Taking advantage of the afternoon recess of my Spanish studies to whack out a quick post about what is perhaps one of the most salient experiences of the immersion student: the homestay.
I´ve got a pretty good set up. My host mother is Suzy, a stout, fifty-something woman with a warm smile and impressive collection of costume jewelry. In her past life, she was a nurse, but now she supplements her meagre retirement with income generated by hosting gringos in her sprawling two-story house ten minutes away from the city center. Living with her,besides the students, are: her father,her daughter,her daughter´s daughter, and her other daughter. Her boyfriend visits often: according to another student living here, there was a husband, but he cheated on her, she gave him an ultimatim,and he selected what was behind Door Number 2. Her boyfriend is adorably attentive and he´s gonna fix my camera tomorrow, so all I can say is, you go head with your bad self, Suzy Cruz!
In La Casa de Suzy, English is forbidden, because she´s quite serious about making sure her ¨hijas¨ learn as much Spanish as possible. Sarah has only been here a week, but she already speaks as much as I learned in two years of university study, possibly because she made 300 flashcards in her first three days and is constantly shuffling them around. Christina came here two days ago, fleeing a much sketchier homestay involving a bucket for various hygenic purposes.
As homestays go, it´s pretty luxurious: I have my own room, with a lock on it, a shower with pretty decent aspirations towards hot water, and some pretty good home-cooking,three times a day. Suzy was,alas,not told to expect a vegetarian, but she does endearing things like fish the squash out of the meat sauce and serve it to me seperately, and since meat is really more garnish than main course in Guatemalan cuisine, I´ve gotten along very well.
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