Life With Ana Maria

It´s been almost one week since I moved in with my host mom, AnaMaria. She is about 80 years old and sweet as pie. At least that´s what my non-spanish speaking self gathers. The first afternoon we sat and "talked" (if you can imagine THAT conversation!) for about 3 hours. The majority of the time I just sat there listening. Needless to say, my brain was about to blow because number one, I, being self-diagnosed with adult ADD, found it EXTREMELY difficult to concentrate on just her. There were a bazillion things going through my mind but I came out of the conversation unscathed knowing that she has 6 children, however one was killed in an accident at a very young age, along with her husband. Muy triste. She´s been alone since the age of 26, raising all those kids. Muy dificil she says. She lives in a 3-bedroom apartment along a very busy street. I have my own room with a lovely view of the Pichincha Mountains, however, my window is right above a very busy street with buses going by non-stop until about 11pm. I crave the peace and quiet of our neighborhood on Touchstone Dr. Ok, I really miss everyone at home but I havent missed much of anything else (food, tv, driving, etc) with the exception of HOT WATER!!!! If you want hot water, you have to boil it. Water comes out of only one side of the faucet...the cold one! One week of cold showers down...6 more to go. UGH!!! I told my students about that and they laughed. Everyone one of them has hot water!

FOOD: I dont eat breakfast at home because I leave the house at 6:15am to catch the Trole bus to school. Ana wants me home at 1pm for amuerzo (lunch). We have soup everyday for lunch and dinner. Wonderful sopas!! Then usually rice, beans, meat(chic or beef), eggs, omlette with broccoli-cheese, fresh tuna pattie, more rice, beets, carrots, etc. I wont starve! She waits on us hand and foot. Worse part is that she dishes out my food so I always get a TON of it. Then she thinks I dont like what she makes when I leave a little on the plate. I may be insulting her but oh well. Breakfast on the weekends is tea, bread and juice. Food is delicious. I havent had anything I didnt like (even the beets!)