My new host family!

          Today was an exciting day because I got to meet my first host family!  I arrived at their house around 11 am and was very happily surprised to find that their house is beautiful!  I was expecting only one woman, whose name is Lilibeth Mabel Castro (everyone calls her Mabel though) and her son Yelin, but today her whole family stopped by during the day to say hi!  I must have met 40 of her family members, all of whom live very close by.  It was a lot to take in, my first day of constantly having to speak Spanish and trying to comprehend was exhausting, both mentally and physically.  I also made my first embarrassing translation mistake today, that didn't take long!  Mabel asked me if there was anything else that I didn't eat besides meat.  I said "Yes, absolutely, I eat everything else, I love to eat vegetables, eggs...." and once I said that they started laughing and I couldn't figure out why.  Its because in Spanish, 'eggs' or 'huevos' is a slang word for testicles, and when I said "I love to eat eggs" they couldn't stop laughing!  It was a good learning experience and I'm sure I will make similar mistakes in the future.  I really like my host family and their sense of humor!

            My host brother, Yelin, is a student at the University in Panama City.  He is the same age as me and is in his last year at school.  He is studying to become a doctor but doesn't know for sure what specifically he wants to practice, he is thinking about becoming a surgeon.  He is very nice and easy to talk to, we like a lot of the same things.  And his mother the best chef in town!  I was told that before I arrived and found it to be true!  They think it is weird that I am a vegetarian, but think I'm weird in a lot of other ways too so its not a problem.  Mabel gave me a "duro" when I arrived, which is basically a type of frozen juice in a small plastic bag that you have to bite the corner off of to eat.  This kind was called "tamarinda" and it was so good, she made it herself!

            For the rest of the day family members came and went.  I met her daughter Lilibeth, her granddaughter Sophia, and many other people.  All were very nice but when they left around 3, I was ready to take a break and unpack my things.  I am living in Lilibeth's old room and it is very big with everything I could need.  I am very lucky and know that I will like living here.