Sunday, May 23
Church. No terere after (its too cold). Lunch. After lunch most of us headed to nearby Manchester (a big soccer field with a sand court for volley) for a bit of a celebration that school is over. We played some soccer while the younger kids played on the big letters that spell out the name of the park. Later, we cancelled our plans of going on a drive and still later Derek and Leah and I cleared a spot in the quincho and did our year end program. The children performed beautifully. Thanks to my sister, we had the perfect skit to do; it gave us a life lesson while being funny, and it wasn’t too long. A woman was looking for a whale for her aquatic show. A Blue Whale was telling the woman about himself when a Killer Whale came up and started boasting about himself. While bragging that he could perform tricks, the Killer Whale convinced the woman that she was better for her show than the Blue Whale was. The scene ended with the woman throwing a net over the Killer Whale and the narrator concluded with the morals of:
1. Mind your own business, and
2. Sometimes we can win an argument but still be the loser.
Monday, May 24
After breakfast, we all headed for Santani which is about a 40 minute drive. The Giesbrechts needed written medical assurance of being healthy so they can apply for their cedulas (resident cards.) Shayla, Judd, Gabe and I walked thru the market and spent some time at a park, blowing bubbles, people watching and eating crackers. I don’t remember much of what happened after we ate lunch and went home. Actually I think Blanca Nieve (our neighbor) brought her daughter and her friend over to chat for awhile.
Wednesday, May 26
Bible Study at Felicita’s for the first time in a long time. Afterwards hugs were given out and I even stepped into Gloria’s hair salon and pulled her away from a customer to give her a hug.
Thursday, May 27
Sara and Blanca Nieve came and we had so much fun.
I wish I could leave today at that but I think I should write more about it.
I don’t remember what I did all day. Blanca Nieve (neighbor) came over in the late afternoon and shortly after, Sara came. We sat and talked and played Uno and ate pizza and eventually Sara suggested we walk to the cruce for supper. So we walked down there and Sara bought the 3 of us supper at San Pedro. Blanca Nieve went home after that and Sara and I picked up her moto and went for a ride to her house. It’s not very often that the town of Barrio San Pedro sees a head covering flapping out behind a moto.. It was a lovely evening despite the fact that I knew if have to say goodbye to them very soon.
Friday, May 28
The gentle rain on the roof defied the forecast and belied my mood. I was rather hoping for a sunny day as I rather like rainy days. They make me feel happy and today is not a happy day.
I don’t want to write about today. Sara came over quickly before we left this morning. It took a few hugs and many tears but eventually I got into the van and we drove off. Sara kept pace with us for a bit on her moto. A wave from Julian’s fruit stand meant that they had been watching the road for our big, unmistakable van and were waving one last time, though they couldn’t see me thru the super dark tinted windows. After we were passed I lifted my had in a feeble reply even though I knew they couldn’t see me through the super dark tinted windows. Houses and stores seemed to fly by the window and soon we passed Julian’s place at the very edge of town and that was my final farewell.
The tears that regularly forming in my eyes made up for the rain that never landed on the van windows as I hoped it would.
Now for the parts of the day that weren’t so sad. We stopped at a fabric store and just before we were ready to pay, the power went out. Now, in this store, the stretch fabric (which of course we had been looking at) is measured and sold by weight, and now their scale was rendered unusable as it was powered by a long cord that plugged into the wall. Oh, they were sure the power would go on soon, but we knew they had lunch hour in a few minutes and we didn’t want to stick around much longer so we picked out the 2 pieces we really wanted and I offered them GS 40,000. They consulted among themselves for a minute then the guy I had asked dashed out the door with my fabric, calling over his shoulder that he’d be back soon. He came back with a battery operated scale by the which all of our fabric could be weighed and bought. (I was a bit impressed by my guessing skills, my original guess of GS 40,000 for the 2 pieces was only out by GS 4,000! All that estimating back in Grade 2 must have been worth something!) After our fabric fiasco, we went to the food court for lunch where we all ordered from the delicious Bellini pasta place. If you ever have a chance to try them out, go for the gnocchi with a pesto/cream sauce mixed.
Our goal of the day was Campo 9 and we easily made it by early afternoon and spent the rest of the day doing an assortment of things.
Actually it’s 1901 right now and there’s a young Mennonite couple drinking terere with the adults (I’m obviously not one. I’m swinging in the hammock, not sitting and drinking terere) and after they leave we’ll find something for supper. Maybe a churrasqueria.
Saturday, May 29
We spent most of the day driving around and stopping at a few stores and eating ice cream from Lactolanda one last time. Ok, not most of the day. And not one last time for most of us. Just me.
The youth had planned volley and supper at church for me. Which was to start around 1700. Most of the girls were either working on supper in the teacherage or at Abe’s place and I didn’t have anything to do. So when Andreas arrived around 1737 we started practicing our volley skills and piki tricks together. Eventually everyone else showed up and the lights were turned on and the net set up and we played volley for awhile. Soon the supper dishes were laid out at two tables set up just outside the teacherage door and an explanation was given as the tables was obviously not set normally! Turns out we are having a utensil supper. Everyone pulled a number and found the matching spot at the table and started exclaiming over their utensils. Thanks to the next door neighbor boys and their company (David and Lynora were at Abe’s for supper) the lights went out in the middle of the meal and everything went black just long enough for us to all fall silent before they suddenly blinked back on. After supper (tallarin with bow tie noodles, cabbage salad), it was decided that everyone had to wash their own set of dishes so a mad scramble was made to line up at the kitchen sink. A few of the guys thought they’d be smart and go wash theirs without soap at the tap by church. Some of them repented afterwards and rewashed them properly but the 2 who didn’t were refused dessert (fresh cinnamon rolls!) later. We played ball til almost 2200 and by the time I arrived back home, most of the household was in bed.
Sunday, May 30
Church. Afterwards there were hugs and handshakes all around and then we went home while the others might have gone for terere yet. We packed up and ate a quick lunch and then as we were getting into our vehicles we found out that the key for one of them was already on its way to Asuncion. Jeff and Sharon had been driving the vehicle (which was a rental) but Abe’s had already picked them up to take them in to Asuncion and the key had been forgotten in a pocket. So the men hopped into the van to go meet the Jeff’s and Abe’s, and us ladies relaxed in the sun for an hour or so. Most of the rest of the day was spent in driving. There was a lot of traffic but when we got closer to Asuncion there were police directing traffic at the stoplights (which were consequently being ignored) and doing things like Chinese fire drills and seeing things like gorgeous lapacho trees (look them up) made it not too too terribly long. For those of us who aren’t kids. Or maybe just me.
Monday, May 31
Karlin and David went to work with documents in the morning. Just before lunch they picked us up and we went to get Covid tests done on Karlin and Shayla and Judd and me. After lunch we returned to our hotel and our respective rooms to rest and get ready for our late night flight. Not too long after we got back I got a message from Shayla that her and I had tested positive. I won’t bore you with the details but we ended up going to another lab hoping to get different results. They subjected us to an even worse test than at the first place, almost reaching your throat thru your nose. By that time Judd’s test from the first place had come back negative but Karlin’s was positive so we weren’t super hopeful. So we waited around and went on a walk by the river to help us wait more patiently and ended up renting some 5 person bikes, and buying cokes and super panchos (hot dogs) and eating them right along the river walk.
The second tests came back positive.
Most of us called it a day and went to bed. Someone took Jeff and Sharon to the airport before midnight. They had Covid awhile ago and tested negative now so they left without us.
Tuesday, June 1
Some of us waited in line at the lab again to get another Covid test. The first 2 were rapid (antigen) tests and this one was a PCR test that can be used in our favor later, if it’s positive. Which is about 100% probable.
We made our separate ways back to our respective houses to figure out what happens next.
By today, some of us have been feeling a little bit sick, but not too bad.
Wednesday, June 2 – Saturday, June 5
Today is Saturday. I’m feeling quite much back to normal today. The last few days I’ve felt very energyless. The children haven’t been affected and are bouncing around like normal but the adults of the household have had different spells of fever and no energy. Sounds like we’re on the mend tho, and hope to try flying again soon.
Yesterday, to get out of the house, we looked up directions to Laguna Blanca, a lake about 1.5 hours from here and headed off to spend the afternoon. It was a beautiful beach with a few man made islands and we had it all. To. Ourselves. Besides an owl, a cat and, later, a couple strolling well out of coughing distance. I spent a lovely hour on the sand with my book and an occasional glance from the owl and then we watched the sun sink behind the trees before we left. And then on the way home I got to watch the rest of the sunset.