Aldo

Aldo is my host dad. For the past week, my host mom has been in Uruguay dealing with some legal stuff. She is from Uruguay, so this isn't particularly crazy. At the beginning of this week, I was super terrified that Aldo was extremely bothered by me and that a whole week of the two of us alone would end with me sleeping in the elevator and subsisting off of empanadas and piropos.

This week I've learned that Aldo is not Argentine, or even from Uruguay, but is Italian. He's never bothered to naturalize, but also spends about equal time in Argentina and Italy. He's 77 and is an architect.

Aldo likes to watch TV. He's kind of on vacation right now I think...he loves watching the news. However, he absolutely hates every politician and is very conservative. I have yet to admit to him that I voted for Obama or that I like tofu. Every time they mention Obama on TelEspana (IDK why we watch this instead of like, an Argentine channel) he scoffs and complains about how little he's done. Maybe we don't watch Argentine channels because he would murder someone if he had to hear about Kirschner doing anything "good." Today there was an accident with this building and the announcer would say "we don't know if the victims are alive or dead." Aldo spent about ten minutes explaining to me that it wasn't that hard to check if someone was alive.

We also had a long conversation about the microwave. We were having a "pasta thing" for dinner (that's what he called it--it was a lasagna with spinach, slices of ham and...hard boiled eggs...in it) and he told me I could microwave my portion, but there was no way he was going near it. He called it "the monster in the corner" and promised me that if it didn't have fire in it, he wasn't going to use it.

Last night I was heading to my UBA class. I had my backpack and was unlocking the door when he asked me "what's that thing on your back?" I stared at him, confused. He then informed me that the only thing I really needed for class was a notebook and a pen. He wouldn't let me leave until I'd put everything else in my room and then was like, isn't that better? it was awkward in a caring way.

This was also true of Saturday, when we aren't supposed to eat with our host families. He asked me if I wanted to eat with him and I was like, we aren't supposed to? He told me to fuck the law and offered it to me again. I told him I loved his food but i'd already made plans with everyone else who wouldn't be getting food. He told me that "it's better that way" in response to that his food was good.

In short, I'm really glad we've had this week to bond in silence, though I will be excited to see Cristina whenever she comes back and brings conversation into our lives.