Ecua Wedding!

Last night, my host uncle, Freddy, got married! He's one of my host mom's 7 siblings who lives in our neighborhood. The ceremony was at a church on the other side of town and party was in the reception hall that is the first floor of our house. The flower arrangements were absolutely gorgeous. White roses with blue daisies. On every table, there was a bottle of whiskey with a little foam decoration depicting a bride and a groom, a pretty canister of cigarettes and a decorated lighter for the guests to enjoy. Something that was last seen in the United States in maybe 1953. Another thing they did that was different was "raffle" off the bride's garter in addition to her boquet to the single ladies at the party. This lucky girl gets to have the garter placed on her by the a friend of the groom's and will supposedly get married the next year. Of course, that lucky girl was me. I had to stand on a chair in the middle of the room while some man put a garter on my thigh. It was mildly embarrassing but my host mom thought it was hysterical. Now she's all excited because she thinks I'm getting married soon.

Other than that minor incident, the party was a lot of fun. There was a lot of merengue and bachata dancing. We were not served dinner until 12:45. I went to bed shortly after that, but I'm pretty sure the party continued until 3AM.

Crawling

My 14 year old host sister has not been feeling well lately. On Easter she fainted once in church and then again later that afternoon. She's been pale lately and she hasn't had much energy. My host mom was worried so she took her to the doctor to get urine tests, blood tests etc. About a week later, when the doctor finally got around to reviewing her tests, he couldn't find anything definitive. He though she might have some form of salmonella, so he gave her some pills to take, but they haven't been helping. This morning at breakfast, my host mom was expressing her concern over her daughter. She told me that she has a friend who's teenage daughter had the same symptoms. What cured her daughter was crawling for 15 minutes a day. Apparently, if you don't let your children crawl when they're young, they have problems like this in adolescence. My host mom says, "It's true! I never let my children crawl. I always held them until they could walk because I didn't want them crawling on the dirty floor and then putting their hands in their mouths. I'm going to make Michelle (her daughter) crawl for 15 minutes a day. It couldn't hurt, right?" I told her, no it couldn't hurt... It could just embarrass her that's all.

If anyone thinks that there is any scientific truth to this please let me know so that I will stop thinking that my host mom has actually lost her mind.

ps, Michelle refuses to crawl, much to my host mom's unhappiness. and the doctor thinks it's actually just stress because she's not doing well in school. troublesome teenagers...

Family trip to Santo Domingo

This Semana Santa (holy week) I took a trip with my host family to visit my host mom's cousins in Santo Domingo on the coast. I definitely learned a lot. The coast is like a different country than the sierra. It's much more hot and humid. The women wear skimpier clothing and strut when they walk. About 80% of women that we saw walking in the streets were pregnant. The coast is also a lot poorer than the sierra. It really looks like a third world country. The roads are not paved, and buildings are more like shanties, hurriedly thrown together with a tin roof to top it off. The cousins that we stayed with live in such a house. The gate around the yard is just made of sticks stuck in the ground. The house has cement walls, a tin roof and dirt floors. the kitchen table is under the roof that sticks out, but outside the walls. The chicken pen is literally 10 feet from the house. And the bathroom... lets say there was no toilet seat, the door was a burlap sack curtain, and it was less than clean. But the cousins were lovely. We sang karaoke on their laptop computer for hours while the adults drank beer. The next day, we went to visit another family friends' farm. They grow oranges, avocados, bananas and lots of yucca. Yucca is the root of the plant that the man is cutting with the machete in the picture. It grows on the coast and it is definitely a staple food here. We took pictures around the farm and caught up with their friends. It was hot and humid but it was a really nice day.
What I found interesting was the way my host family introduced me. I've discovered that even though greetings are very important for Ecuadorians (you must greet EVERY person with a kiss on the cheek when you walk into a room) introductions are not that important. I would greet each family member with an "hola" and a kiss on the cheek, but no one bothered to tell me their names and no one bothered to tell them my name. When they asked my host dad, Luis, if we were all his daughters he would smile and say yes. "Don't you have four daughters?" "Yes, Michelle doesn't like the heat on the coast so she stayed home. And this is Jessica my adopted daughter." And that's usually all the information they got. No one really explained to them that I'm from the states, that I'm here teaching English for a year, and I live with them. She's my adopted daughter was enough. I guess that's how they see me. I'm beginning to realize how sad it will be for them when I leave. I am their first volunteer. I wonder if they will host another once I leave.

I will definitely be sad to leave my "adoptive" family. My host family is the best thing I have here in Ecuador, and it will be extremely hard to say goodbye to them. But I will not be as sad to leave Ecuador. I'm ready. I feel like I've had enough cultural immersion and I'm ready to feel comfortable and safe again. I'm ready to drive (myself, in my parent's car) down familiar streets and drink dunkin donuts coffee and shop at Target. I'm grateful for this experience of getting to step outside of my comfort zone and experience another way of life. But going back to my comfort zone is going to feel so soft and cushy. I secretly can't wait.