Ok, so before I go any further, I should tell all of you that I officially live in the best house in Antigua. No, it’s not a mansion and yes, it’s possible that I have had bed bugs. But I still, hands down have won the house lottery.
I live in a neighborhood on the same street as all the other volunteers in the program and I have another volunteer in my house (which seriously helps with the awkward silences at the dinner table!) I pretty much sleep and eat breakfast and dinner at my house...and that’s about it!
First of all, the house itself. It is so charming. I think I mentioned this in one of my first blogs but for some reason, my house mom has some sort of strange fixation on sunflowers. Now again, I know I’ve been known to exaggerate from time to time but I am telling you, this woman is seriously into her fake sunflowers. No way words can do this justice...and I obviously couldn’t fit all of the flowers into one picture so here are just a few pictures of The Sunflower House...
I know it is hard to believe this but apparently, this is NOTHING! I’ve been told by some staff members that up until not that long ago, people actually had to move bouquets of these silk blooms off the couch before sitting down. I have three sunflower plants in my room alone and four more in the bathroom.
Ok, so now that you have somewhat of a picture of the house, it’s time to meet the family. First off is my house mom Christina. She is fabulous...seriously one of the nicest people I have ever met and the lady can cook! Again, it’s no Manny’s but after hearing horror stories of black bean puree meal after meal in some other households, I am thrilled to be in a house where french toast and mashed potatoes are regulars on the menu.
Christina is awesome at speaking Spanish in a way that I can always understand and when that fails, her acting skills kick in. Every breakfast, our table transforms from kitchen table to theater stage when both of us try desperately to do charades to understand each other. It is unbelievable where these conversations lead sometimes! I mean, we haven’t gotten into barbaric Jewish rituals yet, but we’ve gotten close!
Christina’s daughter lives in the house too...Arellise (no idea how to spell that...) So after hanging out with this girl for about 1.5 months, I finally know her name. It was one of those really awkward situations. You know the type...like when you ask a person their name, completely forget it, and them proceed to have a long, deep conversation and at that point, you can’t exactly say, “Thanks for sharing your views on religion and politics...now what was your name again?”
Anyway, Arellise is awesome...and she was even before I knew her name!
The last (human) member of the family is Christina’s father. Now my first few weeks in the house, I kind of felt like this guy was some sort of ghost of the house. I always heard about him and every now and then, I’d see a grey-haired man roaming the hallways. But I never actually met him! All that has changed now...Adrian and are are “tight”. Actually tonight, I ran into him in the hallway with only my towel on so I’d say we’ve crossed over to a new level.
Almost every night I see Adrian sitting on the front step of our hose smoking a “cigarette”...that somehow smells much more like Madison, Wisconsin after Weed-fest than a good-old Malboro if you know what I mean...
Add to Christina, Arellise and Adrian an Australian Shepard dog named Lucky, Lolita the parrot, Chicky the turtle and two pigeons, and that just about rounds out the Juarez-Rivera family.
So...that’s my house and my family. When I arrived in Antigua 6 insanely short weeks ago, I left behind a family in Minnesota. But I could never have imagined that I would have found an amazing family right here in Antigua...and I can only hope there will be another one waiting for me in Honduras in only 10 short days!
xoxo,
Debra
P.S. I posted pictures and video of "my kids" on the last blog so scroll down to check 'em out!
3 comments:
Hey, that's my house! Well it used to be anyway. I think you may have glazed over the animals a touch however; you left out Lucky's ability to bite certain individuals, and the parrot's ability to imitate a distressed toddler at 6am.
Great pictures! Keep up the excellent blogging :)
At work there are a group of people who share good reads with me -- chicklit, the classics, mystery novels. I've made only one recommendation to them -- your blog!!! You've got me hooked. I'm so glad you're having such an amazing experience, and even happier that you've found a public place to share the stories! Keep up the writing cuz I'm can't wait to read the next installment!!!!
-Heidi :)
Having just returned from Antigua yesterday, I want to confirm everything that Debra has written about in her blog. Yes the sunflowers have indeed taken over this woman's house. Even I who love silk flowers thought it was a bit "over the top" but I LOVED it all the same. Her 2nd mom is WONDERFUL!!!! If I could hand pick another mom for Debra, it would be Christina. And yes, the grandpa and daughter are great too. I really didn't expect Debra and grandpa to be on "towel only" terms, but Debra never ceases to amaze me. Praise the lord, Debra has finally come out of her shell a bit on this trip. You know how fast she speaks English? She's just about there in the Espanol as well. All the volunteers are wonderful and the kids are as adorable as she says they are. Brenda was my personal favorite. Hispanic weight watchers would do her wonders. It was a great trip. As cousin David says, "All who wander are not lost." How true for my daughter......
Love, Mom
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