Carolyn: My Host Family

By Carolyn Kloecker
I recently recieved some exciting news about the family I will be living with in Ecuador! My host mom's name is Yolanda Cordova, and she is an older woman with one of her sons living in the house, as well as her daughter and her respective family (including four kids) living next door. This is a family that a good friend of mine suggested I live with, because she had already been on the program to Ecuador in Fall 2007. I will also have wireless internet, which will be a big plus so that I can keep in contact with friends and family.
Liz Girten, a fellow 'blogger' for Spanish & Illinois, has told me all about the area I will be living in. We looked at Google Maps together and she showed me how the bus system works and where I can get a chip for a cell phone while in Ecuador. The house I will be living in is very close to the bus station, where I will take a bus to Cumbayá (a town just outside of Quito, about 15 minutes) where the university is located.
In terms of my host family, I am very excited about being able to have young children nearby. I love to work with kids, and in college that does not usually get to happen very often, except when I teach swim lessons for a couple of hours a week, or when I do community work with kids. I have also heard so much about how nice Yolanda is from my friend who lived with her, and they still keep in contact often. I really can't wait to meet my new familia!

Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 18, 2008 at 10:06 AM

    Carolina,
    Just make sure you don't spend so much time on-line that you don't really experience first-hand everything that you can about Ecuador. Declare certain days "internet-free." Tell yourself that you'll only get on-line after you have spent one full hour talking with your host family. Etc. It's easy to get caught up with staying in touch with people from home; it's okay to lose touch for one semester while you're immersed! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ms. KloeckerDecember 18, 2008 at 11:45 PM

    Thanks, actually Brandon Lanners told me the same thing as well. I'm just happy that I won't have to spend a lot of money calling to the U.S. now that I know I can use Skype for free! And I can update my blog whenever I want :) But I'll have to have some experiences in order to write about them, so I'll make sure to focus on that! Thanks for the advice.

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