My Home

“My Home”

     6/4/12

It has been such a blessing being here. All of these seemingly small things impact me in such a big way. As I said before, the fact that this family is allowing me to live in their house is first and foremost such an incredible thing. I have never understood such hospitality in my life this strongly. My mom always welcomed people into our home, especially if they really needed to be there, but somehow I never truly grasped fully that accommodation is a big deal.

The family that I’m living with includes two parents and four kids, but I think one of the kids does not live in the house. Even so, the house is smaller than mine and yet currently has twice as many people. This family, and Santiago, too, has worked to try to make me feel more comfortable living here. They really have seemed to want me to make this my home. I don’t know if I have ever felt like “home” anywhere else.

The one thing that really shows me this is the size of my room. As I said before, I’m almost embarrassed at how well accommodated I am. I love that they want me to feel at home, but I don’t want anyone to think I’m entitled to anything, including myself! My room is almost as big as my room from back home! They could have easily had me sleep on the couch or in a smaller room, but they gave me this wonderful room with a bed that is bigger than my own at home, along with three dressers. When I got there, my room had no door, and the bathroom didn’t, either. If you know me well, you would know that I get nervous going to the bathroom in public places because of the fear that someone will open the door on me! It may sound a bit strange, but it’s always something that was in the back of my mind as I went into a public restroom. Now, this doesn’t stop me from using public bathrooms, but it definitely makes me uncomfortable if I feel like someone could just walk in at any time. The fact that they put doors in made my experience a whole lot more comfortable! However, there aren’t locks on the doors, so it is still a bit strange for me, but I am still grateful that they put the doors in!

I watched them as they sized the doors, and as Santiago helped the men bring them into the house. Then I went out for the day, and as I returned, there was a bathroom door, and I had my own door. They also put up a curtain where there was a break at the top of one of my walls (almost like a window without the window).

However, my room really didn’t feel like my room until last night. When Santiago left to go to class, I decided I had to clean up the mess of my room! I had clothes stacked on top of my dresser, my suitcases in the middle of the floor, and bags of food and hair products on my bed. Hmm, to my mom, this probably sounds a lot like my room back home… Mom, I bet you’re laughing if you’re reading this. So I moved things around a bit. I moved one of the dressers next to my bed and put all my food in its cabinets. I put all the things I brought for showering and otherwise in my other dresser’s cabinets. I put away all of my clothes in a dresser, and I hung my shirts and dresses over a rack that they also put in for me. When I stood back and looked at my room, it felt so much like home. Of course I don’t have green walls and a blanket with a teddy bear on it, but I realized I didn’t need an exact replica to feel at home. The realization that this really WAS my home for two months startled me at first, but now I’m falling more in love with that idea!

The parents that I’m staying with are also so wonderful. The standard greeting in Ecuador (and from my knowledge a good portion of Latin-American countries) is a kiss on the cheek, and I love it. I love kissing my host mom goodbye on the cheek! It really is such a wonderful way to be greeted. I mean, even Paul in the Bible says to greet one another with a holy kiss! Why is the American culture so “this-is-my-personal-bubble-and-even-a-hug-invades-it”? I don’t know, but personally, I love affection. Anyway, so I’ve gotten to spend some time with the family and already they feel more like family. Yesterday when Santiago was in class, I came into the kitchen where my host mom, Angelica, and her friend (and the other cook at the camp), Anita, were baking cookies. I started to talk to them about deeper subjects that I usually do, and they were so sweet and helpful. They talked somewhat fast, so it was a bit difficult to understand, but I got the gist, and it was wonderful.

Then Angelica and I shared a funny moment, as she warned her four-year-old daughter that the cookies were “muy caliente” (very hot!) after she complained about wanting to eat one. Somehow I knew that the little girl was going to do the typical “niña” (child/little girl) thing to do. She reached above the counter and stuck her finger in the chocolate of the cookie. She then cried out in pain, as the cookie was definitely caliente. Later on that night the little girl wanted to drink her tea, and I joked with Angelica that she had to be careful if the tea was caliente! You probably had to be there, but it was funny.

When Santiago returned from class, we watched “Taken”. Both of us had seen it before, but it’s such a good movie that we picked that one to watch. I brought several movies (okay, a lot) that either have Spanish audio tracks or subtitles. We watched “Taken” with Spanish subtitles.

During the movie, Angelica made dinner, which was the typical chicken, rice, and potatoes with tea to drink! I absolutely love the tea, but it’s been rough for me when it comes to eating here. It isn’t just here, but I started to feel nauseous after meals when I was back in America (probably from stress and anxiety about many different things, including preparing for Ecuador). This caused me to stop eating much food, so now I’m used to eating very little. Because of this, I eat just about one solid meal a day, and I feel full most of the day. Yesterday I ate (delicious) eggs and bread (with my peanut butter) that Angelica made for me, so I couldn’t eat much for the rest of the day, even though Santiago cooked lunch at his house, and Angelica made me dinner. I’ll eat little snacks, like a Nutri-grain bar, but not much else. Santiago tried to get me to eat a little bit, so I had a little bit of chicken and potatoes at lunch and dinner.

At dinner, I bonded with Santiago and my “new family”. We talked and laughed, and constantly I heard, “ayyyy, Allie”, a sign of endearment. It was so nice to be a part of the joking and laughing; it definitely felt like home.

I went to bed quite early last night because we all know that 11:00 is early for me! Somehow I cannot sleep past 9am here. It might just be the fact that dogs are barking, children are whining, and roosters are crowing consistently for about an hour, but hey, it definitely has become part of the experience that I cherish here. Once waking up, I was able to take my time in getting ready, which I have not really had for a long time (not even in America!), and then I was able to spend most of my morning with God and reading about Jonah.

My reading this morning in my “Daily Bread” (for June and July!) talked about how sometimes we can look good on the outside yet not be right on the inside. I realized how I let a lot of my emotions get the best of me even before I was here. I feel a lot of different things, and most of the time in a short time-span, so it’s hard to try to keep myself from allowing those emotions to bring me down. I prayed that I wouldn’t allow those emotions to cause me to forget the many things that I’m thankful for here! Jonah allowed his emotions to cloud his desire to do something good that God wanted. It’s easy to do that, so I’m trying not to make that mistake (too much, if not ever!).

As I’m writing this, I’m sitting in the beautiful sun, watching the clouds move over the mountains. It’s gorgeous outside. Just a few minutes ago a little girl came up to me and asked me, “què estás haciendo?”, to which I gave a puzzled look. This girl was probably no more than five years old, and it’s hard enough sometimes to understand English-speaking children! She was absolutely adorable, and I grew frustrated with myself that I couldn’t figure out what she was saying. She walked away for a moment, and as I wrote down what I heard, I realized she was asking me what I was doing! That question is like the easiest question someone could ask in Spanish (okay, maybe not THE easiest, but it’s pretty simple), and so I said to her (in Spanish, of course), “OH, you asked me what I was doing, right?”, to which she nodded, and so I answered her.

As for my Spanish-speaking abilities, I’ve definitely been affirmed in being able to hold a decent conversation and understand a good amount. Santiago’s brothers are trying to learn English, and when I tell them I’m trying to learn Spanish, they explain that I definitely am good and have improved since January! I feel like everyday I am soaking up more words- learning how to say them and learning how to understand them in the context. I came here in January with only vague recollections of my three years of Spanish in high school (one being an honors class), which was quite a long time ago. Since then I studied other languages, so I had no idea I would remember anything in Spanish, but I did. It wasn’t very good, but I remembered more than I thought I would. Now I have remembered almost everything I was taught back in high school, plus more! Sometimes I remember words I didn’t even know that I knew! Santiago no longer needs to speak to me one word at a time, either, but I still find myself saying, “despacio”, which means “slow”! I literally have found myself forgetting some English and tripping up on words as I embrace myself in a Spanish-speaking culture!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that one of the things I love about Ecuador is the fact that they are not an “on-time” culture; they’re definitely flexible. When Santiago gives me a time, I usually have to add at least thirty minutes to know when to REALLY know when he’ll be here. Right now it’s almost 1:30, and he said he’d be here at 1, so now I know to expect that! It works for me because in America, I’m late for everything. (My mom is probably laughing again if she’s reading this). It’s a Pisarro thing, and I’m kind of glad it’s an Ecuador thing, too.

I’m not sure who will be interested in reading this part (I would be because I love culture), but I figured I would give you guys some differences I’ve seen here that have become a part of my daily living experience. You may find them humorous or strange, but I am learning to live with them! One difference I’ve noticed is milk. They store milk on shelves and in plastic bags! They do have cartons, too, but when Santiago picked up the squishy bag of milk and asked if I wanted to buy it, I had to decline. I thought milk had to be refrigerated?

Another difference is the fact that you can’t throw toilet paper in the toilet! This difference I also found in Ukraine. It’s hard when you make a habit of throwing it away in the toilet! It’s also a bit awkward, as well…

They seem to eat rice and chicken a lot, as well, and as for public transportation, it is just like what I have seen in other countries and even sometimes in America. As you read, remember that I rarely ever need to take public transportation, as the place I live really requires a car. I’m not used to being squished on a bus and almost falling over standing up. Being so close to so many people in the market and on the bus really made me nervous. There doesn’t seem to be much “personal space” here. I mean, in the house I live in, there wasn’t a bathroom door before I came. I don’t think that concept is as important here as it is in America.

Another thing is the idea of pets here. Families have dogs, but they are not permitted to be inside. It’s funny because Santiago told me it’s because of germs. They think that the dogs will give them diseases and sicknesses, but that is the exact reason why Americans keep their dogs in the house and give them shots. The dogs are pretty dirty here, and they are constantly barking. I’m actually afraid to pet the puppies, as cute as they are, because I don’t want any diseases! Good thing I carry around hand sanitizer…

Along with that, animals here know not to stand in the middle of the road. Drivers are ferocious on the road with their stick-shift cars, and so it’d be pretty easy to run someone over. However, it seems that animals here are trained to get out of the way. If my dog ran into the street, he’d probably be squished in a matter of seconds. Here I have not seen any road-kill, even though roosters, cows, horses, and dogs roam the town. I’ve only seen a cow head, but that was after a person killed it for the meat and left the head! Santiago also confirmed that animals usually stay out of the way.

People are also seemingly nicer here. They continually say, “hola!” and greet with a kiss on the cheek. Of course not every single person is like this, but I’ve seen a lot of this!

Another thing is the dish soap. If you want to wash your hands at the kitchen sink, you use this green soap that kind of resembles a tub of hand cream. It’s interesting…

Mind you, that I am not merely relying on my own experiences about these things, but that I have witnessed them in several aspects here. Maybe you all have these experiences or similar to them in America, but I haven’t! They are new to me, so that’s why I write them! =) Of course every time I am surprised by one of these things, I am reminded of, “Es Ecuador!”.

Yet these very crazy things are slowly but surely becoming normal! I have found myself constantly repeating to others the fact that “no estoy acostumbrada …”, which is “I am not used to/accustomed to …”. I know, however, that these things will probably become “home” to me at some point. Now that I think about it, home is not just “one place”. It’s not just my mailing address or where my parents live. So, okay, this is gonna be really cheesy and maybe even obvious, but my home really IS my heart! And now more than ever this is starting to feel more like home.

:)