living room, guided by blindfolds, we couldn’t help but be suspicious of what awaited us. To our amazement, the parents had taken it upon themselves to align with the theme of the night. The room was adorned with everything from orange chips, a selection of veggies and crackers for the dip, a pumpkin-inspired main dish, hotdogs artfully wrapped up like mummies, and sugar cookies ready to be decorated. The girls and I were utterly stunned by the effort and thoughtfulness.
Our initial batch of cookies may not have been visually appealing, but they were undeniably delicious. During my grocery shopping expedition, I unintentionally purchased raw sugar instead of brown sugar and a chocolate bar to crush into chips. This caused the cookie batter to be excessively sticky, making it challenging to place it onto the cookie sheet. After the trial cookies, we decided to incorporate more flour, but this led to the batter becoming somewhat dry flakes and less sweet.
Marcelo didn’t exactly encourage us to persist with the baking experiment, but we were determined not to let the batter go to waste. Instead, we decided to get creative and used a unicorn-shaped mold. Thus, what was originally a recipe intended for around 25 individual cookies transformed into one very large unicorn cookie.
For the second batch, I decided to make it while the girls were at school so they could assist me in placing the dough on the cookie sheets later. This time, I made sure to use the correct ingredients, resulting in a more consistent batch. It was evident that these cookies were impossible to resist. Each bite was delightfully soft and gooey, and even a few days after they were baked, the cookies retained their freshness.
The girls indulged in these treats after dinner, enjoyed them in the morning with a glass of milk, and even packed some in their school bags for a satisfying snack. I couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of happiness and pride in how well they turned out.
Too this day, this cookie recipe is now named the “Americas Chocolate Chip” as I continue to introduce it to my friends and host families all over.
