host families....
So I have avoided posting about this because I feel like it will end up being more of a rant than anything else. But I'm a little fed up and need to vent a bit....
Ok, so I've never stayed with a host family before and do not have anything to compare my experience with, so if anyone reading has an experience good or bad please comment for me. Perhpas it would be different if I was younger and had not been living on my own for the last five years, but right now it is not a particularly enjoyable thing for me to be living with a family. The family that I am staying with is a husband and wife, probably between 55 and 65, and their 35 year old daughter. In the US it would be extremely odd for a 35 year old daughter to still be living with her parents, in Spain it's less odd, but most of the people at my school that I've asked about it say that it's still pretty unusual. My host family currently has 5 students living with them, FIVE. Living in their flat is more like staying in a hostel with extremely particular and annoying owners. I get scolded about something on almost a daily basis. This morning it was because I had my foot on one of the cross bars of the chair while I was eating breakfast. The father came in and scolded me like a five year old, saying "The bar is very weak. If you break it you will have to pay me for it. Your feet are for the floor." I almost busted out my wallet and asked him how much he wanted for his lousy chair right then and there. I can understand if your worried that your furniture might break, but don't scold me like I'm a child. To add more oddities the mother washed my clothes for me... Ummmm... I don't even let my own mother wash my clothes for me anymore, I'm perfectly willing to use other peoples facilities but let me do it. THEN I got scolded for having too much laundry. I'm not sure whether it was because I didn't know what to do with it and hand't put it in the laundry basket until I was asked if I had laundry, or if it was that I wear to much clothing. It's not like I'm changing clothes three times a day and throwing them in the dirty laundry. I think one set of underclothes, one t-shirt a day, and one pair of pants per 2-4 days is pretty reasonable.
So when I had originally signed up to stay in a home stay rather than in an apartment I had thought that I would be staying with a family who wanted to get to know "extranjeros" who would be curious about my life and culture and in return help me to learn their language, customs and culture. This is not the case. I am not encourged to spend time with the family, and my interactions are limited to my plans for the day, being scolded about doing something, and being asked if I've met any cute spanish girls yet.
I don't know... maybe it's just me.
Ok, so I've never stayed with a host family before and do not have anything to compare my experience with, so if anyone reading has an experience good or bad please comment for me. Perhpas it would be different if I was younger and had not been living on my own for the last five years, but right now it is not a particularly enjoyable thing for me to be living with a family. The family that I am staying with is a husband and wife, probably between 55 and 65, and their 35 year old daughter. In the US it would be extremely odd for a 35 year old daughter to still be living with her parents, in Spain it's less odd, but most of the people at my school that I've asked about it say that it's still pretty unusual. My host family currently has 5 students living with them, FIVE. Living in their flat is more like staying in a hostel with extremely particular and annoying owners. I get scolded about something on almost a daily basis. This morning it was because I had my foot on one of the cross bars of the chair while I was eating breakfast. The father came in and scolded me like a five year old, saying "The bar is very weak. If you break it you will have to pay me for it. Your feet are for the floor." I almost busted out my wallet and asked him how much he wanted for his lousy chair right then and there. I can understand if your worried that your furniture might break, but don't scold me like I'm a child. To add more oddities the mother washed my clothes for me... Ummmm... I don't even let my own mother wash my clothes for me anymore, I'm perfectly willing to use other peoples facilities but let me do it. THEN I got scolded for having too much laundry. I'm not sure whether it was because I didn't know what to do with it and hand't put it in the laundry basket until I was asked if I had laundry, or if it was that I wear to much clothing. It's not like I'm changing clothes three times a day and throwing them in the dirty laundry. I think one set of underclothes, one t-shirt a day, and one pair of pants per 2-4 days is pretty reasonable.
So when I had originally signed up to stay in a home stay rather than in an apartment I had thought that I would be staying with a family who wanted to get to know "extranjeros" who would be curious about my life and culture and in return help me to learn their language, customs and culture. This is not the case. I am not encourged to spend time with the family, and my interactions are limited to my plans for the day, being scolded about doing something, and being asked if I've met any cute spanish girls yet.
I don't know... maybe it's just me.
posted by -J at 2:19 AM
1 Comments:
I would feel weirded out by the interactions you describe with the host family. Hang in there.
Hmmm. No coffee in the morning? None where you stay or none to take with you? I could send you one of my many traveling cups if you like. :) Sorry I know you have your standards but I would have given in by now and gone to McDonalds. You are likely to find that they do not have carryout coffee if it is a cultural thing.
I can't imagine what weird cultural things I will be finding in Guatemala.
Take care, keep writing. JOHN
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