I recently heard a description of the way onions self propogate. They grow tall, flower, and start leaning with the weight of the sead heads until they touch the ground. In this way, onions walk around the garden. A few weeks ago I was given green onion transplants, which I placed on the borders of my garden as a natural pest control, and they've already doubled in size. Being in Paraguay is like living in a greenhouse. As long as plants have partial shade, they'll just shoot up. Many of my vegetable seeds germinated just three days after planting.
To step back a bit, the last time I wrote, I was about to begin Carnaval festivities. One of my Paraguayan sisters came into town with me, and I was going to stay in her casita, where she sleeps when she comes to study at the University in town. We dropped our stuff off at her house before wandering around the city shopping for dishes and furniture for my house that I hoped would be done by the time I returned. Then we put on our Carnaval finest and went out into the night to meet up with my friends. The whole night was a loud display of costumes, glitter, drums, and spuma, some foamy stuff that comes out of an aerosol can. Then we went dancing at a club with a real foam machine in the middle of dance floor, and I lost my phone to the foam gods. It was probably worth it.
So, I've finally moved into my house! The walls aren't finished, and I don't have real windows, but it's livable, and I'm happy! I've realized how burnt out I was getting living with families, visiting families, and never having my own head space or physical boundaries. Though it's taken a while to get here. When I got back to Carnaval, my house was in the same condition in which I had left it, and when I saw the guy in charge just sitting around, I asked him when it would be done. He replied that they were still lacking some materials. I walked away without saying anything. I walked all the way back to the fields and bawled my eyes out. My community contact, seeing that I was upset, immediately got on the phone and called all the guys in the committee over to bust ass on my house. And they did it. I was not pleased that it took tears to get it done, and it felt unprofessional of me, but I'm living here, too. And I'm only human.
It's been another adventure getting my furniture. I found a woman willing to sell my a stove for cheap, so my friend with an oxcart took me over to her house, and we loaded it on. I bought a fridge in the city, which I figured I could just haul on the bus with my matress, buckets, and everything else people bring on the bus. A guy showed up with my fridge bobbing on his horse and cart, and when five guys tried to load it onto the bus, it wouldn't fit. So, I sent it back to the store. Luckily, one of my neighbor's in my community has a truck in which he sometimes hauls crops to the market, so he agreed to pick up my fridge for me. Amidst all this running around in the city, I was looking forward to my friend, Travis, coming to visit me. Of course, he found me wandering around the streets.
So, the past week has been great. Travis has been staying with me, building me shelves and a wash table, and working in my garden with me. I'm finally able to cook for myself, and I have a fabulous food trade going on with four of my neighboring Senoras. I've been exerting most of my energy for my house, my garden and myself, which feels really good.
A few days ago, I returned to the family I stayed with during training. My group reunited for more language class, which has been great, both to have some structured learning and to really be able to see how much I've improved. Oh, and avacado season is in full swing. Shwang!
1 comment:
Schwaaanng!!
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