Character Caricature (Using an Exclamation Mark in Text and Speech)

I recently moved into a homestay where I live with a married couple in their 50's and a few other international students. It's a nice environment, and after acclimating to this different social arrangement, it has become comforting. The mother cooks wonderful food and cleans and entertains. The father works long days, comes home and generates the noise in the house. Let me explain.

The father is a well established architect and is from Arequipa, the southern capital of Peru. In my Moon Guides Peru, Arequipenos are described as such:

"Texans of South America. Loud, confident."

They didn't mention excitable. Or use exclamation marks.

I came home last night at 9PM, found him eating dinner and asked him "How was your day? Long?"

He responded "Bien! Bien! Manana mejor!" (Great, great, tomorrow will be even better!). I can't capture his cadence of speaking in text but the general attitude is of an inclination to expressing oooooh! aaaahhh!! in whatever word is being said.

He injects conversations with moments of reflection and appreciation on the size of such a big supermarket or to marvel about the ingenuity of this building with drawn out words or just sounds (like the letter m).

He'll work himself up exhorting the importance of these two streets in Lima. "Do you know why they are important?! Do you know why?" asking twice or thrice, making you wait for the answer and building up an anticipation that is ridiculously exhilarating for a subject so mundane. "Because on the corner is the wonderful Interbank building!! The one that looks like it's inclining over the highway!).

I'm thinking
"Come on, on the one hand, it's just a building with some lights...


...but on the other hand, it does look like it's leaning over the highway!"


(Pictures from skyscraper.com)

He'll draw out syllables, so that a simple comment will last 20 seconds. E.g. "Mmmm, que bbuuuennnaa es la comida italiana, siii, que ddelliicccciioossoooo es!!" (How ddeelliiccciiouuss italian food is!!). And he'll sit there a minute practically smacking his lips as if he's actually eating Nona's sauce.

As if he's trying to fill the room with the word 'buuueennnaaa.' And the room fills. With mmmm and aaaaaahhhh and sssiiiiiiiiiiiiiii and quueee buuueeennnaaaa!! and their associated feelings. A large, enthusiastic presence.

We were talking about the herb Laurel (bay leaves I think) and I didn't know the word in English so he was trying to explain to me what it was and his wife said she had some in the cupboard and he gets excited "Aaahhh sii, en vivo! en vivo! Tienes que verlo!!" like "We have the real specimen, live! You must see this!"

This morning at breakfast, he wanted to open the curtains to let the light in. When it happened, you would have thought it was the first time he'd seen light come in through a window. "Loook! Look how it enters the room!!"

I don't know why but I laughed when I saw his architecture services wesbite today. At http://www.diegolarosa.com/. A character indeed.

I wonder what life is like for such a man, when every thing, every day is a living wonder. Do you get tired of describing marvels, and how could your heart withstand the sight of modern and ancient miracles like Tokyo, Times Square or Iguazu Falls or the Pyramids? Or is every day like seeing Machu Picchu?

Record set for exclamation mark usage.