My family

Pictures to come...!

         My host family is awesome.  They are truly warm, fun, and friendly people.  I love being in my house hanging out with everybody, and given how many people there are, there is pretty much always someone home to hangout with and talk to.  They include me in all their conversations, and fill me in with everything I need to understand the topics of discussion.  They constantly feed me with information about living in Ecuador, customs, culture, food, and other random things to be aware of.  They graciously answer my endless questions, excited to share their knowledge and experiences.  They also question me and show endless interest in my life and experiences.  The house is always full of conversation, stories, laughs, and smiles.  They invite me everywhere, from clubbing with friends, to barbeques with family, to errands to the Mercado or Centro.  At a cousin’s birthday party, I met a host of cousins, aunts, and uncles, each as enthusiastic and welcoming as the next.  All welcomed me to the family, exclaiming “prima” with excitement.

Mi Madre Marlene- My mom is a busy, busy women, and lives an active and interesting life.  She mothers her four children in their 20’s, and now me too…and constantly has to pick up and drop off various people at various places, along with the cooking and cleaning in the house.  She also works a ton.  She is a museum restorer, her job is really neat.  She has an office by my school, that I often hangout in.  I do my homework, and she works on various art restorations.  She also travels a lot of different cities in Ecuador to various museums and churches for restoration projects.  My mom is so funny…because she has so much to do and so much to keep track of, she is a bit scatter brained.  She is pretty much always late, and often forgets what she is doing, or that she had to plans to pick people up and what not.  But that’s only because she has now five kids, that she has to keep track of and take care of, along with all her work and house work.  I have so much respect and admiration for her and all she manages.  Plus, she really gives people her care and focus all the time.  She is also a really fun, friendly and humorous, and great to talk to.  We have a lot of interesting conversations, and she has already taught me a lot.

Adriana is my sister I have spent the most time with so far.  She is 23, majored in fashion designing, and is currently working two jobs in Cuenca.  She is the most talkative and outgoing in the family, and loves to go out, dance, party, and hangout with friends.  I have gone out a few times with her and her friends, and its always a great time.  She always invites me out, and offers to take me around the city, or shopping, or to her favorite clubs and bars.  She and her friends are really bubbly, fun, and inclusive.  Adriana is incredibly helpful, and always explains everything to me, and has shown me how to get around in Cuenca.  She studied in the U.S. for a year during high-school, so she knows the experiences of an exchange student first hand.  She is also just a lot of fun to talk to and hangout with…my time spent with her is always full of stories, jokes and laughs back and fourth.

Andrea, my 24 year-old sister is an architecture major, and currently finishing her thesis.  Thus, right now, she and her thesis are attached at the hip…although we were successful in separating her and her thesis the other night to go out to her cousin’s birthday party J  Andrea is always at the dining room table, with a furrowed brow, gazing at the computer.  I usually sit at the dining room table too, doing my homework, and have thoroughly enjoyed her company, and that of her friend Fernando.  Although they work hard on their thesis’s, we all chat and hang around, listening to music and sharing songs and videos.  They are really fun and talkative, and full of stories and interest.  Andrea has a pretty serious side, but also a truly playful and silly side.  She is a very curious and engaging person, always looking to learn more about people and the world.

Juan Marcelo is the same age as I, and in his third year of engineer school.  He has been in exams the last few weeks, but still seems to have less work than I, as he pointed out the other day when trying to get me to watch a movie and ditch my homework.  I don’t think he likes to study all that much haha…he more prefers to watch sports, TV, and movies, and go out with his friends and party and dance and what not…and thus is often under cleaning punishment of his mom.  He is a really fun and warm guy, but speaks very, very fast, and does not pronounce words, so I often have a hard time understanding him… I can’t wait until my Spanish improves enough to actually understand him without having to ask him to repeat himself 5 times.  He is really welcoming, and always invites me everywhere. He took me to the first Futbol game of the season last night, and it was a lot of fun.

Mayra is 19, and also in engineer school, and also in the midst of exams…but she is a bit more studious, and pretty busy.  She is the most quiet and shy of the family, but truly warm-hearted, friendly, and nice.

El Conejo- My family also has a bunny…who is a bit of an oddball to say the least.  You will often find him sitting in a potted plant, or nibbling at your feet as you hang laundry.  My family feeds him all sorts of fruits and veggies and bread and what not, but instead he breaks into my mom’s garden and devours the entirety of her hard work.  Thus, there is a bit of a war between the bunny and my mom, and the bunny is unquestionably the winner.

My house is really comfortable, and beautifully decorated, given my mom’s passion for art.  It has not taken long for me to feel at home…also because my family is so great.  People usually hangout in the kitchen and dining area, at the table, in my mom’s room watching TV, or in the basement rec room area.