Aero: Katherine Kostuk – Costa Rica 2013 – Family Life
Aero: Katherine Kostuk – Costa Rica 2013 – Family Life
Aero: Katherine Kostuk – Costa Rica 2013 – Family Life
When you think about your family I’m sure you can think about a hand full of memories off the top of your head that make you laugh, shake your head, or maybe even cry. Everyone’s family dynamics vary from each others, and that is what makes them each unique. I had the wonderful opportunity to stay with a host family while in Costa Rica and it made my trip that much better. My host mother Mayra is one of the most wonderful and caring people I have ever had the opportunity to meet. For the two weeks we were there, she welcomed Tricia and I into her home like we were her own children. Mayra’s older daughter, son, and her granddaughter all lived within the same house. Pedro and his daughter Maria were very involved with us and Mayra. They would eat dinner and Maria enjoyed watching television with us. Mayra’s daughter however moved out of the house a few days after we got there because she got married. Unlike in the states, the wedding didn’t seem to be as big as an ordeal there. In the states people seem to spend forever planning their weddings and on that big day everyone is early to get seats and everyone is anxious. However on the day of the wedding, when Tricia and I had returned from school her daughters room had been completely moved out. That night Maya told us that her daughter was getting married and she was leaving at seven, but didn’t leave until almost seven thirty. Mayra was completely composed like it was another day; however she was excited to go dancing. It was completely different then what I imagine my mother being on my wedding day.
The only challenging part of the family dynamic was the communication barrier. Mayra didn’t know any English, and Tricia and I started off with choppy and limited Spanish. When we first got there this scared us because we weren’t sure if Mayra would understand us, and us her. Nevertheless we worked through the barrier using each other, our dictionaries, pictures, writing, and at times charades. It helped when Pedro was around because he knew some English so he would help when the three of us had trouble. One of my favorite aspects was when we were telling stories about our day I would show them pictures from my camera to go along with the stories. While looking at the pictures Pedro and Mayra would tell us what it was in Spanish and would help us say it correctly.
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Every night Mayra would check to see what time we needed to be up in the morning and when we needed to be at the school. Then in the morning she would stick her head in our room and say “Buenos días” and make sure we were awake. Within a half hour or so she would knock on our door again so we would come eat breakfast. Mayra’s cooking was amazing and she always made us fresh squeezed juice to go with breakfast. After we ate she would tell us to take a sweater if we were going someplace she knew was going to be cold, and would send us with food for the road in case we got hungry. Everyday she walked us to the door and hugged and kissed us then sent us on our way for our daily adventure. Mayra is about as motherly as they come, and made us feel very welcome because she treated us like we were own kids. Pedro is a mechanic so was gone by the same time we were out of the house. Mayra took care of Maria a lot because Pedro is a mechanic while Mayra works from home. When they were all home however, they spent that time together and talked about their days. It was nice to see that they had such a strong family connection. It reminded me of my family by how they sat together and just laughed and enjoyed each other. As we said we loved them the day we left it was clear that we had become a part of that connection.
– Katherine Kostuk
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www.leaflanguages.org
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