Paraguayan Pen-Pal Program Painstakingly Presented to Participants, Plus Paralyzing Perspiration

It was only about a month ago when I was spending every night shivering in my sleeping bag, amazed at the thick fog that rose up from my mouth with every breath. Now I only use my laptop in the evenings or early mornings because it overheats during the scorching-hot days. It has been hovering around 40 degrees C, (a little over 100 F), up here in the northern areas of Paraguay, so the already laid-back lifestyle has slowed to a speed that even the tortoise from the tortoise and the hare fable would scoff at.

Then again, I doubt their race was held in Paraguay where its also devastatingly humid. I have experienced 100 F days back in the US, but never where escaping to a chilly sanctuary of AC is an impossibility.

Paraguayans are aware of what the Spanish words for Spring and Fall are, but really only use Winter and Summer. You spend two months freezing to death, then melt the rest of the year. We got here in the heat of their summer back in February, but I had almost forgotten what that was like. Some days here are like the complete opposite of snow days, because it is just too hot to do anything. One of the schools I work at has no electricity, so until someone invents a ceiling fan that runs solely on the evaporated sweat of listless children, those kids have to learn while baking.

The heat lends itself to longer afternoons of drinking Tereré with neighbors and friends. Sadly, Paraguayans do not share my loss of appetite which develops as a result of overheating. When I am sweating for 16 hours a day, I usually prefer to eat an apple and maybe some ice cubes. They see no problem with continuing to eat a hot bowl of soup with a chunk of meat in it. I usually don’t take siestas, (something which my family finds incredibly odd), but after a pound of boiling hot soup in 100+ degree weather, its tough not to pass out.

When its not too hot to process a thought, school is in session and I do activities with some of the kids at the various schools I work at. Last year I spent some time working with a local chapter of a Boys and Girls Club after school, and I have been developing a pen-pal program with those kids. My students here all have a load of questions about the US. They always ask me about the food, the music, the cars, and for some reason, about Hannah Montana, (which I must admit I only heard about after arriving here in Paraguay). So I decided to let them ask all of these questions to those kids back in the US. This program solved a few of my goals at a few different schools here, specifically to give kids a chance to think creatively and practice writing independently. They usually just take notes all day off of a board, so this will give them a chance to think for themselves. After explaining what they were doing, they didn’t really understand. Most of these kids have never actually sent a letter, (and after my experiences with the Paraguayan postal service, I completely understand why). So I had to draw out how they would write a letter and include all of the questions that they always ask me, like “Do Americans drink Tereré?”, and kids their age in the US would respond. The idea of just getting mail was enough to get most of them very excited.

I will be out of contact for the next week or so, as I will be traveling to Asuncion. I am going to the Argentina vs. Paraguay game next week, which should be fun, provided I don’t get maimed in some sort of soccer riot. Paraguay itself has a soccer league made up of 12 teams, but most of those teams are in Asuncion, and there are only two that really ever have a chance of winning the championship. Just about everyone in the country is either a Cerro fan or an Olympia fan. The two teams played each other last weekend, and tensions were very high. Imagine if the Red Sox and Yankees only played each other a couple times a year and they were the only two teams in all of baseball. And the game meant more to you than breathing. And you would sell all of your possessions to go to the game. Yeah, its sort of like that.

Tagged as: Asuncion, Boys and Girls Club, Cerro, Hannah Montana, Heat, Olympia, Pen-Pal, Seasons, Siestas, Soccer, Terere