First Night With My Mama Tica

Yesterday was my first night with my mama tica.  My mama tica, Carmen, picked me up from the CPI school late last night. She was immediately so welcoming and didn’t hesitate to warmly hug and greet me.

Her home is much different than any other home I have visited.  She lives in a small house with her two daughters, their spouses, and 3 grandchildren.  The house is sort of three houses within one large one. She showed me my room and the bathroom I’ll be using.

My bedroom. (El dormitorio) 

When I arrived, no other family members were home and the mama tica gave me a quick tour of her home. After the tour, she took me into her kitchen and began to ask me questions (all in Spanish).  This was very difficult for me because I couldn’t understand what she was saying and suddenly felt shy and unintelligent.  As we sat in the kitchen, I did my best to communicate with her and appear engaged, but inside I was panicking and started to wonder how I was going to be able to make it through the week living with a family that spoke little to no English.

As I lay in bed that night I had a lot of feelings; anxiety, excitement and curiosity.  I wasn’t concerned with the lack of air conditioning, small six legged visitors in the shower, or finding my way around a new city; but instead I wondered how I was going to break through the language barrier with my new family and be the best representative of a United States’ college student that I could be.

Ready or not, my journey was about to begin….