Ikatupa?...Ikatu.

I am now a quarter-century old, and things are looking up. On Saturday, after language class, my friends and I played a game of ultimate frisbee in the field by my house. We were then challenged by a group of Paraguayan youth, who proceeded to lay down the law in a soccer game. That night, we played cards, drank some caña, and had a jam session under the stars. The next morning, I led a yoga class, made some soy coffee, and then ate chorizo and mandi`o (yucca) with my family. After siesta, the big fútbol torneo started. I think Sundays are my favorite days because the whole community gets together for this event, and everyone´s happy, except the poor, squealing pig. I happened to get in the path of the pig´s exit when the winning team herded it home, and that could have been an ugly situation.

Sometimes I catch myself being extremely comfortable and complacent with the culture. Chickens are pecking around my feet, I don´t think twice about wiping my mouth on the tablecloth (that´s what it´s for), or sharing a toilet with hundreds of cockroaches. Other times, I get so frustrated by the foreigness of everything, how everyone in the community needs to know exactly what I´m doing, with whom, and for how long. What is simple smalltalk for them can be extremely prying and plain annoying for me. I get tired of having pasta with bread and some potato on the side. My days are long and exhausting, and sometimes I don´t want to roll out of bed and speak Guarani. Sometimes, I´ll say things in English to my family, just so I can get them out of my system, even if they won´t understand.

But I am progressing with the language, appreciating the cultural differences (and similarities), and I´m really inspired by what I´m learning about farming. We´ve been having some crazy heat lightning storms. It´s the most spectacular sky show I´ve ever seen. I had no qualms about walking around in it until I was told that it´s common (more common than I thought) for people to get electrocuted. Just the other week, I guess a cow was hit in a nearby field. It´s now my favorite time of day, the sun is about to set, it´s cooled off, but the mosquitos haven´t come out yet. Perfecto.