My Host Mom

I have a few minutes, so I'll write a bit about my host mom.  Her name is Yolanda, and she is a sweetheart.  She's a retired schoolteacher who taught in both Costa Rica and the U.S.  She's been like a second mother to me.  She cooks my breakfast and dinner, does my laundry, and puts up with my horrible Spanish.

For breakfast, she usually serves eggs, cereal, toast, and coffee.  Believe it or not, I actually eat the eggs.  When in Costa Rica....  It's odd because she doesn't eat with me.  I never see her eat except when we share dessert, which is rare.  She basically sets the table for me, plates my food, then does my dishes and won't let me help.  It's a little uncomfortable, but she doesn't seem to mind.  My professor says that it comes from a very formal, traditional background.  I'm one of the rew students who take meals like that. Dinners are huge.  My first dinner was chicken, potatos, rice and beans (the staple of Costa Rica), salsa, and dessert of fried bananas.  It's awesome, but it's a lot of food, even for me.

Her home is very nice compared to some I've driven by.  It's simple and small, but very clean.  Her neighborhood is in a kind of gated community, very upscale (again, for Costa Rica).  She has two birds, a parrot named Ricky that walks all over the house, and Christy, a parakeet that stays in her cage.  Ricky doesn't like me much.  He bites me when I try to give him sunflower seeds.  Yolanda talks to Ricky and he talks back a bit.  It's really cute.

Yolanda has a son in the Army in the states.  I saw a photo of him on the wall in her home.  He's a decorated soldier by the photo.  She has other kids as well, but I think they all live in the States.  We watch television in the evenings, either the American Idol clone or a game show called Minuto Para Ganar, or Minute to Win It.  We watch a lot of news together, so I get to see a bit of what's going on in the world, when I can understand what the anchor is says.  She's such a sweetheart for putting up with me.

More later.