Friday, June 18, 2010

We're gonna learn cosas. What kind of cosas? Oh you know, cosas.

I moved yesterday! No, not to my own house, but I moved to a different host family. As much as love my other family, it's nice to have a bit more privacy, since the new family I'm living with is older and their kids are all grown up and out of the house. My previous family included a 4-year old daughter, so naturally there were about a dozen other kids around too who would all touch my things. I know they're just curious but it gets tiring telling them to not touch my things without asking. C'est la vie. Anyways, my new family is great. They have a gorgeous property and I love spending time outside here because it's so beautiful. Che aaprendehina guarani ko'ape avei (I'm learning Guarani here, too). I've learned useful phrases like "There is no pique in my foot." Pique is a worm that burrows into your foot and lays its eggs in your foot and you have to cut it out to get rid of it. Pleasant, I know.

Anyways, today an NGO that is based in the Santani area came to my house to do a charla. We started off singing some Jesus songs, read a few verses from the bible, then jumped right in to breast cancer, pelvic exams, "vagina seco," and KY jelly. I'm still trying to figure out the link between the bible readings and songs and the charla. Aside from my new host mom saying she'd buy some KY jelly to "make things better", it was a decent charla. My new host mom is probably the sweetest person I've ever met and kind of reminds me of my own grandma, Mimi, so hearing her say that was a bit weird, to say the least. Gross is actually probably the better word to describe it. My new host dad is funny and is helping me learn Guarani and said he could build my modern bathroom. He's really cool and somewhat resembles Ivan Ooze from the Power Rangers movie (Nicky, Austin, and Lindsey - I really hope you appreciate the Power Rangers reference). He's nicer though.

The NGO that came to do the charla has a few German people who give charlas, which is awesome. After the charla they said that there will be another activity on June 29 and asked if I'd like to attend, so I said sure. I asked them what we'd be doing at this event. "Oh, we're gonna learn cosas (things)." "Oh, what kind of cosas?" "Oh you know... cosas." Awesome. Maybe they don't know what cosas they're going to teach us yet, hence the vague response.

In other news, my house has electricity! I still have to bring in running water, install my bathroom, finish changing the locks, and put bars in the windows, but it's one step closer to being able to move in. As much as I love my host families, it'll be a relief to finally unpack my stuff, cook my own food, and have my own space. I also finally went down to the elementary school and got the OK to get started on the World Map Project. For those of you who don't know what this is, basically I will be painting a map of the world (who would have guessed) on the side of the school and then I will teach a few geography classes. Especially with the World Cup and how every Paraguayan LOVES soccer, I think this will be a cool way to tie in culture and geography. A lot of people here don't really know much about geography. When I say I'm from the United States, more specifically Connecticut, they ask if I'm close to California. "No, not close at all to California." "Oh, New York then?" "Yes, I'm close to New York." I've decided to just start telling people I'm from NY. It's just easier that way. Some people don't really even know where the US is. I was talking to someone yesterday about the World Cup and Africa and this individual said "Africa... is that close to you?" "No, Africa is not close to me." "That's where all those black people come from, right?" Yay for geography/culture class!

After 128 days in Paraguay, I'm beginning to understand some cultural norms and customs here, some I don't think I will ever understand, some things that frustrate me and will probably frustrate me during my time here, and things that I have already fallen in love with, but I can truthfully say I am finally really happy at site. It was tough to adjust, but I can now comfortably call this home. There will always be the good, the bad, and the ugly, but the good definitely outweighs the bad. I know my Tuyango adventure is just beginning.

Love,
Carden xoxo