Soooooo this has been an interesting week, where do I start? Host family? They have certainly have been interesting! : /
To begin, my host mother’s name is Berta, she is 53 years old and ama de casa, I live with her and her dad, Don Tego, whom is 80 something years old and mute. Berta also has a 26 year old son named Nori who visits with his girlfriend… Mari? Marti?... Whenever I say her name I just say it quick and mumble…it’s too late in the game to ask now. Haha
The first day we met our conservation was the usual “getting to know one another” convo. It’s always interesting getting to know people and their background, but in my case there wasn’t a connection… and there still isn’t. I know I shouldn’t be comparing my previous host family with my current host family but it’s so hard not to. The first day Lourdes and I met sparks flew, a connection was made. Haha Just kidding, but really, I truly felt comfortable with Lourdes, they made me feel apart of the family. There were little hints of things in their family that reminded me of my own family. For instance, Lourdes would always blast Latin music in the house, whether we were cleaning, making lunch, or it was early in the morning getting ready for the day, one of us would turn on the radio and belt out the tunes. Also, as I mentioned before Lourdes had a great sense of humor and loved to laugh much like my own family.
Anywho,
My current host mother stays at home 24/7, she rarely leaves the house, and if she does find a need to leave the house she is always accompanied. The last time she told me she left the house she said she paid her nephew to go with her to the market because she was afraid to leave the house alone! She always says she is afraid to do things and I truly feel sorry for her, yesterday I went to the pulperia (2 min walk) to purchase saldo for her phone because she was too scarred to walk alone; this is in contrast to superwomen Lourdes who commuted to Teguc by herself everyday till wee hours of the night. I try to make conversation when I come back from school, but when I ask her how her day was or what she did, her response is always, “oh, you know, the same”, or some variation of that. As you can imagine there isn’t much we can talk about and she tends to repeat herself constantly (really annoying). 6 more weeks…
On the upside, since my life is a lot more boring without tons of kids surrounding me… and Lourdes I have taken this time as a blessing in disguise and used it to focus on myself. For instance after class I jog everyday at the soccer field, I read more (currently reading 3 Cups of Tea), and not to mention will have more time to devote to my blogs.
Life here in Ojojona is definitely a lot slower then what I am used to; I think this is an adjustment I will need to make if I want to survive in Honduras. Saturday, after a couple hours of T.V. we spent about 2 hours outside just looking at the chickens walk around the lawn, we talked a couple times but the time was mostly filled with silence, the chickens talked more amongst each other perhaps. Most other trainees and their families went out to the beach, to another town, shopping… did something! I’m not asking for much; just take me out for a walk to get to know the town and people. You know? Well since I wasn’t looking forward to Sunday becoming the same ol’ story I decided to spend most of the day with a couple of trainees, which ended up being a great time.
Food is not as great as Lourdes’ either, I don’t get enough vegetables and any fruit! Breakfast is the usual warm milk and cereal, which I thought I could get used to, but it’s not happening. Also, (I know I am being nit picky) Berta as well as Lourdes always fill the cereal bowl with milk FIRST then add the cereal, 1) I can make my own cereal! 2) Who starts a bowl of cereal with milk 3) Why drown the cereal? And 4) If I had leftover milk the first time wouldn’t you give me less the second time around, especially since I said, “prodia tener menos leche?” ….I digress
Lunch… ehh mas o menos
Dinner… I think I am beaned out! Good thing beans aren’t affecting me here like they did in the states! … yeah you know what I’m talking about familia! With a plate of beans it’s typical to have mantequilla, which is a kind of like a sour cream substance. The first night she just added it on my beans without asking, I had to ask her to please place it on the side next time.
Berta really needs to step up her game!
On a more positive note, I can say that her homemade tortillas are the bombdiggity! Although they are made with mazeca they are still delicious.
As for technical classes, two other trainees (Brett and Allysun) and I are in the advanced Spanish class and will be participating in an independent project instead of having Spanish classes five days out of the week. This means a lot more flexibility and time management on out part. I’m still not sure of logistics, but I will be working with youth on subjects regarding business and computer basics, development topics, etc. Brett and Allysun are in charge of working with a local vocational school for young adults which is a very interesting opportunity as well. I think these next couple weeks will definitely be a challenge, but I am really excited!
Well this is my update so far! I have limited access to internet now, so I will only be able to answer emails during the weekend.
Next week, is Semana Santa so we have Thursday and Friday off! Woohoo
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment