First impressions count (extra credit)

Well, as a first impression it was a surprise for me to know that I have a new cousin. My mom told me last year about my cousin Isabel. She lives in Canada. Isabel is 17 years old that means she is also a teenager as me. So I thought it would be so nice to meet her and to know a little about her. I told my mother that it would be a good thing to know about her before I could see her by the time she was supposed to arrive to Guatemala.

My mom told a little because her cousin who had gone to Canada when she was 5 years old, she had lost contact with her. So in Canada she got married and had a new family. They are two sisters, Isabel and mariandre. My parents invited them to come to our house, the next time they were coming to Guatemala. So, when we went to the airport to pick them up my sister and brother and I were very shy and intrigue.

Because we didn’t know how to speak to them, whether in English or Spanish. Also we didn’t know how they were going to talk to us and react. When I saw them, we found out that they were a lot like my mother’s family. For example they are in physical clear skin, blue eyes, standard size, thin good looking. But especially the way they are. They are outstanding, with personality, they like to talk, laugh, and friendly and like to share and know people and different places.

When they arrived home my mom asked them what type of food they preferred. So, we found out, that they had almost the same customs, and regarding to food their mother taught them to eat the same food as we do. We started to talked and shared information about each other. Such as: what languages do they speak as: French, English, Spanish and Rumanian. In our case we only speak Spanish and English. We started to see that we had so many things in common, not only as relations but in things that we, as teenagers like.

Another thing that is was special for our family is that knowing them we had the chance to shared thing about my favorite uncle, Byron who has just passed about four months ago. He was a very special, lovely uncle, my mother’s little brother. So you can imagine it was very sad and tragic for all of us to lose him. Our new cousins had shared a lot with him every time they came to Guatemala. So for us, it was doubling priceless, because we loved listening to them about all the things they shared, laughed and enjoyed with him. So we almost could see him by doing all of these. Even though it was the first time we met, we felt like we knew each other longer. So we felt comfortable and happy to enjoyed their company.

Then a few days later our parents decided to make a trip to the countryside, “Amatillo” , to visit our grandparents. This turned to be a great idea because they got very excited and happy for. Their arrived we stayed there for two long weeks. Every year at “Amatillo” they celebrate a fair. in the fair we attended race horses, it is called  “A Jaripeo”, here men ride on horses, bulls and they complete for prices. We also enjoyed special food that they cooked during this event.

There was also a parade with horses, cattle and they elected a Queen of the fair. Sometimes at the end of the fair is a dancing party to celebrate it or to close the activities about it. We had a wonderful experience and joyful days, sharing with days, sharing with all our family and our new cousins. We do it every time they come to visit us I am so happy to have a family.

with love Maury.