Mi segunda familia

I was 14 when I traveled to Ciudad Guzman, Mexico to participate in an exchange program through Longmont Sister Cities. Upon meeting my host family at the airport, I was immediately engulfed by dozens of hugs. My host mother, Gabby, was the warmest person I had ever met and so full of life. Every morning Gabby would pound on my door and her two children, Ruben age 9, and Christy age 8 would greet me with a chorus of “Buenos dias.”

I remember asking Ruben and Christy in my broken Spanish if they would be willing to show me a traditional Mexican game. For several days, they seemed to contemplate which one to show me. I was surprised one night when Ruben and Christy led me to a big open park in the middle of their Colonia. I could hear the rattle of bicycles coming down the dirt road as the neighborhood kids joined us. When everyone was accounted for, Ruben introduced me to his neighborhood friends and told me that we were going to play their favorite game “Footbase.” After several innings of “Footbase,” a game equivalent to dodge ball, the light from the evening sky began to drift away. The little girl next to me pointed to her cupped hands “Mira, mira alli,” she shouted excitedly. Quickly she uncapped her hands to reveal three or four fireflies and set them adrift in the summer air.

That moment fundamentally changed my life. For the first time I realized that there are other people sharing the same planet with me. To experience another culture through the eyes of a child is also something extraordinary as kids seem unable to censor or filter what they show you. It is almost as if they can only offer an authentic version because they aren’t aware they are introducing you to their world.

I recently went to a Longmont Sister Cities event called Thanksgiving in August. Every summer Longmont students spend 10 days in our Sister Cities in Chino, Japan or Ciudad Guzman, Guzman living with host families and then Mexican and Japanese students come to Longmont for ten days while the Longmont students host them. Thanksgiving in August is an opportunity for the students to share their traditions with each other.

As I walked into the event this past Saturday, I was once again engulfed in a warm hug and looked down to see that it was Gabby. Shocked and excited, Gabby told me that she was one of the chaperones this year. "Hace seis anos," we both laughed. I couldn't believe it had really been 6 years since I had seen her. She also told me that Christy was now 14 and Ruben 15 years old and that Ruben would be coming to Longmont next summer as part of the exchange program.

Seeing Gabby was a powerful reminder of how incredible living with a host family is and the strong relationships that are built across cultures. It made me so excited for my next big adventure; living with a host family for three and half months in Nairobi, Kenya. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn about the social enterprise occurring in Kenyan communities and to be able to experience it while living with a Kenyan family.

In 18 days I will depart for Kenya and I can’t wait to meet the incredible people I will be living with because I know they will impact my life as much as Gabby and her family have!