Moving beyond the financial benefits of hosting, women enjoyed the practical benefits (hosting is flexible work that fits well in women’s lives), overall health benefits (emotional, mental, and even physical benefits of staying active and having company), and, most of all, they enjoyed students who were open to becoming members of the family. Despite women being almost unanimous about the enjoyment of hosting and not actually being bothered by uncomfortable situations, stories of specific students illuminated some of the challenges, along with positive responses that were followed by the qualifier “but it depends on the student” (“pero depende en el estudiante”).
Benefits of hosting include:
Women are skilled and often have years of experience allowing them to navigate uncomfortable situations with ease and humor. Simple uncomfortable situations and cultural misunderstandings were not perceived as problems or challenges – those are expected.
The biggest challenges lie in students’ personalities, attitudes, and expectations; lack of trust and communication can complicate matters. Descriptions of problematic students include students who are:
Benefits of hosting include:
- Making friends from around the world
- Increasing networks and opportunities for other avenues of income, e.g. teaching extracurricular classes and tourism related businesses
- Feeling useful and staying active and healthy, especially for women who may otherwise spend most of the day alone,
- Allowing one to care for children and family as hosting is flexible work that can be done from home
- Managing the household and, simultaneously, another home-based business (half of the women do this)
- Having access to work for women who were not physically able to continue in their previous job
- Increasing one’s self-esteem; women reported higher self-esteem and more control within their household due to hosting
Women are skilled and often have years of experience allowing them to navigate uncomfortable situations with ease and humor. Simple uncomfortable situations and cultural misunderstandings were not perceived as problems or challenges – those are expected.
The biggest challenges lie in students’ personalities, attitudes, and expectations; lack of trust and communication can complicate matters. Descriptions of problematic students include students who are:
- “delicate or squeamish” (“delicados”) about bugs and discomfort
- “messy” (“disordenados”)
- “spoiled” (“chineados”)
- “reserved” (“reservados”) not wanting to engage with hosts