As a gift for my homestay family when I first arrived here I gave my homestay mom, Lorena, a bag of pancake mix and a small bottle of maple syrup, both made locally in CT (bought at Bishops Orchards). I suggested that one day on the weekend I could make them the pancakes for breakfast, as a treat. This past Saturday night I mentioned it to them again, so when I woke up on yesterday Lorena had the kitchen all set up for me. I have to say, being awkward and clumsy in English is one thing, but when there's a language barrier my awkward-and-clumsiness is multiplied at least 3-fold. While cracking the egg I managed to squirt yolk all over myself and the floor, plus it always feels a bit out of place to cook in someone else's kitchen, especially if they're standing right there watching you.
Anyway, all went well and we sat down to eat. It's funny, Lorena does the same thing as my mom: gives the biggest pancake to Marcos (my homestay dad), the second biggest to me, and takes the smallest for herself. Maybe that's just a mom thing to do.
While we were eating Marcos asked me how they get maple syrup from maple trees (seeing as how they don't have maple trees in Costa Rica). The only way I could think to describe it in Spanish was that they put a whole in the tree and the syrup is like the blood of the tree, which they collect in a bucket. Pleasant breakfast conversation, huh?
Lastly, as we were cleaning up the dishes Lorena says, "You know how to cook, that means you're ready to get married!"
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