I got a kitty! Ellie, Charly, and I were taking a stroll on Tuesday evening and came across a group of four kittens playing in the street. Naturally, we stopped to play with them and then when we saw the man who was living in the house we were in front of we decided we were going to ask if we could buy one. The man was maybe the oldest man I’ve seen in my life and I could barely understand what he was saying but as soon as he figured out that we wanted kittens he quickly and abruptly picked one up and handed it to me, instructing me that it was two months old and it only drinks milk. And this is the story of how I got Paz, my adorable little pure white baby girl! Luckily, my family loved her right away and Ariel helped me bathe her and feed her milk and has started immediate construction on a house for her in the backyard. The first night I had to keep her in my room because the other dog and cat didn’t know her yet. I think I handled my first experience as a new mom pretty well. She cried for a while but then found a comfy spot in my armpit and went to sleep for a while but woke up and diahreahed everywhere (yum) sooooo I changed the sheets and tried to go back to sleep. Same thing happened about three hours later. So this time I decided to try and be creative and find a way of keeping off my bed but since I don’t really have anything in my room except my dresser (which I very seriously considered putting her in and closing the door at one point) I gave her my bed and slept on the couch. I was dragging the next day but Paz was chipper and exploring the house-oh the power of a mothers love. And it turned out to be better anyway that I slept in the living room because my host mom informed me the next day that you can’t sleep with cats in your bed because they’ll make you sterile. Hopefully not too many Paraguayans use this idea as their preferred method of birth control. Anyway she is perfect and I am totally taking her to sight with me to keep me company and kill any and all rats and spiders in the vicinity.
My host dad really got a kick out of Paz too and him and I had a little bonding moment over her so that was nice. Also this week he proudly showed me how good of a cook he was and told me the story about his mother teaching him how to cook when he was little and that’s why he’s such a good husband now.
This week my family started construction on a big building on the side of my house that is going to be a book store/dispensa/cvs ish type of place they said. Hopefully it opens before because it looks like its going to be awesome. It’s interesting because there is literally a dispensa on every corner so you would think that none of them made any money but apparently it’s a very successful means to make a living. However, in choosing a dispensa it’s important to first evaluate the quality of their empanadas. Next you have to see if they have a good cookie selection. And if they have yogurt or diet soda then you are really in the money.
I had my first model lesson this week in the fourth grade. I decided on having them do a personal flag to get a little self-esteem and a little bicentennial education all in one. They seemed to like the idea of getting to draw but they really didn’t understand the thinking creatively bit. For the “what is your favorite food question” it was a 50/50 split between empanadas and asado (bbq) and for the “what do you want to be when you grow up question” all the girls put hairdressers and all the boys put soccer players, except one who wants to be a robber. They were a little wild and crazy towards the end but all in all, I wasn’t completely discouraged.
This weekend we had our second rugby/uno/volleyball mini camp with the kids in the barrio across town. It was for sure one of the hottest days since we’ve been here but we had a pretty good turn out and they all were really attentive and interested in learning something new. I have a small but loyal following of boys who seem into rugby which I am suuuuper psyched about. Riso came in from the campo to help me so we did some passing and tackling and then introduced the idea of passing backwards which I was nervous about but they picked it up right away. There is one kid, Juan, who is so freaking good I swear he could play for MCWR already. (his grease helmet would give you guys a run for your money though) After rugby I came home and Luisito and my host dad and one of the cousins were getting ready to go over to their grandmother’s house to play some futbol so I tagged along figuring it would be mas o menos cultural. Their grandmother lives on a huge piece of land, part of which she made into a soccer field she rents out to a semi pro team in the area. A bunch of guys from the neighborhood came and played for a while. My 53 year old host dad even got in there and banged around with the 20 somethings which was pretty impressive. Afterwards grandma started up the music and brought out buckets of beer for everyone along with her leather whip that apparently is the price you have to pay for using her field. It was really funny to see all five foot nothing of her wobbling around trying to whip grown men. She also insisted on asking me when I was going to get married in Guarani about 12 times even though I told her I didn’t understand until Luisito finally translated for me. Thank dios or I think I would’ve been the whips next victim. All in all I think it’s safe to say grandma knows how to throw a party.
Speaking of dios, Lent started this week so there have been a lot of masses in the big church all week. My family hasn’t gone yet but hopefully they’ll go to watch the people throw money off the church at least. Let me explain: a while back a man had a daughter who was born really sick and the doctors thought she was going to die. So, this man prayed and prayed and his daughter got better so that year at a certain point during lent he went up on the roof of the church and threw off some money to show his gratitude. The idea caught on and now every year if you prayed for something and it happened you have to go hurl some guaranies off the roof.
I think that is all for now. Next week we venture to Villa Oliva for some more hands on practica so I am sure I will have much to report after that!
Como siempre, loving and missing you all!!
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