A Mother´s Love
As stated earlier Mom and Pops came to town and we had a blast. I will never forget the feeling of flushing my toilet paper down the toliet in the J.W. Mariott hotel in Quito. It´s the simple things in life. Don´t ever forget it.
Thus, in celebration of my parents coming to Ibarra, I wanted my real parents to meet my host parents, and in that simple thought this blog was born.
It all started about a month before my parents arrived in Ecuador. I explained to my host family that my parents were arriving and told them that we would be honored to take them out for lunch at their favorite restaurant. Quick sidenote: Lunch is the big meal of the day here in Ecuador. Thus if you are inviting guests you have them for lunch instead of dinner. Having someone over for diner is like asking someone if they want to come have stove top stuffing at your house at 6:15, right after you have eaten stove top at 6:00. Why are they related you might ask? Simple: both invitations are incredibly nerdy.
Anyway after this question that hemming and hawing went into overdrive. After a fifteen minute discussion I had absolutely no idea what my host parents wanted to do with my parents. Every single yes was followed by a no and every single day was followed by a different day. They simply had no idea.
This is one of the best and worst things about Ecuador. Planning something in advance is a completely foreign concept. I also dont think that it has anything to do with people not wanting to be tied down to a certain activity. I think it pretty much stems from an inability to picture one´s life that far in the future. The target area for plans in this country as far as time, place, and date go is probably like trying to land a marble in the Pacific Ocean. Sure you can sink the marble, but are you going to find it afterward??
Thus I decided my next move should be a more suave approach. The I will leave it up to you, let me know what you are thinking was our next conversation about the parental meeting.
For all intensive purposes that conversation pretty much never happened. Never even mentioned to me their ideas once. Thus I tried my third tactic, which was: Here are the dates my parents are available. Let me know tomrrow what you are thinking.
Tomorrow came and nothing. At that point I basically assumed that they just didn´t want to meet my parents. However I also knew that if I didn´t bring my parents over to my host family´s house, my host parents would be really upset. Thus I was in a position of not having a convenient time for the families to meet, but also having a responsibility to make sure the meeting happened.
My last option was coffee. 15 minutes on Monday night. My mom and dad will come over, we´ll say hello, and then we´ll leave. No sweat off anyone´s back, no pressure to have a conversation, and both would get to see one another. I also to not make this arrangement an option. My host mom agreed and she also offered to have some hors d´vours.
The meeting lasted almost three hours. My host mom prepared an outstanding four course meal. My real mom and dad did a tremendous job of plodding through their limited Spanish to communicate. One of the most fun dinners I have ever had in my life, but also easily one of the most confusing.
Why did my host mom offer snack food (comida para picar) when she was planning on making a feast? The options abound:
1) She actually talked to my parents for a spell before cooking. Maybe she wanted to make sure she could tolerate the time before going all out.
2) Maybe she said snack food so that there would be no way people could be dissapointed. If they though dinner, and dinner turned out to be gross then she would have looked bad. Expecting snack food and receiving a gourmet meal maybe seemed like a pleasant suprise. And it was let me tell you. Probably the equivalent of ordering a massage only to find out that the Masseuse is a Swedish Super Model with unbelivable hands and a dynamite accent.
3) Maybe the foods she made were Ecuadorian snack foods and I just dont get it.
4) Anything you can think of is probably as good as what I can come up with.
Whatever the reason the most stunning factor, and the reason for writing this entry, is the way my mom´s interacted at the dinner table. There sense of humor picked up almost immediately. Clearly making fun of how much food I eat was hilarious to both parties. My host mom also took immense care preparing a dinner that would show my parents how safe and cared for I am here in Ecuador. My host mom even chose the seat next to her for my mom. A mother´s love is probably the most universal concept, and a demonstration and understanding of a mother´s love comes so naturally and wonderfully to two people who come from completely different worlds. Absolutely warmed my heart to see understanding between the two women across cultural barriers.
Sorry for the quick conclusion, but I gotta run. Take care and thanks for reading.
Thus, in celebration of my parents coming to Ibarra, I wanted my real parents to meet my host parents, and in that simple thought this blog was born.
It all started about a month before my parents arrived in Ecuador. I explained to my host family that my parents were arriving and told them that we would be honored to take them out for lunch at their favorite restaurant. Quick sidenote: Lunch is the big meal of the day here in Ecuador. Thus if you are inviting guests you have them for lunch instead of dinner. Having someone over for diner is like asking someone if they want to come have stove top stuffing at your house at 6:15, right after you have eaten stove top at 6:00. Why are they related you might ask? Simple: both invitations are incredibly nerdy.
Anyway after this question that hemming and hawing went into overdrive. After a fifteen minute discussion I had absolutely no idea what my host parents wanted to do with my parents. Every single yes was followed by a no and every single day was followed by a different day. They simply had no idea.
This is one of the best and worst things about Ecuador. Planning something in advance is a completely foreign concept. I also dont think that it has anything to do with people not wanting to be tied down to a certain activity. I think it pretty much stems from an inability to picture one´s life that far in the future. The target area for plans in this country as far as time, place, and date go is probably like trying to land a marble in the Pacific Ocean. Sure you can sink the marble, but are you going to find it afterward??
Thus I decided my next move should be a more suave approach. The I will leave it up to you, let me know what you are thinking was our next conversation about the parental meeting.
For all intensive purposes that conversation pretty much never happened. Never even mentioned to me their ideas once. Thus I tried my third tactic, which was: Here are the dates my parents are available. Let me know tomrrow what you are thinking.
Tomorrow came and nothing. At that point I basically assumed that they just didn´t want to meet my parents. However I also knew that if I didn´t bring my parents over to my host family´s house, my host parents would be really upset. Thus I was in a position of not having a convenient time for the families to meet, but also having a responsibility to make sure the meeting happened.
My last option was coffee. 15 minutes on Monday night. My mom and dad will come over, we´ll say hello, and then we´ll leave. No sweat off anyone´s back, no pressure to have a conversation, and both would get to see one another. I also to not make this arrangement an option. My host mom agreed and she also offered to have some hors d´vours.
The meeting lasted almost three hours. My host mom prepared an outstanding four course meal. My real mom and dad did a tremendous job of plodding through their limited Spanish to communicate. One of the most fun dinners I have ever had in my life, but also easily one of the most confusing.
Why did my host mom offer snack food (comida para picar) when she was planning on making a feast? The options abound:
1) She actually talked to my parents for a spell before cooking. Maybe she wanted to make sure she could tolerate the time before going all out.
2) Maybe she said snack food so that there would be no way people could be dissapointed. If they though dinner, and dinner turned out to be gross then she would have looked bad. Expecting snack food and receiving a gourmet meal maybe seemed like a pleasant suprise. And it was let me tell you. Probably the equivalent of ordering a massage only to find out that the Masseuse is a Swedish Super Model with unbelivable hands and a dynamite accent.
3) Maybe the foods she made were Ecuadorian snack foods and I just dont get it.
4) Anything you can think of is probably as good as what I can come up with.
Whatever the reason the most stunning factor, and the reason for writing this entry, is the way my mom´s interacted at the dinner table. There sense of humor picked up almost immediately. Clearly making fun of how much food I eat was hilarious to both parties. My host mom also took immense care preparing a dinner that would show my parents how safe and cared for I am here in Ecuador. My host mom even chose the seat next to her for my mom. A mother´s love is probably the most universal concept, and a demonstration and understanding of a mother´s love comes so naturally and wonderfully to two people who come from completely different worlds. Absolutely warmed my heart to see understanding between the two women across cultural barriers.
Sorry for the quick conclusion, but I gotta run. Take care and thanks for reading.
posted by ecuadortraveler at 4:39 PM
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