Thursday, May 19, 2011

Mi familia Tica


Last night was my fourth night with mi familia tica and I have grown so attached to them. Me, Kathia, Karol, and Beatriz had somewhat of a “girls night” last night and watched the Lady Gaga concert on T.V. (I was ecstatic). It’s always exciting when we can understand each other so we were happy to talk about how strange she was (ella es mas extrano si? AY!). Karol (10 years old) helps me with my homework every night. I partly think it’s because she wants me to finish quickly so we can play UNO or a Disney princess computer game together.  I brought them UNO thinking I would have to struggle to teach them how to play, but of course Karol knew the game from school and beat me every time. I also didn’t think to connect that uno means one in Spanish (oops).
            Our evenings are usually very similar each night. I get home from CPI (Centro Panamericana de Idiomas), try to greet mi familia in Spanish, do my Spanish homework with Karol, eat dinner, try to communicate, watch T.V. with the familia, and then go to bed! The activity of choice seems to be watching T.V. Karol and I play games for a little while after dinner, so of course every thing we do varies. Observing family dynamics and comparing them to those of the other girls (and Ryan) in the group has been interesting. Since I have kids in my family, we eat dinner together every night. The setting is relaxed, and there is always a schedule that is being strictly followed to accommodate all family members. Just like in the U.S., each family has a different dynamic and schedule.
            I love how my familia tica reminds me of my own, 2 daughters, a father, a mother, and a perrito (Nina). This has been very comforting. They do everything together during down time, they take mini vacations, etc. The other night I observed Gustavo giving the girls a “responsibility talk” about taking care of a puppy because Nina had had a little accident on the living room floor. They play Barbies, My Little Pony, LOVE Hello Kitty (shout out to my Alpha Gams), and joke around in the same manner my family does. We are supposed to be observing how different everything is here in every aspect, but all I can see are similarities. It is comforting and now, after spending four nights with my Costa Rican family, I don’t want to leave them. I am going to take advantage of spending time with them these next two nights, and am bringing back a giant pizza for dinner on Friday! I hope I have been able to be as polite to them as they have been generous and warm to me. 

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