I have the BEST host family!

I love my host family!  After Ecuador, I deserve this!   Yesterday when I came home in the afternoon to change, I opened my bedroom door and found my bedroom decorated and "Feliz Cumpleanos" written on the wall!!!  I had not told my family it was my birthday on Monday, because it was my first day here in their house.  But yesterday morning I had left the birthday card Janine left me sitting out on my nightstand and the cleaning woman saw it when she came into the room to clean!  Not only was my room decorated, but Cesar and Isabelle came in with a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday!

Last night we went to Isabelle's Aunt and Uncle's home for a family get together for their new home to be blessed and to celebrate their new home. It was awesome to be included and to meet the relatives who were so welcoming.  They danced in the living room and a family friend stood up and sang a couple of songs as well!  The kids were upstairs most of the time, which just goes to show that people are the same everywhere!

Very few of the people spoke Enlgish, although two of her cousins spoke a little.  I made it through the evening not too bad. I understood most of what was going on, but only about 50% of the words.  It's interesting to hear all the different accents and how rapidly some people speak!

On Tuesday when I got home, there were two of Isabelle's neices here.  The whole family is here from Lima (for the house blessing).  The older one, Claudia, about 11 or 12, helped me to prepare for school by listening to me read a book and helping me to understand it and pronounce the words correctly.  The other neice is 5 or 6 , named Nicole, and she reminded me of Nicki because of her long, curly hair!  Both of them were "delightful". (I know I sound like an old lady when I use that word, but it is the perfect way to describe them.

The other really good thing about this family is the food!  The woman who comes to clean, also does the cooking!  And, it's good!  The other night we had little peppers stuffed with chopped meat and veggies, a mushroom soup, and dessert - it contained rice of course since there was no rice in the main course. But it was good - rice with milk and a plum sauce. Another night we had scalloped potatoes, and another night something like a beef stir-fry.  So different than the lousy food I got in Ecuador.

Must run to school, but I wanted to make sure I wrote about yesterday before it blurs with the other days of the week!