Mi Secundo Dia
My second Day
I want to write in English for this post because I have so much to say. It has been such an amazing experience so far. I woke up around 5am when the sun is shining brightly, but I tried to go back to sleep and ended up waking up around 7:30am. Here we go to bed early and rise early. It gets dark around 5pm anyway so it feels much later than it really is. Anyway, after unpacking a bit, showing and getting situated, my host mother Macha, offered me "desayuno" (breakfast) which consisted of... YES you guessed it.. RICE AND BEANS! I thought they were joking when people said you eat rice and beans for breakfast lunch and dinner. IT's TRUE! I had rice and beans and scrambled eggs on toasted bread with un plato de piña y papaya (a plate of pineapple and sweet papaya) I was STILL full from dinner, but I ate it anyway as it is rude to decline food... which I'm use to anyway in my own household so no culture shock here! lol After eating breakfast I got a phone-call from my brother who suggested that I meet him in the town of Tuis, which is a short 5 minutes bus-ride away. From what he told me the bus would arrive around my house in 7 minutes from that call... so I RUSHED to the bus stop with my 250 colones for the bus fare and hopped on. There are no street lights or street signs here, I didn't even see them in the city either! Basically you have to push your way through traffic and at a "four way stop" where there is no stop sign... you have to try to cut across traffic, its kinda crazy. Anyway because of the fact that there are no street signs, we go by landmarks for directions here... so my brother tried his best to describe what I will see before I should get off the bus. SO after I cross the bridge I got off the bus into the busy little town of Tuis. The minute I got off it hit me that I have NO way of communicating with my brother had I gotten off at the wrong stop! So needless to say I started to panic a little... then I started to panic a LOT when I looked around and only saw groups of people staring at me and NO Eduardo (my brother) I was already SO mad at him for not being there like he said he would! But at the same time I could have gotten off at the wrong stop... sooo i just started walking. Some groups of men began whistling at me but I kept my head down.. and was seriously nervous! I saw a couple walking and decided to walk with them and pretend I was with them. When I realized I didn't think I could navigate my way to my brother's house I as best as I could, asked the woman if I could use her phone in the most broken Spanish ever! After 5 minutes of trying to explain myself she finally pulled her phone out and I called my brother.... twice... no answer! Thank the LORD when I asked her if she knew "Samia" my brother's host mother... she said "Oh Si! La casa de ella es en este calle... camine en este calle... arriba, arriba arriba, es una plena y su casa" She basically gave me directions to walk up , and up and up a hill and I should find her house!! So I started walking... about 2 minutes into my walk I see my confused brother walking down a dirt road. "What are you doing here?? How did you find me? I figured you would be arriving much later!" I about kicked him and he was cracking up when I told him my story of finding him! He felt so bad, BUT it was a learning experience and I will NEVER forget how to get to my brother's house! lol
We explored the town a bit which is literally a block consisting of 2 bars, a small grocery store, a church, a school, and some homes. My brother took me on a walk towards the school which was about a mile up some winding rocky roads. We also went down to the river today which was beautiful. After spending most of the day with my brother and Deanna and Jaden I came back home. It already feels like home. My host family and I spent a lot of time talking (with the help of my handy dandy google translate app!)
I was showing them pictures via facebook of my family and friends, of Puerto Rico (we talked about a lot of similar things in our cultures such as music and food, but I noticed they have different names for the foods we eat that are the same) I even showed them a picture of ''mi novio en los Estados Unidos'' (my boyfriend in the United States) Yo dijo, ''mi novia es un modelo y un fotógrafo!'' When I showed them a picture Mecha said "ayyy, el es MUY GUAPO!'' lol I thought that was cute!
My FAVORITE part of the night though was when I got to show them video of my grandfather, Tata, who passed away last year. Macha said she use to call her grandpa "Tata'' as well. Her grandchildren call her ''ata" I played the video of Tata playing his guitar and singing, and they sang along with the videos as they knew most of the songs he was singing! It find it amazing that two people could live in two different countries and know the same traditional songs! The best part was when we were all singing along with the video of Tata playing "Besa Me Mucho'' which was his favorite song.
I finally told my host family, I really miss my grandparents who have passed, "Pero es por eso que estoy muy contento de estar aquí, porque ustedes me recuerdan a mi familia!" (but that is why I am very happy to be here, because you remind me of my family) They smiled big! Anyway, I finished the night off with a visit from my neighbor, some time in the hammock and a bowl of freshly made "arroz con leche" (rice-pudding) :D YUM!
