I eat at a small table in the kitchen so my host mother can talk to me while she washes the dishes.

I haven't spent tons of time with my host family because BCA has activities every day and the other two foreign students who live here are intimidatingly good at Spanish and also kind of make me crazy. Tonight, though, I got back from touring the orphanage Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos right before la cena and the other girls hadn't come back yet from wherever they were, so my host mother spent a good half hour watching me eat chicken and telling me her interpretation of Mexico's history, poverty, and religion, which, of course, she sees as immensely connected. I understood at least 90% of what she said. At least I think I did. She told me the story about "the ancients" witnessing the eagle with the snake in its mouth (you know the one - think Mexican flag, money, etc.). I remember when I first heard this story in, like, the second grade, and I never would have guessed that I'd be hearing it in Spanish from a Mexican woman who was housing me ten-odd years later. Crazy!