Blog #4

My host family are the Saenz family.  This consist of Teofilo (dad – age 70, electrical engineer), Suzana (mom – age 47, secretary for lawyer), Anna-Christina (daughter – age 18, college student), and a fluffy grey stray cat.  So far, communicating has been rough.  I hardly know any Spanish so I am quite limited in my conversing.  I try to use gestures as much as I can, but it is still very difficult on my own.  Thankfully I have Eli here with me and I have been able to communicate through him as well as learn words and many other things about our family that I probably would not have figured out on my own.

In general, I see so much more collectivism.  It seems as though everyone is there to help each other out.  At lunch yesterday, I thought I saw the bus driver help with dinner, then David, who obviously was the tour guide was helping serve our food.  He was always happy to help.  When we were Riding on the bus and the road became unworthy of travel, the little kids let the bus driver know.  I feel if these situations happened in America things would have been different.  The bus driver may not have been allowed to eat, David would not have help because that is the job of the server or cook, and finally we may not have even been invited to Claudia’s.  In general, my host family seems pretty close (from what I see and understand).  So far, they always eat meals together.  Comparing my family to theirs, we maybe eat one meal per week together and we often do many things separate.

Today we spent the day first sleeping in (11 hours total) and then we walked around quite a bit.  We got lunch and explored the mall a little.  Then we went to the park that is just West of the academia.  This park was amazing.  There were so many people there and they were just out having fun.  One half of the park had many football fields, basketball courts, and then some volleyball courts.  People from young to old were involved too.  There were street vendors, walkers, and comedians (I laughed, but had no idea what they said).  Finally, we went to the botanical gardens.  This place was filled with so many plants that I have never seen before.  One section was specifically for roses.  Overall today, what I loved most was just getting to walk through and just experience what life is for so many people here.




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