"Benjamín, you're eating here!"

School got out early today. The kids were happily streaming out the doors at 12:30, an hour and a half before the usual 2 o'clock. But I'm not a student anymore. I got to see what goes on behind the curtain of surprise early dismissals.

Meetings.

That's why the kids left early, so the teachers could stay late discussing things. Of course that meant I stayed late. No one likes meetings. I know that. But meetings are different when they're in your second language. They're more tiring. I also don't know much of anything about how things are supposed to work at the school so I'm often playing the double catch up of "what did that word mean?" and "what does the acronym that came after that word stand for?" And in the background was a much more important question "will there be food left at the comedor when this meeting gets out?"

We eat lunch at the parish comedor, which runs a hot lunch program for local kids. Because we are parish volunteers we get the food for free. Our monthly food budget it built around the assumption that we are served lunch everyday. We only shop for breakfast and dinner supplies. If I missed the food at teh comedor, I'd be having at best a very bland lunch. At worst a small snack and holding out till dinner. But the comedor is best. It's delicious food, cooked by 3 expert cooks who gab away in Quechua and treat us like they're our second moms. They serve lunch from 1:30 to 2:30.

I got there at 3:30

"Benjamín, there's no food left. Where were you?" asks Sra. Estela.

"I had a surprise meeting and I only just got out."

Sra. Julia greets me with the usual kiss on the cheek and then dashes out of the room saying "Wait right here!"

She comes back with a thin piece of cow meat and starts frying it in a pan. Sra. Estela heats up a a pot that has a bit of pumpkin puree left in it and scoops me a bowl of rice.

"Benjamín, don't worry, you'll eat." they tell me.

I try to protest telling them that I'll go home and make something. "I can make some rice..."

"But we have rice here," says Sra. Estela.

"Well I can take that and cook an egg and put it with some vegetables."

They laugh. "Benjamín, you're eating here!" they insist.

Of course they won the argument. It's hard to argue against good cooks who want to feed you when you're very hungry. Of course it was a delicious bowl of food (the food is always served in a bowl, with a spoon, no matter what it is). It was just one example of the generosity and kindness of so many of the people I have met in Andahuaylillas, the inspiring care for the foreignors in their midst that shows me how I want to be when I can be a host back in the US. It's one of the parts of being here that makes it home - I got people looking out for me, and they're smiling the whole time.