Home Stay Update

So after spending 3 days and 2 nights in my home stay I've finally figured out who all lives in my house. Josephina and her husband have 2 sons and 2 daughters. One daughter and son each have a spouse that lives with us and there are 3 kids. So for all that are keeping track adding me makes a total of 12 people under one small roof. Its often crazy but I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. There are often other little girls that come over for lunch, I believe they attend school with little 6 year old Jeremy. All the women help each other with the cooking and cleaning and it appears that the men go out and work each day because I honestly don't see a whole lot of them. Its a very friendly family oriented environment. I don't spend a whole lot of time there unfortunately because during the day I'm at school, attending any one of various activities or lectures planned by the program or at a cafe in town doing homework/studying. The majority of the time I spend with the family is during meal times and because their table is so small and the family is so busy I usually just eat with Josephina, Nilda (one of her daughters and the mother of 18 month old Julio) and one of her other daughter whose name I cannot really understand. After two days of classes I'm gaining confidence in conversing with them and its been really rewarding. They are all so nice to me and interested in my schooling and family. Today at lunch Nilda and Josephina played a little joke on me by pretending that I was not allowed to leave the house for dinner (some of my friends in the program and I want to try out this Indian restaurant in town thats suppose to be really good). They both kept really stern faces as Josephina kindly explained that I was not allowed to be out past 7 and that I was to eat every meal with her at the house. I immediately felt myself turn bright red and muttered "esta bien, esta bien" and after a moment of silence they both burst out laughing at me which in turn caused both of the Julio and Javi (22 months old) to also laugh hysterically. Once Josephina explained that my request to miss dinner at her house was completely fine we all joined in one more bout of laughter together.

After being in Xela for a full week now I'm finally feeling some what at home. I know my way pretty well around the narrow winding streets and have figured some ins and outs that make me feel like a resident instead of a tourist. I spend afternoons studying in cafes that over look the parque central or in the park itself, people watching, reading or writing. True happiness:)