So...

One thing that I really don't like is needing other people to do things for me. Especially things that I feel like I should be able to do myself. To me it seems as though I'm causing them to go out of their way unnecessarily. Here's the thing about living with a host family in Ecuador (at least my experience), it seems like someone is always doing something for me. The best example of this is food. I start off being a colossal pain on this front, because I'm a vegetarian. Vegetarianism really isn't common here. Therefore, I'm challenging. Add to that the fact that I'm a guest. This means I don't fix my own plate or help do anything. I feel so awkward just coming into the house between 1:00 and 1:30 and sitting down to be served lunch. As an FYI, lunch here is the biggest meal of the day. I always bring my dishes to the sink, but that's about as far as I get in terms of helping. My host mother always tells me to leave the dishes alone (and not in the "Oh,-you-really-don't-have-to-do-that,"-but-that's-only-what-I'm-supposed-to-say-and-I-secreatly-really-want-you-to" kind of way). You have no idea how hard it is for me to leave dirty dishes for someone else to hand wash. Dinner is much more relaxed. Everyone else makes their own dinner, usually really lite. I can't just help myself, it would be rude. My host mother always asks if I want to eat. The answer is always yes, but I typically say no. Mostly because it's more work for her. Then the other night she asked if I was on a diet. The answer has been yes since then. The really awkward couple of days were after my host mother had her tooth pulled and my younger host sister was doing all of that for me. I was at least able to do dishes on those days.

Here's what I need to realize: They asked to have me in their house. They knew how much work it was going to be. My host mother loves food and making new things (she runs a one woman catering business out of the family kitchen). Bottom line, I really shouldn't feel guilty about any of this. Grateful. But not guilty.