Sarah came to visit!!! So after 19 months living in Paraguay
someone finally came to visit me! Sarah spent a week with me in Paraguay. Her
first day here probably was not her favorite seeing that her flight was delayed
by around 5 hours and just after arriving we started catching buses to get to
my site. I live about 100km from
Asuncion and it takes two buses to get there and about 2 ½ hours. Luckily for her we took a cab to my site so
she got out of the 45 minute walk in. Once we got to my site she was immediately
attacked by Copper. We spent 5 nights in
my site and Copper slept in her bed every night. We ended up making chipa with my committee,
chipa guasu with my host mom, cutting glasses out of wine bottles, tracing and
painting part of my world map, milking cows, and fixing up my garden. On Friday night some other volunteers came
over to meet Sarah and we had a mini pizza party. Over all I think my site was interesting to
Sarah. I had lost some perspective on
what it’s like coming from America and being thrown into a rural Paraguayan
community and this experience helped with that.
I decided to make a list of things Sarah reminded me/taught me:
·
My bathroom is gross, even though I have a
shower now! Apparently a cold shower isn’t all that great (I disagree with
this, my shower is life changing).
- Using cups of oil and lard with every meal is not normal, and is actually kind of disgusting. This is in reference to Paraguayan cooking, not mine.
- People publicly commenting on your physical appearance is not normal. Side note: They LOVED Sarah here. I was told that she looked like a model and if I lost weight I could too. After being in Paraguay for so long this didn’t offend me. It did however offend Sarah and my mother. This came with the added benefit of my mother finally admitting that I am her smartest and prettiest daughter; perhaps she said it because she felt sorry for me but I’m 90% sure she meant it.
- Motorcycles are not family friendly. It isn’t uncommon to see 5 people on motorcycles here, and I have seen people breastfeeding while riding on them. This is not only weird but also dangerous.
- In America, tampons come with applicators.
- Burning toilet paper is weird, and makes a fantastic video montage.
- It’s also weird that you can’t flush toilet paper down here.
- Taking your trash on your 2.5mile walk and then on a 2 hour bus ride just so you can throw it away, instead of burning it or burying it is also weird.
·
·
Sarah and I eventually left my site and headed to the
capital for 2 nights so she could meet more volunteers and try and find some
gifts for people. We ended up going to
T.G.I. Fridays for dinner one night and she wasn’t impressed. Friday’s in Paraguay has a deal on Monday
nights where you get unlimited beer with the purchase of a meal. Honestly, unlimited. C’mon Friday’s you are
asking for trouble.
It was nice showing her the capital and I think she enjoyed
hot showers and toilets instead of latrines.
Sarah and I didn’t do a whole lot of crazy things when she was here but
it was fantastic just having someone from home to spend time with. It’s been a weird adjustment getting used to
being alone in site again. We only spent
5 days together in my site but being able to speak English and just have
someone to talk to all day was amazing! I am so thankful that Sarah was able to
come see me, even if my site likes her more than me I love that she was here!
*I don’t really think they like her more than me, they just
think she’s prettier. They told me I’m nicer.
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