Essay on my familia
Family Structure/Roles/Work:
My papa, Eliseo Lopez (age 62) is a taxi driver and lives in the home. He is a typical dad here, working all day long as a taxi-driver to make money for the family and coming home to a warm meal and relaxing till he goes to sleep. As the main source of income, he doesn’t have to do anything other than work (not even answer the phone). The rest of the family waits on him, though he is very humble about it.
My mama, Sonia Aburto (age 54), is a housewife, who takes care of everything around the house. It’s almost ridiculous how much she does, but she has such an incredible attitude about it – she feels honored to do it! She makes all the meals, washes the dishes, does the laundry, shops for anything we need, takes care of her granddaughter all day long, takes care of everything for me, listens to everyone’s problems, gives advice, etc. She feels that it’s a wife/mother’s duty to do everything she does, and she teaches her daughters to do the same. When she came over from Nicaragua, the racism was so bad that she wasn’t able to get a job anywhere, so on the side, she began selling and continues to sell things that she makes (bread, clothing, purses, etc.) in order to make money. It’s very rare to find someone who works with such pleasure and humility.
My older sister, Elisa Lopez (age 32), is an art teacher and a housewife. She’s always here for meals and helps mama by giving her some of what she earns so that mama can stay at home and do all the things she does. I imagine that Elisa does much of the same things in the house as mama, but I obviously don’t see it because I’m not living with her. Her husband, Manuel Zuniga, is 35 and works with loans. He is very curious and very fun to be around. Both of them live with their daughter, Ximena (age 4) across the street, but it’s as if they live in the same house as us. Ximena is always telling me secrets – which I don’t always understand – but it’s adorable. It’s nice to have so much family around all the time.
Kalia (age 22) is my other sister and she’s a teacher at an elementary school. Kalia also gives money to support mama and papa, and shares a room with me in the house. She tends to be the one who helps mama the most and answers the phone for everyone. She has wisdom beyond her years and is extremely welcoming.
Apparently, it is a Latin American custom to support your parents after you get married or after you have a career – the parents can even sue their children if they’re not giving them a certain amount of money (although hardly anyone does this, because it’s so embarrassing). Also, the children don’t stop living in the home until they’re married – they find it very strange that I won’t be living with my parents when I get back!
As in all countries, things are changing daily in Costa Rica. Going to and from San Jose isn’t as safe as it used to be – you have to always be watching your purse and things so they don’t get stolen. It’s also much more expensive to live here than it used to be – the prices of goods went up, but no one’s salary increased. Minimum wage here is 80.000 colones at month, which translates to a little over a dollar an hour. However, the prices for things here are about 30% less than those of the States.
They believe that a lot of these changes for the worst are due to self-centeredness, living without the Lord, and although it’s very difficult for them to say, being Nicaraguan, they admit that some Nicaraguan people have brought in violence that wasn’t here before. Looking at the situation, it seems to me that another reason for the changes are that Costa Ricans are looking at the U.S., seeing beautiful, rich people who have everything and are self-centered. It teaches them that being self-centered will get you wealth and beauty.
Food: They eat a lot of rice, beans and juice. I had gallo pinto the first day I was here which was very good – although we’ve eaten a lot of meals together (mostly dinners), they tell me that it’s not typical. They mostly eat together on the weekends. Food is very important to them – if you say something is good, it’s obviously not really good and you’re just being polite. If you really like something, you have to say "It’s amazing! It’s perfect! It’s wonderful!"
Education: Because another reason that mama couldn’t get a job here was lack of education, education is just as important to this family as it is to mine in the States. Both daughters have graduated from college, and Byron (my brother) is very close to finishing. Papa didn’t finish high school and mama finished some college. They are always telling me to finish my homework instead of help them with things around the house which is, of course, a blessing.
Religion/Faith: Faith is extremely important to this family. They’re constantly saying “gracias a Dios” and remembering that the Lord is the one who gives them anything good, as well as cares for us when anything bad happens. He is their rock that they depend on. The churches have much more liberty here to dance or raise their hands or shout or clap during worship. In my Tican family’s church, they also did a short healing ceremony with oil and a blessing to heal my papa. Both Elisa’s family and Kalia go to separate churches, but all are Pentecostal. They are okay with having female pastors, and I actually liked the woman pastor better than the man when I went. My familia is very dedicated to Christianity and to the Lord.
Politics: Politics doesn’t seem to affect them very much. As long as there are people in power that keep everything going well and aren’t bad people, it doesn’t matter much who they vote for. They didn’t vote in their last election, and they certainly didn’t care about the U.S. president – as long as the president kept everything going smoothly between Costa Rica and the U.S. They have not seen very many good people in politics, so they don’t have much respect or hope in the government – they just pray for someone who won’t be entirely horrible.
Health: They have national health insurance because Papa works. It’s called “Clinica de Seguro Social,” and they say that it’s small but it does a pretty good job. They’ve never had any problems with it. It’s also much less expensive in comparison to the U.S. Everyone who works here has the opportunity to have insurance, but there are many who can’t work, so they can buy “Seguro voluntario” to cover their insurance needs.
Hobbies: When they have free time, which isn’t a whole lot, they enjoy visiting friends and family, watching TV, going to church, going for walks, sleeping, and from time to time, going to the beach. However, it’s a 2.5 hour car ride to the beach, so they don’t go too often! The most important thing to them isn’t really doing things, but being with people.
Dress/Hygiene: In the house, everything is very informal and you can wear whatever you want. It’s important to wear shoes at all times, except when you’re on the couch or in bed. When they go out, they tend to dress up a little more but not too much – maybe jeans and a nice shirt. For work and church, it’s more formal – they call these clothes “Sunday clothes”. Every person takes a shower every single day in the morning – without fail. They think it’s a little strange that I like to shower at night. They’re always cleaning, which I like very much.
Values: The Costa Rican culture (Christians) seems to value the Lord, family, cleanliness, food and education. Work is what they do to live their real life and hobbies come and go – people and having a blessed life is the most important for them. Money is of very little value – again, only something they need to live for what they really care about.
My papa, Eliseo Lopez (age 62) is a taxi driver and lives in the home. He is a typical dad here, working all day long as a taxi-driver to make money for the family and coming home to a warm meal and relaxing till he goes to sleep. As the main source of income, he doesn’t have to do anything other than work (not even answer the phone). The rest of the family waits on him, though he is very humble about it.
My mama, Sonia Aburto (age 54), is a housewife, who takes care of everything around the house. It’s almost ridiculous how much she does, but she has such an incredible attitude about it – she feels honored to do it! She makes all the meals, washes the dishes, does the laundry, shops for anything we need, takes care of her granddaughter all day long, takes care of everything for me, listens to everyone’s problems, gives advice, etc. She feels that it’s a wife/mother’s duty to do everything she does, and she teaches her daughters to do the same. When she came over from Nicaragua, the racism was so bad that she wasn’t able to get a job anywhere, so on the side, she began selling and continues to sell things that she makes (bread, clothing, purses, etc.) in order to make money. It’s very rare to find someone who works with such pleasure and humility.
My older sister, Elisa Lopez (age 32), is an art teacher and a housewife. She’s always here for meals and helps mama by giving her some of what she earns so that mama can stay at home and do all the things she does. I imagine that Elisa does much of the same things in the house as mama, but I obviously don’t see it because I’m not living with her. Her husband, Manuel Zuniga, is 35 and works with loans. He is very curious and very fun to be around. Both of them live with their daughter, Ximena (age 4) across the street, but it’s as if they live in the same house as us. Ximena is always telling me secrets – which I don’t always understand – but it’s adorable. It’s nice to have so much family around all the time.
Kalia (age 22) is my other sister and she’s a teacher at an elementary school. Kalia also gives money to support mama and papa, and shares a room with me in the house. She tends to be the one who helps mama the most and answers the phone for everyone. She has wisdom beyond her years and is extremely welcoming.
Apparently, it is a Latin American custom to support your parents after you get married or after you have a career – the parents can even sue their children if they’re not giving them a certain amount of money (although hardly anyone does this, because it’s so embarrassing). Also, the children don’t stop living in the home until they’re married – they find it very strange that I won’t be living with my parents when I get back!
As in all countries, things are changing daily in Costa Rica. Going to and from San Jose isn’t as safe as it used to be – you have to always be watching your purse and things so they don’t get stolen. It’s also much more expensive to live here than it used to be – the prices of goods went up, but no one’s salary increased. Minimum wage here is 80.000 colones at month, which translates to a little over a dollar an hour. However, the prices for things here are about 30% less than those of the States.
They believe that a lot of these changes for the worst are due to self-centeredness, living without the Lord, and although it’s very difficult for them to say, being Nicaraguan, they admit that some Nicaraguan people have brought in violence that wasn’t here before. Looking at the situation, it seems to me that another reason for the changes are that Costa Ricans are looking at the U.S., seeing beautiful, rich people who have everything and are self-centered. It teaches them that being self-centered will get you wealth and beauty.
Food: They eat a lot of rice, beans and juice. I had gallo pinto the first day I was here which was very good – although we’ve eaten a lot of meals together (mostly dinners), they tell me that it’s not typical. They mostly eat together on the weekends. Food is very important to them – if you say something is good, it’s obviously not really good and you’re just being polite. If you really like something, you have to say "It’s amazing! It’s perfect! It’s wonderful!"
Education: Because another reason that mama couldn’t get a job here was lack of education, education is just as important to this family as it is to mine in the States. Both daughters have graduated from college, and Byron (my brother) is very close to finishing. Papa didn’t finish high school and mama finished some college. They are always telling me to finish my homework instead of help them with things around the house which is, of course, a blessing.
Religion/Faith: Faith is extremely important to this family. They’re constantly saying “gracias a Dios” and remembering that the Lord is the one who gives them anything good, as well as cares for us when anything bad happens. He is their rock that they depend on. The churches have much more liberty here to dance or raise their hands or shout or clap during worship. In my Tican family’s church, they also did a short healing ceremony with oil and a blessing to heal my papa. Both Elisa’s family and Kalia go to separate churches, but all are Pentecostal. They are okay with having female pastors, and I actually liked the woman pastor better than the man when I went. My familia is very dedicated to Christianity and to the Lord.
Politics: Politics doesn’t seem to affect them very much. As long as there are people in power that keep everything going well and aren’t bad people, it doesn’t matter much who they vote for. They didn’t vote in their last election, and they certainly didn’t care about the U.S. president – as long as the president kept everything going smoothly between Costa Rica and the U.S. They have not seen very many good people in politics, so they don’t have much respect or hope in the government – they just pray for someone who won’t be entirely horrible.
Health: They have national health insurance because Papa works. It’s called “Clinica de Seguro Social,” and they say that it’s small but it does a pretty good job. They’ve never had any problems with it. It’s also much less expensive in comparison to the U.S. Everyone who works here has the opportunity to have insurance, but there are many who can’t work, so they can buy “Seguro voluntario” to cover their insurance needs.
Hobbies: When they have free time, which isn’t a whole lot, they enjoy visiting friends and family, watching TV, going to church, going for walks, sleeping, and from time to time, going to the beach. However, it’s a 2.5 hour car ride to the beach, so they don’t go too often! The most important thing to them isn’t really doing things, but being with people.
Dress/Hygiene: In the house, everything is very informal and you can wear whatever you want. It’s important to wear shoes at all times, except when you’re on the couch or in bed. When they go out, they tend to dress up a little more but not too much – maybe jeans and a nice shirt. For work and church, it’s more formal – they call these clothes “Sunday clothes”. Every person takes a shower every single day in the morning – without fail. They think it’s a little strange that I like to shower at night. They’re always cleaning, which I like very much.
Values: The Costa Rican culture (Christians) seems to value the Lord, family, cleanliness, food and education. Work is what they do to live their real life and hobbies come and go – people and having a blessed life is the most important for them. Money is of very little value – again, only something they need to live for what they really care about.
posted by Sings in the Sunshine at
10:44 AM
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