Ellen in Paraguay

Oops, I realized that I left off writing my blog rather undramatically. If anyone is still checking it, I had lots of things I wanted to write about my last week but now I've forgotten. I haven't even cried since I've been at home. I am just so happy for all my experiences, plus I know I will be going back one day, at least to visit. the transition back home has been wonderful...I feel like everyone is interested in what I have to share. I like teaching people about the little globally unimportant country of paraguay. This sunday I am going to do a presentation at church and make everyone empanadas, hopefully the first of many more to come in which I can continue sharing all the wonderful things that my time in Paraguay has given me. I probably won't write in this blog anymore. Thanks for reading.

I don’t want to spend too long writing, because Peter and my new friend Kim are waiting for me outside by the pool. It’s a beautiful day in Villa Carlos Paz, in the argentine province of Cordoba. One week ago from today we were just arriving in Buenos Aries to meet up with Nate and Annette. For lunch we went to a place called Sabot, chosen purely because its name is only one letter off from our last name. As soon as we sat down, a man sidled up to us with a secret: "Usually this restaurant only serves little goat on Thursdays, but the people at the next table over ordered it. I advise that you take advantage of the chance to eat the best goat in all of Buenos Aries." It was very low-stress for me because he did all the ordering, and it turned out he was with the food and wine critic from the Buenos Aires Herald, and a man who produces fine wines in Mendoza, another province in Argentina. They shared champagne with us and the food and wine critic even gave us a free copy of his book on Argentine food and wines, which served us very well for the rest of the trip. My favourite page was the illustration of a cross section of an empanada.

Tuesday I didn’t have such luck with other people ordering for us, and I had to turn into tour guide. Remember how in May I wrote about wanting to become a storyteller? Well, my new dream is to become some kind of tour guide. I see it as a cross between a storyteller, a teacher and an entertainer, all things I like to do. We went to Recoleta cemetery where a whole bunch of rich and famous Argentines are buried, including Evita Peron, and we had a very dynamic tour guide who managed to make the cemetery a very interesting, not to mention educational, experience.

Wednesday we took the train to Mar del Plata. The train was less than half the price of a bus ticket, plus I was told later that tourists almost never take the train. The good thing is that the beach was not very crowded. The bad part was that it couldn’t even begin to compare to the beaches on the west coast of North America, and it was pretty cold while we were there.

The morning of American thanksgiving I woke up for a sunrise service (since I had never see the sunrise over the ocean, just watched it go down). It was very easy to me to be thankful, waking up in a comfortable bed, going down for a buffet breakfast and then going out to sit on the beach and read. It was a complete contrast to that evening, which we spent playing Connect Four in the mall until the security guard kicked us out, then walking in the rain and sleeping in the cold and somewhat uncomfortable train (but it cost less than $5 for a 6 hour train ride!). I chose as my Thanksgiving passage these words from Paul in Philippians: "I have learned to be content (and thankful) in whatever state I am. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Right now I am definitely in abundance here at the house of Omar and Stella Gava, at the foot of the mountains, surrounded by kind and interesting people. Yesterday they asked me to share in church about my experiences of the last year, and I was able to do it in Spanish and didn’t even look at my notes once. Then we spent until the late afternoon at a place for missionaries in training and enjoyed sweet fellowship with a dynamic group, including a Cuban couple and some folks from Chile. They were in the middle of an intensive six-week English course, and were begging us to stay and keep speaking with them.

In summary, I feel that the last week has been very helpful as I get ready to say goodbye to my friends in Paraguay and then go back home. I am super-excited about different cultures, languages, and especially about missions.

On night we ate dinner at Dario and Marelene’s house. We came at six o’clock but then sat around talking for a couple hours. Meanwhile the sky was turning greyer, the wind was picking up and I was sure at any minute waterdrops would be hitting my head. FINALLY she said “why don’t we go inside and eat before there’s a big storm?” Well, the weather held out for another hour while we ate, but we decided it would be good to go and catch the bus before it started to pour. We RAN to get on the bus back to Lambaré but a fifteen minute walk still awaited us from the bus stop to my house. I would have considered taking a taxi, but we decided just to run for it, and besides I only had another five mil, half the amount it would cost us to catch another bus that would bring us only a block away from home. This is what I love about Paraguay. At the moment we were passing the next bus stop (which is not really a bus stop at all, one can hail a bus from almost any position along the street. It is convenient to not have to walk to a bus stop, but fairly inefficient because the bus sometimes stops multiple times in just a short block) …the bus came along and I had the brilliant idea of asking if we could enter for half the price. I don’t know if I would normally be so brazen, but the thing was I had been throwing up earlier that night and all that running wasn’t making the situation any better. And of course the driver let us on, so that is why I am telling our victorious story. It started pouring during the bus ride, and we still ended up getting wet anyways, but it was an adventurous evening for us and hopefully make everyone appreciate their cars at home a little bit more.

Wow, just two seconds ago I put the finishing touches on the grade sheets for report cards, and now I have really completed a whole year of teaching. I remember the days when I couldn’t ever imagine making it this far, the days when I said to myself “I’m staying until Easter break and then I’m leaving” or “I just have to make it to winter vacations.” It’s a good thing I have this joy of accomplishment to even out the dread of having to leave my friends here in less than a month. Thankfully there are many things going on to celebrate and use as an excuse to spend lots of time together. Last Friday was Larissa’s birthday as well as our friend David’s, and only two days earlier David’s brother Ricardo turned 31 on the 31^st. So we had a triple birthday party and I employed my neighbour lady to make us a HUGE cake with lots of whip cream and dulce de leche inside. It was extra fun because some of Ricardo’s family came from Formosa to be at his baptism on Sunday, his brother and cousin whom I came to know when we travelled there in July during winter break. On Saturday my sister and brother-in-law arrived and I got to spend a few hours just hanging out with Karen and Edson in the airport (Anytime I get to spend with Karen now seems so precious). Ben and Vivi made us a wonderful welcome lunch, make-your-own tacos. Emi is living with them for these two weeks so my whole family can be together in my cosy little house. Like I said, there was a baptism on Sunday, with four people baptised and two new people becoming members. I was very happy to see all these young energetic people wanting to commit themselves to serving God as part of the church. All the hugs and pictures after the service, as well as being able to spend all afternoon being with everyone, just drinking térere and playing volleyball, made me feel like I am really going to miss the community here.

On Monday we had our final “Monday Missionary meeting” in which everyone said nice things about me and made me feel that I can be happy with the work I’ve done here. Then Oscar took me and my guests to the downtown. We tried to do a little bit of tourist shopping and buy a birthday present for Gaby, but we couldn’t even find an American football and Lord of the Rings III apparently hasn’t come out yet in Paraguay. We went to a mall I had not yet been to, and there was a store that had clothes from Old Navy which were from about three years ago, but still cost the same original price in American dollars. Annette said now she knows why I haven’t sent back that many souvenirs; food is cheap here, but I have always though that buying things like clothes and cars must be almost crippling when the average income is taken into account. In the end we got Gaby a soccer ball and some other little things and then made him a treasure hunt for his birthday on Tuesday. That night we ate another HUGE cake that Karen made and slept outside in the tents.

I suppose I have convinced everyone to be a missionary now, sounds pretty fun huh? I am looking forward to dinner at Dario and Marlene’s house tonight, going to the country with Oscar and Karen on Saturday, and other invitations in the coming week. Everyone here is letting me know how much they will miss me and I know they are doing some special things because I’m leaving soon, but I have to say that all year long they have been so good to me. My hope is that I am overflowing with this love and I can carry some of it back home with me.

Did you know…

Paraguay and Brazil share the largest hydro-electric plant in the world?

It is called Itaipu, which means “the singing rock” in the Guarani tongue. It was built in the 70’s during the Strossner dictatorship, flooding thousands of hectares of land and relocating many people from their homes, but also promising huge economic advantages. The dam has 20 turbines, of which only one is needed to provide 95% of Paraguay’s electricity. The output from the other nine is sold to Paraguay in order to pay their debt to the Brazilian government which funded the whole project, or eaten up by government officials or others at the top of the ladder with the right connections. In some ways Itaipu is a bit of a sore spot for many Paraguayans, or at least the ones who recognize that the whole country could be greatly profiting from the dam, but because of the corruption are instead paying outrageous monthly electricity bills.

Itaipu, one of the seven wonders of the modern world, was only one of the places we visited this past weekend on a field trip ninth and tenth grade classes. We also saw Yguasu “big water” waterfalls. There is a story that Woodrow Wilson (my brother thinks it was him, may have been a different president), upon seeing these falls, remarked “poor Niagara.” It is indeed quite a sight, even with the small amount of water, because of the quantity of falls arranged in a beautiful landscape and all the big rocks and lush tropical growth. I was even more impressed by Salto Monday (pronounced mon-dai-ew, with a really nasally accent on the “ew”, meaning “neighbourhood river”), which is an extremely powerful, fast-moving waterfall, I think it said it had the most output per second of any waterfall in South America. There used to be another waterfall even higher and more powerful than Monday, but it was flooded with the building of the dam.

Two of the nights we slept on the bus, but one night we stayed at a most beautiful campground…completely free! In addition to the kitchens and BBQ spits and cabins furnished with mattresses, there was even bike riding, horseback riding and wagon rides the next morning. What made me a little sad that it was one of six nature reservations built by the Itaipu corporation, which when one thinks about the amount of money that is running through their hands, the free camping is like giving away penny candies, an obvious attempt to win favour with the people that they have hoodwinked.

Another important place is the tres fronteras, where the borders of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet and each has built a large monument displaying the colours of its flag. The first day we visited the Brazilian side, well-kempt and complete with a gift shop, fancy restaurant, and special tourist photo spots. Across the river you could see the large luxurious hotels in Argentina. The second day we went to the Paraguayan landmark, and I was struck by the obvious difference in the sites, which were supposed to represent unity and friendship between the countries. The Paraguayan one didn’t even have a road leading up to it, just a path cut through the trees. I would have been nervous had I not been with such a large group, for it seemed such an abandoned place, the run-down structure with graffiti all over it. Furthermore, the stairs were falling apart and at one point would lead an unobservant visitor straight over the steep edge. But once we got down to the river, I realized that out of the three, I would choose the Paraguayan side any day. There were no touristy gimmicks to distract, and the lack of boundaries really allowed us to enjoy the beauty of the grand rivers. At the same time, it makes me sad that Paraguay really doesn’t get a lot of credit for its beauty, and the people are not benefiting from the resources with which the country has been blessed.

It was definitely a very interesting school trip…I learned a lot about political history, upcoming elections, contraband, average income, the cost of electricity, and the working hours of the ladies who sell chipa, and favourite Paraguayan snack. I only hope the students learned as much as I did.

I am over at Karen and Oscar’s house, on a wonderful summer day, along with Peter and Larissa. We just finished eating lunch outside on the picnic table, and afterwards as we were cleaning up and Peter and Jason were at the table helping the boys with their homework, I remarked to Karen that her kitchen was so full of life (i.e. loud and busy).
Yesterday was also a beautiful day, and a group of young people from the church decided it would be fun to walk to a big hill called Cerro Lambaré and eat a picnic lunch at the top. As we were starting around the last bend, the three Paraguayan boys and my brother decided to be adventurous and make their way straight up through the bushes instead of by the road. One offered to carry my heavy backpack with all the pop in it, but I like practicing carrying heavy backpacks in case I go backpacking in the mountains someday, so I politely declined. A few minutes later as Emi, Larissa, Jason and I continued on, immersed in conversation, we were interrupted by a yelling guy, pointing a gun at us and demanding to hand over our cell phones. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a cell phone to satisfy him but I don’t think he believed us. The episode seemed to take a very long time, with me throwing my back pack on the ground and not knowing what else to do, but it probably took less that 3 minutes, finishing with a spiteful comment directed at Jason that ¨here in Paraguay we don’t like Yankees.¨ I ran the rest of the way to the top of the hill to tell the boys, and also found there a group of guys with motorbikes who took us on a search for the culprit, but we never found him. The police also came after awhile, but were completely ambivalent to the situation, probably knowing that this happens all the time and that the chance we would find the thief or get anything back was almost hopeless.
In the end we lost a pack back full of picnic items such as pop, cheese, sandwich meat, and ketchup, as well as Larissa’s little sister’s camera that she got for her birthday (sorry Lindsay, we’ll get you a new one), her driver’s license and credit card, and some money. Oh yes, and my house keys, so we had to saw off the lock on our house. I also lost what little trust I might have had in the Paraguayan police, and a little bit of dignity by being robbed by some little drunk kid with what was almost certainly not a real pistol, and who probably wouldn’t even be able to appreciate most of the things he stole that meant so much to us. Thankfully, I have not lost my desire to be in Paraguay, nor my freedom to be able to walk down the street without fear. There could be many regrets, things that could have been done to prevent the situation, but in the end we need to try to take the good out of the situation and learn from it, just like Auntie Annette told Larissa. I feel like yesterday was a time of bonding that we will never forget, and in the end we were able to talk about the good things we learned, and even laugh at it. Pastor Pedro came and helped us all afternoon to fill out a report at the police station, and bought us all empanadas. Haha, I forgot to write that Oscar and Karen were travelling that weekend, the first time that they had left the boys for whom I felt responsible, so that added just a little bit to the stressfulness of the situation. Anyways, I have been reminded of how important people and lives are in comparison to our possessions. I received a reminder that we need to be careful and stick together, but also that we have to trust that God is taking care of us no matter what. I was scared that Larissa’s mom was going to want her to go home or that my mom wouldn’t want us to travel anymore, but I guess our mothers are wise enough to know that no matter where one is, simply to live is to be taking a risk. Confidence in God and freedom in his promises of protection are better than fear, and living a full life is better than existing in a false security.

“I’m so glad I know English.” “Rey said I look Paraguayan. Do you think that’s supposed to be a compliment or an insult.” “Man, I am so disappointed that our cake didn’t turn out.” “When is it going to start getting really hot?” I didn’t know where to start, so for the last minute I just wrote down some of Peter and Larissa’s conversation. My brother and cousin got here last Wednesday, and it still seems unreal to me. I have enjoyed all the visitors we have had over this year, but it is a special joy to share this experience with two of the people that are closest to me. Since they are staying with me until we all go home together in December, they will have had almost two months to become familiar with the Paraguayan lifestyle; I am thinking it will be nice to have other people me who understand what life is like here and with whom I can reminisce. They are both very serious about trying to pick up some Spanish while they are here and are coming along wonderfully…under my tutelage of course. It can be seen from Larissa’s first comment that studying Spanish has helped her appreciate some of the difficulties that a person might have in learning English. She is also having a great time with the communal way of life, sharing térere with all kinds of people, and she even suggested at lunch today that we all just eat our dessert out of the same bowl. Larissa already has been given a nickname by Oscar “La Risa” which means “the laugh” and it suits her well. I have spent much time in giggles for the last few days.

Peter probably looks even more Paraguayan after Saturday when he got a nice tan from spending two hours stranded in the middle of the Río Paraguay. We rented two boats for an hour for only $2, but they were probably worth about that much. Gaby had to spend most of the time bailing water with an old juice/worm container, while the rest of us battled with the oars that must have weighed about 20 lbs each. I felt bad because Karen prepared a beautiful outdoor lunch to which we arrived very late, very tired, very dirty, and very hungry!

Larissa tried to make an apple cake today and it didn’t turn out because our oven doesn’t work and she had to cook it in a heavy metal pot. Other than that, Peter and Larissa think all the food here is excellent, and are excited about pretty much everything we do. I like having them here, as well as Jason, just to hear the exclamations “Oh what a cool-looking house!” “what a yummy cookie!” “what a beautiful plant!” (usually it’s Jason saying that) or Larissa “what a nice street! It doesn’t have any garbage in it!” Everything is new and exciting again.