Second Family
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Jessica
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Jessica: About three years ago I went and I lived in Madrid for a year and I stayed with a host family, and there was three boys: one was my age, one was two years younger, and one was, at the time he was 9 years old, and it was one of the best experiences of my life.
I stayed in a city outside of Madrid, it's called Alcola de Hernades, and it's about a 30 minute train ride from Madrid, from downtown Madrid. And, I also went to school Monday to Friday. I went to a Spanish International language school, and so I went to class with Brazilians, French, German, Turkish, and so that was really good for my Spanish just because I was able to practice without having the ability to speak English, so my Spanish greatly improved, just from my friends, having to communicate to properly with them. My host family like I said was really wonderful. I would take the little one, Javi, my little brother, out a lot, we would go on what we called our citas, which is dates, so I would ask him where he wanted to go for our date and he would tell me, you know, like, in Madrid he wanted to see, one time we went to a wax museum, so he was able to vist the city which he did not have a lot of opportunity to do before that, so with the help of Javi and his host Mom, I was able to like thoroughly enjoy my Spanish experience and improve my Spanish as well.
host family
I lived in Madrid for a year, and I stayed with a host family.
A 'host family' is the family that you live with in another country if you are studying abroad. Notice the following:
- I learned many things about the culture by living with a host family.
- She thinks of her host family as a second family.
my age
One of the boys in my host family was my age.
If a person is 'your age' it means that he is the same age or a similar age. Notice the following:
- My son doesn't have many friends his age.
- It is nice to be around people my age for a change.
date
I asked him where he wanted to go for our date.
A 'date' is a romantic meeting with someone. If you on a date with someone you go do something with a person you are romantically interested in. Notice the following:
- This is where we went for our first date.
- We are going on a date to the theater tomorrow night.
wax museum
One time, I took my little brother to the wax museum.
In a 'wax museum' there are the wax copies of famous people on display. Notice the following:
- The displays at the wax museum looked very real.
- When you are in a wax museum it feels like you are at a big party with many famous people.
thoroughly
I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in Madrid.
If you 'thoroughly' enjoy something you like it a lot. Thoroughly is similar to completely. Notice the following:
- The movie was thoroughly entertaining.
- I am thoroughly exhausted from all the work I did today.
Vocabulary Quiz
wax museum • thoroughly
