Tres

It’s me again
I am not fond of reading over my work and finding my mistakes and words that are too sarcastic and stuff like that. I am even less fond of other people reading and catching my mistakes and, horror of horrors, maybe even catch on to how I was feeling when I wrote what I did. You’d think that, given what I just said, I’d be very careful what and how I wrote. I’m not.  
I fear I have been too sarcastic and even disrespectful of people in my other letters, so I tried to do better in this one.  
 
Sunday, November 22, 2020, 1705 hours, 33°C
I sent my last letter off not 24 hours ago and here I am starting another one.
And now we’re 2 days into the week and I’ve written almost nothing. This is not off to a good start.  
Well, on with my day.  
There have been some tom cats roaming our yard lately so Rachelle and I decided tonight that it was time they started learning a bit of a lesson. We have a cat. We don’t need more. So we loaded our water guns and lay in wait for these 2 cats, who both got a bit scared and wet.  
After our crazy evening of chasing cats we still had to get up on time as church starts at 0830. Some of us were dropped off at church to make room in the van for a load from just down the road. We opened windows, took the Sunday School benches out to the shade and then waited under the mango tree for awhile. Eventually church was going to start so we all find seats on the numerous plastic lawn chairs and start singing. Soon Rachelle and the children go out to the shade for Sunday School and I follow to watch the proceedings and figure things out a bit as maybe soon I’ll be the one doing the teaching out there. Not sure just how much I’ll be able to teach..  
Well it’s 2130 and I just typed ‘sleep’ instead of ‘teach.’ I think I should take that as a sign, don’t you?  
Back to church. Well, I dunno if teaching Sunday school will be super hard after all. There aren’t many other kids who come and I live with 3 girls who would be eager to translate.  
I just can’t do this. The hour is verging on Wednesday and I have just a few lines typed. And I’m not going to be any less busy later on in the week
OK, so church. After Sunday School, the rest of the service isn’t very long. Eric (who is the only male representative besides Tiago and 3 year old Christian) has a short sermon that Rachelle translates for me. Thru out the whole service, everything is laid back, people talking, running around, threatening to take the kids to their moms if they don’t behave. And if someone wants to sing in Guarani, they make themselves known and that’s not a big deal. We also sit on plastic lawn chairs, and most of us are wearing some sort of sandals. And short sleeves. Just to give you a little bit of a picture.  
After the service, we adjoin to the back yard and talk about when the grapes will be ready and who wants mangos to take home. A few people open some fallen mangos and start eating them, leaning forwards to let the juice drop to the ground so their clothes don’t get dirty. Then we all pile into the van as all except one of the 13 of us were only from 2 different places. And she needed a ride too. The drive is short tho, and the van is big (I think it could seat 11 or 12 if the back seats were in, which they weren’t but who needs seats?)  
If it were still Sunday, I could describe everything a lot better for you. But seeing as it’s Almost Wednesday already, I should probably go to sleep and put this off longer or else tell about the rest of the day.  
It was a full day. So very worth it. We went out for dinner to the same place we stopped for lunch on the day I came. It’s a cool place were you can get empanadas or you can go thru a bit of a buffet except they dish it up for you and you would have to pay for seconds. You pay by the pound, and they scan it all onto a little piece of wood which you take to the front to pay when you are ready. It’s also a bit of a grocery/toy/tourist shop so we had a bit of fun spending money.  
Then we were off on a drive. Our turning around destination was the Paraguay River. We drove for awhile with everybody pointing out places for me. ‘This is where we do this. This is where that comes from.’ Unfortunately, I can’t keep it all straight, and so much water has passed under the bridge that I don’t remember what I should remember. We reached the river eventually,  the weather was hot but this was not a place for swimming. No beaches, the water was very low, trash littered the edges, the water was very dirty, and I think there are piranhas in it.  
Listened to a little bit of Steinbach church service but got cut off. I still find it a little funny that it’s well after lunch here when church starts in Manitoba..  
After our drive, we stopped at home for an hour or 2 and then left to go sing at Julian’s. They’re a fun loving family that Eric’s have got to know. They have a bunch of youth age kids so I’m looking forward to getting to know them too! We walked around their fields a bit and then sat in plastic lawn chairs (the standard here) and sang the evening away. I wish I could describe the evening to you. The air was warm but not to warm, and filled with laughter and teasing. The sky was dark, but clear. The singing was hauntingly beautiful.  
 
Monday, November 23, 2020, 1233 hours, 35.5°C.
Something amazing happened today. We actually sung one song in which we did not go up in pitch!  
After school and lunch today, we set off for an afternoon of shopping and visiting. We stopped at numerous places for food and clothes and gifts. I didn’t keep track of the time, but there was often quite a drive between each place. Our final destination was a little fabric/everything shop on the Manitoba Mennonite Colony. Rachelle’s friend who owns this shop, recently got married, and a wedding gift was the excuse for our visit. The shop itself didn’t hold much interest for us, but we spent a long time chatting. Or, shall I say, they spent a long time talking. I tried to listen to their conversation but I got lost quite a bit. I think most Paraguayan Mennonite women don’t know Spanish but she knew enough to converse with Rachelle and tell us all about her wedding dress. I’m so excited because it has sunray pleats on the back skirt (apparently all wedding dresses have to) and for the last year or so I have been trying to figure out how to make sunray pleats! The trick is to use hot sand to press your pleats. Who knew!  
I don’t know what to tell you about these Mennonites as a whole. They’re as cheap as any other Mennonite. They made their own rode beside a toll road so they don’t have to pay the toll. Any wonder why the Paraguayans don’t like them?  
We stopped for some very delish ice cream on the way home, and tried to sing thru the songs in the folder that’s in the van.  
 
Tuesday, November 24, 2020
I do forget what happened today. We had school. And then I think we had most of the afternoon off, maybe I sewed some, and then we went to Perla’s to sing, only it turned out that she was at her parents’ place, we just hadn’t got the message. So we went there instead. Her parents live right along the highway and she lives just down a side street a few hundred feet but her hair salon is beside her parents house. So we went into her little, bright pink hair salon and pulled up chairs and started singing. She served us some fresh orange juice, which was meant for our supper. Now, I haven’t learned to live like Paraguayans who call a glass of juice supper, and Eric’s aren’t like that either. So we stopped for asaditos on the way home, and sat outside on the lawn and ate our late night supper. We didn’t sit on the lawn itself, but in the ever present plastic lawn chairs. Also, it was maybe 2030, so not really ‘late night.’  
 
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Once again, I should be sleeping. But I find that I write my best at night. I tried writing some earlier today when I had a bit of time but it just did not sound right. But, again, I will most likely be too lazy to go and rewrite it all.  
Today was a bit more relaxing then the last few days. For me anyways. Except that it was quite warm. The highest I saw it at today was 39.6. The thermometer said 41.something was the high but that might have been from another day. The girls went to the little store next door for ice cream during recess which was very welcome after our rather rapid paced game of 10 Steps.  
After lunch, I made some of my stuff for supper as today I was going to make supper. I had been enthused about crepes one day and I think Rachelle may have rolled her eyes a bit but probably was glad for at least one evening that she wouldn’t have to make supper so she said I could make them for tonight. (I have no clue if she actually did those things, I just had to make this paragraph interesting somehow.) So anyhow. I made Boston cream crepes for supper and added peaches to trick myself into thinking it was a healthy supper. It took me almost an hour to fry up about 15 crepes on the little burner/electric element (idk what to call it) outside, hence the potential eye rolling.  
In between lunch and supper, I washed the floor of my ‘house’ as I hadn’t done it on the weekend and the field secretary is coming here tomorrow. Rachelle and Ellie and I went to pick up Felicita for the weekly Bible Study with her, and Rachelle got Felicita’s daughter, Gloria, to look at Ellie’s toe as she thought there was a pique* in it. Turns out there wasn’t, but Ellie’s toe was given some remedio and sent on its way. We had Bible Study in the shade of the mango tree and I tried my hand at reading Spanish out loud. We sung some songs, asked Felicita questions that seem to come up when a person is with her and then we took her home again. I didn’t get much out of Bible Study, even though it was translated. I guess I’ll have to try harder next time.  
And that’s about the size of it.  
 
Thursday, November 26, 2020
I think I cracked my phone screen a bit more today. Or maybe that was yesterday I threw it on the floor, I can’t remember. But anyways, I tried doing something on my phone today and I had to tap at exactly the right spot and it didn’t work so I chalked it up to some major cracking. Luckily it wasn’t a life threatening thing I needed to do.  
Maybe I’m making the girls work too hard, but I have it figured out that we will probably be done school around December 11. That made taking today and tomorrow and a day or 2 next week off of school even easier to the people who make decisions here. I’m kind of excited about a short week of school and also excited that it means we can do some more traveling and even being with new people.  
By 0900 we were on the road to meet Karlins and Stuart and Cindy (field secretary from Roblin) in a city of which I cannot seem to remember the name. We did some shopping first in an everything store that reminded me of Shoprite in Malawi, and then we walked thru the market. The market was only half up and running, due maybe in part to Covid and probably mostly to the fact that it was raining and had been for a lot of the morning. We made sure to drive past The Fabric Store but sadly didn’t go in, due t to the fact that we didn’t have enough time (think a few hours) and they were closing for their lunch. We met the rest at a bit of a food court for lunch. I’m not sure if there were more stores or if the building just consisted of few food counters and a bank and bathrooms. Whatever it was, they had some delicious pasta. It’s sort of like Subway, where you tell the people what you want in your pasta and they make it for you while you stand there. I had gnocchi with pesto and a cream sauce mixed. It was quite very divine! If you ever want some good pasta and you happen to be in Paraguay, go there. Just don’t ask me for directions.  
We were home for a few minutes in the late afternoon and then headed off to visit Felicita before supper. She told about her church life over the years and what happened in what church. I wish I could understand her instead of having to listen thru a translator. Not that my translators are bad. They do absent-mindedly stick some of the Spanish back into the English they are speaking but either I understand those particular words already or can grasp the meaning based off the rest of the sentence.  
We picked up asaditos* from Pedro down by the Cruze* for supper. Pedro would be Julian’s see Sunday👆) kids’ cousin and he sells the most delicious ones. They always come with mandioca, I think it would be better known in English speaking countries as cassava, which sadly I am not too fond of. I’m just recalling now that I may have written about that earlier. We have a lime tree on our yard tho, and I squeeze that over the mandioca to make it better for me, and also over asaditos as that takes them up higher a couple of notches. I also made a batch of cosido so I would have something to drink while everyone else was drinking coffee. Cosido made by burning sugar and yerba and adding water and milk and is absolutely a wonderful drink.  
Stuart’s brought Nerds with them. I am quite fond of them.  
Friday, November 27, 2020
Its quite the feeling to swing from one side of the living room to the other side in a hammock, eating McDonald’s fries and drinking cosido. To have the McDonald’s just 2 steps from the hammock and the young girls who serves you gets you to hold her baby and makes anything that you ask for. Except chicken nuggets.  
Turns out McDonald’s coincidentally will not have McNuggets when I go there tomorrow.  
Can’t believe I was so lazy today. Having the field secretary at your place is a very good excuse to not have school and to sleep in and in general not make the teacher do very much. Actually I made my favorite Monster Cookie Bars in the morning. After lunch we went on a drive thru the Durango Colony and saw all the women in their sun ray pleated dresses. (I know I’m stuck on those, but this colony actually has a machine to make them. I might have to move there yet.) And all the women wore a hat over their head coverings yet. With a long black ribbon dangling by their cheek. The men weren’t so outstanding to me, I think overalls are cute. But only on little people. As in children. These Mennos are steel tractor wheels and horse and buggy people, so that was interesting to see.  
We had church in the evening. It’s actually quite intimidating when everybody around you, even those who have only been in Paraguay a few days, can speak Spanish circles around you.  
Saturday, November 28, 2020
By 1130 we were all packed up in the van and on our way to Campo Nueve (Camp 9.) Stopped at McDonald’s for lunch (even the back pocket of their jeans has the famous ‘M’ embroidered on it) and a lot of us were disappointed when we found out the fabric store was closed today.  
Arrived at Karlins here in Campo Nueve and I gave myself a small tour and we ate a delicious supper of grilled chicken and mango rice and watermelon and soon we were off to church. Tonight was convert meeting. The church was packed. This congregation is a bit different than ours at Barrio San Pedro. They have a few families in the church here and 2 young boys from 2 of these families told their experiences. There was another older youth boy who told his, and then there was Jakey. Now I don’t know the whole story. I didn’t even understand his conversion experience as it was told in Plautdeitch and translated to Spanish so every single other person in the room could understand. No I’m not feeling left out, I’m just wishing I could be able to speak Spanish without any study and without having to learn it and be able to speak it now! But this Jake or Jacob I think, has left his church and been coming to our church for awhile. He’d had struggles and victories and now tomorrow he’ll be baptised into our church. He has a wife and children who don’t come to church but say they’re home is a better home since Christ became his saviour. But for the last few days, people from the plain churches have been at his house, asking him difficult questions and in general trying to make it difficult to join our church. Tonight, his brothers-in-law from other plain groups were there, trying to give him a hard time about things that don’t even matter. I wish I could have understood that, but just being in that crowded room, trying to understand the proceedings going on, watching the youngest brother-in-law feel so proud in his place and very smart yet not getting anywhere, I almost did understand.  
There are 3 youth girls here and a bunch of guys, and after church we all walked to the house next door and sat and drank terere. One family lived in Whitemouth for quite a few years and consequently those kids know English very well and thankfully they aren’t very scared to talk. A few of the others would know English in various stages, but would tell you they don’t. But when they found out how little Spanish I could speak, they gladly talked English to me. Which is probably not good for me. Sounds like there’s a good chance of a volley ball game after church and the potluck lunch tomorrow, and maybe even more in the next few days which I am very interested in.  
I laughed at one of my friends for not wanting to share a bathroom with a lizard the other day. I got to shower with a frog tonight and was decidedly unimpressed and duly repented of laughing about the lizard. Except I having told my friend yet. But that frog climbed right up the wall, and when I disappeared for about 2 minutes, it decided to disappear as well, so I really have no clue as to where he is now. Very comforting. I imagine he’ll come find me in bed next.  
 
Just a few random tidbits about this life yet before I close off for the week. Last week I think I greeted you from the land of tall speed bumps. These Speed Bumps are a dime a dozen around here, and a lot of vehicles go over them at an angle so they don’t scrape as they go over. Well, by our place they do, not so much on the highway. We have 2 just outside our gate, and apparently a car once landed up on the grass just beside the gate due to much speed over those mountains. The noisy trucks that come by our place bearing cows or carbone (charcoal) or loads of numerous different things often don’t seem to slow down much for the Speed Bumps either, and clang and rattle and make awful noises as they race over them.  
I was going to put this in one of my earlier letters but apparently it slipped my mind. Must not have been such a cray sight after all. There’s a Covid testing station set up right on the airport yard. I saw it the day I arrived and had to look twice. It was a normal building, but sticking out of the building, at head height (maybe 2 meters/6 feet apart) were long gloves. No one was there right then so I couldn’t see just how exactly it worked, but I’m just curious how the get the testing stick into those gloves when they are inside the building and the patient and what they are working with is inside. I’m sure there’s an easy explanation and I could just ask Eric or someone but I’d rather just be in the dark about it.  
Another interesting thing here and that I wish would become popular in Steinbach is the fact that you can WhatsApp anyone. Want to order pizza? Use WhatsApp. Want to find out something about the company you bought your vehicle from (or why would a person ever call the number that you can usually find on the Fairway Ford or North End Motors or whatever sticker?) Use the WhatsApp number provided on that sticker. A lot of businesses here would have a number with the WhatsApp sign beside it, meaning you can just WhatsApp them and not call them or email them or use some sort of impressive communication like that. I’d definitely prefer WhatsApp.  
That’s a lot of WhatsApps in one sentence. Thanks goodness for autocorrect.
*Oh right I have some explaining to do yet. I’m not gunna get much sleep tonight. I have to clue how to spell these words and I told Rachelle I would blame my ignorance on her if she didn’t answer my questions and so far it looks like she’s choosing to make our relationship even more difficult and making me look stupid. Piques are tiny as in almost microscopic little bugs that like to come live in your feet. They lay eggs and apparently are very itchy and can hurt a lot to take out unless you have a Paraguayan do it for you. To the best of my knowledge, a cruse is like an intersection of bigger highways slash streets. And asaditos are delish kabobs that might also be a dime a dozen around here.
And now finally you have reached the end.
Til next time,
Addie
BTW I can’t remember if Perla’s hair salon is bright pink or orange or it’s the building beside it that I’m thinking of.