It has taken to absolutely POURING. We're talking like, sky cracks in half and water pounds down by the gallons, the kind that makes you wonder if drowning is possible on dry land. I tried taking photos of it on my camera, but they didn't really encompass the true experience. Here are some photos anyway:
Exciting Development:
Every meal, my host mom literally serves me about 12 boiled potatoes and maybe 3 cups of rice, sometimes that's it, sometimes there are some peas mixed in there (which I pick out and make sure I eat every one). Sometimes she gives me this and a giant bowl of soup filled with potatoes. She thinks I hate her food because I never finish all of it. I don't hate her food...it just gets monotonous, it's way too much, and she has definitely turned eating into an "eat to live" not "live to eat" kind of situation. I also, clearly, don't want diabetes, and sometimes I feel like that is what I've been served, a big bowl of diabetes. I felt bad because I did think I was hurting her feelings but I didn't know what to do. I'm not going to eat that whole bowl because I'm afraid to hurt her feelings, mostly because I physically can't, but also because if you eat it once, they assume you can eat it again. Everything surrounding food has to be carefully premeditated. It's a job to eat in Perú.
Finally, one night, she asked me why I didn't like her food when I didn't eat all the 5 lbs worth of carbohydrates she put in front of me. Don't get me wrong, I eat a normal portion size, I just don't eat all of it. Well. I told her again that it wasn't that I didn't like her food, I just couldn't eat that much, there wasn't enough room in my stomach. Then, something I'd been thinking about saying for a few days, I finally decided it was the right moment. I told her that healthy adults in the United States eat the same portion size that she serves her six year old daughter, Mishel, and that I can eat that much. I told her it was because many Americans did less manual labor than they do in Iraca, and that of course they needed more energy here for that reason, which is why they eat so much more. I told her I didn't want to gain weight (which since then she has continually made fun of me for), and that I would eat all my food if she gave me the same amount she gives my 6 year old host sister. I'm not being skimpy either, Mishel literally eats a decent sized adult portion of food, and I'm incredibly content now because Celina has taken to serving me on the smaller plates, with less food. It's fantastic. WIN!
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