Family

Leaving with an American family helped me a lot to understand the US culture, traditions and so on. 

Having a host family is somehow the best option I could ever had because they were my support, they took the position of my real family. 
At the beginning, I didn’t have a good connection with the first family I got, I guessed they did the best they could to be there for me, but we could not match. As soon as I moved to my second host family, I noticed the difference. I felt secure, happy and comfortable with them. They were the Fortuna Family.  I had a brother and a sister. They were totally different from each other, but they were special and nice. My host dad was a real example of what a father needs to be. He took care of me all the time. As an example, I could mention the day they took me to a bar. I remember my dad was taking care of me; if someone wanted to do something against me He was there saying “IM HER DAD”. 

I don´t have words to express how I felt that night and much I appreciate all he did for me. 

And talking about my host mom, Milissa, she was the best of the best mothers I could ever had in the US. Milissa was there taking care of me like if I was her real daughter. She took me to the doctor if I was sick. I used to go out with her almost everywhere; also, I met her friends, they made me part of their team- I could interact with them like if they knew me for a log period of time, I hanged out with them on the weekends from example! 

In conclusion, my host family showed me love and respect. Also, they showed me lost of beautiful places in Minnesota. I love and missed them. It´s important to say that I felt really part of their family, they even took me on their family trips to visit their relatives! 

Here is one example of the things I did with my family: I cooked traditional food from El Salvador, my brother loved pupusas for breakfast- at home there were Pupusas all the time. One day, we (my host dad, mom, brother, sister, another TA from El Salvador- Arturo-and friends) got together and cooked around 100 tamales. It was fun being there showing them my culture and food!

Since I already talked about the family I got, it is important to talk about the support families that were next to me and my host family. 
How come? Well, I got a host family and there were also two other families that were called “tios family”. These "tios" were there to help my host family in case they didn’t have time to take me out, or if they went out of the state I could stayed with them. I had a lot of fun with my "tios family" as well as with my host family. I was really close to the "Winter family" and I loved their kids. They took me to different places during all the school year, something that I liked about them is that they were form Puerto Rico. So, I tasted their food, by the way it was delicious! 

And the other "tios family" were from India, so I got to know a variety of culture and traditions. They took me to one of their festivals, which was a night to celebrate one of their goodness. 

Besides those two supporting families, I was really closed to other families that helped me during my life in Minnesota.

This is the Berg family which I loved a lot! They were a traditional ¨white family¨. It was like a first sight match, they made part of everything. They invited me to their cabin at the lake, I went camping, ice fishing and I even baby sit their kids for a couple of times. 

In sum, I had the best host family ever, and tios and friends that made my stayed unforgettable. 

This link is an example of a little letter I did for my host family. Also, this was an activity that AMITY developed, so, I nominated my host family.

Essay about my host family