Saturday, March 6, 2010

Gringos, Chinos, y Ticos

Last night, my brother and his wife came in from the United States. My two older sisters, their spouses, my nephew, and my other sister's boyfriend came over. All together there were 12 of us and it was a night with lots of laughter and reunioning after a three month absence. When we sat down to eat hamburgers (my brother's favorite...) my father made a comment about the gringos, chinos, and ticos (local word for Costa Ricans) sitting down together as a family. I just loved that. It really is so neat that we can be from different backgrounds (my dad was born in China and immigrated here as a child, my brother's wife I are from the States, and the rest of my family is born and raised here...) but we can sit down and enjoy each other company and share a meal. Plus just the fact that all of our paths are here right now in Costa Rica is really beautiful.

I love watching my brother and his wife interact. She is from San Diego originally (mom and Bot... yet another reminder of this place that is so amazing and wonderful and that I must visit!!!) and studied here five years ago with my program. She lived with another family but met my brother and they kept in touch when she went home. After many years of visiting back and forth, my brother studying in the US, and lots of writing, emailing, and skyping, THEY ARE MARRIED! By now they are both bi-lingual (in the beginning they were not...) and they speak both languages to each other. It's really cool. I always wonder how they pick which one to use. Obviously around my family and around me they speak mostly in Spanish, and I only talk to them in Spanish as well. (It is so tempting to speak English to Laura, but I only speak in Spanish.) But they have a fun dynamic and Laura really fits in well with them family. She chases Diego around and teases my other siblings in a fun and comfortable way.

Anyway, this week is FIESTA FIESTA! Today we are having a family BBQ with my immediate family and tomorrow the entire family- chinos and ticos- are coming over. It's going to be CRAZY! But I'm excited about it.

Much love to everyone. Thanks for your prayers and thoughts during this time. It's been a weird week of emotions and events but I am loving it and learning so much.

LOVE YOU!

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