I am a person who generally does not like birds. Yes, some of them look cool but for me they are good to have at a distance. Birds that are up close either scare or annoy me. For example, in Australia they have Kuckaburras that sound as if they are laughing. Without fail when we'd go camping these birds would wake me up around 5a.m. no matter what time I went to bed, and I hate mornings. Then when I lived on Vancouver Island I went on a hiking trip and they had Whiskey Jacks (Gray Jay) that were so used to humans that they would swoop down to eat your food. Of course the guys took advantage of that and scared me half to death as these birds would swoop down to get food near me
Here in Paraguay, they have many birds. Most of them are up in the sky so we get along and after living here for 6 months I have also grown accustom to seeing and hearing birds that live on the ground especially roosters that crow at all hours...(I always thought it was a morning thing.) But I haven't grown accustom to having them in my personal bubble.
This weekend I went to the campania and got to experience life out in the country. They had free roaming pigs, horses, cows, and of course dogs walking around. People do not necessarily keep their animals closed in which is why there are so many deaths on the highways as cattle are not in contained areas but graze or sleep wherever they want. They also have their share of birds from parrots, and little pet birds to hens, roosters, geese, and ducks. Like Paraguayans, the missionaries also have these birds roaming in their yard. In fact, this weekend I stayed at a house where the missionaries have a pet goose that they have to train like a dog and say "get off the table" or "get off the porch" then scoop up its poop. So this weekend I forced myself to get over my fear of birds and hold my first hen now that they are no longer at a friendly distance. It took a bit of self-convincing but I did do it. Even still I am no where near to acustom to them.
On the way back to Villarrica from the campania, we picked up one of my best Paraguayan friends Isabel and her mother. As we drove in the dark, I was telling her all about my weekend and I was explaining how I had such a fun time and all the firsts I got to experience. I was explaining in Spanglish that I had picked up a hen for my first time. I did not know what the word for "held" or "hen" was in Spanish so I was using gestures and sounds. So I said "I got to" pretending to pick something up "a" then squaked like a hen using my hand as a beak. She said "what?" and I squaked again. She turned to her right and before I knew it she had a white bag in front of my face and said "you mean this?" Some light shown into the car and sure enough a little hen abruptly poked it's head out of the bag. I lost all control of my body as my arms went up and I pinned myself against the door. No one even knew it was in the car! After I got over the shock I started to laugh and thought to myself "only in Paraguay."
More and more I am falling in love with the culture and the lifestyle here. I catch myself thinking "this isn't that bad" or "I could do this" but I think that if I was ever to move here or a similar country to live full time there are still some things that I need to get used to... and birds are definitely one of them.
2 comments:
Thanks Daneille for sharing about your bird issue. I especially like the story about the hen in the car. I just about died laughing as I read your story. I did not realize you did not like birds, I think back to our youth camp and the bird swooping down at me must have drove you crazy. Sorry :O) Cherlynn
When I was in Italy, particularly in Rome, the pigeons were much too comfortable around humans. I would always kick them away despite dirty looks from Italians.
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