Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to All!

I spent this New Years with my host family, and I think that was one of the best decisions I have made :) In the afternoon I went shopping with my host mom to buy some food for that night. We were at this supermarket and I was surprised by how many people my host mom knew, I guess I really shouldn't be all that surprised because she really can talk a lot :) When we were in the car driving home, we were at a stoplight and she got really excited all of the sudden because she saw her friend. She reached into the backseat and said that she had a Christmas gift to him, she rolled down her window and this little old man, with no hands and one leg, came hobbling to the window and my host mom starting going on about how she was looking for him the other day to give him his gift, he smiled, took the gift and told her that he couldn't work that day because one of his kids was sick. It made me so happy to see this side of my host mom, because even though she talks about helping those in need, I have sometimes felt that it was just talk and no action, but I am so happy to have been proven wrong :)

After getting back to the house, I helped my host sister, Katy, set the table for that evening. A little bit later I started a movie with my niece, Maria Belen, and then my host brother, Patricio, and his wife, their son, and his wife's son all came over. I continued hanging out with my niece and then joined everyone else for dinner, afterwards my niece had us all playing musical chairs and other games that she invented. Then, Patricio says we should all do karaoke and I came to find out that my host parents have a karaoke machine. So we spent the next two hours doing karaoke and it was so much fun! We stopped in order to count down for New Years, then we all gave each other hugs and kisses and shot some firework things outside our building. We were going to burn a doll because that is what everyone does, but apparently it is now illegal and you can get a $200 fine and even though the whole city still did it, my law-abiding host dad said that we couldn't. The burning of the dolls is something that is really interesting. The dolls generally have faces of political figures and by burning them you are supposed to get rid of all the bad things that happened in the past year and put it behind you and bring good luck for the new year. The most popular faces this year were: Rafael Correa, Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, Barack Obama, Paco Moncavo, Jaime Nebot, Corcho Cordero, and Fidel Castro. I was shocked that President Bush was not on the list and I told my host mom and she told him that people must have just gotten tired of burning him because they have been burning him for years. The picture to the left shows the most popular faces. The few days before New Years my host mom told me are days where people play jokes on each other, it basically reminded me of April Fools Day. My host mom was telling me about all the things she has done, which include, spending all night with her maid cracking open walnuts and filling them with flies and flour and sealing them back up. She said that her brother was over one day after she had done this and he asked if he could have a walnut, she said sure go ahead and he picked it up and was about to open it with his teeth, she stopped him and told him that he should use the nut cracker and he said "oh no, I have strong teeth", so he opened it with his teeth and out came flies and flour into his mouth. He was thoroughly upset with my host mom and she claims he did not talk to her for a year after that. She has also put soap in lemonade for her guests, put sticky glue stuff to the toilet seat so you get stuck to it, put black dye on the phone so the person who talks on it gets a black ear, and various other things. Another tradition for New Years is for the "viudas (widows)" to come out. However, these widows are men who dress up as women. On New Years eve the streets are filled with men dressed up as women and they are asking for money adn you really have no choice but to give them money because they dont let you pass until they do. I looked out my window and saw about 15 men stopping the traffic, flashing people in their cars until they got money, it is pretty interesting. There are also a bunch of superstitions that people have about things to do on New Years eve, such as it is good luck to wear yellow underwear, right before midnight you are supposed to eat 12 grapes (one for each month), at midnight you are supposed to run around the block with a suitcase in your hand (yes, I did see someone doing that outside), and many others that I can't remember at the moment.

New Years here was very interesting and I had a lot of fun with my family. One thing that has been good about this break is the fact that I have been able to spend more time with my host family. I went to my host sisters apartment for the first time a couple of days ago and that was cool, I really enjoyed spending more time with her on New Years. Last week I was having lunch with my host parents and my host sister and they started a conversation about all the bad things that they did as kids (the conversation was sparked by the behavior of my little niece) and the things they talked about were so bad, but so funny also, I think it was the most I have ever laughed with my host family. I am teaching my host mom to play poker and she is teaching me how to knit, so that is kind of exciting. I am going to post some more photos below and hopefully I will get an album up on facebook soon for you all to check out.

Peace,

Nadia

These are the bodies of the dolls, life size.

Me and my niece, Maria Belen.

My host dad, Telmo, singing.

My host brother, Patricio, and my host mom, Martha, singing together.

Martha, Katy (host sister) and Me.