I never really complain about the fact that Paraguay is usually anywhere from five to 20 years behind on most fashion, music and movie trends. I have enjoyed getting to hear the music of my childhood, watching cheesy old action flicks, (they love Rambo for some reason), and of course there is no better way to start the day than watching someone in Parachute Pants walk past your house. It has remained “Hammer Time” here long since we hit the snooze button on MC Hammer. WHAM! is still cool, and I am constantly asked to translate what that band name means, (which is no easy feat). Neons are completely acceptable colors on Spandex, which itself remains completely acceptable to wear.
For all of these reasons, I wasn’t completely surprised when my Paraguayan host brother told me the name of his one month old baby. I am now the proud uncle of Alanis Morissette Medina. Let’s just say I’ve got one hand in my pocket, and the other one is slapping my forehead. I guess they are pretty big fans, despite not actually knowing what all those lyrics mean. Isn’t that ironic? Don’t you think?
Not too much is new around these parts. My VAC had its first full meeting since the arrival of our newest volunteers. We have two newbies, one is a Municipalities volunteer, and the other a Rural Economic Development volunteer. We had the meeting out at my family’s farm, where they raise pigs and grow a variety of organic fruits and veggies, (and of course, mandioca). One pig on the farm is so big that three people could very easily ride it. They tell me they are fattening it up for New Years. I can only assume they plan on feeding the whole village with it, because I have seen cars that are smaller than this monster.
We stayed at the farm until midnight, and took the overnight bus into Asuncion. I had already made my monthly trip into the capital, but was drawn back for an important kickball game. Peace Corps plays the other volunteer organizations periodically, and we had a match against the Koreans. Apparently the last game against them was a disaster, and I had to go to this one for reasons of patriotism. My go-ahead triple in the top of the ninth ended up being for naught, as we blew the lead and the game in the bottom of the ninth. It was a very sad day for America.
Expo Norte came and went, and luckily, so did it’s obnoxious radio commercials. The expo is a huge deal for the entire region of the country, and just about everyone around saves up money all year just to pay for their family to come to the “big city” to experience it. It is pretty similar to a county fair back in the states, complete with farm animal auctions, fried food, moto-cross and amusement rides with dubious safety records. We tried to work up the courage to ride the pirate ship that goes completely upside down, but our fears of the rusted support beams and 16 year-old kid in charge of the safety harnesses got the better of us. It would make for an interesting news headline, though: “Three Peace Corps Volunteers Die in Pirate Ship Crash.”
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
So, did you watch the kickball game or play in it?
And gosh, all those possibilities for babies’ names that simply never occured to me! Truly fascinating and very funny, especially the “one hand in my pocket..”
Oh, I played alright. And I quote:
“My go-ahead triple in the top of the ninth ended up being for naught…”
Speed and power. You can’t teach that, Mom. Some are just born with it, like myself. I have gotten several big contract offers from the big league kick ball teams in the country. My agent and I will be looking at all of them in the off-season.
Just checking in to see how you are doing. Fun reading about your adventures. Keep up the good work.