Doña Adela

While all my friends in the US are basking in the glory of the newest and last Harry Potter film, I am sitting in my room here in Costa Rica hating storms.  I had planned on going to Tamarindo this weekend with a friend and her family, but a huge Tropical storm in the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica has foiled our plans.  Apparently there are bridges flooded and landslides..fun times?  So, I guess my last weekend in Costa Rica will be spent hanging out with my host family and gallivanting around Heredia with mis compañeras...which is probably much better than a beach weekend because of the ungodly amount of homework we've been assigned. 

Anyway, I think I'm going to devote this blog entry to talking about my host abuela, Doña Adela...She is absolutely an amazing person who reminds me a lot of my grandmother Barbara.  I love talking to her because she doesn't talk to me like I don't understand. (Which my host mom, Nuria, sometimes does...If i don't know a word, she'll go straight into English).  But Doña Adela, no...If we have miscommunications, we just change the subject. haha.

Last night, Nuria and Elena were out, so it was just Doña Adela and myself in the house for the night.  Doña Adela and I had a two hour conversation where she told me about her family and her late husband.  Her husband died just two years ago fairly unexpectedly.  They knew he was sick, but didn't think that he was sick enough to die.  He was a diabetic and a smoker, and he didn't like to listen to doctor's advice. She told me that he didn't suffer any and just died in his sleep.  She also lost her sister just two months later to a very aggressive ovarian cancer that wasn't discovered until a few days after her husband's death.  It brought tears to her eyes when she was talking about them, but I could tell that she loved to talk about her husband and sister.  I, of course, told her about my Grandaddy Herb who died of lung cancer and my Pawpaw who lived to be 102.  She listened to all my stories in less than perfect Spanish without correcting me once, which was wonderful.  Being corrected all the time makes what you're saying more difficult to convey.  It stops your train of thought, even if it is better for learning Spanish. 

She also does things that crack me up...Take tonight for instance...  She was making me macaroni from a box...which apparently she had never done before.  So, she and my host mom were arguing over whether or not it needed more milk.  ha. Nuria said that no, it had enough milk.  Doña Adela let Nuria win, but as soon as Nuria walked away, Doña Adela poured more milk in and made a motion to me like, "Don't tell!"  It was hilarious.  I'm so glad that Doña Adela is in my host house.  She's so caring and is always willing to talk to me.  I really will miss her saying, "Qué dicha!" every time I tell her I like the food she cooks.