Roommates

I have such good roommates.

This morning (afternoon) I woke up at 2 pm. I woke up late because I've been a bit sick, so I didn't sleep very well because of a cough.

I went into the kitchen for some green tea and breakfast, and Emma and Nacho were both sitting there at the table. Nacho had just finished making fideua, a typical seafood dish made with thin noodles and vegetables from Valencia, the region in Spain where he's from. He's a very good cook. He offered me some because he had made too much (most likely on purpose), so I had a plate for breakfast. Que rico! How delicious!

(For a description and picture of fideua see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fideu%C3%A0)

Then I went to hang up a load of laundry that I had done the night before and found the washing machine full and running. I asked Nacho and Emma about it. Apparently Emma asked him whose clothes were in the machine, and when he told her that I hadn't slept well because I'd been up coughing all night, she hung up all my laundry for me.

Then I tried to wash the dishes (mine from the night before making soup and some of Nacho's from the fideua). Emma was already in the middle of doing them. I told her to leave half so I could finish them. Sat down with yet another mug of green tea and talked to Nacho for a bit, and when I looked over she was on the last pan. I asked what she thought she was doing by not leaving me any to do, and she just dismissed me with a "eh. I was already cleaning them and in the dish-washing zone. You've done my dishes other days." and finished cleaning it.

I asked if either of them wanted some green tea or any other kind of tea (they never do, so it was mostly a joke), and they made fun of me for drinking so much tea. Then they decided that I'm still sick because I don't have a "nice madrileno man" (guy from Madrid) to take care of me properly. I told them that if they felt like finding me a quality one that I wouldn't be opposed to it but that I don't plan to look for one myself, and they said they would work on it. (Hopefully a joke.) They're as good as being sarcastic and giving people crap as they are at cooking and sharing.

En fin, I'm happy with where I'm living and the people I'm living with.

Me, Nacho, and Emma on our couch before a black-and-white birthday party.

Quick background of each of the roommates:

Emma -- She is a 24 year old law student. She was born in Mexico where she lived for 12 years before living in Sacramento for 2 years and then moving to Galicia (Spain) with her mom and stepdad. Her mom is Mexican and her dad is from Pennsylvania and doesn't speak a word of Spanish. He's currently living in California and working as a chef. Now she has been in Madrid for 2 or 3 years studying. She has a lot of friends, likes dressing up to go out dancing, has tons of shoes (mostly heels), and is extremely honest, intelligent, and direct while still being kind.

Nacho -- He is in his first year of an engineering program here in Madrid. He's 22 years old and from Valencia (Spain). The other day he made 8 liters of sangria in our kitchen because a few people were coming over. Half of it is still in our refrigerator because he overestimated so badly. He likes sweet drinks, soccer, and cooking. His parents own an Italian restaurant in the town he's from. He gives everyone shit. All the time. He likes traveling, drinking, and meeting new people.

Joseph -- The one roommate not mentioned in the story above. He's from Paris and is 24 or 25 years old. He speaks some Spanish, but not a lot. Since our schedules don't coincide much and since he spends a lot of time with some of his French friends, I don't see him as much as I see my other roommates, but when I do, he's always very pleasant. He's studying for a masters in business and will only be here for 4 months. He's married and has a 2 month old baby boy. His wife and baby are both in Paris, so he flies home almost every other weekend to visit them and talks on Skype a lot. He doesn't like cooking very much and usually eats pasta with butter and shredded emmental cheese. As in... 6/7 days probably. He likes to watch movies and is a nice, although sometime not very present, roommate.