Student: “You can only have a good mom or a good dad. Some people don’t have a good mom nor a good dad, but you definitely can’t have both a good mom and a good dad.”
Student: “I don’t want to go to University because I don’t want more professors screaming at me than already are.”
Me: “My dad has never hit me, nor anyone.”
Student: “Really, never? I don’t believe you.”
Friend: “Your eyes are actually blue? We all thought you had colored contacts on!”
Student: “I stopped going to school because the teacher kept telling me that I seemed like a girl and had to man up.”
A Mom in the community: “Not all gay men wear skirts?”
“There are Black people in the US?”
“There are gay people in the US?”
“There are poor people in the US?”
“Yeah, I know what a gay person is. They’re those guys who dress up in women’s clothing.”
Student: “I love the director of the school. She always hugs me and tells me how smart and precious I am. School is like my home because I have a mom there.”
A Mom in the community: “I don’t go to church because everyone there wears nice clothing and I don’t have nice clothing. Church seems like a rich people’s place.”
Host mom: “That 19 year old boy who died this year of stomach problems? I think he died because he used to always eat the fish in the river. A lot of the people here don’t have enough money to buy meat, so they put a lot of pesticides in the water to kill all the fish to provide protein for their families. They can’t think of the future consequences. Only people with money can think of the future.”
Student: “I never want to be a mom because I’m scared I would treat my children like my parents treat me.”
Host Uncle: “When I went to the United States, I was never invited to enter anyone’s house.”
Host Aunt: “You don’t eat at McDonalds?”
Grandmother in community: “The different types of Christianity confuse me. They all tell me they are the right type of Christianity. I’ve decided to not go to church and just to read the Bible. The main point of Christianity anyways is just to have good values.”
A Mom in the community: “There was slavery in the US?”
A Mom in the community: “There was slavery in Ecuador?”
A Mom in the community: “I heard people in the US don’t know how to cook. All they do is eat out.”
Student: “I only ask you that you keep me deep inside your heart, because you will always stay deep inside my heart.”
Student: “David was meant to be king, Moses was meant to lead the people, and I was meant to love you.”
Student: “You’re the best Senorita of English, ever!”
Director of the School: “Every year, my husband tells me to stop working here so I can live at home. Yet every year, I tell him to wait just one more year. That only a few more kids need to learn how to read, or to multiply, or to have more self confidence.”
Host Brother: “I hope to be like you when I’m older so I can be intelligent like you and go to University.”
Host mom: “Now when you go home, you can wake up at 5 in the morning to make breakfast for your mom before she goes to work. And you can sweep the floors and clean the bathrooms everyday.”
Host mom: “Why would someone believe you’re going to hell for not believing that Jesus Christ is the son of God? Only bad people go to hell, and you’re good.”
