This past weekend, since I didn't end up going to Croatia, I had the opportunity to go skiing with the Spanish boys. I didn't have any ski clothes, so Alberto told me I could borrow Roman's. I asked why Roman wouldn't be needing them and he said, "Well since his parents are coming, he won't be going skiing with us." I ran upstairs to ask Roman if I could borrow his clothes and met him at the top of the stairs. Alberto was at the bottom of the stairs, and this was our conversation...
Me: Hey, since you're not going skiing, can I borrow your clothes?
Roman : I am going skiing, but you can wear my clothes; I probably have some extras somewhere.
Me: Oh, I thought your parents -- [Alberto clears throat repeatedly and I glance to the bottom of the stairs and see him, out of Roman's sight, waving his hands wildly at me and mouthing 'NO, NO, NO, NO, IT'S A SURPRISE.'] -- I mean, my parents... my parents are coming.
Roman: Okay... When?
Me: Um, April 3rd.
Roman: Oh. Cool....
Me: Yeah, I just wanted to let you know so you could be sure and meet them. Okay, I'm going to go back downstairs now. [I run downstairs and Roman stares at me, so confused.]
Turns out, Alberto assumed that I knew about the surprise as he and Sergio had been planning it for quite sometime. Luckily for me, his parents were only minutes away from I.K., so he didn't have time to figure it out. Sergio had picked them up from the train station and brought them back to I.K. They started singing the Spanish national anthem and clapping as they walked into Roman's room (which, by the way, is so funny to imagine in contrast with how weird this would be if an American family did it -- but for them, it was totally normal and charming). He was shaving in the bathroom and when he came out, he was shocked but so excited.
Alberto had been preparing a big lunch for the 5 of them and they insisted that I join! They made a pot of beans which they poured over bread and onions, which sounds strange, but it was delicious. Caroline and I figured out how to make Kaiserschmarnn recently so I asked if that could be our dessert and we whipped some up! Roman's parents loved it! They don't speak much English, so we spoke Spanish the whole time and I told Roman's mother that Roman's English has improved immensely since I first met him. She looked at me funnily and then after a moment said "Ohhh, Roman Chico!" (Roman Jr.) Come to find out, his dad's name is also Roman, so she was really confused. I can only imagine how awkward that sounded when I told her husband's English had drastically improved in the one hour that I'd known him.
The best part of the day, though, was when Roman said to me, "Now I know why you said that to me upstairs. After you walked down the stairs, I thought to myself 'I cannot imagine why she said that to me'. "
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