My host-family

After orientation we got an info sheet on our family that told us a little bit about them. We also got a map with everyone's approximate location. I am the closest to the institute...which is cool I guess...less walking in the morning and at night. It seems like I am pretty far away from everyone else, though, which isn't so cool. Seems to be that everyone else has a neighbor who is in our studio.

I ran away and hid in studio while the families showed up for their orientation, and downed some trail mix left over from Keith's house...just for good measure. Finally I figured I had to face the facts and head to the kitchen. Sat there while the families got oriented and noticed two little kids walking around about the same ages as my family...lo and behold, they were.

I packed up the things I would need to bring with me that weren't in my suitcases and waited for the approach. My host-mom is Daisy. She's older and has a daughter, Marlen, who is about 36 or so. Marlen has two kids, Raul (who is almost 4) and Mariana (less than 2). Mariana is quite the little punk. She always seems to have something to cry about and has no sense of how to share yet. Raul is a bundle of energy and a half. He makes me laugh.

We got to the house and I gave Daisy her gift from Buffalo, a snowglobe that made it in one piece all the way across the country, into Honduras, and into her hands in Costa Rica! Thank Goodness! It has the city hall inside, and it snows, obviously. It has a small light inside as well, which is kind of cliche or something, but Raul got a kick out of it, so it's cool by me.

Even though I offered to share a room, I ended up getting my own, which is cool. Marlen and the kids live two houses down the road and just stay at "Tita"s (Grandma's) every once in a while. Daisy is one of the 4 founders of the women's co-op here called CASEM. She said there are now more than 100 women involved, which is pretty neat. She loves to quilt, and there's no translation necessary, as it must be an american word that they picked up, so they just say "quilting" with an accent! She and Marlen both seem to be great artists and their paintings are gorgeous.

Raul likes soccer and told me he wants to be a cowboy when he grows up so that he can ride a horse and take care of the cows. haha. He speaks really quickly and excitedly which is quite entertaining. Daisy said he learned my name the day they received my info sheet, which I think is really cute.

The kids and Marlen went to a birthday party for one of the neighbors while I unpacked and Daisy worked on sewing a purse. When Marlen got back the phone started ringing off the hook for both her and Daisy. It was amusing how many people stopped in, I think there were at least 3 women plus various children throughout the afternoon.

Daisy made chicken, rice, and fried tortillas for dinner which we ate before I did dishes and we walked down to meet Marlen at her house. She suddenly seemed much happier to talk to me and show me through her house. They explained that it used to be her father's wood shop. I still don't know if he and Daisy separated or if he passed away. Marlen's husband is separated from her but Daisy said he is a great dad and a really good person. He still lives in town somewhere and they see him all the time.

After a quick tour of this massive house, we all jumped in the jeep and drove to the school gym where there was an entire night of soccer games going on. It was mostly men in the stands, and all male players. The first game was incredible! I seriously have never seen such skill on an indoor court! During the second game the ball kept getting rocketed our direction so Marlen and Daisy were getting nervous that it would hit one of the kids and we had to leave. Problem with not having a cell phone is I couldn't call Fernando or Keith to let them know I was leaving as Fernando was talking about meeting me down there.

On the way home, we stopped at Dona Noemi's house so that Daisy and Marlen could look at fabric. The kids were being crazy-mischievous and I'm seeing that living with little ones is definitely not going to be all fun and games. Crying ensued and as soon as we got into the car they both conked out. 5 minutes later we were back at Marlen's. I helped carry the kids out of the car and into the house, we said goodnight and Daisy and I walked up the hill to the house.

It's 9 pm. I'm going to sleep. Totally physically and emotionally exhausted from the day and I need to be up at 5 to shower and get my things together before I head down to Santa Elena to catch a bus to San Jose for soccer. At least I get a few days away before the studio work starts.