First Days in Asuncion!

¡Hola amigos!

The Paraguay team, myself included, has arrived safe and sound in Paraguay. Even our luggage made it here at the same time as us -- we were thrilled!

In an odd way, it is like a kind of homecoming for me to be back here. I was overwhelmed on the drive from the airport to this house, by the sense of familiarity, by the flood of positive memories from when I was in Asunción last, and by the feeling of being so lucky to get to be here and do this for ten months.

What is the "this" that I am doing, anyway? In case any of my readers is not sure, let me quickly explain. In preparation for Mennonite World Conference 2009, the Spanish-language Mennonite conference (CONEMPAR) has invited six North American young adults to come and teach English to people who will be volunteering at World Conference. This is one of the many ways they are preparing, together with the Indigneous and German-language Mennonites, to host World Conference in the most hospitable way possible.

For this first month, all six of us English teachers are in Asunción, learning Spanish and learning how to teach English. My host family consists of parents Maria and Secundido, and their daughters Laura, Diana, and Achi. Most of the group downtime so far happens here at this house, and the family is being super-hospitable. I am most grateful for their friendliness, concern, and generous spirit. They are doing everything possible to help us learn Spanish and to ease our anxieties about the coming year in whatever ways they can. One important aspect of this is giving us as much information as we want about the host families we will be living with later, how to use the bus system, the currency, safety issues in the neighbourhood, food and culture, etc. In some ways we felt really short of details coming here, so it is wonderful having Maria and Laura in particular tell us everything we want to know! North Americans, after all, thrive on information!!!

Relations between the Mennonite conferences that are based in different ethnicities can be a delicate subject here in Paraguay, and I was a little concerned about how my colony Mennonite heritage might affect the way I integrate here. However, for better or worse, the fact of my parents´ colony origin came up yesterday. It is a relief not to worry about how discreet to be about that anymore. I intend to make every effort to be fully a part of the Spanish-language churches here, but the fact remains that I am who I am, and furthermore that I would like to visit my relatives in the Chaco while I am here.

What else can I tell you all? There is so much to say. Yesterday morning started with some mate with my host mother and sister, and then we walked through the yard looking at the various plant: banana trees, guava (from which we harvested fruit), little tomatoes, and some interesting herbs and medicinal plants I´ve never seen before. Going inside, we made cocido as part of our breakfast preparations. You boil a liter of water in a kettle. Once it is nearly hot, put three heaping spoonfuls of yerba into a pot and add a little sugar -- maybe a teaspoon. Put that on the hot stove and swish it around occasionally, so it gets just a smidge burnt. After about a minute of this, add the boiling water. Let it boil for about three minutes, until it is nice and foamy (with green foam!). Then turn off the heat, adding a half cup or so of cold water to help the yerba settle on the bottom of the pot. Wait for several minutes until it is pretty settled. Then pour the drink through a fine strainer into a thermos to keep it hot. Pour some into a mug, adding milk and sugar, and enjoy! It is a bit like a very strong rooibos tea. I like it!

After breakfast (which involved homemade guava jam, which I love), Maria and I went out to the backyard to unearth some mandioca that was buried in the reddish sandy soil. My hands got all orange -- it was delightful! She prepared them for consumption at lunch, while Becca and Laura and I walked to the Supermercado España to get a few groceries. The living of day-to-day life is what makes a place for me, and so far I love living here.

A horse pulling some kind of cart clip-clops by around 5:30 in the morning outside my and Becca´s window. Motorcycles are a common mode of transportation, even for couples with a tiny baby. There are mangos growing in Craig and Krista´s front yard, and bananas in the yard of the church where Scott and Tyler are staying down the street. People visit us often, doing everything possible to make us feel welcome, and we do. We bust out the guampa and water all the time. I am trying to partake often, but not so often that my digestive system declares mutiny. That happened last time I was in Paraguay, and I would rather not repeat the experience. :)

My host mother just pulled me outside to look at some birds native to this area, eating bread in the yard. My understanding of "normal" -- normal trees, normal streets, normal social customs, normal food, normal sleep patterns, normal fauna, normal places to see cows -- is going to undergo a bit of a shift this year. And I love it! What an adventure is beginning here. Thank you for reading about it and in this way sharing these experiences with me. Thank you also for your support, from at home and abroad. It is good to know there is a network of people who are interested, who care, and who pray for me. Blessings to you all!

En amistad,
Dorotéa