I have decided that I want to let all of you into the family that I have made while in Ecuador. This host family is by far, not your average family, probably not even your average Ecuadorian family. For my first post on ma nuevo famillia, I want to share how we spent Paula’s 22nd birthday…just to give you a glimpse…
Since Paula’s favorite food is chicken, we began the Cumpleanos celebration with a large birthday dinner complete with pollo (chicken) papas fritas (french fries) rice, plantains, pan (bread) and of course, pastel (cake).
I’m not sure how Cumpleanos (birthday) traditions go in Ecuador, let alone in this family, but I do know whatever birthday song Paula’s husband, Paul (yes their names are Paula and Paul) sang, it was so beautiful. It wasn’t your overplayed “Happy Birthday To You” or even “Feliz Cumpleanos.” It was a little longer and slower. You could just tell it came from his heart.
My favorite “tradition” that I am definitely going to try to bring back to the states is the “Que muerda el pastel” Or simply, see how fast you can convince the birthday girl to eat her cake without her hands and then shove her face in it….brilliant idea! Unfortunately, Paula knew this was a tradition, and having a family like she does, it was absolutely expected! It was definitely Vanessa’s goal for la noche. (the night) She kept chanting, “que muerda el pastel!” over and over and got the whole family, along with the six of us to chant it too. At first, we had no idea what we were chanting, but when Vanessa explained it to us (half in English and half in Spanish) we quickly chanted louder and louder. (I really wanted to witness this firsthand) Needless to say, Paula was laughing the entire time. The minute Vanessa turned her back, Paula lowered her head down and tilted her face towards the cake to take a bite. Vanessa quickly turned around to see this, and tried to put her hand on the back of her head quick enough to push her face right into the cake. But Paula knew this. I would bet this has happened in previous Cumpleanos’s. So, Paula reached behind her head, grabbed Vanessa’s hand and lifted her head back up, far away from the large cake. Paula was spared to say the least.
After this eventful tradition, we decided to bring some of our own traditional birthday surprises. Each of us previously decided to either make or give something to Paula for her birthday. Within about an hour or two, we had….
1) A birthday card (made by Meg)
2) A small journal (Amanda wrote Paula on the front of it)
3) Two pairs of earrings (Kaitlin gave a pair and Kim gave a pair)
4) A sky blue ring (Lauren aka Dory gave it)
5) A purple skirt (given by yours truly)
I should mention that Paula’s favorite colors are sky blue, purple and white. I’m pretty sure she was happy with her presents that were wrapped in blanco (white) crepe paper and azul (blue) ribbon. She did say gracias JAfter the presents were finished, I continued with my nightly routine of trying to kiss Mati, (a 2 year old who HATES my kisses). Every time I go to kiss this guapo hombre, (handsome man) he wipes off the specific place on his face where I kissed him…no lie…every freaking time! It’s the most adorable, saddening thing. But, tonight, HE DIDN’T WIPE OFF MY KISS!!!! I don’t know if it was because it was Paula’s birthday and he was just being a gentleman (doubtful) or whether or not he realized he had not wiped away my kiss (more likely) but either way, I snuck in a kiss and it made my night complete to put a smile on Paula’s face and Mati’s.
For more family shenanigans, stay tuned…
