10501 Experiences as a guest or a host

Hi everybody!
I experienced two situations as a guest:
once in England - Leamington SPA
once in France - Paris
Leamigton Spa: such a wonderful stay! they were both so kind! i stayed there for three weeks as a student in a family and they gave me everything I needed. As Italian I was thankful to them for all they did and I was very kind in return. Some nice misunderstandings didn't give up our special relationship. I remember that I asked them for the meaning of the expression "to get stuck" and [I]mummy [/I]immediately took a dictionary explaining me all possibles meangings of that!! [U]A funny recollection:[/U] they showed me an elegant book..soon I thanked them for the "nice" present (even if i did have no idea of what it exactly consisted of) then I observed they were embarrassed..as that book was not absolutely a present nor a BOOK but an "agenda" were they wanted me to put a signature and a message as a evidence of my well staying at their home! ...two days later they gave me a REAL present: a REAL book about the best places to visit in the South of England..I thanked then another time asking myself how spontaneous was their gift..:reallyembarrassed: however we still keep in touch!:laughs:

:no:another slightly different experience is about my staying in Paris in the girlfriend of my Italian cousin, who does live in Paris with her. As he was all day long at job I spent a lot of time with her (who doesn't need to work because of her social status)..she was even too kind..she told me " you can ask me for everything you need..you can use all my things in my house..and you can open every drawer without asking me - so that I probably bothered her if I would ask..she gave me a lot of nice gifts, then I was quite at disease as i couldn't return as well..Sometimes, in the evening,I stayed alone at her home - 'cause she was every time to restaurants, and I couldn't afford it..Once upon a time..I bought a pizza to supermarket with ham - so sad for Italians abroad!! - forgetting she was Jewish and unknowing the fact that she hates even the presence of pork meat in her house..when she came back home and inquired me for what I ate, I saw an expression of angry in her glance..then she became furious and put all I used to cook that awful pizza in the basket, opened all windows to let the "bad smell" go out from that "sacred" place and she didn't even talk to me for the rest of the night..I couldn't have imagined her reaction..I acted in good willing..I think she consider me as a "fish of three days" even though I never wanted her thought of me as such!!:wideeyed:

Talk to me about your funny experiences as a guest or as a host!