I should start this off by saying I really like my host mom. She is very caring and she always makes food for me. I can't adequately describe how awesome it is to have pancakes and coffee waiting for me every single morning. However, I have realized that I am either her replacement daughter or just a pet. I'm in between the ages of her sons, as is her real daughter, but her real daughter lives in Florida. They haven't seen each other in more than six years. My host mom calls me her little daughter, and treats me as her own. Sometimes this is awesome, she cooks with me, talks to me, etc, but sometimes it gets annoying. For example, there was a mystery meat that kept showing up on my plate at least four times a week. I didn't like the taste so I never ate much of it. Then my host mom kept stressing how important it is for me to eat meat, but I still refused to eat it. From that point on she started sitting with me whenever that meat is served and making sure I eat the whole thing. By the way, I found out the mystery meat is liver. I just thought it was really bad steak. The reason why I sometimes think I'm just her pet is because she doesn't leave the house much at all, her older son is usually busy with work, school, or his daughter and girlfriend, and her younger son usually either goes out with his friends or locks himself in his room. She and my host dad are separated, so there's not much warmth there. Whether I like it or not, I'm typically just someone for her to talk to. I like talking to her, but its usually pretty tough to get a word in edgewise. On the bright side, my Spanish listening skills have really improved here. She typically tells the same few stories, so I've gotten into the bad habit of spacing out. Either I'm able to fake listening really well, or it just doesn't matter at all. She just wants someone to talk to. I'll be the first to admit, sometimes, scratch that, a lot of times, I realize halfway through the story that the listener is bored. However I usually press on because I'm not quite sure how to wrap it up quickly. I know I don't always tell particularly interesting stories, or stories with a point, but I do try to listen...except in this case when I know I'm going to hear the same story for the 15th time. I could probably tell the stories in exactly the same words my host mom uses at this point. The thing that frustrates me sometimes is how bad of a listener my host mom is. The very first day I was here, she asked me if I had traveled to any other countries. I mentioned Korea and Vietnam. Since then, I've mentioned them each probably in at least one story a week, if not more. Two days ago I was talking about the coffee in Korea and in the middle my host mom interrupted to say "OH! You've been to Korea?? I thought Peru was your first time to travel. " and I just wondered at that point if she ever listens to any of my stories. Its okay though, just interesting. Not sure if this is a cultural thing or just a personal thing, but food for thought.