¡Yo tengo una amigermana nueva!

That’s “frister” in Spanish, btw. I’m not sure exactly how it happened, but all of a sudden we’re friends with our host sister, Catalina (21). She had been fairly stand-off-ish in the beginning, never really talking to us or giving us the time of day. A little over a week ago Catalina finally had some friends over to the house and she invited us to come hang out, which Kniccoa and I did, but we sat silently the whole time not understanding a word being said (too fast with too much slang – ah!). Luckily one of the guys was a little tipsy and told the same story about buying his girlfriend a teddy bear at Mas X Menos for Valentine’s day about four times, so by the fourth time I finally got all the details of the story. Even then, Kniccoa and I felt very awkward all night and Catalina didn’t talk to us much then or afterwards. Then, last Tuesday Catalina came home while I was eating dinner (Kniccoa had gone out for pizza) and plopped down at the table and just started talking. We talked about friends and boys and parties and freshman sluts on halloween. We hung out and chatted and I showed her pictures on my computer, and all of a sudden it was 1:00 am. Then the next afternoon she pulled up pictures on her computer and showed them to us. Among other things, Catalina loves movies. She rents them five at a time, and is always going to the movies with her brother or friends. Last week, she saw Sweeny Todd (the Tim Burton version of the musical) three times. Wednesday night, we had our first family event: The Catalinas brought Kniccoa and me to the mall where we ate at the food court (Pizza Hut, yum), and then we met Luis Carlos (our 30-something brother) to see Sweeny Todd. It was good... very bloody, and Kniccoa and I had to cover our eyes for a lot, but the costumes were great and the scenery very artsy. I can see why Catalina likes it; she’s a design student. Then on Thursday night I was going out to Castro’s Bar with my dance class and she helped me pick out what to wear (I have a hard time not living in a dorm with lots of girls to run to for advice!). Maybe Catalina is just shy and takes a while to open up to people. I might do the same if I always had strangers living in my house. Either way I’m glad we talk now, it’s nice to feel more like a family member and less like a guest in the house.