Sadly, my brain is still obviously English. As you will all have seen, I called my last letter ‘quatro.’ Only a few hours after I sent it did it register in my brain that I actually should have written ‘cuatro.’ I hope you can forgive this mistake and overlook any more honest ones that I make.
Sunday, December 6, 2020
The preacher, song leader, Sunday school superintendent and teacher were all under the weather this morning so church was cancelled. Rachelle offered to preach and I thought I’d make a good Spanish song leader but apparently that didn’t go over well. Christina made us pancakes for breakfast and a few hours later Rachelle and I walked to the store for a few things for our asado (barbeque) for lunch. I napped and read all afternoon and later we went to Guajayvi (about 20 or 30 minutes from home) for a drive and some ice cream. We are quite spoiled here I must say.
Monday, December 7, 2020
Normal school day today. I’ll walk you through a bit of our normal school day. We start at 0800. Some mornings we’re still sitting around the breakfast table at 0749 and then we all scurry to be ready on time. We have devotions at the breakfast table so we start school with a few songs and go right into math. By 1000 we hopefully have math and language done and we go outside to play ten steps or bear around the corner or dodge ball before running in for a few minutes of story. On the hottest days the girls will sometimes run to the little shop next door for ice cream. After story, we have reading, spelling, science, sometimes penmanship and if work has been going fast then some map workbooks. We’ve only had 2 art periods (much to the girls’ dismay) due to super short weeks or else mixed up days. It’s not uncommon to be doing our work to the beat of the music coming from the gym behind us, or to be constantly opening the door or adjusting the fan speed or trying to get the cool air from the AC in my room right next door in order to be able to study better.
It was suggested that I should maybe go see Sara (see the evening we went to Julian’s in one of my first three diaries. Probably on Sunday in Tres) while the rest of the family went to Felicita’s this afternoon. I was not fond of the idea as I’m not a very outgoing person especially in another language that I don’t actually know very well. But I decided it would be good for me to go. So I went. Now Sara is quite a bubbly (for lack of better wording) girl who never lacks for words or, it seems, energy. I imagine you’ve all got it figured out already that my expectations were sadly lacking. I had an absolutely wonderful time with her. We found some shade and terere and both used our phones sometimes to translate and figure out what the other one said. She knows some English from school and puts it to good use, and is excited to learn more. Her dad and brother came in from the garden after awhile and sat with us. They both know English and use it to varying extents.
Too soon, Eric came to pick me up. Today was exactly one month since Rodolfo (Felicita’s son) died and they wanted to sing for awhile so I went to join them. After singing awhile, we stopped at a place in town here for supper. We walked thru the restaurant, or maybe it was the bar part, and out across to the patio to another patio and set up a table and chairs for us to eat at. We ate out there all alone under the stars. The play structures were blown up for the girls to play on and Tiago and I eventually decided we weren’t going to miss out on the fun so we joined them.
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
We were done school by 1130 today. Or rather I let the girls out at 1130 so I could go stuff some overnight necessities into my backpack. We picked up lunch along the way and 3 hours or so later we arrived at our grand hotel, Los Alpes, in Asuncion. We didn’t waste any time in making our way down to the (outdoor) pool once we were checked in. The pool itself was smallish but clean (it also had a water falls in it) and the area around it was full of chairs and trees and fake grass and a little bit it sunshine. You didn’t need the sunshine to dry off tho, it was warm in the shade, too. I did the same thing as I usually do to my family. After awhile in the pool (never long enough for the ones I’m with) I opened my book and spent the rest of the time reading. When an hour or two had passed, we jumped into the van again and headed off to go shopping. First Rachelle and I ran into a bit of a Superstore type of place called Superseis saying we wouldn’t take long and then we wound thru 1 layer of underground parking to park on the second underground floor. Oh and we all got our temperature taken before being allowed into parking, which would be normal here for big stores except that they’d often temp just the adults or just the front 2 people in the van. And another thing before we move on, the driving here is not like driving in Winnipeg. There are some stoplights and street signs but mostly it’s fend for yourself. Stick your nose in and make yourself known if you need to turn onto another street. Any amount of space between you and the on coming vehicle is enough to pass the vehicles in front of you, the oncoming person just has to move onto the shoulder. A honk doesn’t mean ‘hi’ or ‘you are doing something wrong,’ a honk is to let someone know you are coming up behind them or just letting them know that you are there. Oh. And watch for motos. Those little guys can be quite sneaky, weaving in and out of traffic, off and on the shoulder. I still can’t figure out when they act like vehicles and when they act like pedestrians but I think usually that is left to the driver of the moto in question to decide. Anyways. With the help of some escalators, we were transported from the cool, dimly lit parking garage and spit out into a grand shopping mall. I’m not sure of the full layout of the place but I think it had about 3 stories of stores on either side of a street with a walkway above the street. The stories didn’t contain a terribly high number of square feet (individually) if I remember correctly but it looked like there was a nice variation of stores. We didn’t go into very many of them, I’m looking for souvenirs not expensive things from Puma or Timberland, and soon made our way up to our ultimate destination, the food court. Which included a McDonald’s. That nobody went to. It also included another restaurant that seems to make the same food as McDonald’s but apparently is better then aforementioned Golden Arches. I didn’t try that either. I’m not going to say what I had cuz it was very boring and I could have gone to a good pasta place but I didn’t but we all stuffed ourselves and then some of us had frozen yogurt yet before we left. We left the empty parking garage behind us and drove around for a few minutes looking at Christmas lights. The over-the-street walkway in the mall is covered in lights to form Ñanduti* shapes. We all went to bed around 2130, in anticipation of the arrival of 0200 the next morning. Or night.
Thursday, November 10, 2020
0200 came and with it our reason of coming to Asuncion and we sleepily and excitedly climbed out of bed and into the van. The streets very pretty much deserted, maybe due to the fact that Covid restrictions here mean installing a curfew between 1000 and 0500 or something like that. One or 2 vendors still had their wares out but these ones sleep on the street beside their outdoor stores. We saw a few vehicles at first and then a few more on the main road. The parking lot at the airport was crowded with vehicles tho, and the street in front of the door with the inhabitants of those vehicles, waiting for the arrivals. This waiting outside is also due to Covid. Oh and also we all had to wear masks. Because of visas and other things it took a long time but eventually the doors opened to reveal Dad and Mom! Hugs all around and exclamations over how big people had grown and then we were back into the van, driving back down the deserted streets we had passed thru just an hour ago, stumbling back up the hotel steps and finally collapsing back into our beds. Only Dad and Mom were wide awake as their bodies didn’t think it was quite night time and their minds were working hard taking in this new country, this new continent.
Eventually they must have slept tho, and then eventually we all woke up and had breakfast down by the pool. The girls swam again and the rest of us started on all the news and happenings of home. And then we started ambling our way home. First we stopped at a roadside fruit stand and ended up buying more than just fruit. We stopped for lunch at a gas station slash restaurant slash tourist store called Ka’Avo. It’s the same place we stopped on the way home. From the airport when I came. Then we went in search of an Atm I think and ended up finding a fabric store. And later on, a little shop that sold beautiful wood cutting boards and spoons for a price you would never find in Canada. Oh and we bought at least 2 hammocks thru out the day. We actually did make it home without spending all our money. We sat outside and unwound and had asaditos and Paraguayan tortillas for supper. And then chatted some more and eventually went to bed.
Friday, November 11, 2020
We took Dad and Mom to visit Felicita this morning. After drinking terere under her Maracuya (passion fruit) vine, we walked around her yard and she showed us all her plants. She can grow anything and everything it seems like. The most amazing plant to me is her cinnamon tree. The leaves smell exactly like cinnamon and you can use them to make your food taste like cinnamon but the actual stuff comes from the bark.
In the afternoon we went to visit some Mennonites about an hour and a half north of us. Unlike most other Mennonite girls here, their girl Lisa who is 21 is in no hurry to find a boyfriend. This is quite rare but she seems to enjoy being single and having fun with her niece and family. In the guest house where we sat and chatted, they had an industrial sewing machine (called Jack. From China.) set up that they use sewing everyday items. The speed on the thing is quite insane. We stopped for supper at a small restaurant on the way home. Delicious assorted sandwiches and wrap sort of food. But with slices of beef and fried eggs and pink ketchup.
Saturday, November 13, 2020
We cleaned church this morning. Meaning we raked the fallen leaves and mangos and grapes and dumped the into their respective holes to be burned or composted. The church floor was swept and the chairs were wiped off and it was ready for church the next day!
Saturday afternoons are Bible Study with Juan afternoons. He lives with his daughter I’d say 15 minutes from us and he’s over 90 and consequently it’s a bit hard for him to make it to church. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know his Bible or anything. He was a preacher in another church for 40 years and he regrets the false preaching he did during that time.
Rachelle and the girls stayed home from Bible Study to get ready to have company tonight. Julian’s and 3 of their children came to sing with us and have supper with us. We sang a bunch of Christmas songs including Silent Night in three different languages, Spanish, Guarani and English.
Sunday, November 13, 2020
I taught the children’s Sunday School by myself this morning. It’s not very hard as there’s 3 eager helpers to translate for the 2 others who regularly come. The adults can get quite long winded with their Sunday School so we usually have a lot of time to color the picture in our book and too sing. Church starts at 0830 so we’re usually home before 1100.
After dinner we took a drive thru the Durango colony to stare and comment on the different lifestyle. It might look simple and quiet but I don’t think it is actually that way. Due to it being Sunday afternoon, some of them had found some beer and we came upon one guy dancing in the middle of the road while his friends all crowded around someone else in a buggy most likely gazing in awe at a (forbidden) phone. A little while later a buggy was parked sideways across the road and the driver who seemed to have been fighting with his friend in the front seat made sure the horse knew it was its fault that this guy was drunk and mad and they weren’t going where they thought they were going. I don’t think that life is very peaceful.
Monday, December 14, 2020
It’s already Friday and I haven’t written any details since Sunday. Looks like you’ll be getting the bare minimum, not many of the small details that make things interesting. Today was a transit day. Rachelle had made muffins to take along so we all piled into the van before breakfast and started out on our journey. We stopped in Coronel Oviedo to spend some time in a fabric store where you pay by the pound and also for lunch at McDonald’s. Our final destination was Karlins in Camp 9 and once we reached, the men went visiting with some of the kids and us ladies had some delish iced coffees and set out to do more fabric shopping. (Yes the fabric and everything else that needed to did fit into the suitcases.) For supper we ate at a churrasqueria (Brazilian barbeque) where they
I’m beginning to think I wasn’t very smart when I first started sending letters/diaries/whatever you call them by the week. Except that I didn’t even send one last week so I must just be lazy. But I did write about last week so that does still count. It must just be me kicking against the pricks. This is something I’m making myself do so I don’t want to do it so I leave it til the last minute. It’s Friday night already and I’m hoping to listen to my cousins’ Christmas program in a few minutes if I don’t fall asleep but I still have about 4.5 days to write about. Sigh. Maybe I’ll wait til tomorrow.
Anyways. Back to out supper on Monday. Those of you from my area back home, Carnaval in Winnipeg is a fancy Brazilian BBQ. I’m sure there are more restaurants like that around home, those just aren’t my North American style. I think I’ll definitely make it my South American style tho. They waiters bring around long sticks of different cuts of meats and cut it off and serve you right at your table. Some places also serve you grilled pineapple. This time we were also served sweetened condensed milk to pour over our pineapple (oh and here you also eat the core) which is, I think, a Paraguayan or South American special. I maybe made the last comment up.
I can’t think of many more boring details about the evening other then the fact that we went home (to Karlin’s) and went to bed. Actually, idk if I’ve mentioned it before so you may be tired of hearing this already but these people eat their supper late. As in we went for supper at 1930 ish and were the first or maybe the second group there. 2030 is probably an average time.
Tuesday, December one day more than yesterday because I’m too lazy to look back at what ‘yesterday’ was, 2020
We decided to do things a little different today. Instead of spending lots of money on things, we decided to spend a bit on memories. So we drove the 2ish hours into Brazil to check out the Iguazu Falls. (Fun fact: the Spanish word for waterfalls is ‘Cataratas.’ Kind of a fun word to say.) Ciudad del Este (in Paraguay) and Foz do Iguaçu (in Brazil) are twin cities in separate countries but have an agreement between them so you don’t have to stamp in and out of either country to cross the border into the other city. So that’s what we did as those of us who aren’t citizens of Paraguay (Dad, Mom and me) would have had to have Covid tests to return to Paraguay. Whew.
The falls themselves were an absolutely awesome crashing wonder. I’m not a writer who explains things in great deal and I won’t be able do justice by explaining so maybe you should look them up and see what you can come up with. These falls that are bigger and grander than Niagara are made up of one main set called The Devil’s Throat and 250 or so more smaller falls. The Devil’s Throat itself is over 250 feet high and has hollowed out a hole at the bottom another 150 or more feet. They say the falls are more magnificent to view from the Argentina side (which unfortunately we couldn’t get to due to Covid) and you can get closer to The Devil’s Throat. We were able to walk out over the water close enough to the falls that we definitely got wet. And later some of us rid ourselves of any possessions that were not want to be wet and climbed into a boat for some sort of exciting ride under some of the smaller falls! The captain of our boat maneuvered us right under the falls, dousing us all and our tapabocas a few times. Most of us actually had our tapabocas off by then and were screaming and hollering and trying to keep from getting too much water in our faces. We all lived thru it tho and my contacts even stayed in amazingly enough. We ate food and talked to some Holdemans we met there and walked around and rode the double decker buses and eventually made our way back to Karlins’ for supper and singing and sleep.
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Another transit day. This time we slept in and when we eventually got going we drove by the church and the members’’ places and stopped for ice cream at Lactolanda where they have delicious Dulce de Leche soft ice cream. And then we went on to Asuncion which was about 3 hours drive. Did a bit of shopping and ate supper and then went to find our sleeping arrangements for the night which were in Los Alpes hotel.
Supper deserves a paragraph to itself tonight. It always does actually but usually I’m too lazy. We went to a bit of a food court for supper except that it’s outdoors and the restaurants are in shipping containers. There are maybe 15-20 different places but the one we were going for was a small one up the stairs, around the corner and tucked neatly in the back. It’s a waffle and crepe place owned and run by an American friend of Eric’s named Brett. The food was very delicious, I must say, but my favourite part of the evening was when I got to go behind the counter and was instructed by the Crepe Master on How To Successfully Make A Crepe. In the midst of the crepe making process a customer came to the window and so I was hurried to the back for a tapaboca* so I could keep on working. In the end the crepe I made was used for a customer so it must not have been too bad.
Thursday, December 17, 2020
Eric took Dad and Mom across the city for their Covid tests this morning while the rest of us got to sleep. After breakfast we went to finish up a bit of shopping in the tourist stores and drove down by the Rio Paraguay. Later in the afternoon we adults tried to turn on our brains and play one of the escape room games my mom brought with. Most of you know that I absolutely adore escape rooms so it wasn’t hard for me to spend a couple of hours on this. Some people got bored after awhile or had other stuff to do so Rachelle and I ended up finishing it by ourselves. Unfortunately we forgot to use one of our codes and consequently had to use hints but eventually we ‘got out’ of the ‘room’ and went back and figured out what we did wrong and got ourselves excited for the next game.
Friday, December 18, 2020
After a whirlwind week, Dad and Mom again boarded a plane and left us in the wee hours of this morning. Their first layover was in Panama City and they got to leave the city and take a tour and see the Panama Canal. We had to pack up our bags and leave for home. Actually we did a little shopping and ate lunch before we left. I made it to 3 of the malls in Asuncion in the last week and they all are more high end then anything you’ve seen in Winnipeg. Think more West Ed style except newer, with lofty, spacious walkways and brand name stores. We got home mid afternoon and found out it was quite very hot and humid but soon after we sat down under the mango tree to drink terere the wind picked up and it started to rain.
Today, Saturday, December 19, 2020
Cleaning day. It may or may not rain again this afternoon. We may or may not go to Juan’s for another interesting lively Bible Study. Like I said earlier, I’m not much of an explainer. I have yet to figure out how to paint a picture with words but maybe I’ll have to try that next week.
*Ñanduti is the amazing, colorful crocheting or something they do here. The image below is pretty much like we find here in small to quite large sizes. And *tapabocas are masks.
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