Then and Now

Six months ago my plane left the US bound for some country that many Americans don't even know exists. Paraguay has become my home and the people here my family. I still have dreams almost every night about being back in the States with my family and friends. I still sometimes wake up not knowing where I am and having to remind myself that I'm in Paraguay. I still have cravings for good cheese, chocolate or Kansas City barbecue. I've learned a lot in the past 6 months and I'm going to share some of those things.

I'm learning to cook! Real food, not just mac & cheese (although if anyone wants to send me some, I would be very happy). I've gotten pretty good at peeling vegetables with a knife. I actually enjoy eating lots of vegetables now! I can't really make anything without a recipe, let's not get crazy now.

Sharing has become a lot easier. Not that I didn't like to share before but it's different now. We share bites of food, the straw with tereré, glasses and silverware at meals. My host family does this thing where whoever gets the chicken heart cuts it into pieces and gives everyone a piece. I always thought that was cool.

I'm not as easily offended. During training my host mom commented on how everyone seemed to be losing weight except for me, who seemed to be gaining it. Not that my losing weight would be a good thing but I had never really been told something like that before. But I got into site and the women greet each other with "Hola gordita!" and it's meant endearingly. Because after all, if you're fat, you're happy!

Everyone knows everyone else's business. Secrets don't stay secrets for long and the best thing to do on a hot afternoon or a cold night is sit around and gossip. Everyone knows what I'm doing, where I'm living and who I danced with at the last fiesta. By the way, I'm supposedly getting married to my friend Eduardo because we danced for so long at the San Juan festival.

Bugs and spiders aren't really all that scary anymore. When I see a huge spider now I want to take pictures of it to gross people out back home. That's probably a good thing since there are tons of spiders living in my walls. We ignore each other though and it's all good.

Buses will always be late and over-filled so there's no reason to get upset about it. Usually there will be breast-feeding mothers, livestock and various furniture on the bus as well. I recently drank mate with a bus driver on a chilly morning while I was basically sitting on the dashboard. You just kinda have to go with it.

Along with going with the flow, I can now sit with a group of people only understanding about 10% of what's going on and be completely comfortable. I'm used to being stared at, being asked all sorts of ridiculous questions and saying thank you when someone says they like the color of my skin, as if I had anything to do with it.

If I want or need anything, I can't just ask for it directly because that would be rude. If I would like a glass of water at a neighbors house, I could wait for one to be offered, or I could say "Would you mind, if it's not too much trouble and if you're not too busy, getting me a glass of water and by the way, your outfit today is fantastic.” I'm no longer confused when someone says "come here a little" or when I'm told to put something "here no more". It's just more polite that way.

I've learned that many Guarani words sound almost exactly alike. Mburukuja, mbarakaja, mbaraka, and mbokaja just to name a few (passion fruit, cat, guitar and coconut palm). I'm pretty sure the native Guarani tribes just did this to confuse silly foreigners trying to learn their language in the future.

Roosters do NOT only crow at dawn. They crow all night and all day. And guinea hens are even worse. I didn't even know what a guinea hen was 6 months ago and now it's my nemesis at 4am when it won't shut up.

I've learned that I'm a lot stronger than I thought. I've done crazy things like dig a latrine hole with a bowl, teach a group of women how to bake bread in Guarani, sit around while everyone critiques everything about me, take a cold shower in the dark when it's so cold outside I can see my breath. Sometimes it feels like I've been here forever and then remembering I still have 21 months left makes me miss home so much. But most times I'm happy to have 21 months left because that means I still have a lot of time to do great things here.

Thank you all so much for your continued support. I love getting mail, I love hearing about what's going on in your lives and I think about you all everyday.

Love,
Mandi