Mi Familia

Let me introduce my family. I’m living just around the corner from our language school, in Zone 1 of the city, with the wonderful Maldonado family. There are three full-time residents, Floridalma, the mother of the house, and her two grown daughters, Lucy and Rosana. Floridalma works days in a salon just down the street. She’s also a wonderful cook, and seems to be enjoying my large appetite. Lucy is twenty, and in college here in Xela studying restaurant and hotel management. She's also the greatest salsa dancer in the entire world. Rosana is in her mid thirties, and works as a psychologist with an NGO outside the city. Floridalma's mother also lives with us, for the most part. She's a very sweet old lady but I cannot understand a word that comes out of her mouth. It might not be me though, because there a several signs of senility. Most notable is that fact that she can't seem to remember my name. Each morning she cycles through a few and eventually settles on one for the day. Yesterday I was Hakim. There’s also plenty of extended family to go around, dropping in from time to time. I’m still working on names, but I think I recognize most of the faces now. They’ve all been very welcoming and friendly and I feel extremely lucky with my placement. I really couldn’t have asked for a better atmosphere to get to know life here.

I should probably add, for those curious, that my family falls in the upper-middle class here (Yes, they actually have a middle class in Xela!). Their house is extremely spacious and in excellent repair by Guatemalan standards. They have a kitchen, dining room, living room (with a TV) and four bedrooms. They also have two mid-range cars, which is very unusual. But they are also university educated, a privilege granted to only 1% of the population here, which speaks volumes about their status, and their means.