Spanglisherman

One of our host’s most curious characteristics is his avowed love of coincidences. This love is so strong that I’m fairly certain we would not be living where we’re living without it. You see, the other American student who boards with us is also named Nathan, and he took the same flight (albeit on a different day) to reach Buenos Aires. I’m pretty sure that Carlos was so enamored of this “coincidence” that he agreed to welcome us into his home.

Carlos’s love of coincidences is so strong that when a random German couple emailed him about paying a visit during their trip to Buenos Aires, he immediately leapt at it, solely because the couple happens to share his surname. In fact, he was so excited by this “coincidence” that he informed us, at one point, that the couple would need use of our bedroom, and that we would need to move out and live in a hostel for a week. We were ready to hit the road completely, but I think his wife talked him out of that, and so we’re still around.

The famously named couple finally arrived this weekend. They’re either in their late 50s or early 60s, and the husband is pretty deaf. They’re from Germany, and speak fluent English, but not a word of Spanish. When we returned from La Plata, we walked through the front door to find the entire family sitting around the dining room table with the American boarder, the German boarder, and the German couple. Invited to partake, we sat down for what was probably the most dysfunctional dinner conversation I’ve ever experienced. You’ve got Carlos, who speaks Spanish and just a bit of English and German. His wife and three children speak Spanish exclusively, Emily and I speak English and just a little bit of Spanish. The other American boarder speaks English and Spanish. The German boarder speaks German and English and a little bit of Spanish. And the couple––one of whom SHOUTS because he is TOTALLY DEAF––speaks German and English. Fortunately, everyone was fluent in the universal language of red meat, sausage, and red wine, so I guess we managed. But I'm not too surprised that the German couple hasn’t been back since. –NSH