Ellen in Paraguay

Today I was walking home from school and saw some coins in the grass and picked them up. AS I continued walking, I realized that what I picked up, two fifty-cent pieces, were actually worth about two cents. This just goes to show I am definitely still a stranger here; I buy things every day and still don’t understand the monetary system. In fact, I feel more foreign than ever, perhaps because I am realizing I will never fit in, and in some ways I don’t even want to. I am never going to start eating bread with all three meals a day, I am not going to come anywhere near perfecting the language or the accent. I refuse to use the tablecloth as a napkin, and I will probably never drink tereré alone, maybe one day when I am back at home and I really miss Paraguay. Furthermore, it is possible for me to be in a room without the fan on. Here it is just an automatic response, even when it is cold in the morning someone will flick the fan on. I don’t like eating dinner later than nine o’clock. I don’t like eating lots of meat or friend foods. I like to walk fast. I don’t like trinkets in my room. I like buying things in bulk if it makes them a lot cheaper. I don’t like having to greet every single person in the room, multiple times.
Pastor Dario and I have an ongoing conversation about the salutation system in Paraguay. It is a very formal society, and almost every time you see someone for the first time that day, you kiss her (one on each cheek in Paraguay, just the right cheek in Uruguay and Argentina, and three kisses in Brazil) or shake hands with him (the Paraguayan handshake, though, is much weaker. When Judah was here Ben had to tell him not to shake so hard because he would scare some of the girls. I always try to teach the young boys to have a firmer shake.) There are only a few males I am on a kissing-basis with in the church, and one of the pastors and three or four of the older ladies always hug me, which is the best!
So when I arrive at church I probably have to greet at least thirty people. After the service ends, I greet all of them again and say “God bless you.” If we have an afternoon or evening service, we going through the whole charade again. Well, I shouldn’t use such a word. As for me, I have made a very conscious effort to mean it every time I give blessings, but sometimes I doubt the sincerity when a person mutters a whole string of greetings like “hola qué tal dios te bendiga cómo estás?” and moves on to the next person without waiting for a response, but we do that in North America too. It can be hard to have a conversation after church, because you will be interrupted at least five or six times by people who want to kiss and bless you.
Morning devotions with the teachers can be a little confusing with the greetings. If you arrive a little early you will have greeted some but not others, and then it is awkward later because only about ten minutes have transpired and you don’t know whether to greet again. The worst though is that we sit in a circle, and you have to go all the way around the circle while the other side is watching your behind as you bend down to kiss everyone.
Now that I know the system, I admit I have broken the rules a bit. Lots of times now I will enter a room and throw my arms up in the air and say loudly in English “Hello everyone!” On Sunday I also went over to a family’s house and made them curry chicken, a spice they may have never tasted before. There are definitely ways I wish I could be a better Paraguayan: I am still really bad at hand-washing clothes plus it is my least favourite chore, I still want to learn to cook like they do so I can please my guests here and bring that talent back home with me, and I want to honor people like they do. I think the reason behind the greeting system is to acknowledge people and show that people are relationships are what they value, rather than getting some place else on time or doing other work. What do my readers think? After five months is it okay if I hug rather than kiss and walk really fast, or should I still just be trying to fit in?