Cara Comes to Visit

It's hard to believe that May has already arrived. While my subconscious is preparing for summer vacation, the reality is that the days are getting shorter and colder and schooldays continue. I realize it's a little strange to mention "cold" living in a tropical climate, but when neither my house nor school has any type of indoor heating, it can get a little nippy. I doubt that Paraguayan winter days will shrink up to the length of Alaskan ones, but by 6 o'clock it is already dark now.
Two weeks ago fellow USA AFSer Cara came to Ciudad del Este to visit Kate and I. We had a great time talking until the wee hours of the morning, discussing all of our Paraguayan observations. Unfortunately, in the midst of all of our cultural analysis, Cara came to a tough conclusion. After a rough first and unstable second family experience, she decided the best thing for her to do was to go back home to the States. It was admittedly quite hard to take in and even more difficult to explain to our Paraguayan friends and family. After a few calls to AFS to organize homebound flights, her return was pretty much set in stone. While Cara was following a gut feeling by going home, it was also hard to think that everything she had been planning on doing in her last 2 months wasn't possible anymore. Kate and I decided that we had to do what we could to help her make the best of her last week. So the following day, the three of us crazy American girls set off in the pouring rain to see the Iguazu Falls in Brazil. Having already been there and back again by bus, I was confident we could make our way through the Portuguese speaking world.
It was great fun playing the English-speaking, photo-taking, blatantly American tourists for an afternoon. Due to Cara's unabashedly outgoing nature we made quite a few international friends including: 2 couples from France, 3 people from Switzerland, a Bulgarian living in New York, 4 Canadian 21 year old boys backpacking there way through South America, and who could forget the salesman intent on offering the full-boat tour who explained how his name derived from a tribe of people who crossed over from Russia to Alaska who became the original Alaska Natives. You gotta love how hard people work to make connections with foreigners! On the way back to Kate's house we stopped by "El Centro" and Cara picked up some last minute gifts (aka bought out the entire store!).
Shortly afterwards, Kate and Cara set off to Asunción to make Cara's final return arrangements with AFS. Since then, Cara has returned to Pedro Juan Caballero (her host town) to pack up her things and is now waiting in Asunción until her flight leaves on Tuesday. It's sad to think that another one of our original USA group is gone. Since our orientation in Miami, I think we all have had a picture in our heads of going back together and getting the most out of the 10 hour international flight. I have been incredibly lucky to have ended up with a family situation that I love and been saved the grief of changing schools/friends/family. I'm thrilled to be able to say that I have lots of really good Paraguayan friends, but not all exchange students can say that. For those who have had to endure a lot of change, fellow exchange student friendships have really come in handy. For me, no matter how I look at it, there are a ton of people from my year that I'm going to miss, whether they be Paraguayan, American, or German.

Good News

I'm thrilled to be able to write that Kate´s brother Ben is doing better. He´s still in the ICU, but the antibiotics seem to be doing their job and Ben´s now breathing on his own. Thanks for all of your prayers and good thoughts! I´ll continue to update you as he continues his recovery.

Prayer Request

Today I found out that one of my best friends down here in Paraguay, Kate a fellow U.S. exchange student, got some tough news. Last weekend her 17 year old younger brother, Ben, back in the states got diagnosed with a rare bacterial infection that has caused damage to his liver and the muscle tissue in his chest. He is now taking antibiotics that seem to be fighting the bacteria, but is in the ICU with a breathing tube and has had to undergo surgeries to drain liquid from his lungs. The sickness has come out of nowhere and is truly a shock to everyone. I would ask that you would all have Ben in your prayers and I will continue to post updates on the situation. One of the worst fears of a foreign exchange student is that a family member back home gets sick. Thank you for all of your help!

Semana Santa - Holy Week

Last Sunday was a rather exciting one. My host mom got back from Taiwan! Being that she is the first in her family to have ever traveled by plane, it was quite an event. My grandparents live with two of their four daughters 16 kilometers from us on their farm. The security on their land isn’t that tight, so at least one of them always has to stay behind to take care of the farm when everyone else leaves. They decided my Aunt Vicki would keep guard while both grandparents and Tia Lida came to our house to surprise my mom. With 3 cars full of people (friends, family and coworkers) we headed across the border with Brazil to wait for my mom at the airport. My mom was thrilled to see her dad, who hardly ever leaves the farm. Back at the house a feast was awaiting us, which my mom took no time digging into. Turns out the Taiwanese are big fans of raw food. My mom, not so much…

We had a good time listening to my mom’s stories from abroad, but by 7 PM she was good and worn out and decided to call it a day. The next morning marked the beginning of my weeklong Spring Break (in Paraguay it is due to the Catholic observation of the Holy Week leading up to Easter). I ended up spending my first night out on the farm, which proved to be an experience. As the sun set we sat around beneath the trees drinking tereré while my aunts caught up on their favorite soaps (every Paraguayan has their preference). By 9 o’clock we were all in bed and with reason, because by 4 AM that rooster was crowing. I couldn’t believe it when I awoke to an honest to goodness rooster. Luckily I managed to drift back asleep until 6:30 when Aunt Vicki lovingly woke me up to help make the “chipa”. Chipa is very typical Paraguayan food generally eaten for breakfast that I happen to love! Ingredients include: corn flour, mandioca flour, Paraguayan cheese, eggs, butter, milk, salt, and anise (a spice). There are various “chiperias” were you can buy some pretty tasty chipa, but the Wednesday before Easter each home traditionally makes their own. I was up and ready and game for busting out some serious chipa! The process is relatively simple…put the ingredients in a large bowl and mix them until a dough is made. What made it a little more work for us was the quantity we were making (as Tia Vicki referred to it, “Tamaño Pais” or “Country Size”). We’re talking at least 4 wheels of cheese, 2 dozen eggs, and ­­­8 kilos of corn flour…enough to make 160 chipa, each a little larger than your typical biscuit. Needless to say, we’re still working on eating it all…but I don’t mind. It’s delicious!

Friday, instead of visiting the farm, my mom, Shirley (the maid that’s more like family), her son Gabi and I set off for a little road trip. Every year the town of San Ignacio is host to a large gathering of people for a candlelit walk and Easter reenactment. For years my mom has watched it on the news, always wanting to go. This year, with me here, she had an “excuse” to go so we packed up some chipa for the road and set out. We made a pit stop on the way to check out the last major ruins site I still hadn’t seen. Just like the other ruins, it was quite impressive. This particular site was significantly bigger than the others. An hour or so exploring the ruins and we were back on the road. After arriving in San Ignacio, we parked near a public park and got out to stretch our legs a bit and figure out where exactly our nighttime activity would take place. A few girls on bikes directed us towards the local church (there’s always one main one in every town, despite how many denominations there might be) and from there we followed the large masses congregating in a clearing a few blocks down. We were all pretty surprised how many people were there…and they just kept coming! Today’s newspaper listed 15,000 being in attendance. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a crowd that big before. It was evident the town had put a lot of work into the event. There were thousands of homemade candles (orange/lemon peels filled with cow fat and wicks) lighting the pathway. The main event, following the Virgin Mary brought in by procession, was full of dancers, lights and music. Being stuck in a mob of people, getting a good view of what was going on was a little tough. We did manage to prop Gabi up on our shoulders, alternating between us, so that he could catch a glimpse. By 8 o’clock we had started the drive back home and pulled in the gate at midnight. I had a good time seeing some good sights, but more than anything I loved watching Shirley the whole time. She really just had a ball. It was the first time she had ever had the chance to get out of the neighborhood and travel a little. She loved being able to show everything to her son. With her economic situation, it wouldn’t have been possible to do it on her own. The fact that I live in a family where my mom took it upon herself to invite Shirley and her son along, makes me truly grateful because there are a lot of people here that wouldn’t feel the least bit compelled to make an offer like that.

Yesterday was another day spent at the farm, eating Abuela’s delicious concoctions and hanging around in my hammock letting all the food digest while I finished off the 6^th Harry Potter; read completely in Spanish I might add…;) This morning I had my mom wake me up early to go to the morning Easter mass with her. The rest of the day I’ve been hanging around the house, eating Easter chocolate and chipa, and watching Fahrenheit 9/11 with my mom. The effect Michael Moore had on her worries me a little bit, but hopefully she won’t believe everything he says and think my country is completely hopeless.