Aldeni´s House: The Unadvertised Hostel

Aldeni is my and Erin´s host mom. She is an adorable divorced middle-aged woman who looks like she just got back from a week at hempfest. I wouldn´t be surprised to see a fiddle hanging over her shoulder. She is very natural, which is hard to find in middle-class Paulistas (people who live in São Paulo). We were both worried our host mom would take us straight to the mall, which apparently is the thing to do here. But once we spent an evening with Aldeni, we didn´t have to worry about that.

She loves fruit!! and every evening she has a fresh salada de fruta sitting on the table for us to eat. Once she discovered I hate papaya she started making two seperate bowls, one with and one without that discusting fruit. I swear, it´s almost as bad as cilantro!

She is an excellent language teacher and knows just enough english to translate something if we don´t understand it in Português. She adviced me multiple times to find a Brazilian boyfriend and warned me that kids are like a box filled with surprises.

She has two sons one that is 15 and another who is currently living in Australia. She doesn´t work. Instead, she hosts abroad students from all over the world. Her house is not large but she has designed it to be the perfect international house. There are 6 beds, 3 kitchens, and 5 bathrooms. During my stay here I met people from, the Netherlands, Australia, USA, Colombia, Mexico, and Japan!!

The neighborhood is also a great place for students. Within a 3 block radius there are around 20 music stores. During the late afternoon, when I collapse on my bed drenched in sweat from that days activities, I often hear a squeeky trumpet stumbaling up a scale or a slow and steady drum beat booming in the distance.

We leave this homestay tomorrow at 6am. I am very sad to go. I will miss our jokes and her fiesty spunk. She is a strong independant women with love and care for all types of people. Well...except for the extremely wealthy, but who can complain about that. Most of all I´ll miss her adorable voice and the way she adds the letter `y´ to the end of most words.

-Kayla