Lifestyle and Values

I feel a lot of similarities between the lifestyle of my host families and the lifestyle of my family at home, but also a lot of differences. One bigger difference I have taken note of is the fact that most meals are always eaten with everyone. They are not individually eaten. Through the mornings, we will eat together even if it is super early or super late. It truly displays the values of our host mom. She values our time and wants to make sure we are always well fed with no appetite. Although at home, my mom also values my time and wants to make sure I am not hungry, I usually eat most of my meals alone in the US. It seems my family and I have different schedules and it is hard to match up a time for all of us to eat together. We do try and have at least one meal together a week.

For breakfast, Elodia will wake up and sit down with us. She can tell we are not morning people so she will simply sit,  smile, and enjoy the time we have together. She also prefers if we have a nice and slow breakfast as to a short and rushed breakfast. This is much different than what I am used to. I am used to grabbing breakfast and running out the door. This is definitely a nice change of pace for me. I like how I feel as I slowly wake up with a nice cup of tea as to also rushing out the door with a to go mug.

One aspect that I hope to take back with me to my family is the gastronomy and portions of food. I have really grown to love the small breakfasts, large lunches, and medium sized dinners. I feel like at home my family and I eat rather sporadically with small snacks all of the time and our big meal is always dinner. Sometimes I don't even eat lunch and then I end up having a huge dinner. I hope that I can try to make some of the meals that Elodia has made and also try to have more meals with my family.