Meeting my Host

I met my host “mother” and moved into her home. All in all it was surprising. First of all, on the sheet they gave us about our families, it referred to her as Senorita Leticia Gomez. The Senorita made me assume she would be younger. However, she is probably in her mid 50s. This will sound bad to those of you out there who know what I am talking about, but she reminds me of Izma from “The Emperor’s New Groove,” only because of her facial features. Anyway, she was late to the dinner because she got stuck behind the trash truck, which you cannot pass and I found particularly funny. While we were waiting for her to arrive, Karen told me a little bit about her. Karen said that Leticia is one of her favorite hosts because she is so interesting. She has never been married, hence the senorita, and though she gives a very formal and superior air due to her upper class upbringing, she is in fact very forward thinking and possibly even liberal by Guanajuato’s standards. She sounded like the kind of woman I could get along with. She has a sister she is very close with and some nephew and nieces, though the number of which I am not sure. Luckily, Karen and Lalo ate at our table, otherwise it might have been a very quiet dinner. They talked about normal things acquaintances talk about and I was able to keep up fairly well. My biggest problem is speaking, whether from self consciousness or the pressure of the people waiting for me to speak, I tend to get nervous.
After dinner, I got my bags and we headed to her home. It is beautiful! My room and bathroom here are nicer than at home or at Wofford. Unfortunately, I do not have internet there, but there is a place where you can buy internet by the hour very cheaply about a 10 min walk from the house. Not only is my room nice, but the whole house is very homey. It is very large for what you would think, especially looking from the outside. There are to gated car spaces on the ground level and downstairs is the kitchen, dining room, living room, and patio on top of the garage (downstairs is still one story up). Upstairs, is Leticia’s large bedroom with a very very nice bathroom including Jacuzzi tub! And another living room area, my room, my bathroom, and a communal area where her computer (the oldest Mac I have ever seen…no joke) and a book case are. There are at least 2 TVs and innumerable antique looking furniture and glass ware. And she lives alone! And she doesn’t work! I don’t quite understand that, but Karen told me she used to work at the university and may have worked there long enough to retire. I don’t know.
TODAY
I had asked Leticia last night what we would be doing today and she said she was going to church and asked if I was Catholic. I said no, but that I would like to go with her for the experience. She said that was fine, so today after a breakfast of papaya (kind of gross) and toast we headed to church with her sister and nephew. It was very interesting and in fact, very similar to church in Pawleys Island: much of the same sequence of prayer, song, sermon, more song, communion, more prayer, and then greeting people around you, and one final prayer. After, we went to the park in the very center of the city. I think it is like a Sunday after church tradition to go sit on a bench in the park, kind of like a Sunday drive. We sat for a while, but there was a lot going on with artisans selling paintings, jewelry, and various other crafts. Based on what Karen told me, Leticia is very much about the student doing their own thing and not being tied at the hip to her, so I asked if I could walk around. I stopped in a shop and got some postcards and looked around and when I came back to our bench, Doug and his host where sitting there. Doug’s host and mine are very good friends apparently. So I sat and talked to Doug for a while about how things were going in his casa. It was such a relief to see someone I knew, though I have only known him for about a day, and to be able to talk in English. Not that it’s been bad, but it certainly takes a toll on my brain, having to translate everything people say. Sometimes, when I start to get tired, it goes in one ear and out the other. I think starting class tomorrow will help that, give me something to focus on. Anyway, Doug wanted something to drink so we walked to one of the nearby drink stands. On the way back, we ran into Liz and her host and talked for a minute and then her host wanted a group picture so we did that and headed back. Then, Leticia and I went to the market. Sunday is shopping day without a doubt!! The same market I walked around on Friday was packed with people and all kinds of stands that were not there before. Most stands are either for food, clothes, or toys, and I saw the lion in the truck again! We bought some flowers (I think that is also some tradition), some tortillas and Leticia and I both had one hot off the grill and Mmmmm! And then she got a few other things to make me chicken tacos. At the market I saw Abbey and her host, so I think this really must be a small city, or all the hosts run in the same circles. We returned home and had the best chicken tacos of my life! And I watched her make them, so get ready for some authentic tacos, Mom. Leticia, her sister and I got into a very interesting conversation at dinner, and for a while I felt less like an outsider because I was involved in the conversation. We were talking about American politics, not a taboo subject here. Leticia’s sister mentioned when Obama was going to be inaugurated and I talked about how I was sad I wouldn’t be in the States to see it, and Leticia chimed in because it was going to be a big party. I really like the way Leticia and I talk when we actually say more than just “yes, no, I am fine…” She seems to understand what I am trying to say almost all of the time, and even when she is speaking her own opinion I find myself nodding in agreement and saying things like “exactamente.”
Later in the evening, her other nephews came over. They are twins and 10 years old and the most awesome boys! I immediately felt more comfortable with them because they are younger and really nice. Not that Leticia isn’t nice, but I am always more afraid of embarrassing myself in front of her and it is not so with kids. Anyway, I watched 101 Dalmatians with them in Spanish, which was cool because I had seen it in English. I saw one of them playing with a piece of paper, absentmindedly folding it, and it gave me an idea. I will admit now that it was a little dorky but it was all I had at the time and I really wanted to hang out with them. I went to my room and made one of those paper frogs that jumps and brought it and a piece of paper back to them. They smiled and said “rana.” I asked if they wanted to make one. And I showed them. It was my doorway. Then I had another idea. I brought my laptop in the room and asked if they wanted to play games on it. We played for like 3 hours. It was so great. I showed them the music I had and they loved High School Musical most. We talked about other music they knew and then we started talking about sports. They asked what kind of sports I liked, I told them football and that really got them going. One of them was wearing a Miami dolphins T shirt, so of course I asked if they knew Chad Pennington and they said yes, though that may have just been hype, and I told them I had met him before and he went to my school. That was a big deal. It was really just nice to have somebody to relax around in the house. Good company. And! They come here every day after school. Right now school is still out on break but Wednesday they will be back and I can’t wait!