Blog Post #12 - Hosts and Hope

When Carly and I first arrived in Ecuador and were picked up by our host parents, we were the last to leave the Academia in the early hours of the morning and were greeted with a “Get in the car!” and were not given hugs or kisses or warm greetings like the rest of our classmates who had left before. Instead, we put our suitcases in the back of the car and were driven to our house. Along the rides, we were asked our names and then had much more Spanish rattled off to us than even I who have studied Spanish for 3.5 years could understand so early in the morning. We ended up riding to the house in silence for the most part, which was awkward. Once we made it to our family’s apartment, we were shown our room and beds and bid goodnight by our mother who shut the door on her way out of our room. I think it’s safe to say that Carly and I were both a little concerned about our host family placement. Were they not as warm and welcoming as the parents of our classmates? Were they really not interested in us? These were the concerns we had early on in our stay on Gonzalo-Serrano street.

It turns out that our host family is incredibly warm, but they are still pretty distant in comparison to many of our classmates’ host families. Our only interactions with our host parents revolve around breakfast or dinner for which sometimes only one parent is present. Our host parents have a daughter named Gabriella who lives with them, but we were never introduced and instead met Gabriella for the first time coming home late one night and being unable to open the door, resulting in Gabriella opening the door and telling us that our parents were out and wouldn’t be back for another hour or so. Our host parents also have a son who is a lawyer, but I’ve never been introduced nor do I know his name. I see him pass by the kitchen in the mornings occasionally dressed in dress clothes and sometimes holding papers. One weekend our host family had their extended family over, but Carly and I were again not introduced nor invited to join them. Our parents and family are laid back, which does have its perks, but it also feels as though we could be a lot closer to them like our classmates are to their families.

The most important contribution I made at Neque today was probably helping put together the felt and foam flowers that the students of the upper level were creating today. I worked my way around different parts of the flower-making process, including cutting, painting, and hot-gluing. All were important to the final product of the process, and I was able to make conversation and have fun with the girls at the table I was seated at as well, creating a special bond with the girls there. Perhaps the relationships made over the flower creating were the most important contribution of all.