When I woke up this morning, my painful feelings of culture shock and being homesick had eased a lot. I was excited to begin my process in getting to know my host family and getting a better glimpse of their personalities and lifestyles. Today was also the first day in a while I got to sleep in. I woke up at 10:30 and was invited to a small breakfast with my family downstairs. We at a simple, yet delicious breakfast of peach yogurt with cocoa puffs in it, with a delicious juice that my host mom made, and a roll of sweet bread. It was at this occasion that my host family and I were able to learn the basics of one another. They asked about my school, my family, my home, my interests. Although it took a while for each of us to communicate and get a message across, we were able to understand each other. It was odd how I was learning all these things about this family, when half the time I couldn't understand their words. We expressed ourselves through a game of sherades pretty much. It was difficult, but also very new and fun. After about two hours of conversation, I felt comfortable with my host family and their friendliness definitely put me at ease.
It's been a lazy day, consisting of resting, reading, and watching tv. My host parents' other daughter and son-in-law came over and the house became full of life as their children ran around the house, playing tag, hide and go seek, and playing with their toys. The rest of the family and I all sat in the same room, sharing stories of the events of New Year's Eve. It was during this time when I noticed their use of facial expressions and hand gestures when talking to one another. Their facial expressions really portrayed their stories and how they felt about such and such experience. At times I had no clue what they were saying to one another, but could tell exactly how they were feeling because of the way they used their facial expressions. They also used their hands almost dramatically when explaining stories, which reminded me of a weatherman you would see on the news. It was a way of communicating I wasn't entirely used to but I was content with sitting there and observing.
By the time dinner came around, I had made a few more observations about my host family and the way they interact with one another. First of all, I can already tell by last night and tonight that gender roles are very much prevalent in the household. Considering my host mom is a housewife and my host dad is a working artesan, I had already known that my host mom did most of the tending around the house. While my host mom and sister were making dinner, my host dad and the son-in-law were literally just standing behind the counter watching them. They had no prepping, cooking, or cleaning role; all of that was done by the women in the house. I didn't find this curious, for this is how it can often be in the U.S. and isn't something I find entirely different. Although, often times a man in the U.S. will cook or prefers to cook but my host sister said that each and every meal is done by either her or her mother; never the father. It is this way for a majority of their family members and people in Cuenca, according to my host sister.
Overall, today was the first day I was able to really connect and learn about my host family. I'm excited to see what else I can learn as well as teach to my host family and am eager to see where our relationship can end up.
