Host Family!!!

So today was an amazing day!!! Actually, I guess you could say yesterday and today together, since it was really within these two days that I found out who my host family would be. So, let me start from the beginning. First of all, I REALLY wasn't expected to find out my host family anytime soon since as I have said before, I applied so late to the AFS program and figured I would sort of be "punished" for this by not getting a host family until maybe a few weeks before I left. But no, yesterday I happily found out I was wrong! I received an email from my host sister, whose name is Maria, at about 6 pm last night. The email wasn't very detailed, it was just a few sentences that said she was my host sister and her family couldn't wait for me to come. I immediately emailed her back, sadly coming to the realization that since it was 12 am in Spain, I was probably going to have to wait until the next day for another email back. I emailed her a bunch of questions, like where they lived, and if she had any siblings, because I really still didn't know anything. It was agonizing to go to sleep that night, I was just so excited to find out where in Spain I was going to be that I fell asleep holding my ipod which had my email inbox open. Well this afternoon, I FINALLY got a reply from her with all the details!

So here's what I know: I will be staying in Ponferrada- which is is northwestern Spain.

Ponferrada is just outside the region Galicia, so I won't have to learn to speak Galician- which honestly I am kind of happy about, haha. There is some amazing history and old buildings in Ponferrada, but I will make a separate post about that later.

Now, my family! This is the part I am super excited about!
First I have a sister Maria, she is 16 years old like me!

Then, I have a brother, Hugo, who is 11, a mom and dad, and a dog! Here is a picture of the dog!

Isn't the puppy cute? :) I think he's a German Shepard or something like that, but I'm just so excited to have a dog in Spain!

Maria speaks pretty good English, so far we have been emailing back and forth in English, but I told her when I get in Spain I want to speak in ALL Spanish. Also, in Maria's words, "all our friends know that you willl come in september, all want to meet you , when you come it is the party of my city!!" She also told me "we never be a AFS family," so I will be their first one! Yayy! So needless to say, I am very excited to meet everyone!
Besos, Lani.