Simple and Easy are Not the Same

One of the first things Elvio said about the United States was "I love it here. Life is so easy!"

In Paraguay if you don't have something you make it from scratch or just go without. Here it's just a short drive to the store where you can find 25 varieties of the thing you want. If that's not simple enough for you, you can buy everything you could possibly want on the internet and have it shipped straight to your doorstep.

To have a car in Paraguay is a status symbol. I knew two families in my community with a car. Elvio was noticing how every house we passed had at least one car in the driveway and many time two or three.

The last few weeks we spent out at Elvio's parent's house we passed much of the day around the wood-burning stove drinking mate, cooking meals together and just spending time together. At night we would all cuddle under blankets in one bed and watch a movie on TV.

A friend of the family was telling us yesterday how much he would love to live that slower pace of life but how it's nearly impossible to do so in our society. When I translated that for Elvio he laughed and told me that most Paraguayans want to come to the US because we have it so easy. Creature comforts, jobs, money in the bank account (yes, I realize that it not true for everyone but from the perspective of someone from a developing country, everyone here is rich).

I do love the creature comforts and I have been stuffing my face at every meal and taking abnormally long hot showers. But we still take the time to slow it down each day. We drink our mate and terere and spend time together. We don't have jobs right now but I sincerely hope that once school and work start in August we'll be able to hold on to some of the simple life.

Entry into the US

We've only been home for 4 days and I already have so much to write about. I'll just keep this first post focused on our trip home, which trust me, will be quite enough for one post.

Last Tuesday we left Elvio's family's house for the last time. We had to leave earlier than expected because we heard there were going to be strikes all along the highways. Goodbyes were short and sweet. We got lucky and made it through 2 road blocks but got stopped for an hour and a half at a third. When we finally made it to Asuncion we went to the US Embassy and picked up Elvio's passport with his visa.

Our flight left Asuncion at 1:09am on Thursday morning. It was Elvio's first time on a plane and he did really well. Landing in Panama at 6:30am we had a couple of hours to wander around and enjoy all the American-like amenities. I taught Elvio how to use a drinking fountain and we devoured a Subway sandwich.

From Panama we went to the Bahamas and got quite the surprise. We had to go through immigration there rather than in Dallas as we had expected. Leaving the Bahamas, everyone was extremely nice and we got through quickly. But in order to enter the US, Elvio had to go through Secondary Inspection since he was an immigrant entering for the first time. We had the bad luck of getting a Customs officer that had no clue what she was doing and we missed our flight to Dallas. Fortunately the American Airlines staff were on their game. They sent us to Miami and then on to Dallas. Miraculously we were able to catch our same flight from Dallas to KC and arrived at 11:15pm.

My parents, grandparents, aunt and uncle were all at the airport to welcome us. It was awesome.

I have so much more to write but it's hard when there's so much to experience in the real world! So I'll leave you for now. Elvio and I are doing great and so happy to be home!

The Story Continues

And we're back! Different name, same great taste...or whatever.

I've decided to keep my blog going as Elvio and I return to the United States. I haven't been home in 27 months and he has never experienced anything remotely close to life in the US so I'm sure we'll have lots of amusing stories to share.

We arrive in Kansas City a week from today and then the journey continues. We can't wait!