Mbaé cheipa! How´s that for a new language? I´m on a quick lunch break from training. Today we´re talking about community development in the big town, where there is some internet access. So much has happened in just one week. I´ll try to start from the beginning. We (my 31 American compatriats and I) took a red eye to Sao Paulo, Brazil, and then onto Asuncion. When the plane was parked at the gate, a bunch of armed guards waited outside while a red carpet was rolled onto the jetway. As it turns out, the red carpet was not for us-- we had been sharing the plane with the president of Paraguay. The rest of that day was a blur of collecting bags, driving to the Peace Corps training center, meeting trainers, and then preparing to meet the families we are to live with for the next three months. Going on little sleep and knowing only their names and how to say "hello" in Guarani, we went to our respective villages to meet our new Paraguayan families. Adela is my new mama, Dionisio is my papa, and I have two sisters--Fabiola and Lilliana--who are 10 and 16. The parents don´t speak a whole lot of Spanish, though they can understand me, so my hermanas were giving me the ins and out of the village, who I´m related to (the entire town), and the names of trees and vegetables in both Spanish and Guarani. My dad grows tomatoes, melons, sugarcane (to feed the cows), yucca, and a few other veggies. I have my own room that opens up to the patio, where the wooden table is shifted to follow the shade or wherever someone feels like sitting. Next to my room is where the rest of the family sleeps in two beds. The bathroom is a glorified hole in the backyard with the biggest cockroaches I have ever seen. Every night I tell myself that they are afraid of me, not the other way around. We do have running water, and it also happens to be very cold, so my showers are quick and refreshing. While I shower, I can talk to the cows. There are two full-grown and a calf. One of the cows is pregnant and due next week, so I hope I´m around to see the birth. My dad taught me how to milk the other morning, and one of these days my mama said she´d show me how she makes cheese. My house is within walking distance to a few other volunteers, and the 9 of us who are crop extensionists have our intensive language training together at a mini site in our village. I am learing Guarani with four others, so there is a lot of personalized attention. I seen third world countries before; I´m not shocked by the driving or the poverty or the dirt, but it´s hitting me differently now that this is my home, and not somwhere I´m passing through until I can finally get a hot shower. This is it. This is my new life. I´ve been spending a lot of time with my family, eating lots of greasy, breaded things, playing guitar for them (which they love), having dance parties with my sisters, and trying to communicate in both Spanish and Guarani. They are amazed by my iPod and think it´s hillarious that I can stand on my head. I´ve actually been surprised by how content I´ve been with having almost virtually no alone time. I´ve been waking up around 6am, which is late by Paraguayan standards--most of my family is up at 4. Paraguayans are fanatics about fútbol, and I can see the field from my house. On Friday, there was a tournament, and everyone in the village turned out to play or spectate. It was quite a scene, and when the winning team was determined, the pig that had been grazing contentedly on the sidelines, was dragged, squealing onto the field. This was the prize for the winning team to share...and eat. There is so much more to say, but I have to get back to my training center now. My head hurts sometimes with all this stretching and thinking, but I´m happy. Jajotopata!
No comments:
Post a Comment