My Cuencan family

It occurs to me that I haven't written a whole lot about my host family, which is ridiculous because my family has been my favorite thing about being here in Ecuador. I'm really excited to go home next weekend (in case you hadn't noticed), but I wish so badly that I could bring my whole host family with me!!

My host parents, Jaime and Rita, are amazing. Jaime is a retired civil engineer, and he's in his 60s. Rita will be 60 this month. They've both been so patient with my Spanish speaking, and they're the ones that usually have to deal with me speaking late at night when my brain is really tired. Rita speaks really fast, because she's originally from the coast (the city of Manabí, I think), and Jaime grew up in Cuenca so he has a very pronounced rhythm to his speech (they say people from Cuenca "sing" when they talk), but we manage to understand each other.

Rita and Jaime have three children, and their daughter, María Fernanda is the oldest. She spent a year studying in Germany when she was in high school, so she can really sympathize with the foreign students that stay with her parents. She loves to travel, and she loves Christmas. She had her Christmas decorations up in October! María Fernanda's husband's name is José, but they call him Pichi. I'm not sure what he does for a living, but I know it sometimes requires trips to Europe. He knows a fair amount of English. They have a four-year-old daughter named Antonella, who is hilarious. I really hope she gets involved in the arts as she gets older. She's always moving, and she skips and dances more than she walks. She's very dramatic sometimes, and she likes to sing and she loves to draw. María Fernanda told me she sometimes goes through a sketchbook a week. Anto goes to preschool, and they apparently learn a lot of English there. She can count to ten, sing "Happy Birthday" and "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes," and she knows a lot of basic nouns and phrases like "thank you" and "you're welcome."

Jaime and Rita's oldest son is Jaime Felipe. He rides his motorcycle to work, and he sometimes drops by for lunch. He's learning English, and sometimes he'll be talking to me in Spanish and pause mid-sentence to ask how to say a particular word he just used in English. He has absolutely no desire to travel, though. He understands why I want to see the world, but he sees no reason for him to leave Ecuador. However, I know he's been to the U.S. and to the Dominican Republic with his family. Jaime Felipe's wife is Soledad, and I love her. She's very bubbly and friendly and interested in what I have to say. The family joke is that she's la loca tía Sole ("crazy Aunt Sole"). She studied in Oklahoma when she was seventeen. Jaime Felipe and Soledad have two children, Mateo and Valentina. Mateo is eleven, and he's your typical middle school boy. He loves food, football (aka soccer) and American football, snakes, spiders, cars, and telling animated, dramatic stories. He's read a couple of Harry Potter books, although not in order. Valentina is ten and she's such a sweetheart. She likes taking care of her younger cousins, and she's trying really hard to memorize "Trot, Trot to Boston" in both English and my roughly translated Spanish so she can play it with them. Mateo and Valentina and I bonded when we were in the backseat of their grandparents' car on the way to a family event. They told me about their trips to Disney World and Virginia and asked me what New York City and snow are like.

Jaime and Rita's younger son is Javier. He's a fireman, and his schedule is such that he comes over for lunch most days. He was very helpful my first couple of days here, explaining things about the city and the food. Javier's wife is María del Mar (which literally means "María of the Sea"...I think that's so beautiful!). I think she works in a bank. She's fairly quiet and reserved, but still very friendly. She just had laser surgery on her eyes last week, and unfortunately she's still not feeling very well and still has to wear sunglasses most of the time. Javier and María del Mar's daughter is María Gracia, who is two and completely adorable. She's kind of a child of extremes...she's either incredibly happy and giggly or she's crying very vocally, and she can change from one to the other like a light switch. She took a while to warm up to me, but now we're very good friends. María Gracia comes to her grandparents' house after preschool, so she's always there for lunch, and she and her parents are often still over for merienda, the light evening meal. She's a very picky eater and often doesn't want to eat even the foods she really likes, so sometimes we do fun things like eat bites of rice or soup together. She's been a bit better about eating this week because she's constantly being reminded that Papá Noel (Santa Claus) and el Niño Jesús (Baby Jesus) only bring toys to people who eat really well.

Speaking of Papá Noel, María Gracia really put me in my place the other day. I thought I knew how Santa functions, but I was apparently way wrong. We were coloring and talking about Christmas because the house is all decorated now, and I asked María Gracia who comes to visit on Christmas Eve. She said "¡Papá Noel!" and I said (in Spanish, of course), "Yeah, and you know what, he'll come visit me too in the United States." She looked at me like I was crazy and said, "No," and I said, "Yes, because Papá Noel visits everyone all over the world!" And she very forcefully said, "¡No!" So I said, "Okay, he only comes to Ecuador?" and she assured me, "¡Sí!"

I do know something about Papá Noel that María Gracia doesn't, however. Rita was telling me the other day that last year on Christmas Eve, Pichi dressed up as Santa Claus and came down stairs to surprise the kids. María Gracia, who was only one at the time, freaked out and cried and cried, and Anto kept trying to calm her down and promise her it was okay because it was the real Papá Noel. She had no idea it was her dad! María Fernanda, Pichi, and Anto were over last Saturday, the first day the Christmas decorations were up, and Pichi said, "Anto, tell Madeline who came last year for Christmas!" And Anto launched into this excited, animated explanation of how Papá Noel came down the stairs and María Gracia was scared but she knew it was okay and she thinks he's going to come again this year. Pichi was just sitting there, looking all pleased with himself and egging her on in her story. It was hilarious.

So there's a little bit about my family here. I'm so sad to have to leave them, and I really, truly hope I can come back and see them again someday!

Days till I come home: 10