Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Peace, Love, and More Stray Cows

     Well, I have been in Paraguay for 23 days now. It seems like a lifetime. It really does. I have met so many new people and experienced so many new things that I feel like I have been here for ten years. I brought a journal and a pen with me thinking that I would have much to write about, and I was right! But the truth is that I haven’t had two spare seconds to write anything down. I have so much to say that I am speechless. And I haven’t felt that way since I lived on the street. This experience has all the workings of a new book. We’ll see.
     I guess the most significant thing for me is the language. I have been both excited and frustrated by my progress in Spanish. There are days when the words come easily and I get caught up in very real conversation with my friends, only one or two of whom speak English. Sometimes, I step back and think, Wow, I’m really speaking Spanish. I think that without a doubt I’ll be fluent by the end of the summer. But then there are other times, times when I’m in a bad mood or I just woke up, when being surrounded by Spanish is like beating my head against a wall. Now, please don’t misunderstand my honesty. I am so blessed to be here. I knew what I was getting myself into, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. But during long conversations or long church services can be very frustrating. There I am in the midst of a dynamic move of God or a meeting of the minds, and I don’t have a clue what is going on. People speak very rapidly and I try to keep up, but then my brain hurts, and I drift off into lala land. I want sooooooo bad to master this language so I can connect with these good people and form solid and lasting relationships, but it is not easy. Then there are other times, like at the airport or at the pharmacy, when people make me feel like an idiot because I can’t speak Spanish. But those moments are surprisingly few, and they help me to understand what I have been doing to the Spanish speakers in Longview.


     Likewise, my experience at the school has been mixed. The first day of school, as I had said before, was wonderful. The kids were polite and attentive, and we made a lot of progress. But in the last couple of weeks, the new has worn off and we have had our tense moments. I tried both negative and positive reinforcement but nothing worked. I just had to put my foot down and be tough. I see progress now. Being tough with these kids is not easy. I like them so much that I just cannot scold them. They climb the walls and swing on the ceiling fans and just when I’m about to throw them off the balcony, one of them looks up at me and says something super cute like “teacher, are you friends with Ballock Oblaba.” What can you do? One day we were learning those three essential but awkward verbs: to be, to have, to want. We were going down the row conjugating. The question was, What do YOU want? I want a book. Good! I want a candy. Good! I want money. Good! I want women. Que? Come again? What is that? You want women? Well, okay. Si! Good! I mean, how in the world can I scold these guys.
     I have had another opportunity to preach, this time in a Junior High chapel service. It was my first time preaching without notes, and I felt comfortable. I will have an opportunity at the end of the summer to preach in Spanish. That means a lot to me and I gladly accept the challenge. I hope that as I make progress in the language that I can be of some use in our Spanish work in Longview. I guess time will tell. I don’t know exactly what God will do, but I know that he will do something. He will use me, not because I’m talented, but because I’m willing. Are you willing?
     I have also become white fond of a Paraguayan thing called Mate. It is like tea or coffee, but the blend is completely different. It is a blend of herbs. You fill your cup up with the herbs, then you pour boiling hot water over it and sip it up with a special straw. You just pour enough water over it for one sip. Then, when you are ready for another sip, you take your thermos of boiling water and pour another sip on it. There are various blends that people use. There are blends for waking up or going to bed or getting over a cold, etc. Another popular thing is terere which is the cold water version. There are cold herbs and hot herbs. Both are good, but I like the hot better. Oh yeah, and there is one more thing I forgot to mention. This is a group activity. If we are visiting, we share the thermos, the cup, and the straw and we pass it back and forth, each taking a sip. This goes on for hours. It’s pretty awesome. It’s a bonding thing. And of course, a caffeine thing.

     So, I am happy, comfortable, and productive here right now. And the toilets still flush the other way. 


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