Let me begin by saying in this Full House scenario, as much as I would like to be the Uncle Jesse, I am more like Joey – the one who appears to belong the least, but everyone seems to be glad is there anyway.
Nadia’s brother Leanardo road tripped it into town with a Camary full of family from Buenos Aires. He brought his girlfriend Carolina, a chef who speaks Spanish, English, Italian, and Portuguese. She brought her two year old Oliver (or Ollie), who was well tempered, and the only person yet that I have been able to converse with in Spanish at an appropriate level. The bulk of this discourse consisted of him asking “Que es esto?” So inquisitive. The fourth member of this crew was Leanardo’s eight year old son Valentine, an outgoing, quick witted youth with a serious hammy streak. I know kids tend to have heads that are disproportionately large for their bodies, but Valentine takes the cake — like an orange on a toothpick! He was more than willing to practice his Spanish with me, debating our favorite type of movies. He was very absorbed in a Facebook game where you build your own city. When he found out I was from San Francisco, he immediately sent his entire fleet of cargo ships there on a mission of global trade. The next day, he made sure to alert me to the ships successful return, loaded with cargo. The type of cargo I never discovered. To round things off, we had Nadia’s 11 year old cousin Lulu. She spent the vast majority of time on Facebook or playing Grand Theft Auto. I graciously and appropriately surrendered the guest room to this gang of Porteños (Buenos Airians). Two double mattresses were laid down on the floor for a giant communal bed, although I think Ollie slept in the crib that’s set up for Brennan and Nadia’s soon to arrive daughter.
My twin mattress found a home in the living room with my temporary roommates, Matias and Silvina, two visiting Porteño friends of Nadia’s who set up shop on the futon sofa. Matias is the only ginger Argentine I have yet seen, a full-on redheaded, pasty skinned, freckled colorado. They were an outgoing couple, and my wingman and wingwoman when we went to the nightclub or boliche. I proved myself to be quite the enjoyable third wheel that evening, although they wanted to pack it in a little earlier than I did, around 5am. I mean come on, we didn’t even get there until 2am! When we got home we watched Treal TV in our room. They enjoyed it for its anthropologic value, and were impressed with the superfluous use of F-bombs by Mac Dre and the Crestside Creepers.
Living with ten people in a two bedroom, one bathroom house makes for close quarters. Jockeying for the bathroom is a little tricky, but we’ve been eating well, and the full house has been just about as enjoyable as Bob Saget made it seem.
