the family

Hey friends, I hope you are all doing well. We arrived with our families on Saturday and so have now been living with them for four days. All in all, we all love our families. THey have very different lives and live in different parts of the city, but they are very open and warm people who desire to help us learn more Spanish and more about Argentina. I will tell you about mine and let the others fill in on theirs.

I live with my host parents and a little brother who will be two in July. My brother has down syndrome and is a little late in his development. But he is very cute and the family loves him a lot. Next to our house, but in the same fenced area lives my fathers grandmother. She is a very funny lady who continues to lives in the days of Evita and Juan Peron. The hosue is small, but nice. I share my brothers room with him and I have two drawers in which to put my clothes. The house is nice, but it is of the lower middle class. Therefore, the only heat we have is wall heaters that we mainly turn on only at night. Also there are some small cockroaches in the kitchen. I say small because they are if youve seen the ones that are in Africa.

My father does some type of ministry work with the poorer people of the city to try and help them take advantage of the oppotunities available to them. Both of my parents seem to have a heart for the poor and to help those around them. It also seems to me that they are choosing to live in a lower class house because of the work that my host father does. But, I also know they do not have to live in this house. It is a choice theyve made or a sacrifice really. I discovered this when we went to his uncles house that is over the middle or upper part of the middle class. His house reminded me more of our houses in the States. It was then that I realized the passion my host parents have for the poor and for those society chooses to ignore. Their lives challenge me and make me question the way that I will choose to live when I am older. I dont know if I would have the courage or the willingness to sacrifice the comforts of a richer lifestyle in order to be able to help my brothers and sisters more. It is a question I continue to ask myself, but I still dont know the answer.

During the day we have class for two hours and after divide into smaller groups to explore the city. It makes for exciting days. I am glad that I have a good sense of direction, though, otherwise I would have gotten lost several times. Im finding that I enjoy the city life, especially taking the bus and the train everywhere that I go.

All in all things are great. My family is wonderful and every time we have a lengthy discussion about politics, urbanization, poverty, or christianity I feel completely blessed to be living with them for a month. I can already tell that the month will pass too quickly and leave me sad to part with them.