Meet the González family

Family is, surely, an essential element to everybody. It's the core of society. In fact, the rest of the social elements wouldn't exist without family.

My family is a very typical one, I mean, as most of the families, it's composed by my mother, my father, my older brother, my little sister and me. As you can see, I'm the middle sister, and that's not actually easy, believe me.

My mother is called just like me, Mabel. She's a secretary, but is not working nowadays. She left her job when my brother was born. My mom engages in housework now.

My father is called Víctor, just like my older brother (by the way, I hate the fact my parents named us just like them). My dad has an electronic business, which is our main source of income. He has spent the last twenty years on it, with almost no vacations.

My older brother is called, as I just told you, Víctor, but we all call him Danny (because of his middle name, Daniel). He's 23 years old and was studying Laws, but he left it when he met his current girlfriend. What a shame, isn't it? Anyway, he's working now and living with his girlfriend.

Mi little sister is called Rosa. She graduated from high school last year, and is taking a year's sabbatical now, while she thinks about what to study next year.

Generally, I have a very good relationship with my family, because my parents are very understanding, my sister is a friend of mine as well, and my brother is a nice guy. However, we all have a very hard and strong personality, and that causes little fights or big discussions into the family.

Regarding my sister, we have a beautiful friendship. I wouldn't say she's my best friend, but we use to have very nice and fun moments together. We have very different tastes, but that makes our relationship a very interesting one. OK, we tend not to respect our personal tastes (such as music, food, hobbies, etc.), but I like discussing with her about I don't like or what she disagrees.

Honestly, I couldn't live without my family. Although all their faults and things I don't like about them, they're essential to me. They play a role of learning in my life, especially my parents. Perhaps I'm a little more indepent since I started to study here in Santiago and live with a cousin and an aunt of mine, but my family is still an indispensable factor to me and to things I decide to do and decide to avoid.

In the other hand, I don't have many friends, but they're really good friends and I'm happy with them. My best friend is called Dánida. She's 21 (just like me) and I met her in school. We studied together since primary and became friends instantly. She's now studying in San Felipe, so we don't meet frequently each other, but every time we do, we like to get out with other friends to dance or simply drink and talk.

My friends mean what my family doesn't mean to me. They can give me advices when I'm a little lost or confused about something or when I'm in trouble. They're probably a little more reliable than my parents, because they know how important are them to me. We also share many things in common, such as tastes, thinkings, ideas and even have a very simmilar forward-looking approach. Those things make my friends very special and important to me.

About influence, it's very difficult to find who has influenced my life more, but I think my family is more influential in the opinions I adopt and the way I think and act. However, my friends play an important role too in the decisions I take. It's like fifty-fifty.