Genaro

Genaro is my host padre I have been living with for the past 6 months and if you haven't met him or know anything about him I'd like to tell you.

Genaro is 68 and was born in 1942. He never had a good relationship with his father or family and when he was 17 he moved out to Santiago. Where he lived for about 5 years. There he worked in the restaurant business, probably as a waiter or something I think. He met a German couple who had fled Germany and moved to Santiago. They pretty much took him in as their own and when they were returning to Germany they said he is coming too. He then lived in Germany with his adapted parents and family for 5 years. They paid for his schooling in the culinary arts. He learned German from scratch by speaking it only with his host family and only had classes in German. After he graduated he went to Spain to work as a chef. He worked in southern Spain for ten or more so years at a five star restaurant as one of the chefs. He told me he has cooked for the king and queen of spain once and a prince of German, or duke or something. While working in Spain and during school he traveled all over Europe. After about 15 years abroad he returned to Chile. He then got work in a Tolhuaca Hot Springs for six years before beginning his teaching career in Pucon. He was a teacher for the Liceo Hotelería for about twenty years teaching cooking. Then he retired this year and when my principle asked him if he wanted to help in my program he said yes. He has had a lot of ups and downs and many experiences in his life he likes to talk about. He is a very very nice guy. He knows like every single person in Pucón and we literally can't walk down the street without bumping into someone he knows.
I had a very interesting time living with him. He was very kind and always fed me and made sure I was comfortable. But then again he is old, and one of the slowest people on earth, I'm not kidding. He is only 5ft tall and very feminine. He likes listening to classical music, reading, picking flowers and watching dances, not really man stuff you could say so it was a "fairly odd couple" living together. At times, many times, I did get very frustrated. But there is no point in trying to do anything, you learn to cope.

I am glad I lived with him it was quite the experience, he is a good friend. I hope to see him again in the near future and hope all goes the best for him.

Thanks padre,
Frankiline
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