Two days ago, I sat around a pot full of boiled chonta and peeled them with burning hands for probably the fifth time in two months. Surrounded by my host sisters and mother, all chatting about happenings in the community, and laughing at my red fingers. It was here, looking at my sisters and bent over a pile of smoking fruit, that I felt overwhelmed with the saddest happiness. "I love peeling chonta so much," I told them, feeling like I had to share. "And I'm going to miss it."
The past few days have been spent in my community, with my host family. I made American pancakes for my family on Saturday morning, which my little sister kept calling "empanadas!!" I woke up early with my host sister the next day to sell those same pancakes to visiting military workers for breakfast with my host sister. I played lots of tag with my host brother, watched Ride Along 2 in Spanish on my host sister's laptop, and helped my other sister chase around her two year old. I had a huge tickle fight with my little brother, listened to my 15 year old brother show me all his sad songs he loves to listen to, and helped clean up the toddler when he randomly chucked on the playground. Last night, I helped make dinner for and babysit two nine year olds, a three year old, and a two year old while the adults were out in the town to celebrate a local election. I carried my little sister down the stairs when she was about to pee her pants. It definitely feels like the last few days, I've gotten much closer, both physically and emotionally, to a lot of my family. And the last few days have also contained many conversations about why I'm leaving, how sad it will be when I go, and when I am going to return. It makes the idea of me leaving in four days that much harder when I have to explain that I don't know when I'll be back, and that it may be in quite a while. But those moments also remind me to stay in the moment and soak up these last few days as much as I can. On Friday, my mom will be visiting my community (all the way from the US, she's a badass!) and we'll be traveling in Ecuador for a week. Until then, I hope to make more pancakes, build more castles out of soap bars with the little ones, watch my favorite telenovelas with my host sisters, and take in the beautiful views of the Amazon a few more times.
1 Comment
Mom
3/25/2019 02:37:21 pm
I. Can. Not. Wait.
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AuthorI'm a 21 year old university student, studying geography and food security, and spending a semester in Ecuador interning with Amazon Learning. ArchivesCategories |