Llega Elena, la nueva asistente

JAVIER: This is the house.   ELENA: Great.   JAVIER: Andrea, we are here. Well, Andrea, I introduce Elena to you.  ANDREA: Nice to meet you.  ELENA: Hi. Likewise. You speak Spanish?   ANDREA: Yes, a little.   ELENA: Where are you from?   ANDREA: I’m from Italy. I’m the Italian TA.  ELENA: From which city?   ANDREA: From Bologna.   ELENA: Nice. And what are you studying?   ANDREA: I take psychology classes for my MA in Italy. And you?   ELENA: I’m doing an MA in political science.   ANDREA: Great. Are you tired?   ELENA: Yes, a little.   ANDREA: Hmmm…How many hours traveling?   ELENA: Well, it was 14 hours, between the flight from Cordoba to Buenos Aires, and then from Buenos Aires to New York, and then to arrive here, of course.   JAVIER: OK. Let’s go inside, kids. Thank you. OK. I’ll show you the house a bit. Here is your room.   ELENA: Great.   JAVIER: Then, here we have the living room. Behind is the kitchen.   ELENA: Nice.   JAVIER: And upstairs we have the bathroom, my room, and Andrea’s.   ELENA: Great. And this monkey?   JAVIER: Well, his name is Pepe. His name is Pepe because it is an Italian and Spanish name. Since we cannot have live animals, we have Pepe, because they say that they help reduce stress.   ELENA: But when they are alive, right?   JAVIER: Hug him, and you’ll see how nice the hug is.

Comprensión de la escena

Temas de estudio

Notas culturales

Kissing at hello Kissing is a typical way to greet when being introduced or meeting again, except in very formal and professional situations. Kissing is done among  women, and men and women–men don’t usually kiss, unless they are relatives. Actually, the action involves bringing the cheeks close to each other and sending a light kiss to the air.  In most countries people kiss on one cheek (the right one), but in some countries people kiss on both cheeks.

Use of Chicos Un chico/una chica is literally a young man/woman, even a child. But it can be translated as guys, kids, friends, hey, etc., depending on the context, when calling for someone’s attention. Spaniards use it a lot, and so does Javier.

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