Family

Today is Mothers’ Day in Tola.  This is an especially big deal in my house because there are so many mothers!  In my house alone, there are three different families with three different mothers. 

The concept of “family” is very different here in Nicaragua.  I’m used to using the word ‘family’ to describe only my Mom, Dad, and brothers.  Here, the word ‘family’ includes the entire extended family, as well.  My family here is spread over three neighboring houses.  In my house, there are three mothers, three fathers, and five children.  Other family members live on both sides of us.

Mama Yolanda, my host mother, is a wise woman of 60.  She wears her glasses half-way down her nose and always speaks with purpose.  She is always easy to understand because she speaks really clearly and directly.  She is always put together and is very respected by the entire community.  I was walking with her down the street and everyone greets her as Mama Yolanda.

My host father, on the other hand, walks around everywhere shirt-less, showing off his enormous beer belly.  He always shortens words and usually doesn’t pause in between sentences.  I never really know what he is talking about because I can’t figure out what he is saying.

 Two of Yolanda’s sons and one of her daughters live with us in the house.  Rodolfo is 20, but spends most of his time out of the house working or spending time with his girlfriend, Gretel.  Lorenzo is married to Sandra and have two kids, Ingrid and Luis Carlos.  All four of them sleep in one room all together.  Maria Jose, Yolanda’s daughter, has a new born baby, Maria Alexandra, who is only 3 weeks old.  She is so adorable and her crib is set up just outside my bedroom door.  Maria Jose’s husband works all week in Managua and is only home during the weekends.

In the neighboring houses, there are three different families—one family in the house on the left and two families in the house on the right.  This means three more couples and seven more kids!

The kids are so cute.  They only go to school for four hours and spend the rest of the day playing.  They don’t have too many toys, but they always have a lot of fun playing with bugs and just running around.  They always find something to do and are amused by the simplest things.  I brought a case of bubbles and Diego, 4, and Ingrid, 6, were so excited about them.  It was the center of their focus for two days.

A few nights ago we were all sitting on the porch chatting and the kids found a huge beetle.  They attached a string to it and called it their new pet.  A little while later they found a huge toad and attached the other end of the string to it.  They went wild watching the toad hop around dragging the beetle behind it.

I taught Diego and Ingrid how to play thumb wars and now they are obsessed.