7 Days and not Counting…

¡Hola!

Well, I made it to South America alive and well! I would say I would have liked to update you sooner but that would be a lie as I have loved my time here and have been quite busy with my new Paraguayan family! The 25 hours of traveling were well worth it and I am now being integrated into my new life as a Paraguayan.

When I arrived in Paraguay I was picked up by Lourdes, who is my “Paraguayan mother.” She speaks fairly good English but for the first couple of days we definitely played a lot of charades, as I didn’t understand any Spanish. Now that I have had a week of classes though, I am starting to understand more and more. I am actually surprised with the number of conversations I am able to understand. Although I am not able to hold a conversation, I can listen and make out what Lourdes says to me in Spanish, which is a big step compared to day one!

Since arriving in Asuncion, I have not only had some incredible food (thank goodness I’m a carnivore and not afraid of carbs!) but I have also had many great experiences in the Paraguayan culture. One example is on my second day in Asuncion my Paraguayan family took me to one of their relative’s quince. A quince is basically a huge 15th birthday celebration that the parents host. All Paraguayans have quince’s for their daughters but this was one of the more extravagant ones. There were caterers, security, waiters, beautiful decorations, photographers, and a dj. I definitely felt underdressed and this morning in the local newspaper magazine some of the ladies who were at the party were featured in the social events section. (The picture above is of Camilla, Lourdes, Ruben and myself before the party). This is definitely not what I was expecting in Paraguay (living in a house with a pool and massive backyard) but it has been great to meet people from every social class and see what life is like for them. This way I am able to see what Paraguayan life and values are like for all people and not just one class. Life is definitely going to be different in Villarrica where I will be living and socializing with people from lower classes so I am mentally preparing myself for what that will look like after my 6 weeks here in Asuncion, but I am so grateful for this opportunity!

My daily routine goes as follows: wake up, eat, go to language school for 1.5 hrs, run errands with Lourdes, have a huge lunch, work on my Spanish, have tea, go to the gym with Lourdes, come home for supper, and end off the night by studying or recording things I have observed and words I wish I knew how to say. Also, every other day I have met with my mentor Tom and his wife Kelly along with Hanis. Hanis is another intern my age from Switzerland who arrived three days before I did. He is also taking Spanish lessons with me at Bertlitz, which has been great as we are able to learn from each other’s mistakes ☺ The poor guy is learning English too so I do not envy him. Other than that, our family goes to church on Sundays and nothing really changes unless I am going out on language or culture assignments as part of SIM.

So far my highlights of this culture and my time here have been: 1. The Greeting- when you greet someone who is a friend or, in this case, a friend of the family you greet them with a kiss on both cheeks (of course you are basically touching cheek to cheek while making kissing sounds but it is so much fun!). 2. The food- like I said, a lot of meat! 3. The Language- it is very beautiful and difficult to differentiate between words but it has been fun learning new phrases and understanding sentences on occasion. 4. Hanging out with Lourdes.

So far most of my time is spent with Lourdes and she has been great in teaching me new words and telling me all about the do’s and don’ts of Paraguay. Lourdes and Ruben (her husband) have declined receiving money for any expenses as they have said, “why would you pay us anything? You are our daughter now.” Not only has their family let me stay with them but they have also adopted me as their daughter, which is one of the biggest blessings I could ever receive. They have three daughters so it has been great to have sisters for a change (no offense Ryan). My favorite things to do are driving with Lourdes or having lunch with her and Ruben. I have learnt so much about Paraguay through driving back and forth from school- the roads are chaos! Also, Ruben knows no English and he is a hard working businessman who has a dry humor and likes to tease so I find him quite entertaining and a lot of fun! Also, every night I look forward to going to the gym with Lourdes. It has been a good way to get out of the house and watch a bunch of Paraguayan women have fun, plus it has been good for my Spanish in learning body parts, muscles, counting etc, along with girl talk.

For prayer requests, I think my 8 month and life prayer requests will always be, that I would both grow in my love for Jesus and his people. Also, that I will pick up the language quickly and gain some deep friendships with the people. Lourdes has shared her story with me, which was a beautiful time. Both Lourdes and Ruben are very involved in the church so the youth come over every week and it has been so great to see the same people often but please pray for deep relationships with non-family members, as the language barrier makes this a struggle.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support, I really appreciate it! One last thing, I lost my computer hard drive on my third night of being here and so I lost all my addresses so if you talk to someone and they mention they haven’t received updates and would like to, my email is daneillekdirk@gmail.com.

Gracias!
Daneille