I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus OR Hemorrhoids Charades?

8-25-09

So, I’m not sure where to begin since I don’t know where I left off. Last week I went to a PC conference in Asunción with a contact of mine from the environmental school in Limpio about how to begin and develop new projects. It was pretty repetitive for PC Volunteers but was really impressive to see how motivated most of the contacts became by the end of the 2.5 days.

I went back to my site and had a meeting with my youth group. We’re working on a census for our barrio. There are 750 houses. Some of them really wanted to census every single house. That seemed impossible to me but it took me longer than expected to convince them. There are also some questions in there that seem problematic; i.e. “Does anyone in your family have a drug problem? How many people?” or “Do you have electricity legally (or do you steal it from us—your neighbors)?” We’ll see how it all turns out. Also, I was told tahat during the national census no one is allowed to leave their house. Does that not scream dictatorship? Anyway, we’ll see how all this turns out…

Saturday night I went to a Christmas in August PC party. Have you ever dressed up for a non-costume party and then been really confused (or just disappointed?) that no one else is dressed up? No? Oh, well, than…me neither. All I’ll say is that two friends and I had EXCELLENT Christmas outfits. We also did a gift exchange of gifts bought on busses for less than 10,000 Guaranís (US$2). I brought temporary tattoos that I brought back from the states which were actually a big hit—even with the Paraguayans. I freaked out the Paraguayans very briefly by claiming that the tattoos would come off in two or three months. Ha.

When I came back to my house Sunday evening I saw my host sister’s boyfriend’s parents and sister sitting in their car waiting outside the house. This surprises me every time. They do live in Asunción, which is an hour away by bus but I personally struggle to imagine Fred Franke, Anne Franke, and one of my siblings sitting patiently in the car while I go visit my high school boyfriend for several hours. Although, maybe that was why I was sent to boarding school??

The past few days have been good. My milk box recycling charla is being put off for now until the principal talks to the Board of Education to figure out a time to have all teachers attend. (Because of the short four hour school days, teachers usually have to work at several schools that are frequently far from each other and have to travel so cannot stay after school for meetings.) My charla with the women’s comedor group keeps getting pushed back as well, which is annoying. We’re doing teamwork/goal setting—both of which they DESPERATELY need.

Last night my host father and I talked about his health issues, AKA why he is the only Paraguayan I know who eats wheat bread and says you should only eat meat one time a week. It turns out to be hemorrhoids. That is a cognate in Spanish. I hope no one ever has to experience the description of hemorrhoids that I received. I will just say that there were a lot of details, pointing, and gestures that made me want to gag and/or giggle.

Also, today I was at the comedor talking to the women about when we will reschedule our charla (for the fifth time!!) and a woman told me, “Oh you’re so funny! People here don’t realize that rubias (blondes) are funny; we think they only know how to be conquistadors!” So, at least I’m breaking that cultural barrier. I may never end up doing this damned charla but at least some people now know that blondes do actually have some fun, contrary to popular belief…