Aero: Kelly Bailey – Costa Rica 2016 – Life at Home
Creative Commons Image via The LEAF Project
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Spending this time at Mayra’s house was my first experience living in someone’s home that was not family. By the end of the trip I felt as though a had a second family.
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Kelly Bailey
Every morning Mayra cooked breakfast for not only us, but for Pablo and Carolina her children. When I say children I mean grown adults in their thirties. I am twenty years old and my mom stopped cooking me breakfast a long time ago. This is just one of may nurturing actions Mayra did for her children that way exceeds what American parents do on a daily basis.
Mayra and Pablo would get up way before us at 5 or 6 in the morning. They would cook, watch TV, and just hang out in the kitchen until we woke up. Americans (or at least I) would never wake up early just to hang out in the kitchen with my mom. In Costa Rica Family is emphasized way more. On night Pablo was invited to diner at his friends Tony’s house which didn’t just mean he was invited to dinner it meant Pablo, Mayra, his daughter, and surprisingly the host children as well.
The family did everything together. The evenings were spent much like the mornings, everyone just hung out. Instead of hanging out in the kitchen they whole family plus some friends and neighbors would bring chairs and stool out on the sidewalk and every one just hung out. One night we came back from our excursion of the day and there was an unfamiliar dog sitting with everyone outside. Some other students started petting the dog, then after some inquiry we learned this was just a stay dog hanging out too. No discrimination everyone is allowed to hang on the streets of Costa Rica. Mayra did have a Chihuahua named Cleo, and Pablo has a Parquet named Cucho. So, not only did the have a pet bird, but there is a bird feeder on the refrigerator so sometime wild birds would pop in for a nibble. The Wild birds were able to enter the house by the small space between the roof and the top of the wall. Homes in Upstate New York could never have that Space because it would make heating our homes impossible.
Kelly Bailey
LEAF Contributor
ML@FLCC: Costa Rica 2016
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