Monday, May 26

Today was a very productive Monday. I went to school, stayed after to dance barras and learn a new dance (the whole dance is like 10 minutes long and made up of little 30 second clips of a bunch of songs), and then got home around 4:30. At home, I got completely caught up on my blog, went for a run, practiced the dance I had been taught, and started the online orientation packet I have to fill out for Berkeley (since I will be missing actual orientation due to the fact that I’ll be about 5,000 miles away in Chile). It was about 9 at night and Lilian still hadn’t gotten home and Manuel and I were starving, so we decided to prepare once for ourselves. We proved that we don’t need a mom in the house to do everything for us, and we ate once all by ourselves like big kids. Lilian arrived, and we sat with her as she ate too. I enjoy talking with my family, but I have also learned how big Manuel’s ego is. I feel like every chance I get I have to remind him that he can’t just tell me things and have me blindly believe them (because honestly I can hold my own in the topics we discuss, even in Spanish). I enjoy hearing his opinions, I just don’t like when he says his opinions like they’re facts and lessons for me to learn, and I like to constantly remind him of my own opinions that are different from his but no less correct. Also, Manuel repeats the same stories, bad jokes, and speeches all the time, and Lilian and I started making fun of him for it. It was all in good humor, but honestly it does get old having to listen to his same old braggy stories like a thousand times a week. Overall, I just like the vibe we have as a family. We aren’t perfect, and there are some things I really don’t like, but I like that we can all say what we want to and make fun of each other but know that it’s all in fun and good humor. Anyway, I went upstairs around 10, watched a little TV, and went to sleep.