Our homestay in Antigua

Chris and I got really lucky when we were assigned a homestay right beside our school. Our host mum, Lydia, is super nice. She cooks the most amazing food and even got me eating vegetables! Everyone knows how much I hate greens and will only eat vegetables that my mum cooks.

We get 3 meals everyday except Sundays. But Lydia will sometimes even offer us food on Sundays (Chris' note: in return, we supply free Cuba libres so everyone is happy). She takes care of us like our mother will and is never mad even when we stay up late at night chatting a little too loudly. We felt really bad a few times though because she never told us off.

Our host family has 3 other students in the house; Heidi stays in the room next to ours and Matt is upstairs. Matt's room is the biggest and even has a balcony overlooking the streets. Kennisha's room is upstairs as well and it's the tiniest room! Our room has no windows but because it is always pretty cold during the night, it is not so bad for us. Unless one of us has a stinky fart and we will have to open the door to let it air out.

Our host family has a family cat called Christina. She has the softest coat of fur and is quite a character. You would have thought a cat would run away if you started slapping her hard on her back repeatedly, but somehow Christina really likes it. She even purrs when you do it! Once, Karar spun Christina on the floor and after about 20 or so spins, Christina decided that she didn't like it and ran off, not before hitting her head on the stairs! I guess cats do get dizzy from spinning too. (Chris' note: Karar lives 2 doors down and eats with us every day. He's also part of our study-salsa-fight club).

Christina likes to lounge on Kennisha's luggage bag. We wonder if she likes the texture or maybe she has marked her territory there. If she's not on Kennisha's luggage, she will be sleeping in the glass cabinet in the hall (cum laundry counter ) where Lydia places all her bed sheets.

With our home right beside the school, teachers and students will often pop into our house to buy snacks during break time. Plus, Lydia also runs a laundry business in the house, hence our home is always buzzing with people. The house will only be truly 'quiet' after 7pm and we will have dinner together and practice conversing in Spanish (and S-S-F).