August 2008 — Heta Mba’e

It has been ages since I’ve written anything for my blog! I’m on vacation and writing from my hostel in Buenos Aires, and trying to remember the last two months off the top of my head.  It has been a good two months. They’ve passed by quickly because I have been busy and enjoying myself.  It seems like life passes the fastest when things are going well and slowly when things are not going so well.  I’ve been updating my blog a lot less frequently because I have been busy and actually enjoying my work and life; I just haven’t had the time to go into town to use the Internet.  I actually don’t even miss the Internet all that much; I realize just how much time I wasted online when I had access.  It’s like television: I don’t really miss it now that it’s gone.  Last year I missed them both.  Maybe that means I’m actually adapting. 

Here is how I spent my August:

Fernando Lugo was sworn in on August 15th as the first non-Colorado president in 60+ years.  The transition went smoothly.  It was a rainy day and school was closed for the inauguration.  People are accepting and hopeful for the future.  There haven’t been any real changes in Tava’i, other than the DA (national police) coming out more frequently to check for vehicle registration and legal documents.  In Paraguay auto insurance is not required but one must have proper registration.  People are able to buy cars relatively cheaply in the 3 borders region – because they are stolen, and therefore come without the legal papers.  Lugo wants to cut down on that so the DA come out and together with the local police set up road blocks and check every vehicle (motorcycles, cars, and big trucks) for proper papers.

The weather has been very screwy for the last 2 months.  It gets blazing hot, then it rains, which lowers the temperature somewhat, and then cold fronts follow from the south, which makes it cold.  For example, one day I visited Katy in Castor Cue walking all 22km there and back in 100 degree heat.  I was exhausted when I got back and went straight to bed.  When I woke up the next morning it was very cloudy and about to rain.  It was still warm but humid.  By 10am it rained with thunder, lightening, and the works.  By the evening the rain and stopped.  As the sun was going down the wind picked up, bringing cold air from the south.  By the next night, the temperature was down to 38 degrees.  In a matter of 48 hours, the temperature ranged from a high of 100 degrees to a low of 38.  Within a day or two it started to warm up again and the whole cycle repeated again as it does about every 7-9 days.  The lack of air conditioning and heating takes a toll on a people.  They get cranky and sick, so there are always colds and flu going around.

In late August I went in to Asuncion and, of course, it rained the days I was supposed to return to Tava’i so I was delayed  a few days getting back.  It was nice to just sit and relax.

Before my trip to Asuncion I spent a lot of time at Magda’s uncle’s house for the one year “rezo” (prayer – recitation of the rosary) for her grandfather’s memorial.  In addition to a memorial held when someone dies they have anniversary prayers at 6 months, one year and two years which entails 9 days of 5 recitations of the rosary.  Family, friends, and neighbors gather at the house at about 4:00 every afternoon in front of a temporary alter that resembles a staircase covered with candles, flowers, pictures and personal effects of the deceased.  From 4:30 to 5:00 the rosary is repeated 5 times after which the family brings out snacks and soda.  More people usually attend on the last day of the rezo.  It starts earlier in the day so that after the recitations they can go to the cemetery to leave candles and flowers at the gravesite, then return for a special lunch hosted by the family.  On subsequent anniversaries they just have a special lunch and recite the rosary on the anniversary day. After participating in Magda’s grandfather’s rezo, I suspect that some people go for the free snack.  I was only able to attend about 4 days.  One day during the rezo was the anniversary of Magda’s mom’s death so we had a lunch around noon followed by a recitation of the rosary for her.  It had been 7 years since her death so her rezo was only celebrated that one day.  After lunch we had to go to the rezo for Magda’s grandfather so it was a busy day full of recitations of the rosary and food.

Living with Magda and her daughter has gone well.  There is always somewhere to be, something to do, or someone visiting us at her house.  Magda and I drink maté together almost every morning. We cook, we visit her family and friends and we do gardening and various projects together around her house.

A new contact for me in the community is the town’s new Pa’i (Catholic priest) who lives across the street from Magda’s house.  I go over and drink maté and tereré with him from time-to-time; he likes to ask me tough questions.  We even get rather philosophical.  A question he frequently asks is “if you have a comfortable life in the USA, and you aren’t wanting for anything, why ever would you come to Paraguay especially if there are people in your own country who need help?”  Good question.  Many Paraguayans just can’t grasp why we would give up what we have and choose something less.  I tried to elicit an understanding from him – after all, as a priest he has taken a vow of poverty. But, relatively speaking, his life is fairly comfortable.

The Pa’i likes good wine so occasionally we share a bottle with some neighbors.  He invited me to help with the committee that organizes the “fiesta patronal”, the annual celebration of the patron saint of the community.  Our patron saint is the Virgin of the Mercedes, or Nuestra Señora de Las Mercedes.  (And no, I do not mean the car).

Work in the school has gone well.  I’m still working with 5th and 6th grade classes.  In the 6th grade we are cleaning up the natural spring near the school.  We went to the spring, about 1/2km from the school, and they gathered up all of the garbage so that the municipality could come and get rid of it.  We plan to raise money to build a fence to keep animals away from the spring as they cause erosion.  We want it to be like a little park so we’d like to raise money to put in a bench as well and do some natural landscaping so that it’s more aesthetically pleasing.

Another activity I did with the 6th graders was to put on a mini-theater.  The kids formed groups and chose skits from one of my books to perform for the other grades.  I was really impressed with how much they got so into it.  They brought clothing for costumes and made props.  We actually did 2 days of theater – one to present to the rest of the school and the other to do for their classmates so that I could get some pictures.

I’ve also been hanging out with Nilsa a lot.  She is my best friend in site.  The day I returned from Asuncion we went to a town fiesta with two guy friends.  A band called Rember came out to play Kachaka music.  It was quite cold that night but very fun.  Magda went with her daughter as well so I got to dance with everyone.  I visit Nilsa almost every day.  We cook together a lot and drink maté, tereré, or coffee.  We’re trying to forget that I have very few months left in Tava’i and just try to enjoy ourselves.