Monday, April 11, 2011

my favorite parts of the day

Recently a friend asked me in an email what my favorite part of the day was and I couldn't think of a specific thing that I do every day because every day is different. I began writing different things that I enjoy about my days here and as I continued writing, I kept thinking of more and more things to add to the list. I only wrote down a few things but I wanted to give myself a more complete list to remind myself of why I love this place because I have too many days when I only remind myself of why I don't like this place. There are some things on this list that while I love, I hate at the same time. Though not everything on the list is necessarily unique to Paraguay, some are, and ever one of them is something I will miss dearly when I leave. So Hannah, here is a complete list of "my favorite parts of the day," and Louis, these are the things that make me happy.

I love that:

...the air always smells fresh in the morning.

...people will still give up their sesat on a bus for elderly people and pregnant women.

...the Paraguayan soil and rains are fertil. I can almost literally watch my plants grow.

...I can go to the dispensa to buy and egg and stay for 2 hours drinking terere

...when kids pass my house to and from school, they should out "Ahleesohn!" repeatedly as they pass.

...in the summer my boss asked me if I had a hammack and then told me to enjoy my extra free time.

...I can wake up and drink coffee and watch the sunrise

...I have an open invitation to eat lunch, use the shower, spend the night, or stay forever 10 minutes down the road in either direction.

...when I meet a Paraguayan for the first time, I can expect with very few exceptions the same range of about 15 questions no matter who they are, including but not excluded to: Do you have a boyfriend? Do you have a boyfriend in the States? If you find a boyfriend can you bring him back with you? Do you know how to drink terere? do you know how to eat Paraguayan food? Do you know how to speak Guarani? Do you miss your family?

...you can pick leaves off of almost ay tree for a yuyo to put in your terere.

...you can search in the lawn for certain roots to use in terere.

...Paraguayans have a plant remedy for almost any ailment or medical problem you could think of, and a few extra for ones that you would probably never think of.

...they use "hape" at the end of any kind of event from a fiesta to shucking corn, or a dog in heat.

...a rainy day is a perfectly acceptable excuse to stay in bed and read all day.

...my host dad will walk into the middle of a meeting of women and walk around to greet and shake hands with everyone while they are still talking. Asi es la cultura.

...half of my women's commission is related to each other.

...within the limits of a few degrees and with very few exceptions, my entire community is related to each other. No joke.

...when people great each other they say, "nde guapa/a" (you are hard working) and the response is, "hee, che guapa/o" (yes, I am hard working).

...almost anything I do from baking a cake to walking half an hour to the ruta, to knowing a store in Asuncion that sells soap materials, to saying 3 words in Guarani makes me either guapa or vale (inteligent).

...I have time to do cool things like make homemade bread, read, plant flowers, write blogs, or just sit and talk with people.

...I have easily over 100 trees on my property.

...where I live right now is the most beautiful place I have ever lived in.

...I never have to worry about being late because everything here functions on la hora Paraguaya.

...almost all of my food products are far fresher than I ever got in the United States.

And maybe the thing that I love most about this country is that terere is univeral. The buisnessman, polititian, teacher, and feild worker all drink it and will invite you to share with them.

Friday, April 1, 2011

its the simple things

I have been putting off writing this blog for a while and I'm not really sure why. Maybe it is because of laziness, or maybe it is because I wasn't sure how to describe the relationship that I have with my 70-something year old neighbor. I guess Akilina and her husband Aurelio would be the closest thing I have to Paraguayan grandparents. They live about 2 minutes away from my house and I visit them often because she owns an almacen (small store). I often walk over there to buy a few things and will sit down to drink terere first and chat.

She has an old balance which she uses to measure the weight by kilo of the food she sells like flour, tomatoes, noodles, sugar, or onions. She first puts the weights on one side of the balance and then slowly pours out the flour or sugar with her measuring cup or changes around the tomatoes until both sides are even. Then without fail she will look up at me, widen her eyes, smile with her toothless gums, and sometimes add a little "hee hee," as if to say, "good for me." When I buy bananas from her, Aurelio always tells her to pick out the best ones for me and even though I am already getting them for a ridiculously low price, she usually gives me a couple extra for free.

One day I showed up and all of her mercaderia had recently been delivered and was sitting on her table. "You ordered milk this time," I said while rifling through the food items. "Yes. And you are going to help me put it all away," she told me. So I carried in all of the heavy items and then helped her figure out how much she needed to sell milk in order to make a profit.

Another day I was sitting with her drinking terere on her patio and watching her husband and son put long dried grass called kapi'i on the roof of thier patio extension. "Do you use that in your country for roofs?" she asked me, pointing at the kapi'i.

I considered saying while I don't remember it specifically, I was sure we had long grass in my country, though I don't have a feild full of it in my backyard. But according to California fire codes, said grass would not be used for roofing. I decided that would be too complicated an answer and said, "No we don't have that. It is actually not legal becasue it catches fire easily."

"But you don't have it?" she asked.

I hesitated. "No we don't."

"Oh, well that would be difficult then," she concluded. And that was that.

I think that is what I appreciate about her. The simpleness. She wasn't looking for an elaborate explanation of what my house is like in the United States, which is what some people ask me. She was just trying to imagine my house in another country with what she already knew. Instead of thinking that I am better than her because I am a rubia or thinking I am rich becasue I am from the United States, she just sees me as another person and that is what allows us to be friends.

I kept procrastinating writing this blog because I kept on trying to think of an elaborate way to describe our friendship, or a better way to tell the details. But the thing is, my point wasn't to tell you that she is in my women's commission or that we made peach jam together, or that I was invited to Aurelio's 80th birthday party or that they give me free bananas. I just wanted to tell you that though she is over 50 years older than me, she is my friend. It is simple, but that's why I like it.