Loving the Alien

So it has been about two weeks now living with my host family in Cuenca. What I`ve learned so far: Water can be cold enough to put you in physical pain; libres means pounds; I still really hate hot dogs; and my Spanish is improving.

So what does this all mean? First off, the water. So in the states, there is usually a hot water heater. Not here. In my house you go to the basement and light a pilot light type thing (Hot water on demand) in order to get hot water. Well, only one person in my house knows how to turn it on from what I`ve been noticing. So, I`ve been skipping showers (Me=gross :(  ) because I never see the person who can turn it on. But, what I learned this morning is, when there is hot water, no matter how hot it is, don`t turn on the cold water. Don`t do it! The water will instantly turn icy cold. Not fun. But I think I would rather have what I have now than a breaker box in the shower that turns on the hot.

The other day I ran errands with my "aunt" around town. When we got back to the house, she told me to go to the tienda at the end of the street and get "azucar y dos libres de papas". Easy enough now, but I could not for the life of me understand the dos libres part. The lady in the tienda sent her granddaughter to my house to ask what I needed. The chica said something about potatoes so I assumed it was right. I was sent from one tienda to the next around the corner to get a bag of papas fritas (shoe string potato chips). Go back home. Not what I needed. Sent back to the first tienda. The lady just naming stuff off with potatoes in it until it matched up with what Marilu had told me. I finally got my damned potatoes after 20 minutes.

The number one things I`m missing right now: Mom`s cooking. In Ohio, my mom makes all the food. And it`s fresh. I rarely eat fast food or a lot of processed stuff. My family in Cuenca eats okay. Rice, cheese, bread, all mostly fresh....And hot dogs. The most vile of foods. I hate hot dogs pretty much more than anything, and for three days now, that`s what I`ve been eating. But I don`t want to be rude and not eat it since they were nice enough to house me and they are also taking my on vacation with them (¡Vamos a la playa!). So, for now, I will suck it up and eat them. But I don`t know if I can take it much longer.

A shout out to Señora for teaching me 4 years worth of Spanish. It`s all coming back now, and seeing that nobody really speaks English in my family, it`s necessary for it all to come back. Compared to last Monday when I arrived at my house, I can now speak in sentances, where before, I could say "si o no". And my "mom" will even joke with me about the smelly men working on the house, and I can understand. My speaking still needs improvement, but I still have 6 more weeks of practice ahead of me.