I got attacked by a PIQUE!!!

For those of you who don't know what a pique is, and to be honest I didn't either until I had one decide to take up residence in my big toe... They are small parasitic bugs that live in the dust that surrounds me in the hot and dry tropical retreat of Paraguay. I still don't have a clue how I got the thing, they tell me that they usually only live in the rural areas or with dogs that hang out in those areas and I'm definitely in the urban areas right now...but all the same I had a friend pay me a visit. The funny thing was that I was sitting with a new-made friend and we were chatting like all Paraguayans do so well, when my toe started to bother me but I thought it was an ant or something crawling over my toe, nothing more. But, as I looked at my toe and saw a white bubble on the edge, the lady asked me what was bothering me and I said it was a blister though I haven't worn any closed-toed shoes since I've been here. She wanted to look at it and when she did, ran from the room, grabbed a needle and some tissue paper and set to work to extract the thing. It didn't hurt at all to have the thing in me though they explain that the bug is called "pique" coming from the Spanish verb "picar" for to itch--that you basically can't stand the itching and that the first thing it does is lay eggs that then grow within your toenails and people eventually die of various side-effects from the infections it causes. Pretty unpleasant! It hurt like a mother to remove and I felt like such an idiot with my leg stretched across the stranger's lap as she dug into my toenail with a household needle. Meanwhile, the teenage sons tried to distract me with questions about vocabulary in English and then with pictures taken via cell phones now provided for your viewing pleasure. I wish that you could see the little black nastiness but the picture provides at least a part of the experience. But, now that it is healing and there is no itching, I trust that she got it all out...I asked if there was a way to avoid them in the future and the constant answer was, well, no. Hopefully this will build my resistance to dengue right?

Well, I just wanted to share my latest adventure...

Cuidado...summer approaching!

The pictures got a little messed up...but you can enjoy them nonetheless! Update after the pictures.

This is Carmelo the maintenance man replacing the nasty hole in my countertop















and this is the bug-infested hole pre-Carmelo

















I would like to introduce you to some people...first on the left we have Maria Cristina who exports the nanduti weaving you see her displaying to harpists in Japan. She is holding a tablecloth she and her mother (on the left of the photo) made for a woman that then decided not to buy it... The lace work is incredibly delicate and takes lots of long hours, careful attention,
and skillful hands to make.


This is Cristina, Carmelo's wife who is preparing my nanduti frame...story to follow.





























This is my room and living room now that I have some furniture! Note the attempt to deal with the pink paint by buying pink furniture... sigh of resignation.






































This is the token statue of San Bernardino...I just had to get a picture before I left...

Below is the hotel I stayed at that has connections with Paraguay Hecho a Mano. It was a huge historical draw but the family that owned it let it fall into disrepair and only last year they restored the place and have made it into a great (and expensive) hotel. During the summer months, the town is chalk full of rich Paraguayans passing the summer months at the lakeside but right now, the town is dead... This is the couple from California that spent 2 weeks here and just recently head back. We made fast friends as I worked as a fill-in translator when I was around. They invested in the hotel and are looking to buy a home in San Ber to retire there.

This is a typical paved Paraguayan road. Note that I said paved...most are just dirt and the first upgrade is to rocks like in this road and eventually if asphalt if it becomes a major thoroughfare.

Hey all I hope all is going well in the incoming winter freeze…

Paraguay is disgustingly hot and they tell me that it is only going to get worse…I try not to think about it. I now have a borrowed fan in my room but I’m resigning myself to the investment of air conditioning… Half of me thinks that I will be better with just fans because as it is I am getting a lot better accustomed to the climate and having air conditioning will just make it all the more miserable as soon as I step outside…but as the natives continually describe the summer as “an oven” I don’t know how much I’ll want to be inside either.

Speaking of inside, my apartment is a lot more comfortable. I bought a living room set with a couch and two matching chairs for $120 (and then invested in some funny throw pillows to accompany the industrial strength couch set), a beautiful full-sized wardrobe with plenty of space to fit the entire contents of my suitcase and then some, a gas stove and kitchen stuff, and then friends lent me a big bed. I still need a fridge and a kitchen table, but I’m feeling like I actually have a livable space. I got some great posters from the Church distribution center next to the temple in Asuncion so I even have a few wall decorations J

In my last blog, I posted a picture with the mom and youngest daughter of the Rodriguez family—I should talk a little more about them because they have really made my stay in Itauguá possible. I met the oldest daughter, Sinthia because she is the sub-manager in the Employment Resources Center in Asuncion. Having taught in Buenos Aires has been an incredible blessing and I am constantly amazed at how the Lord coordinates things for me in ways that I could never coordinate myself. Anyway, I went to the office to meet the manager and in meeting her, met Sinthia (this is one of only 2 centers in the entire world that has women for managers…more on women running Paraguay later). Her family lives in a government-sponsored neighborhood in the outskirts of Itauguá and she offered her brother to help me find a place to live. I ended up walking to the family’s house with another member that I met at General Conference and her mom fell in love with me. I still don’t know what I did that was so touching or extraordinary but she told me that I was an angel and started telling all her friends about this amazing American that had come down to study ñandutí. She lent me a bed her brother made which is beautifully comfortable and bigger than any bed I’ve ever had in my life outside of a hotel room! Her 20 year old son did, in fact, help me a TON in getting my apartment, taking me to get furniture, and setting up the bed. Were he to be a returned-missionary and in some assemblance for dating I would really be in trouble because I would love to be adopted into their family. But, at it is, he’s pretty confused about life in general and about himself in particular. 2 months ago, his girlfriend was killed on her moto waiting to make a left-hand turn when a speeding bus clipped her. David (the son) ended up being nearby and heard about an accident, only to walk out and see her in a mangled mess on the pavement. Subsequently, he’s gone into a depression wondering if all the talk about an eternal life and whatnot is real or not. He’s decided that he doesn’t want to study anymore, he is angry at his dad (though with good reason) for stuff going on within the family business, and otherwise just doesn’t know where he is or who he is yet. It makes me really sad because he is really intelligent and has a lot of potential if he could take things into perspective and let the Lord heal his heart. His mom and Sinthia are confident that I can help in that because for whatever reason he trusts me and talks with me, but I can’t be everyone’s angel and he’ll have to make those decisions to come unto the Lord by himself.

Meanwhile, I’ve made best friends with the maintenance guy and subsequently with his family. He isn’t very educated but incredibly sweet and has jumped to help me with any task I have to throw at him. I had asked for his help when I discovered the cockroaches jumping out of a hole in my countertop (which the owner insists a carpenter will come and fix but hasn’t materialized yet) and he ended up helping me jimmy-rig a mosquito net over my bedroom window, put up the shower rod, set up my oven gas tank, and he was the one responsible for the paint job (well the owner told him the color and he painted). When he asked what I was doing in Paraguay and I told him I was studying ñandutí, he told me his wife weaves and she would be happy to teach me. So, this last Tuesday I went with him to his house… it was a humbling experience. They have a one room, brick house in the middle of nowhere, Paraguay. We took a bus about 4 kilometers down the highway and then walked for 20 minutes down dirt roads to his house. His little 4 year old was busy taking a spatula to the red clay of the open patio and his wife showed me the weaving she was working on. Her name is Cristina just like me and as it turns out his daughter suffered from trauma at birth and her right arm is just like my left! I was shocked as he started telling me the story about her birth and apparently she had her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck and the doctors took her by forceps and ended up breaking her collar bone and stretching out her arm and now she has a metal plate in there, it is shorter than her left but not by much, and she can’t raise it above her shoulder. Now that I am aware of it, I can see the difference but I hadn’t thought anything before. It was such an interesting situation bringing me into a younger mirror of myself. She is 11 years old and noticeably self-conscious about her arm. It’s a real blessing to have “coincidences” like this and I hope to work to help her build her confidence and show her that she isn’t broken or inferior for her disability.

I went back the next day after meeting her cousin who is involved in selling ñandutí to Japanese investors (pictures explained later) and had my first official lesson. We talked about Monica (the 11 year old) and how they had sold everything they had to pay for her operations and have yet to recover from that sacrifice. The 4 year old is a handful and loves to get terribly dirty and Cristina is expecting another baby in a couple of months. She refused to let me pay for the lesson.

I am learning that my timeline of just studying Guaraní and then jumping into the ñandutí is not going to work. I had originally planned to take a good couple of months to just study Guaraní and get familiarized with my surroundings, get settled, etc (including time to finish stuff from Guatemala that I have still in-progress). Then, I wanted to learn how to weave ñandutí in order to make contacts with everyone that is working in the trade here in Itauguá before actually doing formal research and interviews and whatnot. But, as I look for help from the people that I am meeting, everyone wants me to meet this vendor or that one, telling me that I’ll learn Guaraní no problem and that it’s so fantastic that I want to learn about ñandutí because it is a dying art and the youth don’t care about it anymore and they want people to appreciate it and document thigns before it disappears. Basically everyone I have met is completely bilingual in Spanish and Guaraní and even the old people speak enough to have political conversations—a very different linguistic atmosphere than I was used to in Guatemala. Granted, I am still in the urban stretch and many would like to consider Itauguá a suburb of Asuncion (but it’s not…it developed very independently of Asuncion and the urban sprawl spreading toward Itauguá has just made it look like a suburbia of the city). But, as people are incredibly open and inquisitive, when they ask me what I am doing here, I tell them that I have come to do a study on ñandutí and EVERYONE knows someone that I need to meet and I have been shocked by the incredible warmth of the Paraguayan reception but it also pushes me more directly into research mode faster than I had anticipated. Everyone is SHOCKED that I speak good Spanish and I’ve heard everything from people thinking I am a Peace Corps volunteer, missionary (within the Mormon crowd), to Brazilian and German. Since I speak good Spanish, then, they are excited to accompany me in getting my research underway and help out in any way I see them being useful. I just had a 2 hour conversation in my doorway last night with my next door neighbor all about ñanduí and

Coming to Itauguá to study Guaraní doesn’t make any more sense to the people than living by myself. I could have lived with a family but I’m grateful to have my own place where people can come and visit me and I can take my own time with my music and my weaving and chill. And, while sometimes it’s really intimidating to think that I am all by myself in this sweltering country, it is a great blessing too. People are a lot more receptive I think in seeing that I am here by myself and that I really need their help to get anything done. Then, seeing that despite being on my own that I am confident and fun to talk to, they get more interested in me and my project and everyone kind of takes a piece of my project to own and tries to contribute. I’ve gotten really good at the “I’m not looking for a boyfriend and besides what would my mother say if I came back married?” speech. Somehow, personal conviction doesn’t mean a lot in rejecting dating propositions, but the mother-child bond is sacred here. The amount of single mothers is astounding and men are infamously transitory here but everyone adores his or her mother and ask me about how my mom feels about me being here. For those of you familiar with Paraguayan history, you will know that it has long been a country dominated by women. Due to multiple extended and bloody wars, the male population was decimated and there are estimates as high as 10 women to every man. While that statistic isn’t nearly as drastic anymore—it’s probably more like 2 or maybe 3 to 1 now, the culture still maintains a lot of the consequences of that situation. Boys are spoiled and allowed to roam around and often do, impregnating those whom he will along the path. Young mothers with children from multiple fathers is completely common, women are often the primary breadwinners even within monogamous relationships and the guys are just ”caigues” or lazy. Despite all of that, everyone is confident that I’ve got plenty of time to find a Paraguayan husband and that I’m going to want to hunker down in Itauguá. So, I’ve learned to call upon the absence of my mother to establish my temporary presence here…

Anyway, things are going well. The weaving is really delicate and complicated but the women have a lot of patience with me. The atmosphere living in an urban center is a lot different than rural Guatemala and I’m definitely feeling the stresses of culture shock. I’m working to get used to the Paraguayan accent, the constant presence of horny teenage boys staring at me walking around, the oppressive heat and subsequent lack of modestly dressed people, the constant fear of the water people offer me (though to this point I’ve drunk dozens of glasses of tap water and so far so good), the speeding buses and lack of personal transportation (though I plan to buy a bike soon) and the general sense of overwhelmingness in tackling a new culture, new language, new climate, and new relationships.

Overall, though, things are coming together. I would love to have some snow right about now, but I’ll settle for some cheap popsicles and some oh-so-yummy chipas (cheesebread they sell all over the country). Keep in touch, talk soon,

Cristina

My new home away from home

The kitchen (complete with spaces for a kitchen and stove but conspicuously missing such amenities...) The small counter space is also conveniently a breeding ground for cockroaches climbing into the small cracks...though they are small and hopefully friendly :)

Sorry I didn't turn the picture, but this is my bathroom. The toilet and French bathroom thing are behind the door. I'm SO excited to have a GOOD bathroom!


This is one of the bedrooms and there is one of equal size on the other side. I didn't put up a picture of the living room but it's about this big too.




My front door :)
That's right everyone, I am now the official renter of a Paraguayan apartment in the town of Itaugua. I'm so excited to finally get into my own space and get down to work... I know it must sound pretty pretentious to dislike living in a hotel, but it really isn't all that it's cracked up to be when you are looking at long term residence. I need to get into a place that is MINE and that I can make into whatever I want it to be. Well, I have that and more. Not only do I have my own 2-bedroom apartment with a big kitchen and living room, but the entire place comes with...absolutely NOTHING! No fridge, no stove, no furniture whatsoever, no fans or air conditioning, and not one curtain. The place does come newly painted and you'll never guess...but despite the previous tour modeling a beautiful eggshell exterior the owner opted to paint the entire thing PINK!!! PINK!!! How in the wide world of apartment hunting would I have the curse of living in ANOTHER pink apartment?? *most of you may remember my BRIGHT pink apartment in Buenos Aires* Luckily, it isn't the bright pink that would give me flower child hallucinations at the end of 10 months, but it's pink nonetheless...

It was hard enough to get the place though that I can't really complain. I went around the main street with 2 different helpers and this was literally the only apartment available. I even got some leaders with families in the area but none of them were available right next except for a really old, suspicious lady with a room that was her sister's until the sister died a month ago...not to mention that room is connected to the old lady's room with a curtain in between effectively eliminating any privacy if the possible ghost presence didn't get to me first...

So, the place I found really makes me feel good with a lot of independence but safety too. It's in an actual apartment building which aren't too common around here. There is a guard at the entrance and they are big enough for families so it's a pretty calm area. At $120 a month plus electricity (and all the furniture...) it's more expensive than it should be this far out of the capital, but all the other places were asking the same price so I took it. It's right on the main road heading into Asuncion or out towards the interior which makes everything else closeby too. Next door is a laundry mat and a hardware shop. I'm a block away from a supermarket (where I promplty went to buy cleaning supplies this afternoon to tear apart the place with orange-scented magic), a block away from the bus stop, across the street from an ATM, 3 blocks from church, and 2 blocks from a world-famous empanada shop. Not to mention being on the main route where all the country's main nanduti shops are. It's so exciting...Pink, but exciting.

So, the bulk of my time has been in working out housing issues. I've made some trips into Asuncion and have been able to meet with another Fulbrighter down here that is studying emigration and women's rights issues. She was really fun to talk to, spunky and inquisitive and I think she'll be a great contact. She got her last April and is going strong so it's good to get her persepective to add to my recentness...

Transitioning into Paraguay has been interesting. Since I've been staying at the hotel, I've really felt more transitory than I would like. I've gotten used to the different feel of the buses here in all my trips to Itaugua, Capiata, and Asuncion, but the people are still a little on the unfamiliar side. People are typically amazingly kind and open when you talk to them, but not many people brave starting a conversation with me and get over the whole curly-haired blond girl thing.



I have also started my first official Guarani lessons. I can now say things like "the frog jumps on the road" and "the beautiful girl sleeps on the bed." I don't know if I'll ever become conversational as I start hearing the different oral vowels as contrasted by the nasal vowels not to the mention the speed that they say things! It's fun to show off at least a few words and everyone is overly excited for the gringa to be speaking Guarani.

Well, enjoy the pics of my empty apartment... I'm officially moving in tomorrow but couldn't take my stuff in until we got the contract worked out and everything so I didn't do anything more than clean today. Lots of love to everyone, talk soon!!

This last picture was taken at a family barbecue I went to with a wonderful family that has taken me and is convinced I'm an "angel." Their oldest daughter is the employment specialist in Asuncion and they live in Itaugua so she put me in contact with her brother her got me the apartment but the mom (on the right) fell in love with me and I became instant friends with the other daughters (the youngest is on the right and is currently engaged). The mom and Sinthia who is the employment specialist are currently the only active members in the church though the kids are all technically members. The family is a blast to hang out and extremely kind and loving without having known me I feel like we have a sincere connection. Catalina (the mom on the right) says she thinks that we knew each other in the preexistence and I don't have any reason to doubt her.

The first couple days

Hey everyone! Mbai'che pa? That's about all the Guarani that I've been able to master in the first few informal lessons--it means how are you?

I just spent 2 fabulous days with the Saints watching the world broadcast of General Conference. It was really a blessing to get to a chapel and be with other members. The Church is a lot bigger here than I had envisioned and while there isn't a chapel in the town where I'm living right now, I'm planning to move down to the center of lace-weaving and there is a chapel there (as well as 5 more between there and Asuncion 40 minutes down the road.) So, I was really impressed to find LARGE churches and today with the second day of Conference the overflow went into every classroom and there wasn't enough room for all the members in the Stake to sit in. But, it was weird because yesterday there were only 30 people that came to Conference, and after the first session this morning, more than half the group headed home... Everyone says that there are droves of Paraguayans getting baptized but retention is a huge problem...

So, I should back up. I flew out of Houston directly into Buenos Aires and met a guy on the plane that was a Christian convert (evangelical church) and had been living in Sweden for the past 15 years and was now coming back to his home in Argentina. He had tattoos all over his hands and talked about how would go into really rough neighborhoods that the rest of the people in his congregation couldn't go into, but he could show the marks on his hands to show that he was "one of them" and not get hurt. I tried to learn more about the "marks" but he wouldn't explain them to me and I suppose that they have soemthing to do with violence or other things that he probably isn't too proud of... Anyway, it was an interesting encounter and we talked a lot about Argentine culture and how weird it was for him to be coming back to his "home."

I then went through an amazing hassle in the Buenos Aires airport thanks to a rather un-helpful agent that signalled me to go through immigration passport control when I really should have stayed on the upper floor to get my connecting flight... As a result, I had to complain to 3 different people, pay and extra $18 airport fee, and convince a lackey agent to accompany us through to get to the front of a 2 1/2 hour security line in order to get to my flight on time! It was incredible. Argentines aren't exaclty known for their customer service and I definitely got my taste of it that day...

I finally got into a small commuter jet, praying that my luggage was underneath me somewhere and flew into Asuncion. It's hot. It's going to get hotter, but it's definitely hot. It was like a wave that blew me over when I started to walk off the plane. But, tropical place...what do you expect?

My luggage DID arrive...though somewhere between Salt Lake and Asuncion, my Nalgene bottle became conveniently unnattached from my bag and with it all my pens, office supplies, and some little trinkets I was going to give away. Could be worse though...

I met with the "right-hand man" of Osvaldo (Osvaldo is the president of the NGO here in Paraguay and also the head honcho of a renovated hotel that the NGO helped to get fixed up and back into a functioning business.) I got a ride out to a small lakeside town called San Bernardino where I am staying right now. They have a FABULOUS hotel that was built in 1888 and has been renovated and decorated. All the rich Paraguayans come to "summer" here in San Ber and this is one of the most expensive spots in town. Osvaldo is really well connected within any community and so I'm hoping to be able to get in with some of his friends that run the textile trades but I don't know if I really want to stay stationed in San Ber. One, it's really expensive to be staying in the hotel. He said we could work out a cheaper room but he would still want $10 a day and there's NO way that I'm going to be paying that. So, I'm tentatively thinking to stay here for a month or two while taking some private Guarani lessons and getting to know Osvaldo's contacts and other people in the area and then moving out to Itaugua. WIth the church members, they assured me that they could help and I made really good friends with a girl that is 24, working in Asuncion but lives in Itaugua and so I'm going to visit them next Thursday to see what housing options they come up with. The benefits of being in the hotel is, well, a nice bathroom, free water, free internet, and lots of famous and well-connected people constantly stirring about the place. They say that in the summer they feed between 300 and 350 people a meal and the place is booked solid. So, it could be a great networking spot, but I still bristle at thinking that I'm not at the ground level really learning about the people in their homes and communities. I've never been a big fan of the elites and especially in a country where the elites are SO separated from the bottom level, I just don't feel like I'm really doing the study that I would feel fulfilled in...but I've only been here 2 days so I can't really jump to any conclusions yet!

I also made good friends with a woman that lives in Asuncion but her grandfather was full-blooded Austrian and moved to Paraguay where he married a native. She has bright blond hair and light brown eyes, pale skin, and a very European jaw but is fluent in Spanish and Guarani and knows basically nothing more than the name of the country her ancestors came from. She and her husband were great to hang out with and they gave me a general history lesson about the other Paraguayan tribes that "they think" are still running "savage" in the Chaco region (north towards Bolivia.) Apparently it's a veritable Bermuda Triangle and anybody that wants to go and do maps or study the area just disappears (assumedly caught, murdered, and served up for dinner by the local tribeseman.) She had an uncle, though, that was though to have disappeared into the area and ended up reappearing 7 years later with a total memory loss of how he had gotten there and how he had gotten back. So, no current plans to travel in that direction...

I had my first terere--which is just like Argentine mate but served with cold water instead of boiling water--and I think I like it a lot better than mate. It's basically just an herb that they grow here in South America that is cooked and crushed and dried and they put it in a carved out bull horn, still a straw with a filter in and poor cold water over the top and pass that around the group while you chat. Having the terere with the group of recently returned missionaries and a couple premies and then Lorena the 24 year old from Itaugua, we made instant friends. Everyone is shocked at my Spanish even though I am struggling to understand them... For the first time in my life since 7th grade Spanish, I honestly feel inadequate with my Spanish! It's not that they are saying anything particularly difficult, but the Paraguayan accent is freakishly hard for me right now. Lots of natives of other countries have told me the same thing. There is a lot of influence from Guarani, so the intonation is very distinct--mostly a monotone clipped speech that always ends with with a descending tone. But, that I can handle. What makes it difficult is that they don't open their mouths to enunciate and the whole country is soft-spoken. Lorena's mom told me that she is different because she is louder than other Paraguayans and she pontificated that it was due to their being in the church... Anyway, if that weren't enough, they speak Guarani with the same tone and generally mix it all together in the same sentence so I never know if my lack of understanding is because they actually speaking Guarani or because they just didn't say things loud enough! All the same, everyone I have met has been sure to comment that not only do I speak Spanish well but that I speak it "perfectly." I have noticed little grammar errors here and there and wonder if they are self-conscious about their Spanish and that would explain some of the soft-spokenness. But, even when they are asking ME questions, I have to ask people to speak up and repeat things 3 and 4 times until I can respond. It blows my mind.

Well, I am going to go down and have some dinner and hopefully watch the rain roll in again. While I've only been here a couple days, I've been able to get on local transportation, make new friends, and learn about other contacts of towns with other textiles so I'm feeling realy comfortable and the people are super friendly and laid-back. No pictures just yet but I promise they'll be coming!

A new beginning

Hey all, that's right--I'm getting ready to leave for Paraguay. In another short 2 days I will be climbing to 30,000 feet of uncertainty, so-called adventure, and new experiences. I still highly doubt that I am really ready to face living in Paraguay for 10 months, but time stops for no traveler, and in all honesty, who would really do things any differently? I was scared that this time around wouldn't be enough time for me to get into any literature, finish the articles I've been working on with Dr. Williams, get all the paperwork filed and approved, plan out the research schedule and community involvement, catch up with friends and say goodbye at the same time, take the GRE, prepare grad school applications, and buy all the new stuff I would need to lug with me on the 6000 mile journey to South America. But, in the end, that is exactly what I did, and more. I have been really blessed to have had time to play with my puppy, sleep in a few mornings, send love packages to my friends in Santa Maria Visitacion, attend a good friend's wedding and reception, go on a couple blind dates, make a new friend, catch up with old friends, read two books and delve into 6 more, attend a Spanish Branch, and babysit my adorable nieces and nephews. It's been a busy 6 weeks but really exciting and a great transition from full-time facilitator and researcher to graduated anthropologist and into Fulbright fellow. I trust in the Lord that things are coming into place because He wants me to have success in Paraguay and He'll accompany me along the way. I hope that anyone interested in reading will also accompany me and share the experience with me. Thanks for all your support!